"...God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 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 through faith." Ac.15.7-9

    There is a lesson in this statement made by the Apostle Peter: The Spirit of God moves in the lives of those whose hearts have been purified by faith.
    Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There is change in our lives. 2Cor.3.17,18.
    Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is forgiveness, healing, and deliverance. Jesus was anointed by the Spirit of the Lord, and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Ac.10.38;  Lk.4.18-21.
    Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is blessing, prosperity, family harmony, and social favor. Jesus taught us to pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. When the angels announced His birth it was, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Lk.2.14. God's thoughts toward us are for good things, and not evil. Jer.29.11. It is when there is resistance to the Spirit of God that there is cursing, poverty, disharmony, and oppression.
    So, I think we all would desire to have the Spirit of the Lord moving in our lives on a daily basis. Peter lets us know how this can be. It is by having a believing heart, a heart that is purified by faith. God gave the Holy Ghost to the Gentiles whose hearts had been purified by faith.
    Understand this: The scripture calls an unbelieving heart an "evil heart of unbelief". Heb.3.12. This was spoken concerning those people who wandered in the wilderness for forty years because they would not listen to the Spirit of the Lord. God said they, "Do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways". Heb.3.10.
    God looks on the heart. A pure heart is one who believes God's Word above anything else. An impure heart is one who is defiled with unbelief. Titus 1.15,16
It is being "double minded", and "wavering" like "a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed". Outward evidences causes the double minded to change their confession. The pure heart of faith asks and receives: "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." Jas.1.5-8.
    So, it is by faith that our hearts are made pure. By believing what God says in His Word about us, is what makes our hearts pure.
    It is not a matter of religious works, of doing good things and not doing the bad things. That's like walking up to a peach tree and picking all the peaches off and sticking some apples on it and calling it an apple tree. That doesn't make it an apple tree. It is still just a peach tree. Now it is a simply a peach tree with some apples stuck on it. A lot of our spiritual lives are like that--just fruity!
    Our hearts are made pure by faith. Faith in what? Faith in what the Word says about us. What does the Word say?
    It's the gospel.
    When Jesus died, we died with Him. All our sins were laid in the grave--forever.
    When Jesus was raised from the dead, we were raised with Him in glory.
    When Jesus was seated by the Father's right hand in total dominion and power, we were seated with Him in that same total dominion and power. To do what? To sit there polishing our crown. No, we are to go about setting the captives free.
    Jesus was the forerunner. He came announcing, "Good news! I am anointed with the Spirit of God to go around setting all the captives free! If you want to be set free, believe the Word of God and be set free today!"
    Those who believed His Word had their hearts purified so they could live a life of believing the Word. They received forgiveness, healing, deliverance, and even the dead were raised.
    If you want to have a pure heart, believe the Word. Believe the Word, and you will be purifying your heart.
    The Spirit of the Lord dwells with pure hearts.
    In His presence there is forgiveness, healing, love, joy, peace, liberty, and prosperity in every way.
    We have pure hearts by believing and acting on the Word of God.

Some Related Scriptures:
1Pet.1.22                     2Pet.1.1                  Rom.3.28; 4.5; 9.31,32
Rom.10.4,10                Gal.5.5                    Eph.2.8
1Thes.3                        2Thes.1.3               2Thes.1.10,11
2Thes.2.12                   1Tim.1.14,16,19      1Tim.2.7,15;  3.9;  4.1
1Tim.5.8;  6.12             2Tim.2.18;  3.8       2Tim.4.7
Titus1.4,13 15,16          Heb.10.22, 23,39     Heb.11
The whole book of Hebrews.                                                                             Sun.morn.4-9-00