We thank and glorify God almighty for leading our humble and lowly church. As per the leadings of Holy Spirit every month we meditate on some precise topic from the bible, this month yet another time God is encouraging us to purify ourselves. This month we would be going through a series on "Purification". Our saviour Jesus Christ gives us his holiness purifies us each time, so that one last day, standing before God, we would appear like Jesus, his own son; and to Jesus we would be a mirror.

Today's Meditation is from Joshua 7:13 which says "Get up! Purify the people and get them ready tomorrow,.....You cannot stand against your enemies until you get rid of these things"
Why must we purify ourselves? What was the scenario in Jos7:13?

Before Purification :- Joshua, successor of Moses was leading the Israelites. Ref Jos 7:1
*The Lords command to the Israelites was not to take anything from Jericho, which was not obeyed.
*(Jos7:2) A man named Achan, disobeyed God's command, acc to Josh 7:21 He stole a beautiful Babylonian cloak, silver, gold from Jericho... God was furious about this sin. At first Joshua was unaware of the sin committed by his own people.
*Isreal's Defeat :- Through spies, a small city named Ai was explored, and reported jos 7:3 Few men were required to capture the small city. But Israel was defeated (ref Jos7:5), the men of Ai chased them and killed 36 Israelites.
Joshua was discouraged, worried about their downfall, He mourned and enquired God Why He let them be defeated.(Jos7:6-9)

*Lord's Absence :- the Lord answers(Jos7:10-15) informing him about the sin. Since, there was sin, disobedience, curse among their people, God was not with them and thats why they couldn't stand against their enemies. Sin and righteousness cannot travel together. Acc to Josh7:12 god said unless you destroy these things (purify) 'I will not be with you'. Today, unless we purify ourselves God would not be with us, we cannot overcome our enemies.

Purification:- Joshua examined each tribe (Jos7:16-21)as the Lord said, Achan's sin was exposed & he confessed. One man's awful sin, brought everything he owned, his own family to destruction as they were stoned and burnt to death. (Jos7:22-26), Now Israel was purified and the Lord was no longer furious.

After Purification:-
*Lord's presence (Jos8:1) Just as the Lord promised
*Israel's Victory - (Josh8:22) the whole population of city Ai was destroyed, including the King.

Things that defile us are in 2 categories:-
1) HIDDEN- Ex:- Gen 20:1-7 in this category comes things that are not aware, unknown, not noticed.
*Abraham told King Abimelech only half truth about Sarah as his sister, hid the truth she was his wife(Gen20:12-13).
*God had closed the wombs of all women in his palace, because of Sarah (Gen20:18).
*Since, Abimelech was unaware of the hidden truth, he wanted to take Sarah. God revealed a gentile King the truth (Gen20:3) declared him innocent, kept him from sinning.(Gen20:6,7)
*Abimelech purified himself, gave Sarah back to Abraham. Abraham prayed for abimelech and God healed him, his wife and female slaves to bear children.
If there are any hidden truths we are unaware of, God himself would expose it to us. If God spoke to a gentile, definitely God would talk to us and help us get rid of such hidden things, purifying ourselves.

2)HIDING - Ex: 2Sam11:2 *King David of Israel sinned against the Lord as he took Bathsheba, though he knew the truth that she was the wife of Uriah (2Sam11:2-3).
*Uriah, was unaware of what happened to his wife in his absence, as he never returned home. (ref 2Sam11:11-13)
*There was nothing hidden to David, but he himself was hiding the truth, that was defile.
*David let the Ammonites kill Uriah(2Sam11:15), and took Bathsheba as his wife. The Lord was not pleased with what David had done.
*God didn't talk to David, but sent prophet Nathan ref 2Sam12:9-10 to warn him about God's fury. David confessed and accepted God's punishment.
*2Sam12:18 The child that Bathsheba bore to David died.

Things that defile us are impurities added to make us less holy. If they are hidden, God would reveal them, purify us and bless us further as it happened to King Abimelech. But if we are aware of those impurities, we hide them from others, it is we who should discard them, purify ourselves first then God would lead us.

purifying yourself is an invitation to God to purify you.
PRAISE THE LORD!
MAY GOD BLESS YOU!