This Bible Study was written and submitted by: G.J. Thimothy. This contributed article is copyright protected, and the sole property of the contributing author.  It may be freely copied and used provided the following credits are included. Other fine works can be found at Brother Thimothy's website. Document expiration: indefinite.

PURITY IN CHRISTIANITY Purity is not merely refraining from uncleanness, but it is being occupied with God, and love for Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. If God dwells in our hearts, then uncleanness has fled from our lives.  When you fall, do not think a lot about sin, but hurry and strive for Jesus. At that time, He will deliver you from drowning like He delivered Peter.  Then, as much as you love God, and pray, and study His Holy Bible, to the same extent you will live in the holy life.     THE DOORS OF SIN The Heart: The heart that Jesus does not live in is the place of uncleanness, and our senses, our reflections, and our thoughts become desecrated from it. My God... purify my heart, sanctify it, and fill it with Your love. The Senses:  Do not look at evil with delight, but flee from it.  Keep in control... do you use the members of Christ in evil?! Do not listen to evil words even if you are forced to hear it. My God... purify and sanctify my senses and reign totally over them. The Thoughts:  Evil runs out from a small opening little by little until it drowns the ship of your life. It is the small fox which circles the grapevine.  Beware of the evil thought which comes to you in a clean picture and when it finds a place for itself in you, you hand over the leadership and your peace to other thoughts more evil than it. My God... let all my thoughts be captive to obedience to You. The Door of the Body:  The lazy mind is a factory for Satan. Thus, sin enters due to the slackness of the body. Keep yourself busy with reading the biographies of the pure saints and with spiritual and physical exercises.  Fasting that is accompanied by prayer gives you power so that you overcome the desires of the body. My God... grant that You make my body a vessel for honor, so not I live, but You live in me. THE POTENTIAL FOR PURITY  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  We are temples for the Holy Spirit, so the Holy Spirit through prayer purifies and sanctifies us. We are members in the body of Christ. So can I take the members of Christ and make them members for adultery? Never!  The continuous presence of God in our lives: "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" MY BROTHER, ALWAYS REMEMBER:  Resisting the evil sights and words and thoughts is easy as long as they are outside of you. But when you contemplate on it, resisting them is difficult for you because they come out of you.  With many fasts and prayers we acquire the virtue of purity.  Truly, Jesus is our purity, if we become unclean, since He has "become for us wisdom from God, righteousness, and holiness, and redemption."  Who are you? You are the son of God. Thrones of Christ. A member of His body. My God... purify us from the wicked, unclean, and vile thoughts, and abolish, O Lord, all of the devilish dreams, visions, and notions. Amen. Nisha Philip Mishra Singapore.