As a human after the heart of God, are you willing to ask Him to purify yours?
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. Matthew 5:8 NLT
What Is A Pure Heart?
Think of pure honey, gold, silver, and diamonds; they have only one ingredient. Purity means “freedom from contamination,” and a more Biblical definition of purity would be “freedom from immorality.” When you think of someone or something pure, what do you think of? The words innocent, wholesome, and wholehearted immediately come to mind. My short and sweet Biblical perspective of heart purity is a heart free from sin. My extended and more personal definition of a pure heart is one unplagued with desires for things of this world (money, power, status, etc.), is a heart free from dishonorable cravings (vengeance, deception, depravity, etc), and is a heart singularly devoted to God, His word, and His will. It’s not double-minded or wishy-washy in its commitment; it’s ten toes down for the Lord and all He has to say.
A heart completely free of sin might sound intimidating, but it’s important to note that heart purity is not about perfection! We are striving to be like Christ, but we are very much human, so we can throw perfection out of the window, period. Being wholly sin-free and living a spotless life is impossible in this Earthly realm, but we CAN sin less and less and have our spots be fewer and farther between! When God purifies us, I imagine Him placing a flame of His love in our hearts, where it gently spreads and slowly burns our impurities away, healing us from the inside out. Allow me to fan the flames as we look at our heart posture.
Postures Of The Heart
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. Ezekiel 36:26 NLT
The contents of our hearts color our perspectives, seep into the words we speak, and influence the way we walk on this Earth. How you, I, WE show up in the world for ourselves, for others, for causes, and for God is all based on what’s in our hearts. And let’s be honest, the default settings of our hearts, well, uhh… They need some serious groundwork. Then we need to do some everyday maintenance. How can I operate the way God intends if my heart is cold, black, and stony?! I cannot! If we have half-thawed, lukewarm hearts, there’s only so much, if any, of God’s mission that we can accomplish at that level. No, we need warm, tender, and passionate hearts! We want to see God and His mission carried out, and we need the proper heart posture to invite Him to work in and through us.
- The heart posture of hunger and eagerness
- The heart posture of need and dependence
- The heart posture of fear and love-driven obedience
- The heart posture of expectation
The Road Of Heart Purity
Come close to God and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. James 4:8 NLT
The word “repentance” can be kind of unnerving, right? If you’re not ready to take a look at yourself, take accountability for your faults and mistakes, and take action to move away from them continually, the idea of repentance can be heavy. It carries a weight of guilt and shame and we would much prefer to sweep those ugly, nasty emotions under the rug, roll it up, and put them in the back of the closet! This is the serious groundwork I mentioned earlier. But don’t worry, because as we set our heart in the postures mentioned above, you will want to.
Repentance is not just expressing remorse and saying, “I’m sorry”; it’s inviting God to turn you away from whatever it is that’s polluting your heart/life. As you repent and He works through you, those things become less and less attractive, until you’re indifferent about them and eventually repulsed, even. All the while, He’s replacing what He’s removing with things of His nature. I’ve seen Him work through me in this way when it comes to sex, alcohol, and pride to say the least and it has been AMAZING. Excitedly, I’m like, what’s He gonna do next!? And the answer seems to be, “whatever I bow my head and repent about”. I do the groundwork of repentance, He does the heavy lifting, and then I do maintenance. It looks something like this:
Step 1. I bow my head
Step 2. I point out the areas that I already know need refining and I ask God to do what He does there and in any other areas that need work
Step 3. I let Him cook
*Ha!
There’s nothing else for me to do except trust that He’s about to show out.
Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7 NLT
The Heart Of The Matter
That ember that’s flickering in your heart? The one that has you feeling like you want to be closer to God and be more of the person God has planned for you to be? Yeah, let me fan that real quick.
In my last post, Try Jesus, Don’t Try Me, I spoke about patience, grace, and forgiveness, and after I published that post, I knew that it was time to release this one. This one should’ve come earlier, but it needed to marinate a little longer, and I will never serve you unseasoned or undercooked meals! The patience, grace, and forgiveness I mentioned (along with many other qualities we strive to walk in) don’t always come naturally. We can try our best, but if our hearts are polluted, it’s difficult to authentically exude those qualities and walk in our power! And only God and our reliance on Him can clean them up. Can you imagine a world where we all had the patience of Job, extended grace the way Joseph did with his foul and hatin’ brothers, and had the nature of forgiving 70×7 times, as Jesus instructed? Ha! I can’t really imagine it either; it’s too foreign, but I can try to imagine it within myself. I can pray God purifies my heart so that I release the qualities and appetites that lead me away from Him, and receive the qualities and appetites that bring me closer. God is revealing a cleaner, less polluted version of me everyday and I want that for you too. Let’s do this together, dear reader. We just have to do the groundwork and maintenance.
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Psalms 51:10 NLT
Swords for Heart Purity
I want to leave you with a few swords and sermons that really speak to me about the state of our hearts.
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23 NLT
Check out this sermon by Pastor Steven Furtick on Resetting Your Heart.
I have tried hard to find you— don’t let me wander from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalms 119:10-11 NLT
Check out this word from from Apostle Joshua Selman on What It Means To Be Pure In Heart.
As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person. Proverbs 27:19 NLT
I hope the flame in your heart is burning a little bit brighter. 🔥
I love this! The way you studied and brought forth the word is straight from God! Patience is something we should all have and I love the way you said you should have released this before try Jesus don’t try me but you had to researching pray and meditate more on this one which is what a good follower of Christ should do! You are definitely letting the holy spirit use you! Being a Christian means you renew yourself in Christ daily and I see that in you! It’s very refreshing to hear how you will never give us a undercooked or under seasoned word because now of days many people just want to get a word out and it’s not of or from God! For myself every single morning I ask God to create in me a clean heart! We soak in so much from the world during each day that we need to say and ask God to cleanse our hearts! Love it!
Yes! This one has been in my drafts for a WHILE now, but it was not ready! This one was actually a week off schedule, because it required even more time and meditation on the word, after I initially thought it was ready. Ha! I truly feel like it’s not about just getting a word out, it’s about me being authentic on my journey and how I might impact the reader, always! So thank you!! & I love that you ask every single morning, thats all we have to do. Have you noticed a shift within yourself?