defile

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Psalm 79:1 The Enemy Is Infiltrating

O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. Psalm 79:1

In battles between two nations, there is often one that rises above the other. The enemy will sometimes be able to infiltrate the nation and cause destruction in order to break down the nation and win the battle. Once the enemy is inside the borders of another nation, it is very difficult to push them back out. It takes extraordinary strength and power to remove the enemy once inside the borders.

Asaph calls out to God to tell Him that the foreign nations have crossed into Jerusalem and defiled the temple and destroyed Jerusalem.

The goal of the enemy is to infiltrate and take over the opposition. In the process there is often a lot of damage done. The more the enemy can break down the target, the stronger they will become.

The world is an enemy to God and to His followers. Satan wants to infiltrate and destroy the lives of believers and their faith in any way that he can. Many churches and believers have let down their guard and allowed the enemy to get in and defile God’s holy temple.

Believers are to be the holy temple of God, where God dwells, yet, they have allowed sin to come in and reign in their lives. Rejection of God’s word as the solid foundation of truth has been accepted. Sin has become acceptable and even promoted inside the church defiling the temple of God, both as an institution and in the individual believer’s hearts.

Believers need to cry out to God in repentance and seek God’s mercy upon their lives as they turn from sin and allow God to push the enemy back out of His holy temple.

Any time you choose to sin, you allow the enemy to infiltrate God’s holy temple and defile it. You are to be the holy temple, the dwelling place of God that has been cleansed of all sin for God’s glory.

Put on the full armor of God and fight against the enemy that wars against your soul. Allow God to be the only One to dwell inside of your life and do not defile His temple with sin. Do not allow sin to reign in your life, but have God to be the one on the throne of your heart.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will be the holy temple in which God dwells; that God will give you strength to resist the enemy of your soul; and that God will reign in your life.

Picture by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash

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Numbers 35:34 Don’t Defile The Land

Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites. Numbers 35:34

Environmentalists are very quick to desire to protect the land from any physical pollution or destruction. Some will go to extreme lengths to protect the land. Due to their work, some areas have been cleaned up and protected very well.

The focus of these environmentalists is that the land is where people and live and it needs to be kept in good health to provide for and protect the people and animals.

God told the people to not defile the land, specifically with bloodshed of murder, because He dwells there.

While taking care of the physical land is helpful, it is only a temporary help. The entire earth will be burned up and destroyed some day after Jesus returns.

There is another ‘land’ that is even more important to not defile and that is the body and soul of a person. Once a person chooses to repent of his sins, believe in Jesus and is saved, God now dwells in him. He has now become a land where God lives.

God, holy, pure and perfect, cannot dwell in a place that is defiled and dirty with sin. Too often many believers allow the sinful things of the world to defile their lives. Sin is allowed into their hearts and minds through many different methods, bringing filth into God’s dwelling place.

In the passage here, the defilement is about murder. Many believers allow murder in their hearts by hating and cursing others.

Believers are to flee all sin and all appearances of sin. They are to seek to live pure and holy, righteous lives before God and man because they are now the temple of God–the land where God dwells in.

As a believer, you are now the dwelling place of God. You have choices each day as to what you will allow into your life.

Do not allow yourself to be polluted by the sinful ways of this fallen world, since Jesus has removed all the filth of sin in your life. Do not go back into sin and defile God’s dwelling place. The temporary pleasures of sin will only bring about death.

Live the abundant life Jesus has purchased for you by His shedding of His blood upon the cross by living pure and holy before God and man.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will allow Jesus to purify you from all sin in your life; that God will strengthen you to flee all sin and anything that defiles your life; and that God will be pleased to live in you.

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Leviticus 18:24 No Sexual Immorality

Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Leviticus 18:24

The world, being led by Satan, has no direct moral standard, anything goes. Many nations have started out with good Godly moral standards in many areas, but later deviated into sinful practices more and more. Some of these nations completely disappeared, while others grew much smaller than they once were.

One area that has shown the greatest downfall of a nation is in that of sexual immorality.

After listing a long list of sexual practices that the Israelites were not to do, God tells them not to defile themselves in any of those ways, because it is for those things the nations before them were defiled and are being cast out.

Until recently America has generally held certain beliefs about man, woman and sexual practices. Beginning about 40-50 years ago these beliefs started breaking down, until recently they are in a very rapid pace of deviation from Godly standards.

Currently nearly anything goes when it comes to sexuality. Anyone can have sexual relations with nearly anyone. Homosexuality is accepted as normal, and sadly even in many churches. With the advance of modern medical procedures, now people even change their sex.

Acting in these ways is defiling oneself in the ways of the world. It is living in sin and promoting sin. It is selfishness, pride and rejecting God’s word that drives these actions to be done.

True believers will not live as the world lives. They will keep themselves pure from any sexual immorality. Believing men will remain men, women will remain women, and only have sexual relations with one husband or one wife accordingly.

They do not want to be cast in the lake of fire in the end for a temporary pleasure.

As a believer you are to keep yourself sexually pure. If you have done anything impure in the past, God can forgive you and give you the strength to change and live as He has called you to live.

Do not allow yourself to fall into the sinful practices of the world around you, but live a separate and holy life unto God. Focus on pleasing God rather than self. Do not get yourself kicked out of God’s kingdom so that you may fit in with the fallen world.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will live a holy life as Jesus lived; that God will strengthen you to remain sexually pure before God and man; that God will strengthen you to reject the sinful ways of man; and that you will be light of God’s holiness in this world.

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Leviticus 11:43 Do Not Make Yourself Unclean

Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them. Leviticus 11:43

Being clean is something that most people like to be. Although with some jobs people must get dirty, most will strive to clean up as quickly as possible after the job is done.

Those who don’t get cleaned up after getting dirty are often looked down upon as a slob or worse. Yet, despite getting cleaned up and avoiding being dirty, many will continue to play in dirt and think nothing of it.

After listing some animals that the people were to not eat or touch, God told them not to defile themselves with those animals or be made unclean by them.

Although much of the regulations on animals has been done away with when Jesus died and rose again upon the cross, there are many other things that can defile a person and make him unclean. The things that can make a person unclean are not the physical dirt and sweat of this earth, but inner spiritual things that are sin.

Many who would never play in the dirt, will play in sin, telling lies, watching things that should not be seen, gossip, cursing, hating, violent, drunkenness, sexual immorality and more. Doing sin is more filthy and causes more damage than being physically dirty on the outside.

Physical dirt only makes one dirty on the outside and can be easily cleaned off. It does not kill or destroy a person. The spiritual dirt of sin kills a person and is sending him to Hell. It cannot be physically washed away on one’s own, but takes the blood of Jesus to remove.

Believers must do all that they can to not touch or be defiled by any form of sin in their lives.

Most likely you wash yourself physically on a regular basis and strive to not remain physically dirty on the outside. Just as you strive to be physically clean, strive to also be spiritually clean on the inside.

Flee all sin and refuse to touch it or be defiled by it. If you do sin, repent and seek God’s forgiveness and the cleansing by the blood of Jesus upon your life. Jesus died to make you clean and holy, don’t go back to playing in the mud and getting filthy again.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that God will strengthen you to flee all sin; that you will not be defiled by walking in any sin against God; that you will repent and turn from all sin; and that you will live the holy life that God has for you.

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Daniel 1:8 Going Against The Norm

Cooked meal

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Daniel 1:8 

When being given something, most people will accept it without any questions or problems with it. The reason it is often accepted is that no one wants to offend the giver. They want to be grateful for what they are being given.

Along with not wanting to be ungrateful, they also do not want to go against the norm of society. If everyone is doing it, they feel they should do it also. They do not want to buck the system of what to do or not to do. In this way they will compromise their standards and beliefs.

While Daniel was in exile, he was promoted to being a chief official for the king with some others. They were given the best food and drink of the palace. Daniel chose to not eat the food, because it went against God’s chosen diet for him.

Peer pressure to go with the norm of everyone else is great in this world. People will very quickly compromise their standards to gain something or to gain the favor of someone else.

Many believers will often compromise their standards in the walk with God in order to fit in with society or a group of people. They begin to accept and do things that go against what God has told them not to do, just so they do not stand out and appear as ungrateful or as ‘holier-than-thou’.

However, God has called all believers to be separate from this world. They are to stand out as different, a peculiar people and holy unto God. Doing so will cause one to choose to go against the norm of this world, in order to prevent sinning against God in any way.

Think about the things God has told you to do or not to do. These can be anything written in Scripture or told to you by His Holy Spirit. Are you willing to compromise what God has told you in order to fit in with a certain group of people?

Seek God to give you strength to not compromise and step into sin. There is nothing that is worth the price of sinning against God. Do not allow yourself to give into pressure to compromise your walk with God, just to go with the norm.

I pray today that you will know God’s will for you; that God will fill you with His Holy Spirit; that you will be led by the Holy Spirit; and that you will not compromise your walk with God.