Pure of Heart

When you are born, you’re the purest you’ll ever be- the least exposed to the sinful world you will ever be. The longer you are exposed to the world, the less of a pure heart you will have, which is why children are so pure hearted. My little sister, Chesney, has demonstrated not only her pure heart, but how a simple education of the Holy Spirit from a young age produces early spiritual encounters and maturity.

Chesney had her first encounter with the Holy Spirit a month ago, and she experienced spiritual warfare knowledgeably for the first time.

Luckily, quarantine has given me so much time with that precious girl in which I have done bible studies with her and answered slews of her curious questions. I have made sure to teach her about her spirit, how God calls her heart home, how to listen for the Holy Spirit and interact with it. This simple spiritual education produced so much more than I could have ever hoped for.

Chesney and I were watching Prince of Egypt (a WONDERFUL cartoon about the story of Moses. Also see King of Dreams about the story of Joseph), and Chesney marveled at God’s power and talked to me about how much He left her in awe after the movie. She then thanked me for teaching her and told me that she felt “changed inside” and “didn’t know how to describe it,” because of Jesus. This hit me in the heart as she poured out her gratitude and love for Jesus. God asked me to invite her to have a sleepover in my room that night, which I usually don’t do because she’s a bit of a bed hogger, to which she was ecstatic and of course said yes. She said she would go get her pillow and blanket and then meet me in my room.

Little did I know she would come running to me shaking.

She said, “CC, I need to tell you something. I was in my room and God told me really loud that ‘It’s not safe here. Get your things and get out.’ He wasn’t saying it like in a mean way, but He was very strong about it. I feel all shaky and I don’t know what to do.”

As shaken up as she rightfully was, I was so proud of her and in awe. She has been running after Jesus and learning how to discern from the Holy Spirit, and God spoke to her pure heart in a clear way when she was in danger, saving her. I hugged her and told her it was okay to be shaken up, because God’s power is crazy strong and powerful and scary at first! I told her that the first time God spoke to me like that was my freshman year of high school, and here she was already having heard from Him in such a powerful way. I told her we would pray over the room tomorrow to cast out and rebuke any evil spirits, demons or anything to do with the devil, and pray that God’s presence would be so powerful in her room that any evil would flee in fear of His power and knowledge of its defeat.

Then, she told me, “I feel like I should also tell you that there are a couple things in my room that make me feel weird. And sometimes it feels like something that I can’t see is bouncing around my room and I haven’t known how to describe it.”

I asked her what the items were: a pair of shoes, some mermaid decorations and a magic kit toy. I told her we would throw all of those items away and intensely pray over the room and that God would take care of us. She was still shaken up, but she thanked me for asking me to have her sleep in my room in the first place. That’s when I realized that God asked me to have her sleepover with me to give her an easy escape from her room once He gave her His warning. I marveled at His plans and power.

The situation opened up an incredible conversation between us about our spiritual growth, spiritual encounters, relationship with God and more. She brought up that after doing bible studies with me that she felt like she had a “shining armor of God.” I immediately asked if she meant the verse about the whole armor of God, and she didn’t know what I meant. Again, I marveled at God’s glory. Her heart was so pure and close to Him that He gave her knowledge of His Truth, the word, without her even reading it first. I then pulled out Ephesians 6:1-20 and taught her about what the Bible says about the armor of God and what each individual piece means and how we can use it. It was an incredible teaching moment!

She then decided to open up to me about a dream she had a while ago that had shaken her up. (If you want context about how crazy this next part is about to be, read the section in my post “The Holy Spirit is Active” where I describe God telling me to get rid of an evil new orleans mask. If you’ve already read it, great! Now buckle up.) She told me in the dream that a person with a mask which had big black feathers coming out of it came up to our front door. She then said that it started knocking at our door in a steady monotone rhythm and never stopped. She said the person and face stayed completely still besides the knocking hand moving over and over. She said in the dream we never let the person in, but day and night it knocked constantly in a steady slow rhythm. As a refresher of my other blog post, I had an encounter with God in which He told me “Turn around, it’s behind you.” I then turned around and my eyes immediately went to the mask I had gotten in New Orleans years earlier, a place of demonic and voodoo happenings. As soon as I did this, God commanded, “That’s it. Get rid of it. Now.” I had never told Chesney this, so the fact that God warned her of the evil spirit attached to my mask through her dream was truly incredible. I explained to her my experience, and then reassured her that I pray over the house every night, casting out all evil, inviting the Holy Spirit to fill every inch of our home so strongly that any evil would flee for miles at its power and at their fear of their already known defeat by God. I told her that this is why the person/evil spirit never got in our house and never will as long as it is filled with the Holy Spirit. I taught her how I pray to cast out and rebuke evil, and invited her to do this every night on her own as well.

I tell you all of this to tell you a few things.

Firstly, so many people ask what happens to people who are never taught about God. How can they come to know Him? How are they expected to have a relationship with Him? Are they cast to hell without warning? I will first point you to His word to give you the truth of this situation. In Romans, it is stated that God reveals Himself to all in His own ways, therefore making them still under the wrath of God and His judgement. I feel the American Standard Version translates this verse best. Romans 1:20: “For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse:” There is also a story about a girl named Akiane Kramarik, who grew up in an atheist household where religion was never mentioned, yet God gave her intense visions and dreams about heaven and what Jesus looked like. He also gave her the ability to paint incredibly well even just at 8 years, when she painted an incredible painting of what God showed her Jesus looked like. You can search it and find it online. Her and her parents are now believers. This is an extraordinary example of how God reveals Himself to those who have never learned about Jesus or the Gospel. Chesney was never taught about the whole armor of God, yet He revealed His truth to her pure heart. That is my answer to those previous questions.

Next, I hope you see how pure of heart children are, and how powerful it is. I like to think of it as that they are more heaven than world, and it is evident in their actions and words. When educated from a young age with this pure heart, incredible things happen. This leads me to my most important point. Spiritual education, let me clarify- NOT religious education- but SPIRITUAL education, is so desperately needed in the church. And Chesney has taught even me, who actively pushes for more of the Spirit, just how powerful spiritual education can be especially when done from a young and pure age.

I encourage you to be actively aware and seeking of the Holy Spirit. Talk to your family about it, tell the children in your life about it. Tell them God can and will talk to them if they still themselves and listen. Now is the time more than ever to connect yourself to the Holy Spirit. We will never know exactly when Jesus is coming back, but we know it is soon and we must be prepared.

💛angelle