Pure Devotion to Christ

In my last three posts, “The Secret to Loving,” “How to Tune into God’s Live Love Stream,” and “Simple Devotion to Christ,” I’ve been laying the foundation for the believer in Christ’s love life:

“The Secret to Loving”

• The authentic cycle of the expression of love in a Christian’s life begins with the believer consistently receiving and enjoying (not earning) Christ’s one-of-a-kind, personal love for his or her heart alone.
• So much of Christian discipleship today tells us that we need to be more loving (they’ll know us by our love, right?), but it leaves out the most important ingredient—the Source of that authentic expression—the tangible (real) experience of His exclusive, private love for our heart alone.
• In my opinion, that’s like forgetting to add the hamburger meat to our hamburger. It’s like leaving the fudge off of my hot fudge sundae (Day 26 of Whole30 – Lord, help me!) Instead of saying, “Where’s the beef (or hot fudge)?” many are saying “Where’s the authentic love of Christ?” when referring to the Christian church worldwide.
• Bottom line: the secret to loving is living loved in Christ.

“How to Tune into God’s Live Love Stream”

• The Word of God, the Spirit of Christ, perpetually (without interruption) indwells the new, pure heart of every Christian and is continually live streaming His one-of-a-kind love privately to the one who belongs to Him (John 7:38; 10:27; 1 John 4:8).
• He’s also live streaming His “hound-of-Heaven” love to those who do not yet belong to Him, but from the outside. 
• The apostle Paul communicates, in a nutshell, what Father God’s longing is for each heart who belongs to Him:  Simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (2 Cor. 11:3). In a complex world, this is wonderfully refreshing news.

“Simple Devotion to Christ” (drawing from the Greek meaning for simplicity, “singleness of mind, infused by God through the Spirit”)

• No matter where Christians are or what they are doing, they can tune into God’s Loving Channel at any moment in time.
• He is right there inside our new hearts, 24/7/365, just waiting for us to get into “receiving” mode and turn our attention to (toward our actual, physical heart instead of our often noise-laden heads) what He wants to communicate to us.
• We can rest assured that everything He will speak to us will sound like perfect love—a lavishing love that inspires (not depresses), builds up (not tears down), encourages (not discourages), strengthens (not weakens), comforts (not torments), and consoles (not distresses) us (1 Cor. 14:3).
• We can learn to hear His voice and experience His tangible love through journaling. Having soft, instrumental music (my preference is Christian) playing in the background facilitates our love reception by stimulating the right, intuitive side of our brains.

*One very important aspect of hearing His voice (I failed to mention in my last post) is that most often it will sound like unhindered conversational thoughts, not an actual audible voice (I’m not limiting Him, though. Our limitless God can speak to us in any way or form that He chooses.)

Today’s post will enrich what you’ve already learned about hearing God’s voice and experiencing His tangible love by focusing on the Greek meaning of the word purity, which is “exciting reverence, sacred, immaculate.”

Before I understood the truth of my brand-new identity in Christ (given to me as a nine-year-old when I believed into Christ), words like purity, reverence, sacred, and immaculate evoked feelings of fear and unworthiness, due to my far-from-perfect track record.

I must admit that the only excitement I felt was that of a negative, anxious nature.

But now I experience a different kind of excitement—a joy-filled delight that comes from the “already” of my new life in Christ.

Yes, I know that my behavior does not always express Christ’s pure life and love, but it’s in me permanently.

He’s in me permanently.

And someday, when my earthly body is exchanged for a Christ-saturated body, our (Christ’s and my) holy union will be expressed perfectly throughout eternity (1 Cor. 15:53)

I can experience great rest (and excitement) in knowing that right now I am not defined by my behavior, but by my pure, holy, blameless, and righteous identity in my Beloved.

He has already made me pure, holy, blameless, and righteous forever (Ezek. 36:25–27; John 14:20; 15:3; Rom. 5:1, 8–10; 6:3–4, 6,17–18; 11:16; 1 Cor. 1:2, 30; 6:17; 2 Cor. 5:16–17, 21; 11:2; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 1:4; 5:8; Col. 2:9-10; Heb. 1:3; 2:11; 3:1; 9:14; 10:10, 14, 22; 1 Pet. 2:9–10; 2 Pet. 1:3–4; 1 John 2:12; 4:17; 5:4; Rev. 19:7–9; 21:2–3).

The following official music video for MercyMe’s 2014 hit single “Flawless” from their album Welcome to the New says more in four minutes about the believer’s flawless identity in Christ than I could type in a million words:

I hope this video and the truths I’ve shared with you about your flawless identity in Christ (the only identity you possess) has inspired you to see yourself as you truly and eternally are right now—at this moment in time.

Father God is asking you to believe what He says is true over and above what you feel and renew your minds with eternal truth. He sees reality at all times.

And the eternal, spiritual realm is much more real than the temporal, natural realm (2 Cor. 4:18).

Journaling Exercise:

1. Schedule some focused time with Jesus.
2. Pick three (or more) Scriptures out of the above “already” list concerning who you are now and forever in Christ and hand-write (not type) them in your journal.
3. Relax (take some deep belly breaths) and picture yourself resting with Jesus in your favorite quiet place.
4. Start dialoguing with Him by writing how you feel about what He says about you.
5. If you believe what He says, thank and praise Him for the truth of your eternal identity in Him. Celebrate His finished work! (Dancing and singing is allowed.)
6. If you are struggling to believe the truth, be honest with Him (He already knows). Ask Him to give you revelation that will help to solidify these truths in your mind and then listen (and watch—He often speaks through moving pictures).
7. Don’t worry about the validity of what you are writing. That will interrupt the intuitive flow in your mind. Just write what you hear and see. You can test what’s written later against Scriptural truth and share it with your spiritual mentor(s) if you would like confirmation.

I pray that Father God gives you revelation concerning your perpetual purity in His Son and that your realization of this truth will cause you to worship Him with excited reverence, knowing that you are His holy bride, flawlessly fused to Him forever.

Dear holy bride of Christ, I would love to hear how your Spiritual Bridegroom is revealing Himself to you through your focused journaling exercises.  

If you enjoyed this post, then I think you would enjoy both of my books where I share the undiluted, unpolluted love and grace of God.