Pure for Sure!
Dr. Mrs. Lilian Stanley
Revivals come and revivals go. Go? Why go?
Why don't they stay back? When we dig out the ashes
of bygone revivals, we always find sin at the bottom.
Revival fires frighten Satan. He catches hold of one
holy person here and another holy person there and
tells them, “It's ok to taste a little sin. Surely it is not
going to put out this mighty revival.” And poof, poof,
poof, go off brightly burning candles and suddenly
darkness engulfs the place where once brilliance
reigned supreme.
The image of Christianity is at stake. There is
no glaring difference between others and Christians.
They tell lies and we tell lies. They murder and we
murder. They hit the headlines and so do we. If this
situation has to change, each of us must roll up our
sleeves and fight the filth in us. Unless there is
REVIVAL IN PERSONAL PURITY revival is not
going to show up its head.
“Let the one who does right continue to do
right; and let the holy person continue to be holy”
(Rev 22:11b). We may be holy; but we need to be
holier still. If you are holy, maintain your holiness at
any cost. If we keep looking at others, judging, and
criticizing them, our inner man will keep shrinking.
We need to forget about others and look into
ourselves if we are keen on a revival of personal
purity. It is true that we struggle a little and try a bit,
but do we battle to the point of shedding our blood?
(Heb 12:4). We need to constantly strive for greater
holiness. Let us throw off everything that hinders,
and the sin that so easily entangles (Heb 12:1). Our
goal is to become like Jesus.
Young people must learn to push hard against
the sin that pushes hard against them. Many choose to
follow their hormones instead of following God's
design for sex and marriage. Keep a sharp lookout for
sin approaching you from a distance (2 Tim 2:22).
Don't think you cannot be pure for sure. When I was
your age, battling sexual temptations, I used to think
that it was impossible to be pure in youthhood. But
God helped me. Please read my testimony booklet,
THE UGLY DUCKLING and escape the stealthy
killer. It is a continuous battle till death.
I watched in the TV news on 13 Jan 2016, a
Chinese tourist in Thailand, viewing a snake. She
said it was so sweet and kissed it. The snake sprang
from the man's hand and bit her nose. Before they
could release her from the vicious attack, her nose
was gone. Today there are many who have lost their
noses. Just like when a crocodile gets hold of a foot, it
drags the person into murky waters, what seems like
an innocent game with sin, will drag you deep into the
depths of hell. Beware. Satan knows the right bait for
each of us. If you refuse to learn righteousness
through grace, God will resort to punishment. Two
strong words youth must learn are, 'Yes' and 'No.'
'Yes' to God and 'No' to evil buddies.
Reading Isaiah 64:5-8, we find the confession
of the prophet: “We continued to sin... All of us have
become like one who is unclean, and all our
righteous acts are like filthy rags.” Then he switches
over to singular and laments: “There is no one who
calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold
of You” (v7). In other words, he weeps that there is no
one longing for personal revival.
Then Isaiah tells God: “We are the clay, You are
the potter” (v8) He commits himself into God's
hands to be molded. Do you know what it means to be
molded? The potter stamps on the clay and removes
the stones. The clay whimpers, “Please, enough.” But
the potter does a thorough job. Then the potter puts
the clay to the wheel. “My head spins. Leave me
alone. Take me from the wheel,” shouts the clay. But
the potter waits till the clay takes shape. Now it has
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