From the Crucible (by Pastor Linda Pugsley)

“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10) WOW...God has given us the entrance pre-req's to be in His presence! We were born unclean because of Adam but, in freely accepting God's open gift of salvation in Jesus, we are made clean. Remember, nothing unclean can be in God’s presence. So it's your cleanliness that gets you in, not your good works. Whoa, in that light..."Washed in the blood of Jesus" starts to take on some pretty deep meaning! Do you really understand just how very much God loves you? He wants to embrace you, to protect you, to provide for you. What do we do? We take our dirty little Adam nature and try to accomplish the clean works of God and always end up with a stained and broken result. Then, to top it all off, we often blame God for it all. Lay it down, give it up, come into the clean light of God. Ah, Lord, I delight in You! (1 Peter 2:9). Endure the fire…it produces pure gold! 

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