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You are a
precious pearl...
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While I was talking to God, He showed me an image
of a very beautiful pearl. The pearl was enormous
and sparkled with many bright colors. The colors moved,
as if they were alive. It was really an incredible sight.
God made it clear to me what these colorful, sparkling pearls represented.
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They symbolized the heart of each person:
more beautiful than we can imagine as human beings.
Priceless to God!
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After that I saw another image. This second one tore me up inside.
It was such an extreme contrast to the beauty of the pearl
and at the same time so real, that I bursted out in tears.
God showed me what's really going on with most people’s 'pearls':
Surrounding the pearl, I saw a dirty, dark film. The dirt was dripping
from the pearl and made the real shimmer and shine of the pearl invisible.
It looked dark, dirty and disgusting!
The sparkling beauty was completely covered up, due to this filth.
The contrast between the beauty of the pearl and the filth
that covered it was immense.
This is how man really lives: the colorful, beautiful pearl of God
that every person is on the inside, is being completely covered by lies,
pride, greed, dishonesty, lust for power, vanity, impurity, wrong desires, etc.
This was such a shock to me, that I completely broke inside.
I couldn't do anything other than cry for more than an hour.
I realized that this sadness was a part of what God showed me:
It was a part of God's grief I was experiencing.
Also, I realized also how much God wants to clear off the dirt
that surrounds us and bring out the beauty
of who we are as a part of His beloved mastercreation.
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But what mostly shocked me, was the reality
of what God showed me. |
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Most of the time, people look great on the outside.
We know how to make a good impression towards others.
We drive nice cars, wear dressy clothes and live in tidy homes.
We wash ourselves frequently and cover ourselves up
with pleasant perfumes. We use the right words
and pretend everything is great.
But in reality our inner-self is covered with filth,
no matter how great we sometimes think we are.
Our pearl, representing God's love, purity and righteousness
is being covered with the filth called egoism, lack of justice,
pride, dishonesty, wrong desires, etc.
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How beautiful we can look on the outside – while the inside,
what represents our true beauty, is being covered by filth!
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God's intense desire is to completely cleanse us from all the filth.
He wants to bring out our beauty. He wants to bring His light
and bright colors of everything that is good, and brings happiness,
to the surface. He wants to let His beauty sparkle inside of us.
How is this possible?
While I was taking in this experience, I realized that the only one
who can make this inner beauty of man visible, is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the only one who can penetrate us
in the depths of our beings, and clean the filth, step by step.
This cleansing starts when we completely give our lives to Jesus Christ,
who suffered for all our sins and imperfections when He died on the cross.
Because of the sacrifice of God's son, Jesus Christ, the punishment
for our sins is removed from us. He freed us from our sins.
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This is the first step: when we realize our filthiness
and ask God to forgive us for what we did wrong,
He makes us free from our guilt. |
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The second step is just as important: the Holy Spirit must change us.
We cannot just accept His forgiveness, we also have to be changed.
God wants to cleanse us entirely. Change our thoughts,
and fill our heart with His love.
Only the Holy Spirit can perform this. Jesus Christ forgives us
and takes away our sins. But the Holy Spirit transfroms us
from darkness into the light of God.
That's why Jesus told His apostles that it was better for Him to leave,
because then the Spirit could come. Jesus was able to tell people
about God the Father. He was able to die on the cross
and take the punishment of our sins.
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But what He couldn't do, and the Spirit could,
was to change someone's inner self.
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That's why the Spirit of God is so essential
for everyone that longs to be cleansed by God.
The most important thing God's Spirit wants to do is love.
Love is most important to God. The bible tells us God is love.
That explains why....
The bible also tells us, that the Holy Spirit is the source of love.
He can give us the love that is necessary to let God's light
shine bright and powerfully clear from within us. Not just a little bit.
Every day, He wants to show us how much the Father loves us.
He helps us every day of our life to walk with God's great love.
He picks us up when we fall.
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We really need the Holy Spirit, if we want the love
of our heavenly Father to reign powerfully in our lives.
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Besides being a source of love, the Holy Spirit is also
the one who will lead us into all truth. He wants to change us
into children of truth. He hates everything that smells like lies.
He does this, by getting us to read the word of God,
being mindful and listening with our hearts.
He uses truth to free us from the filthy, invisible, cunning
and hidden ways evil uses to influence us.
The lies of satan are much more crafty than we realize.
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But the word of God is a double-edged sword
that brings a lie out in the open.
Plus it sets us free from the power of lies.
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That's why the Holy Spirit uses the word. That's why the Word of God,
the Truth, the spoken word from the bible, is also called
the sword of the Holy Spirit. God uses His word and handles it
the same way as you would a scalpel: it cuts deep, and sometimes
is very painful, but brings to the surface the invisible lies,
fears, prejudices, complexities, pain, etc. that covers our beauty.
The word of God is the Spirit's instrument to free us.
Please allow God to cut you with the sharpness of His word,
to purify you. Do not run from the depth of God's word.
Do not be afraid of the pain that comes with the cleansing.
It’s essential.
How the word of God comes to you can vary.
God speaks in a thousand different ways: through the bible,
through (the right) movies, music, friends, enemies, family members,
acquaintances, dreams, thoughts, convictions,
and through everyday situations.....
God speaks every day. He’s unstoppable....
If you are willing to listen, stop being busy, make time to come to Him
and listen to what He wants to tell you, you will see the renewing
power of God's word recover you and make you stronger and healthier.
God wants to penetrate you. He wants to purify you.
He wants to free the beauty captured by your sins,
and make it visible to the world that surrounds you.
He wants to show you to other people as a sparkling pearl.
Filled with Him.
Do you want that?
Remember this …
Realize that your inner self is a beautiful, sparkling, colorful,
shimmering pearl full of life, and that God longs to see
that pearl shimmer on the surface.
Ask God every day to cleanse you from everything
that isn't love, pure and good.
Make love your target. Every day of your existence,
because God is love. And if we aim for love,
we will make this our life’s goal to capture it.
Love is the most important thing on earth.
Ask God every single day to be filled and guided by the Holy Spirit,
because the Holy Spirit gives us God's love and truth.
Always allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate your inner self
with the sharpness, the power and the depth of the word of God.
Even when it hurts. Allow God to purify your inner self
from everything you’d rather want to keep a secret.
Be open. Be real. Be honest.
See everyone else's pearl. Pray for them, so they also can be freed
from the filth that covers up their beauty and makes it invisible.
And... always be aware of God's everlasting, never-changing love for you.
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That you may become blameless and pure, children of God
without fault in a crooked and depraved generation,
in which you shine like stars in the universe.
Philippians 2:15
To present her to himself as a radiant church,
without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish,
but holy and blameless.
Ephesians 5:27
He saved us through the washing of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:5
In my integrity you uphold me
and set me in your presence forever.
Psalm 41:12
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
Psalm 119:9
Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness,
faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord
out of a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:22
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress
and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:17
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