"I need to be cleansed from everything I was exposed to growing up before God can use me."
How it sounds in your head: My family wasn't Christian. We had weird spiritual things in our house. I was exposed to so much darkness before I was saved. I need a complete spiritual cleansing before I'm useful to God.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
-- 2 Corinthians 5:17Source: Religious perfectionism that makes cleansing a process instead of a one-time finished work at salvation.
She remembers the house she grew up in, the things on the walls, the spiritual atmosphere, and feels contaminated. The enemy convinces her she's still carrying that darkness into her new life.
Samaritan woman—wrong race, wrong religion, five failed marriages, currently living with a man she wasn't married to. One conversation with Jesus and she instantly became the first evangelist to her city. No cleansing process. Immediate commissioning.
I REFUSE the lie that I need cleansing from my past before God can use me. IT IS WRITTEN that I am a NEW CREATION—old things passed away, ALL things became new. The blood of Jesus already cleansed me from everything I was exposed to, everything I saw, everything I experienced. IT IS WRITTEN that I am washed, sanctified, justified in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of God. I don't need additional cleansing—I need to believe what's already done. I stand in the BARAK blessing that grafted Rahab the pagan prostitute into the royal line instantly.
Your Father doesn't see the house you grew up in when He looks at you—He sees His daughter, washed white as snow, ready NOW. The prodigal didn't need a ritual cleansing before the party; the Father threw the robe over the pig smell and called for music.