Before God will use you, He will cleanse you. Of course, one mustn’t be perfect before becoming useful in God’s hand. However, there is a standard God has set before us at the threshold of each promotion. The promotion upon your life is directly proportional to the purity within your life. As you allow God to cleanse you, you become more able to cooperate with His agenda for your life.

Isaiah the prophet experienced this cleansing before answering the call, “Who will go for us?”

While serving in the temple, Isaiah captured a glimpse of the Glory of the living God. Imagine that! He literally saw the train of God’s robe fill the temple. The Lord was accompanied by angelic hosts, and the voices of the angelic hosts shook the temple to its foundation. They cried, “Holy, holy, holy is Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with His glory!” Their vibrant worship literally shook the place. What powerful voices these angels must have had!

It was while witnessing this dramatic display of divine beauty that Isaiah was moved to anguish over his own humanity. In Isaiah chapter six, verse five, Isaiah exclaims of his filth: “…Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

When you draw closer to the Lord, His holy light shines more intensely upon you, and when that revealing light falls upon your humanity, you too will be moved to anguish. Anguish over sin indicates that you are moving closer to the Lord. For when we truly glimpse His glory, we know, simply by comparison, the wretchedness of self.

But we must move beyond sin-consciousness. Sin must be confronted, and repentance must be worked whenever we find ourselves in the wrong. Just know this: your hatred of sin is not an indication that you’re drifting from God; it’s a sign that you’re moving toward God. In fact, the closer you get to the Lord, the more sensitive you become to sin in your life.

And God will cleanse you. That is the power of the presence of God – He cleanses you. He does not shine His glory upon you to shame you; He shines His glory upon you to cleanse you.

But until you allow the Lord to cleanse you, you cannot move deeper into the call He has placed upon your life. For every cleansing we undergo, we enable ourselves to become promoted.

6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. – Isaiah 6:6-8

Oh, to be free of the shame and heaviness of sin! Allow the Lord to cleanse you today. Then, fix your focus on Him. Ask Him to cleanse you, repent, and then move forward into what the Lord has called you to do.

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