¹ No man can cleanse his heart, but the Lord can cleanse and purify a man's heart who has faith and obeys the teachings and commands of the Lord. God disciplines and scourges every son he accepts. Heb 12:6. The pain of a wound cleanses away evil, so do stripes purge the inward parts [including the heart] of man. Pro 20:30. Your souls are purified in obeying the truth, through the spirit. 1 Pet 1:22. Your heart is purified by faith. Acts 15:9. But all the changes in a man's heart are done by the Spirit of Grace, which both charges sin, and removes sin.

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
That he might sanctify and cleanse it [the church of believers] with the washing of water by the word, Eph 5:26.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2
Therefore having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Cor 7:1

² God grants a man the ability to spiritually see and hear. Jesus said: "For judgment I have come into this world, that they who do not see might see; and that they who see might be made blind. John 9:39. To the religious people of the world, Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, We see. Therefore your sin remains. John 9:41.

God reveals unrighteousness to the spiritual man. The natural man cannot accept the things of God and cannot see the depth of unrighteousness. This is a basic function of the Holy Spirit — to convince the world of sin [unrighteousness]. The typical sect-attending Christian has no concept of sin, limiting it to murder, theft, rape; he is unaware that intolerable sin includes: adultery, pre-marital sex, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, partying... immorality, impurity, greed... evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. From the word of the Lord within: "Every thought of man is at best a vain hiss."

Before a man can see sin and unrighteousness, it has to be shown to a man in his heart by revelation from God. What is to be known of God, is revealed by God within a man's heart. Rom 1:19 Mark! Not from reading a book. Not from listening to a preacher speaking without words supplied by the Holy Spirit as he speaks. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, Rom 1:17; faith, revelation, more faith, revelation, more faith...etc.

³ Man's steps are ordered by the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way? A mystery of mysteries. God can control us, without violating our free will, and without us knowing that he is controlling us. How can this be? Because this life is an illusion. All things (including people) work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28. He moves the entire world around those people whom he is bringing to spiritual maturity through his grace, but he does it in such a way as to not violate their free will, (their choices of good and evil). God knows all their choices and thoughts, and so without changing their moral direction, he manipulates insignificant details in their lives to help in teaching those who are seeking him as the highest priority in their lives. The entire creation is a giant chessboard, and God moves the pieces, to create sons of love, to fill responsible positions in the ever expanding government of Jesus Christ. See Life's Purpose for more.

So as seekers of the Kingdom and His righteousness, we know that everything* that happens to us has been willed by God, to help us grow, and we have a peace that is based on the love of God to us. We can cast all of our worries and fears upon him, and depend on him to work everything out to our benefit. We have confidence that he is working for us, even when we can't see how it is happening; we know he controls the whole universe, and to work our life to his union, is effortless for him.

*From the Word of the Lord within: "If people want to make a bad-choice decision, that's their prerogative."
So, do not believe that God has caused someone around you to do something evil that affects you.
He protects your life so that you can be completed, but He does not stop those around you from doing wrong.

He has to show us each and every problem we have, many that are hidden, and lead us (by moving the world around us if necessary) to feeling the pain of our problems — pain so great that when we are tempted, instead of a trigger to fail, it becomes a trigger to succeed. The sooner you understand that everything that happens to you has been arranged to help you grow, the sooner you will be able to forgive, and the sooner you will be at peace, rather than angry or resentful. This life is an illusion. God is far more powerful and at work around you than you can imagine. For those whom he loves and calls, he controls everything around them. (This arrangement of circumstances only occurs for those whom he loves and calls.) And if you have a deep hunger, he loves you and has called you. The hunger is his gift to you, his having chosen you. It is his way of drawing you to him. So you will starve and mourn, and starve and mourn. But you will eventually be filled and comforted. It works. Trust Him. He created you. He is in you. He knows you much better than you do. He will change you to be like Him, leading you to purity and then to union with Him in the Kingdom within, where you walk by the Light of God.

When you are committed to following the Lord, hearing Him as you wait on Him, everything that happens to you is permitted by the Lord to bring you to perfection. He will let those around you abuse you in order to teach you to give up anger, resentment, and wanting revenge; and instead to forgive them, just as He forgave those who beat and crucified Him. We must suffer with Him in order to reign with Him. 2 Tim 2:11-12. We have to trust that everything is from Him, which trust is faith; the just shall live by faith, Hab 2:4.

From the Word of the Lord within: "live in the fortress of faith where it doesn't matter if someone gives you a kiss or hits you with a baseball bat," knowing everything that happens to a true seeker is used to help him grow spiritually. So if I get hit with a baseball bat, He expects me to learn the necessity of forgiving: to ignore it, despite the pain suffered and wrongness of the person wielding the bat. Your life is an obstacle course, designed by God, for you to crawl over and through, learning to forgive and love despite the pain and injustice. This life is a boot camp to produce a soldier of love, whose weapon is the sword of the Spirit, the living word of God. When you realize it is God who has allowed, (permitted, not caused or motivated), that person to be rude, ugly, and painful to you, you can easily forgive them because they are just an obstacle of potential resentment, whose offense is to be overlooked, (or if not overlooked, to produce the pain of resentment), thus being used by God to help you spiritually progress.

⁴ Mercy and truth preserve the king, Mercy triumphs over judgment! James 2:12-13. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Psalm 85:10.

⁵ The pain of a wound cleanses away evil, so do stripes purge the inward parts [including the heart] of man. God disciplines and scourges every son he accepts, Heb 12:6; he who has suffered in the flesh is finished with sin. So that you should not live the rest of your time in the flesh in the lusts of men, but [live] to the will of God. 1 Pet 4:1-2.

From the Word of the Lord within:

• In the time of the enemy, there are difficult things to endure; despise not the cross. 
• Any of you whose sting to bear has been hard, use these facts:
  • all have suffered before you; 
  • sin is excoriated; 
  • God will remove the burden in time; and 
  • the same is experienced by every cleanliness-desired heart in the nations.
• Therefore, for the several cases, we wish you well when you suffer.;
• Take no offence; do not be offended at anything.
• Through patient endurance do you possess your souls.
• Our aim is to bear all; you must learn to bear the pain.
• Either pain in this life or the next.
• Don't ever complain.
• Stand fast in the faith.
• Be firm, not petulant.
• Never give up, no matter how good it feels looking back.
• Take no thought of yourself.
• It is blind to give up, knowing the will of God.
• Don't even think about giving up.
• Away from me, you don't want to run.
• Let patience have its perfect work.
• Remain faithful to the promises.
• Doubt not, faint not, forget not.
• Accept everything; take offence at nothing; just sit and wait.
• We deliver.

Not only is pain used to rid sin from a man on earth, pain is also used to rid a person of sin in Hell.

"there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Mat 13:42,50.
"there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Mat 22:13,24:51,25:30
"And those who have loathed my law, while they yet had liberty, and when as yet the opportunity of repentance was open to them, understood not, but despised it; the same must learn it after death by pain." 4 Esdras 9:11-12

From the Word of the Lord within:

• "Our aim is to bear all; you must learn to bear the pain.
• Either pain in this life or the next.
• Hell is a lot of pain with unexpected love; a lot of pain to be made fit for reconstruction.
• They feel the full effects of the pain they caused and afterwards relieved."

In Hell all criticisms of anyone or actions causing pain to anyone are replayed with you feeling the emotional and/or physical pain that you caused those to feel, (afterwards you are relieved, so the pain is not permanent). In this way you learn to hate the mistakes you made when on earth, resolving to never repeat those behaviors again; and as you learn to hate evil, you are drawn to goodness, which is being drawn to God. Thus, we learn from all our mistakes made while on earth.

In the end, He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. Psa 147:3

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