Not only does our prayer deflect the enemy, but our purity deflects the enemy. God calls you to purity because He wants your heart protected and at rest, inhospitable to the devil and his intentions. God wants you full of power and confidence and spiritual vitality. He wants you free to bless and encourage others, to receive and celebrate His goodness, to become such a stick-of-dynamite prayer warrior that Satan just hates hearing your coffee pot heat up in the morning.
Purity
A.W. Tozer
Sins such as pride, vanity, self-centeredness, levity, worldliness, gluttony, the telling of “white” lies, borderline dishonesty, lack of compassion for the unfortunate, complacency, absorption in the affairs of this life, love of pleasure, the holding of grudges, stinginess, gossiping… are so common that they have been accepted as normal by the average church and are either not mentioned at all or referred to in smiling half-humor by the clergy. While not as spectacular as a roaring weekend drunk or as dramatic as a violent explosion of temper, they are in the long run more deadly than either, for they are seldom recognized as sin and are practically never repented of. They remain year after year to grieve the Spirit and sap the life of the church, while everyone continues to speak the words of the true faith and go through the motions of perfunctory godliness, not knowing that there is anything wrong.
Francis A. Schaeffer
We should realize that if something untrue or immoral is stated in great art, it can be far more devastating than if it is expressed in poor art. The greater the artistic expression, the more important it is to consciously bring it and its worldview under the judgment of Christ and the Bible. The common reaction among many, however, is just the opposite. Ordinarily, many seem to feel that the greater the art, the less we ought to be critical of its worldview. This we must reverse.
N. T. Wright
If what we want is God’s justice, coming to sort things out, we will do better to get entirely out of the way and let God do his own work, rather than supposing our burst of anger (which will most likely have all sorts of nasty bits to it, such as wounded pride, malice and envy) will somehow how help God do what needs to be done.
Bill Johnson
As long as we compare ourselves to previous generations we look good. But as long as we compare ourselves with the original standard of the gospel we realize we need to get alone with God and find out why there’s not a demonstration of purity and power. This is a draft notice that we have been called by the Lord to represent him well. Absolute undistracted devotion to Jesus – its why I’m alive. Simple devotion.
Frederick Brotherton ( F. B. ) Meyer
May we not only be delivered from the outward act or word that grieves Thee, but may the very springs of our nature be purified!
John Owen
The indulgence of one sin opens the door to further sins. The indulgence of one sin diverts the soul from the use of those means by which all other sins should be resisted.
N T Wright
When we shift from personal purity to personal happiness, we lose biblical hope because we are not focusing on God’s agenda, we are focusing on our own. God’s agenda is guaranteed on our agenda is not.
Dag Hammarskjold
May God give us a pure heart so we may see Him; a humble heart so we may hear Him; a loving heart so we may serve Him; a faithful heart so we may live Him.
C. S. Lewis
It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.