Purified

 

For the past two months every family member residing in my home has been battling a cold or a flu - or both. We've all tried to attack our sickness with our tried and true, go-to weaponry. NyQuil has been enlisted. Kleenex have been on the front lines. The essential oil diffuser has been working over time, as has the hot water heater which has been employed to assist in an outrageous number of epsom salt bathes.
Despite our best efforts to defeat our vicious virus enemy, sickness has still been winning the battle and our household has yet to claim victory. Everyone is all still coughing and sneezing and feeling downright defeated. But after two long months, the future of my family's collective health is finally looking up because we've enlisted reinforcements. With a quick, two-click SOS purchase on Amazon, more powerful weaponry was deployed and two days later, Prime delivered a warrior to aid in our sickness fight: the mighty Air Purifier.
With our new weaponry drawn (read: unpacked and plugged in) the impurities in our home are being beaten back and the sniffles are on the run. The unseen particles and molecules floating through the air are being stripped of their evil contaminants and pollutants. The mighty little purification machine, set to its most powerful setting, is fighting hard to filter out the invisible enemies sabotaging our sickness recovery efforts.
Without first purifying the air the fight for health in my family's home was always futile. While going to battle in an un-purified state we didn't stand a chance of defeating the enemy's coughing and sneezing attacks. Without first attacking and removing the impurities of our air, there was never any hope for beating our sicknesses and claiming victory.
And the same goes for the battle being waged within my heart.
Keeping me from having a healthy heart is a nasty virus of hate making my spirit sick. The germs and bacteria of rage and anger have infiltrated to the very pit of my soul like an infectious cough. Frustration and displeasure have made as ill as the flu. With my best efforts, I've tried to beat back my enemy but even with go-to weaponry I haven't been able to claim victory. Fighting with prayer has been futile when the words are spoken with this malicious cough. Scripture has convicted the sin in my spirit but hasn't conquered and killed the hatred of my heart. 
It is in the battle for my family's physical health that I have discovered the missing weapon in the fight for my spirit's health. The war of sin and hate underway in my heart will never be won without first purifying the air.
Apart from the mighty weaponry of the Holy Spirit deployed in my heart to clear the air and remove the contaminants of sin and hate I have no hope of victory. I need Christ's reinforcements to come to the aid and beat back the vicious enemy that has been keeping me sick.
Thankfully, victory by the all-mighty work of Christ arrives faster than Prime and is easier to access than Amazon. The moment I call to the Lord requesting His mighty reinforcements, God deploys the Holy Spirit to purify the air of my heart. The perfect lamb of God, my Savior who suffered and sacrificed for sinners, filters my heart and cleanses it of the anger and hate that has been making me sick. With the mighty weaponry of forgiveness, the Holy Spirit removes the contaminants of sin polluting my heart. He employs love to kill the nastiest germs full of malice and rage.
In the presence of my Savior the enemy doesn't stand a chance. With the reinforcements of Christ's Holy Spirit on the front lines of my heart's fight, the illness of hate is defeated.and the victory in Jesus is won.

Cleansed by the Savior's boundless grace and merciful love... indwelled with the reinforcements of His Holy Spirit... the heart's air is purified and the spirit made truly healthy and well.