The Purge

How many of you thought this post would be about the movie entitled “The Purge”? LOL For those of you who have never heard or seen this thriller, “The Purge” it is about an annual ONE night event that was established where people from all around the world were allowed to “cleanse their souls” by murdering people whether they knew them or not for 12 hours. It was legal for them to commit murder for 12 hours in order to “cleanse their souls”.  Crazy right? I do not condone murder or cleansing your soul this way, but the one thing that was revealed to me in this movie was the attempt people made to cleanse their souls of hate, evil, violence, etc.  The thing about it is, this was an “annual” event.  Each year, they were allowed to cleanse their selves by acting in this manner.  Their attempt didn’t permanently “cleanse” their souls…they did this cleansing every year…

We do this “temporary fixing” when we go on crash diets and drinking teas/fruit infused water (I still do this) to get rid of toxins and waste in an attempt to cleanse our bodies, however, its a temporary fix.  This post isn’t about condoning murder, or praising or bashing various ways of cleansing our bodies, but it is about a type of “Purge” that occurs in our lives that cleanses more than our physical bodies and cleanses our souls more than the annual night of a purge ever would.  The Purge that I am speaking of is the cleansing of soul (mind, will, and emotions), body, and spirit by God through the Power of the Holy Spirit.

God says in 1 Peter 1:16, “…You must BE holy because I AM holy.” Holy as in “worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness or divine”.  To Be or become a person that is Holy is not in what you eat or don’t eat or do or don’t drink. What you do or don’t wear, But in your character, behavior, who you are…being HOLY as he IS HOLY.  This is after surrendering your life and old ways, actions, and behaviors to God in exchange of a new life resembling his. This is of course after having faith which make you righteous and in right standing with God. I’ve come to realize that there is nothing we can do on our own that can truly cleanse and purify us.  It’s an attempt that we will always come short of.  We try to change, we try to give up certain foods, we try and try and succeed only temporarily.  It is because we are limited. We can only do so much. There is someone more powerful that can Purge us from all addictions, behaviors, attitudes, thoughts and actions and He is part of the Trinity of God…the Holy Spirit.  But God, who is all powerful and infinite , “..who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20, NLT) can purge us and make us who he has called us to be. He is someone who we receive in our hearts at the moment of accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit who is our Helper and our Comforter. The Holy Spirit is the one who purifies us.  So before accepting Christ, our hearts are filthy, full of sin, and by faith, when we believe, we receive the Holy Spirit whose job is to Purge us and cleanse us to BECOME HOLY as GOD IS HOLY to make us into who God has called and created us to be.  But this purging is not a one time cleansing.  ITS A LIFETIME.  The Holy Spirit will use anything to help us to become who we were created and destined to be.

It’s like the goldsmith who is trying to create a certain karat of gold… he puts the gold in the fire, and allows the impurities to rise to the top, takes it out, and scrapes the impurities off.  He decides it isn’t quite what he wants, so he places it BACK IN THE FIRE and allows MORE IMPURTIES to rise, takes it out and SCRAPES THE IMPURTIES off.  This process continues until he gets what he wants.  This is how God purifies us.  He uses tests and trials in our lives to make us into who he has called.  He purges us and gets the impurities out of us.  It’s a lifetime process.  We will never arrive until the day we die or the day he returns for us.

I think about what has happened to me recently, I had to get a new roof because the windstorm caused the shingles on my roof to come off, I’ve broken out in rashes and am on a medication to rid my body of the rash, on my job my faith, hope, and purpose has been challenged and I cannot help but ask God, is it me? Am I doing something, if so show me and he has.  He has  shown me my motives and what I am doing or not doing (obedience or disobedience).  He has also shown me that I am being tested and proven.  He has used people (job, church, family/friends), finances, my health, my desires/wants, etc. to purge and purify me.  He purges me of impure thoughts, motives, and anything that comes up against God and His Word and the purpose that he has for me.  This purge hurts but it’s long lasting.  Either way I am and you are going to be or are being purged, cleansed, purified to BE MORE LIKE JESUS.  God already spoke our being in the beginning when he said, “Let us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in OUR OWN IMAGE according to OUR LIKENESS [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]” (Genesis 1:26 AMP).

Now just because we know that only God can change us, doesn’t mean we don’t have a part to play in this process.  I said earlier we cannot do it on our own.  The Holy Spirit was sent to “Help or assist” so we must have a desire and surrender so that he can step in.  He is a gentleman and doesn’t go against our own will or desires.  We can only be purged if WE WANT TO BE PURGED. We can begin by asking God to “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right and steadfast spirit within me” (Psalms 51:10 AMP), “Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalms 51:7), and “Search me (thoroughly), O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (Psalms 139:23-24 AMP). You must ask the Holy Spirit to help you to cleanse your heart, ways, and behaviors.

So are you trying to cleanse yourself and finding it hard to stay that way?  Are you failing?  Or are you succeeding but realize that you’ve been doing it on your own?  It’s bigger than your attempts to remove people, foods/drinks, out of the equation to purge yourself.  How is your heart? Your mind?  Is it being purged DAILY? Only with the help of God through the power of the Holy Spirit will be able to cleansed.  We must surrender lives and ourselves in order to be PURGED.  Have you gone through the PURGE?

Love, Ashley Nicole