“Pray daily and specifically for your own purity. I am amazed that so few men who are concerned about their lives pray about it.”
Paul exhorts Timothy (and us) in 1 Timothy 2:8:
“I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”
If you’re like me, you might get hung up on the mention of “holy” in that passage. I really don’t think of myself as holy. We tend to equate “holy” with perfection.
But I also can get hung up on the idea of the word “Perfect” as used in some places in Scripture. Many times though, the word “perfect “translates to “complete” and “holy” translates to “set apart” or sanctified. That goes for this passage as Paul exhorts us to lift up “holy” hands.
This is a very practical thing we can do in our prayer time. We can, with God, be set apart.
So this becomes attainable for us in the sense that I am going to set apart my hands – in other words, my life, my existence – and I’m going to cry out to God and ask Him to do a work in me for His glory. And I am not going to play the game of doubt with the enemy either. It is God’s will that I do this. He says it right there so there’s no need to doubt!
Prayer is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) practical things we can do to keep ourselves pure.
Think of what Jude says in verses 20-23:
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a difference; but others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”
Jude tells us to pray in the Holy Spirit, meaning to allow your prayers to be directed by Him instead of by our own intellects or our own wishes or desires.
Finally, don’t allow prayer to become the other thing we do, or especially the last thing we do. Prayer ought to be THE thing we do. And it ought to occur in both forms of:
- Personal prayer (my private time with the living God who so wants to spend time with me);
- Corporate prayer (with my brothers and sisters in the Church body);
What Jude says in this passage, yet again, sounds like very practical “spiritual sweat” exercises for us as individuals, and as a fellowship of disciplined men of God.
I know I have a long way to go, but it’s really awesome and comforting to know I have so many brothers who are willing to show compassion when it is needed, but also to remind me of the fear of God, and to yank me out of the fire and keep me from defiling myself when it is needed!
Thanking God!