What does purging mean according to the Bible?

         Like the word love; the word “Purge” is an action word. For example, we have some awesome apple trees on our farm that I simply love. God truly has blessed them. Without Him a storm or some sort of pestilence would have destroy them. God has given all the Earth to man, but He expects us to take care of the environment. And one way to be a good steward for God’s environment is to prune or purge those apple trees. When the winter seasons comes, the trees go dormant, and we prune back the apple trees. In the act of pruning the apple trees means to cut off the bad; so, more fruit can grow. On the other hand, the word “purge” (which means the same as prune) appears 23 times in the scriptures of the Bible. The meaning of the word is simple. According to those 23 scriptures purging is the process of taking way in order to be clean! When God is purging us He is in essence purifying and cleansing us from the inside out. One example we can take our harvest from is found in the book of Psalms. According to Psalms 51, David is pleading with God to ‘purge’ him! David makes his request in prayer to the Lord. Psalms 51 reads: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa. 51:7). David had been defiled, because he gave into his lusts with Bathsheba, murdered his servant, and tried to cover up his sins before God and man. Hence, David prayed that the Lord would purge with hyssop; which symbolically means to remove the evil he had committed and give him a clean heart. This is a foreshowing of what it is like to pray the prayer of salvation. In addition, the hyssop can be used to produce medicinal effects and as a natural purifier for our environment. For example, when God’s people performed the sacrifices in the temple, they would thrown hyssop all over the threshing floor. As the people, walked over the plants, they would crush the essence (oils) out of the plant producing an air freshener that purified the air,
When we repent of our sins and ask God to come into our hearts we become purged. Our sins are forgiven and we become spiritually clean before God. According to Paul in the New Testament we can also purge ourselves! Consider the following words of Paul: “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim.2:21).
Before we are saved we are taught to be wicked. We dishonor Christ with are own doctrines and practices, but all who are forgiven and baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are placed in the body of Christ to learn how to please Christ. Those believers who truly desire to honor the Father and the Son purge themselves all false professions, practices, and doctrines. They turn from their wicked ways and obey God.
God’s purging process can also be described as chastisement. According to the scriptures in Bible being chastised by the Lord is a good thing. For example, Hebrews 12:8-11 “If you are not disciplined-and everyone undergoes discipline-then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful”. After we are saved, we begin our journey in becoming more Christlike. I find it hard to prune myself and this is one reason why we have the Holy Spirit. For example, when we are full of pride it’s near impossible to prune ourselves of boastful actions. However, God knows exactly what to do and often uses chastisement to complete the transformation. God purges all sin from within our secret places and replaces it with the fruits of the Spirit.
Now, we need to examine the good traits the Holy Spirit implants in us and we can do this by reading the following scripture: Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” God purges all the negative evil traits from our secret places! These traits can best be described as envy, strive, boastfulness, and covertness. Consider, Romans 13:13: “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” Overall, by using the processes of purging, the Holy Spirit produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who will make heaven their home.

What purging does God to preform in secret places? (you may use this essential oil blend while praying for His guidance.)

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