Bring on the Rain: The Purifying Challenge!

The Purifying Challenge!

Written by Serendipitymom12

In the evening, I was in the kitchen making dinner. I was tired from writing blogs and was taking a break, but while I was cooking I felt a prompting in my heart from the Lord to create a Purifying Challenge. It became persistent that I had to put my pan aside and go back to the computer to write it.

It amazes me how many Christians do not strive for a pure lifestyle nowdays. Being in the world is like playing in the mud pit. I wrote this challenge and it was something that I have been applying in my own life recently. I threw away twenty movies that I owned so far. I threw away every CD I owned because I knew there was nothing of God in it. I threw away several bags of clothes this year that even though they were trendy, they were revealing and immodest. I quit MySpace several months ago because I couldn't stand looking at the advertisements anymore.

Let us all join the bandwagon and purify our homes, purify our blogs, purify our entertainment collection and purify everything around us! Come to AGMinistries to read the article, "The Purifying Challenge" and get your own banner!

13 Comments:

LisaShaw said...
January 9, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Amen Charlene! You're message is dead on! I remember when I cleaned out everything in order to have a devout house. A house that if any one at any time rang the bell I never had to put something away or turn the channel! A house that was pleasing to the LORD, not perfect but pleasing!!!

Consecrate our hearts and our lives Precious LORD that we would all bring glory and honor to You in every way.

Judy said...
January 10, 2009 at 5:31 AM
Charlene. You're so right.We should seek to be set apart from the world.It would be great to spend time reading things that draw me closer to God. I want the activities that I do to show that I am a christian and my life is different.

Sisterlisa said...
January 10, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Good reply Lisa. My pastor giggles when he knocks on someone's door and he hears the mom tell the kids "The Pastor's here, cleanup!!"

Anonymous said...
January 10, 2009 at 10:36 AM
Going over now to see...

Miss Jocelyn
http://aponderingheart.com

Clara said...
January 10, 2009 at 1:48 PM
I was thinking more about this purifying of our lives - I already wrote a comment on the AG Ministries site - purifying our lives is part of the sanctification process. I did a study on sanctification a few months back and there are SO many references of exhortations for a believer to be holy (or sanctified) in the Bible - this is not talking about the once-off sanctification we receive when the blood of our Lord Jesus cleanses us of all sin - this is talking about the daily process of making our lives sanctified for God. I dug out all of the references and it was so extensive that the study took me a couple weeks of intensive work! In order to be holy, we must be pure in our talk and our 'walk' (meaning the way we live). So I was thinking that this challenge could include cleaning up our language and what we talk about! When I was working in the world (as a nurse in a huge hospital), I would hear bad language all day, and I KNOW it is easy to fall into the habit of lazy bad talk... but if we ask God to clean up and purify the way we talk, He is faithful to help us with that - He did for me! :)

Krystal said...
January 10, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Charlene, I read the article on AGM. It was so very good.

When my son was born in 2005, we "cleaned up" our DVD collection for the first time; we probably had over 300 DVDs. Since then, it seems like, about once a year, I sense a prompting from the Lord to go through my DVDs again. Now, I'm down to about 50 DVDs. And I purchase them now with great discretion. In fact, before purchasing a movie, I prefer to rent it first. That way, it won't be a wast of money if there ends up being trash in it.

You mentioned that you stopped watching a few tv shows. I started watching Will and Grace a few years ago, but stopped once I realized that Jack and Will were gay. (It took me awhile before I even realized they were gay... how naive can you be, Krystal?!?! Bleh.)

But the thing I noticed is this: at first, I only got rid of a few DVDs. Then, with each passing year, I would look at a movie and think, "Yuck. I can't have this in my house." And I began to notice that the more that I was willing to receive instruction and conviction about my DVDs, the more tender my heart became toward the Lord in this area. Now I don't hesitate to throw something away if I think it's trash (and like you said, don't pass it on to someone else!)

Recently, I purchased the Scholastic Treasury DVD library for my kids. It's a DVD collection of 100 animated stories. When I opened it, I saw that there was a DVD with Halloween and scary stories on it. I politely took that DVD and threw it right into the trash.

So, I truly think that once you start "purifying," it just gets easier and easier. But I wonder if I would have been able to do that so quickly and easily had I not started to yield in this area years ago?....

(Is it poor blogging etiquette to type in comment that's as long as the original post. Ohhh... :0)

beth said...
January 11, 2009 at 8:09 AM
So right, Sister Charlene, but it is so difficult to keep earthly things away from our family. I have tried to find the right path, but it is so difficult to keep to it. My children are 10 and 12 now and not home schooled. They are beginning to realize that there is a world outside of our home and they want to be a part of it, like their friends, yet I fear for their safety, like any mother would. I try to keep them restricted to their rooms after school, but it isn't working.

Unknown said...
January 12, 2009 at 6:32 AM
Amen! I think this is an awesome idea! I run everything through a purifying filter and I am very careful what I allow in my home.

beth said...
January 14, 2009 at 8:33 PM
Does anyone have any advice? It is so hard for me now that my children are getting older. I think perhaps this may not be such a problem if your children are home schooled, but mine are not.

Robert Sagor said...
January 14, 2009 at 9:01 PM
I think that this is something that is really missing from so many Christians today. I remember growing up nearly every church I had attended had burn barrel services where the pastor for several weeks before would preach on cleansing the home of wickedness and things that did not glorify God, and then at the end he would have everyone bring the items that they decided to cleanse from out of their home to the church and throw it into the burning barrel. It was a wonderful time and I remember it well. But I have not seen a single church do this in the last 15 years! I rarely hear Christians concerned about what is in their homes. Thank you for this timely reminder!

Blessings,
Laura

Clara said...
January 16, 2009 at 1:39 AM
Beth - my mother knew nothing of homeschooling and was too ill to have homeschooled us anyway, and we grew up in the public school system. Despite that, my mother managed to instill in us a basic hatred of the world. My parents would not allow us to take part in any activity they considered worldly, and this included our clothing - she made all our clothes and they were NOT fashionable - just purely modest. My parents taught us the Word of God constantly. We were not allowed to spend time with friends we made at school (outside of school hours) or to talk with them on the phone until we were well into our teens, and even then my mother chose to make us have our friends over to our house so she would know what we were doing and with whom until we were nearer to the end of school! We would often sit and do crafts with our friends rather than running off to our room and playing with make-up or any of those other things kids do these days. In other words, my mother was very strict. She became a part of our school experience too - she was a teacher's aide and so often there at school with us (when she was well enough!), and anytime there was a class she thought we did not need to be involved in, she would tell the teacher we must be exempted because of our beliefs. I hated it at the time, but in later years I came to appreciate the way she spent so much time and prayer raising us in a way that was right in God's eyes. That is the most important thing. You are accountable to God for what you allow your children to be a part of during their growing up years, you as a parent are accountable for teaching them about God and laying a foundation rooted in God's Word. It is a huge responsibility... And children are like any other human being... if we give them an inch of leeway to do what they reeealllly want, they will take a mile! They will play on it and in the end it can become impossible to say "no" without starting over and back-tracking. And then it is a battle because "you used to say we could do that" or "you used to let us go ______". If you are too restrictive and lock them in their rooms, they will end up in revolt - keeping them in the house and having them be involved in the house and learning to be keepers at home will help them learn their God-given role as a woman, rather than making them feel like home is a prison. Does that help at all?? :)

Serendipitymom12 said...
January 16, 2009 at 9:32 AM
I also wanted to add some input for you Beth, that I grew up in public schools too. My mother showed us all the things we would face in life and taught us the wisdom behind it. She taught us "common sense" and told us the straight truth about these things. You can tell your kids that they're "old enough to know the truth, you will be showing these things" and they delight in feeling like they're adult enough to hear what you're gonna tell them. I'd teach them what alcohol, drugs, premarital relationships do and how they destroy lives. I learned those at a young age and knew that I never wanted any of these things. Instead of restricting them to their rooms which will make them rebel and think you're keeping them away from fun, instruct them in wisdom to handle many situations they will face in life. Teach them how to discern between right and wrong. (example my pastor said once, he showed his sons a homeless man lying in the streets because he was so drunk. The pastor told his sons, see this man? he could be home with his family and living a good life, but because he choose alcohol, he lives on the street and threw away his life.)

beth said...
January 19, 2009 at 11:01 AM
thanks to all of you for your support. sometimes I feel so tired at the end of the day, but then I sit and read The Word for comfort. It helps me so much.