Power washing porch and front walk for a widow.
Just as water cleanses the concrete, removing all the filth, so too God’s spoken word (“rhema“) cleanses us. The Holy Spirit tells us,
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water by the spoken word, That he might present it to himself the glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself." [Eph 5:25-28]
Jesus has cleansed us with His very spoken word so that we might be conformed more and more into His glorious image, that He might be able to sanctify us, present to Himself without spot or wrinkle, that we might ever become a more and more pleasant and beautiful bride for Himself.
Jesus tells us that this cleansing must be done from within. Outer cleansing will not cut it. Jesus says to the Pharisees, who only cleaned the outside of “their cup,”
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." [Mt 23:25-26]
This inner cleansing is given to us through Jesus, and Jesus alone. Jesus, through His sacrifice, is able to cleanse our heart, our very inmost being. For Jesus “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a prized possession, zealous of good works.” [Tit 2:14] This is also done by The Holy Spirit; as it says in Acts,
"And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." [Acts 15:8-9]
And Hebrews,
"For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" [Heb 9:13-14]
God is the only one who can cleanse us. He does this through His Son, Jesus; The Holy Spirit; and His spoken word. He has cleansed us once-and-for-all through Jesus sacrifice, purifying our hearts, and repurposing our lives for good works to glorify His name. And He, through His Spirit, can help us to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” and to “walk in the light, as [Jesus] is in the light” so that “we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” [2 Cor 7:1, 1 Jn 1:7]
Just like the power washer strips off the dirt from the concrete, making in cleaner, and more useful, so too God does with us, having cleansed us and yet continuing to cleanse us.
Bright And Morning Star 