Rebecca St. James - Pure: A 90-Day Devotional for the Mind, the Body & the Spirit

Copyright 2008 by Rebecca St. James

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked THE MESSAGE are taken from The Message, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

FaithWords

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Visit our Web site at www.faithwords.com.

First eBook Edition: September 2008

The FaithWords name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

ISBN: 978-0-446-54286-9

I dedicate this book to my mother, Helen, a beautiful example of purity to me. Mum, thank you for modeling what it means to love God with your mind, body, and spirit. You live this book! And thanks for being a wonderful mum. I love you.

To Dale Reeves, friend, brother, miracle worker: Thank you is not enough. You bless me and this ministry. Im grateful.

Thanks to Rolf and Lori and Anne at FaithWords for believing in this message.

Special thanks to Beth and Rick at Alive Communications for your hard work and vision.

Many thanks to Pastor Rick for your faithfulness to Jesus.

And thanks to everyone who has joined arms with us in sharing and living this message of purity in a broken world. Keep shining.

It was mid-August and I was performing at Flevo Festival, just outside Amsterdam, Holland. Dutch audiences have been very supportive of my music, singing louder and generally getting involved more than just about anywhere else in the worldso I was expecting a good and encouraging show! To build momentum before I went onstage, a TV crew broadcast a live interview with me from backstage. Then my introduction came and cameras followed me to the stage while the band began to play the first song.

All of a sudden I realized there was a problem. The monitors attached to a pack on my back, which allow me to hear the music, and therefore sing on pitch and in time, were not working properly. A cord had come unplugged somewhere along the way, and with seconds until I needed to go onstage and begin singing, I frantically tried to decide what to do. The old adage The show must go on is true, and by the time I went out to the crowd of more than five thousand people, I still hadnt been able to restore my ear monitors. I tried to discreetly fix the problem during the short breaks in the middle of songs, but nothing helped. Finally I got to Wait for Me, my purity song and one I knew I could not professionally pull off without hearing properly. I decided to eat my pride, pull the whole corded mess from the back of my jacket, and explain to the audience what was going on! I laughed it away with a word to them that they were getting to see the behind-the-scenes action... onstage!

With the receiver pack hidden in my clothing, the in-ear monitors are practically invisible, but even so, they are the biggest influencers of my actions onstage. In the same way, our internal receivers, the mind and spirit, are what most strongly affect our bodies actions in life. If they are tuned in to the wrong signal or are not working properly, trouble is on the way. In the area of purity, actions always begin in the hidden places of the heart.

Thats why this book exists: to encourage purity from the inside outto broadcast Gods pure way into your mind and heart so you know how to sing His tune, which is far more beautiful than any other! The truths here are designed to help us find and maintain purity of the mind, body, and spirit, for the pure in heart... will see God (Matt. 5:8).

There are many reasons why I believe purity is so important. I am passionate about purity because it works. I am passionate about purity because it protects meand my future husband and kids. I am passionate about purity because it is romantic and beautiful. And I am passionate about purity because it makes my Father smile. Many people think of being pure as an actionsomething they must dorather than approaching it as something they can be.

Im glad youve picked up this book, and that we will take this journey together. These pages encourage purity as a way of life. Striving to live a pure life physically is itself obviously a huge goal, but in addition, the way you turn over your fears and priorities to God, the way you forgive others, the way you think about every subject in your lifeand your life to comeare also part of living a pure life before our Father. Thats why in this book youll find devotions to help you focus on the total purity of life. The body, the mind, and the spirit are all designed to be in sync with Gods design. When were living a pure life in every way, its amazing what happens. How passionate are you about pleasing God and letting nothing cloud your relationship with Him? When living out of love for our Father becomes our biggest passion, our lives are greatly impactednot only our decisions about how we treat our bodies, but also how we protect and feed our minds and spirits as well.

On each page of this ninety-day journey, youll read words from God for your daily reflection. Meditating on Scripture helps Gods purity become a larger part of our lives. After reading the devotion for the day thats ahead, reflect on the Looking Further thoughts. Finally, if you really want Gods Word to make a difference in your daily walk, follow through with the Living It Out suggestions. This is a great opportunity for Gods Word to implant itself in your mindand purify your life and decisions.

Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Pursuing the PURE life together,

Rebecca St. James

In Tune with Gods Purpose

Gods love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, his purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.

Psalm 36:56, THE MESSAGE

Reflection

When I was twelve years old, I attended a program at my school that significantly impacted my lifes story. A speaker asked people to come forward if they felt God leading them to give their gifts and talents to Him. I felt led by God to respond and ask for His direction in discovering His will and purpose for my life. It was that same year that God began to lead me into music. At age thirteen, I released my first album in Australia. It was a worship album titled Refresh My Heart. Ive been asked a number of times, What do you feel most called to do? I feel that my God-given purpose is to encourage people to stand for God, to live radically for Him, and to live a life of worship. The roots of this began when I responded to God at age twelve.

This devotional journey is all about seeking purity of mind, body, and spirit. And to seek after purity, we must begin in our minds. One definition for pure, when used in the sense of a musical tone, means free from harshness or roughness and being in tune. God has a purpose for every one of our lives, and He invites us to get in tune with His plan. To be pure is to seek His purpose first and foremost in our lives. If we want our lives to have an impact, that begins and ends with discovering and living out our God-given purpose. Without purpose we have no clear direction, and we may not know which decision to make when were at a crossroads. Purpose gives us focus to discern what is important. And purpose gives us the strength to do what we need to do. One of this worlds greatest tragedies is a life lived without discovering ones God-given purpose. We need to be careful to not just go through the motions without knowing our life purpose. We arent really living unless we know why were alive.