JULY 4

Purity and Power – Part 1

Psalm 119:9 – How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. (NIV)

What is purity? It means not contaminated, clean, and chaste. Power is defined as might, ability, rule, and authority. Today, we will focus on divine purity and power – walking clean in God’s eyes and in His power. Let me start by saying that we have all been made clean through the blood of Jesus. At new birth, when we received the word of God and accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we were washed in the blood of Jesus and we were made pure and totally clean. We now need to keep our purity.

Purity must be kept in order to retain the upper hand in the conflicts of life. We need to be pure in order to display the fullness of God’s power and glory in our lives. The dominion of sin weakens and hinders the manifestation of God’s power in our lives. As Paul indicated, we cannot continue in sin and expect the grace of God to abound. It is true that we have been made pure through the blood of Jesus but we need to keep our purity by continuously aligning ourselves with the word of God. However, before we can align ourselves with the word we must know the word and how we can apply it to ourselves.

The standard for living in purity is God’s word. For example, to live in purity in marriage, God set up a standard in His word. He requires husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. To the wives He said submit to your own husband and be full of good works (Ephesians 5:24-32). In order to walk in purity you need to check and align yourself with God’s word. Ask for grace, take the grace and use the grace to live right.

The power of God is everywhere but the active power of God is not everywhere. Why? Power has to be switched on for it to be active. As Christians, we have been given the power of God to rule and reign on earth. Just as purity is a gift that has to be retained to gain and keep the upper hand, so also is power. Power has to be constantly exercised in order to get the maximum result. Jesus received all the power in heaven and earth and then delivered it to us. Right now we have the power of attorney to take charge and make things happen like Jesus.

Friend, when power is not used, it is as if it doesn’t exist. To activate the power that you have been given, you need to know from God’s word what kind of power you have been given and its accompanying magnitude. You have the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead at your disposal and the extent of your dominion reaches from highest heaven to the depths of hell. God does not have any problem with you ruling on His behalf, that has always been His plan.

For Further Study

1 Thessalonians 5:23, John 15:3, 7, 2, Chronicles 16:9

Personal declaration for the day

I live according to your word O Lord; therefore your power begins to manifest in my life.

Questions for you to reflect on

Do you know that you are already pure?

Do you know how you became pure?

Do you know how powerful you are in Christ?

Do you know the source of your power?