Hello to all of you blessed young ladies! What a huge
resource you have with Loving the Lord Ministries! I have been greatly blessed
myself by knowing Amy! She is truly a woman after God’s own heart and has been
an inspiration to me time and time again! Please don’t take Amy, her website,
books, articles, etc… for granted. They are packed full of wisdom and
encouragement. I want to publicly thank Amy for following hard after the Lord
and for living a consistent life before others.
Purity…why is
purity so important?
The Bible talks quite a bit about purity therefore it seems to be something the Lord cares about greatly. If God is concerned about this area of our lives and has instructed and commanded us in His word to be pure, then we better read and learn what God has to say and obey it with all of our hearts!
Please read
the following passages:
Phil. 1:10,
Phil. 4:8, 1 Tim. 1:5, 1 Tim. 5:22, 2. Tim. 2:22, Titus 2:5, Jam. 1:27, 1 Pet.
1:22, 1 Pet. 3:2.
Who can live a life that is pure and walk purely before their God?
Let me ask
you a few questions:
a.
What’s
your attitude towards purity?
b.
Do
you even HAVE a desire to be pure?
c.
Are
you truly born again?
To live a pure life, one must be born
again. A young lady who is not born again does not have the power of God at
work in her spirit, soul and body. Instead, she is dead in sins; she follows
the course of this world and carries out the desires of her body and mind. Eph. 2:1 says, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,
following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-among whom we
all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the
body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of
mankind.”
Like all fruit in the Christian life,
purity is not something that we can just decide to do!
“I’m going to be pure!” NO, purity
has to be a work of God in our totally depraved and sinful hearts. We have to
first be made pure and righteous by our Lord’s work on the cross and then and
only then can we know and experience true and lasting purity.
Let’s look
at 2 Tim. 2:22 together!
“So flee youthful passions and pursue
righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord
from a PURE heart.” (Emphasis added)
Matthew
Henry says: “Paul here exhorts Timothy to beware of youthful lusts. Though he
was a holy good man, very much mortified to the world, yet Paul thought it
necessary to caution him against youthful lusts: ‘Flee them, take all possible
care and pains to keep thyself pure from them.’ The lusts of the flesh are
youthful lusts, which young people must carefully watch against, and the best
must not be secure. He prescribes an excellent remedy against youthful lusts:
Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, etc... Youthful lusts are very
dangerous, for which reason even hopeful young people should be warned of them,
for they war against the soul.”
Girls, there
are so many things that want to steal our purity and pollute us. Let’s look at
some of these:
a.
The
Fashion Industry
b.
Movies
c.
Magazines
d.
Wrong
Friends
e.
Books
f.
“Girl
Talks” (yes, even seemingly innocent ones too!)
I would like to share with you a glimpse
into my journey of purity as it concerns waiting for my husband. It is not a perfect one, but one that is
filled with sin, temptation, repentance, victory and abundant blessing! I pray that God will use this snippet of my
testimony to encourage, strengthen and spur you on to greater purity. My desire
in sharing my testimony is not necessarily to share my struggles and victories
in detail, but to give you some things to ponder and think about as you are
either walking the path of purity or are in limbo as to what you should do.
God did a saving work in my life at
an early age. He filled me with his
powerful spirit and gave me the desire to love him and live for him in every
area of life. Growing up, my parents were very careful about the kinds of influences, entertainment and friends I had. They realized that although “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Ps. 51:5) there were certain things they had been commanded by God to teach to their children. At age 13 I can remember giving my dad a gold key and heart necklace set. He kept the key and I wore the heart. (My heart said, “He who holds the key can unlock my heart.”) I wanted to be pure at that time, but was starting to struggle.
When I was 16 years old my father and
mother took me out for a special evening together at Macaroni Grille! I
remember that significant night as if it were yesterday. After a delicious dinner, my mother and
father presented me with a beautiful gold, heart-shaped ring with a shiny
diamond in the center of it. (This ring was a replica of the ring that my dad
gave to my mom years before.)
He said, “Tara, will you give me your heart?
Will you keep yourself pure and trust the Lord to use your mother and I to help
you find and marry the right young man some day? It was that night that my
parents formally called me to the walk of purity that they had been directing
me along from the time I was born. They were challenging me to stand for and
walk in the path of purity. At that
moment I had the opportunity to submit and respond to what my parents had so
caringly put before me and live a life experiencing God’s protection and
blessing, or say no, sever the God given protection on my life and live a life
of impurity and regret. I am so glad to be able to share with you today, I said
YES with all of my heart! Little did I know it would be 7 long years before I
would meet my prince and another 2 years before I would say “I do.” The years following my 16th birthday were filled with ups and downs, struggles and victories, joys
and pains. It seemed like I would live victoriously pure for several days and then
BAM utter discouragement and lies would creep their horrid way into my heart
and I would start day dreaming or entertaining impure thoughts. Each time this
happened, the undeserving forgiveness and unconditional love of the Lord was
there to meet me!
Following are a few areas in my life
where I had the opportunity to cultivate purity by the grace of God. I used
questions like these as accountability and as a purity thermometer to regularly
take my temperature.
I pray they will be of help to you.
I pray they will be of help to you.
a.
Purity
of Body – What kind of clothing do I choose to wear every day? Do they shout
out that I am a pure, daughter of the most high King?
b.
Purity
of Mind - What kind of thoughts do I allow to fill my mind throughout the day?
c.
Purity
of Emotions - Do I daily keep my emotions in check and submitted to the
Lordship of Jesus Christ?
d.
Purity
of Heart - When I’m all alone what kinds of things do I look at, read or dream
about?
e.
Purity
of Conscience – Is my conscience pure and clean or am I hiding anything from my
authorities that God has placed in my life as a protection from the enemy? Am I
sharing the struggles and victories with them on a regular basis?
f.
Purity
of Speech – What kinds of words go out of my mouth? Are they pure and lovely?
g.
Purity
of Sight – Are the things that I choose to set before my eyes pure, lovely and
of good report?
h.
Purity
of Appetite – Do I crave wholesome and pure entertainment?
i.
Purity
of Countenance- What does my countenance tell the watching world? “She radiates
purity?”
God also used my parents, siblings,
and godly friends as great accountability!
Girls, the world tells us that the
way of impurity is exciting, thrilling and fulfilling. But God says in Prov.
14:12, “There is a way
that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to
death.” Matt. 7:11
says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things
to those who ask him.” 
God
gives good gifts to his children (in many shapes and forms as He knows what is
best for us) and it is a joy to share with you that I am experiencing good
gifts! I am happily married to the man
of my dreams and have been blessed with 2 precious children! The Lord has been
faithful and we are continuing to experience the blessings of God on our lives!
So
if I were to restate the principles that I have been sharing in my testimony,
it would look like this: God saved me and gave me a new heart, my parents
called me to a life of purity and directed me along its path, I submitted and
responded with a willing and yielding heart, there were various methods of accountability
in my life, and all of this lead to abundant blessing and reward!
Let’s look at 2 Tim. 2:22 again
together! “So flee youthful passions and
pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the
Lord from a PURE heart.”
According to God’s word we are to
FLEE youthful passions and PURSUE what? RIGHTEOUSNESS…FAITH…LOVE…PEACE, along
with those who call on the Lord from a PURE heart.
I will tell you there are days that
will be very hard and the struggle will be intense, but it is worth it all for
the sake of Christ! Phil. 3:14 says, “I press on toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
It’s a hard, bumpy road
to travel if you want to be pure. It’s definitely NOT for sissies! Most everything
and everyone around you will try to trip you up and ensnare you.
Prov. 4:27 says, “Do not swerve to the
right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.” Remember, the journey
of purity does not end the day you say I do. In your marriage you will daily
have to decide to let God continue to cultivate purity in your life and in your
marriage!
Thank
you for taking the time to read this article. Purity is being attacked on all
sides, even from the church. It’s time to take a stand, live in obedience to
Christ and be a witness to the watching world!
“Now to him who is able to keep you
from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory
with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be
glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.
Amen.” Jude 1:24-25
“Now to him who is able to do far
more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work
within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all
generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Eph. 3:20-21
I would like to dedicate this article to Steve and Cherie (my loving parents) and to my devoted and WONDERFUL husband…Stephen!
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