March 3

Read: Psalms 51:1-2

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8).

Freedom From Sin — Now

We may be free from carnality whenever we sincerely desire it because sanctification is a gift from God and comes by faith in Him. This was the truth discovered by an earnest seeker. He testified: “I sincerely thought this blessing came as a result of growth into it. But I came here to this altar and in two minutes of prayer and faith I have made more progress than in the past forty years of growth.”

God proposes to free us from the sinful nature now in order that He may the better save us from lives of sinning. We dare not postpone this work of grace lest we jeopardize our souls. If we are in a state of conflict — the struggle between the carnal spirit and the Holy Spirit — we must resolve that struggle as soon as possible. We must either go forward and be filled with the Holy Spirit or we shall drift back and find our lives dominated by the carnal spirit.

Some have taught that young Christians ought to wait until they have experienced enough of inbred sin to make them thoroughly sick of it. But such counsel is foolish and dangerous. To assume that we should harbor the sin of carnality in order that we may fully experience and abhor it is on the same level with the faulty logic which says we should commit great, outbroken sins in order that our pardon may be the sweeter. To harbor sin in order to enjoy freedom from it is to act like the moron who beat himself on the head with a stick because it felt so good when we quit.

You may now receive the Spirit As a sanctifying flame If with all your heart you seek Him, Having faith in Jesus’ name.

— L. L. Pickett