WHAT IS FILTHINESS OF THE SPIRIT?

 A continuation of spontaneity from Hear and Obey Journal #20:  

3. SPONTANEITY

► aside from filthiness of the spirit can be coming from the filthiness of the flesh like sexual immorality,  anyone can also have filthiness from the spirit itself.  By the way, Filthiness is a noun that means the state of being very dirty or unpleasant:,  The state of being morally corrupt or polluted. For example, "this deformity and filthiness of sin". Example of someone who committed filthiness of spirit is Lucifer who later became Satan. How can Lucifer sinned against God when he had already everything that he needed. Ezekiel 28:11-19

describes Lucifer as "full of wisdom and perfect in beauty". It also says that Lucifer was covered in precious stones, including diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and more. verse 14-15 says, 

“You were the anointed cherub who covers;

I established you;

You were on the holy mountain of God;

You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.

15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,

Till iniquity was found in you.

-  There it is, INIQUITY caused his downfall. What was his iniquity he committed? the answer is in verse 17,  Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;

 

- Lucifer's heart was lifted up with pride because of his beauty. So there it is,  PRIDE was the filthiness that corrupted his own spirit. What's the antidote for pride? We know it's humility. The Bible also includes stories of people who struggled with pride, including: King David, King Uzziah, King Hezekiah, Nebuchadnezzar, and Herod. God has something big in store for the church El Chayil. He can even accelerate everything because He's coming very soon. But God wants us to safeguard first our hearts while we are still small.  Even a little leaven can leaven everything, a small pride can grow bigger if we are not able to detect or discern it in the beginning. I must admit I also have some pride that brought me troubles in the past. There are somethings that we need to be proud of, nothing wrong with it, what makes it wrong is the moment we say we owe it to ourselves, dahil magaling ka, matalino ka, etc...that is pride. Everything we have small or big is from God and we should always give Him all the glory and thanksgiving.  We must guard our hearts, stay humble at all times. Humility is always the nature of the Lamb, Jesus. But take note, there's a false humility when we stay silent that we cannot correct sin. We must be bold as a lion to stand against sin, not in way that is harsh, rude or judgmental, but still with all humility be able to restore those who are sinning less we can also fall into the same temptation because no one of us is immune to sin. Other form of filthiness that can be undetected is promoting self under the disguise of promoting Christ or ministry or events. Any vision even if it's from God should undergo purification process including through fasting. Fasting is an expression of humility. We are assured of victory and success in our endeavor for the Lord for as long as we stay humble. We need the grace of God to accomplish things for Him, and grace comes only through humility,  "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" - James, 4:6

- So, during our prayer and fasting, let's ask God to grant us grace as we humble ourselves. Grace is undeserved favor. We don't deserve the blessings, but because of Christ's suffering and victory, we were granted access to mercy and grace of God. 

"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  Heb. 14:16

- Filthiness of the spirit also includes any deliberate entanglement with any worldly sin like,  having a relationship with someone who is not a born again christian, hiding your relationship from parents, insisting on ungodly relationships without the blessings of the parents, any form of vices, smoking and drinking alcohol, playing demonic games like ML. You should seek your leader's advice regarding this matter and obey them. 

(visit Hear and Obey Journal #20)...click.