Several years ago a friend of mine was leaving his corporate job to go into business for himself full time. He told me he felt like Joshua as he was about to enter the Promised Land. God had told them to sanctify themselves, and he wanted to know what that was. When I studied it, I found that it could be translated sanctify or purify. This purification was twofold. They were to purify themselves outwardly through rituals, but also inwardly. They needed to prepare their inner person for what God was about to do. How they thought and what they believed needed to match their outward actions in order to attain all God had for them. We all need to purify ourselves as well to take the land God has given us.
Here are some Bible verses on purifying yourself:
1. Get out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves, you who carry home the sacred objects of the Lord.
Isaiah 52:11 NLT
2. Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.”
Joshua 3:5 NLT
3. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
I John 3:2-3 NKJV
4. All these promises are made to us, my dear friends. So then, let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be completely holy by living in awe of God.
2 Corinthians 7:1 GNT
5. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
James 4:8 NLT
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 