James 4:8

Subject Yourselves To God

⁷ Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! ⁹ Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow.

Draw Near to God

Purify Your Hearts

O God

2 Chronicles 15:2

So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, hear me. The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you.

Malachi 3:7

“Since the days of your fathers, you have turned from My statutes; you have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Hosts.

But you ask: “How can we return?”

Zechariah 1:3

So tell the people: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Return to Me”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts.

Psalm 145:18

The Lord is near all who call out to Him,
all who call out to Him with integrity.

Isaiah 55:6-7

Seek the Lord while He may be found;
call to Him while He is near.

1 Peter 1:22

By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

James 1:8

An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.

1 John 3:3

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.

Genesis 18:23

Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

1 Chronicles 28:9

“As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intention of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

Job 17:9

Yet the righteous person will hold to his way,
and the one whose hands are clean will grow stronger.

Psalm 18:20

The Lord rewarded me
according to my righteousness;
He repaid me
according to the cleanness of my hands.

Psalm 24:4

The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who has not set his mind on what is false,
and who has not sworn deceitfully.

Psalm 26:6

I wash my hands in innocence
and go around Your altar, Lord,

Psalm 51:6-7

Surely You desire integrity in the inner self,
and You teach me wisdom deep within.

Psalm 51:10

God, create a clean heart for me
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Psalm 73:13

Did I purify my heart
and wash my hands in innocence for nothing?

Psalm 73:28

But as for me, God’s presence is my good.
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
so I can tell about all You do.

Isaiah 1:15-16

When you lift up your hands in prayer,
I will refuse to look at you;
even if you offer countless prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are covered with blood.

Isaiah 13:15

Whoever is found will be stabbed,
and whoever is caught will die by the sword.

Isaiah 29:13

The Lord said:

Because these people approach Me with their mouths
to honor Me with lip-service—
yet their hearts are far from Me,
and their worship consists of man-made rules
learned by rote—

Jeremiah 4:11

“At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A searing wind blows from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to My dear people. It comes not to winnow or to sift;

Jeremiah 4:14

Wash the evil from your heart, Jerusalem,
so that you will be delivered.
How long will you harbor
malicious thoughts within you?

Ezekiel 18:31

Throw off all the transgressions you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, house of Israel?

Ezekiel 36:25-27

I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.

Hosea 6:1-2

Come, let us return to the Lord.
For He has torn us,
and He will heal us;
He has wounded us,
and He will bind up our wounds.

Matthew 12:33

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

Matthew 15:2

“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat!”

Matthew 23:25-26

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence!

Matthew 27:24

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was starting instead, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. See to it yourselves!”

Luke 11:39-40

But the Lord said to him: “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil.

Acts 15:9

He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Therefore, dear friends, since we have such promises, let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, completing our sanctification in the fear of God.

1 Timothy 2:8

Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument.

Hebrews 7:19

(for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Hebrews 10:22

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

1 Peter 3:21

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Job 9:30

If I wash myself with snow,
and cleanse my hands with lye,

Job 16:17

although my hands are free from violence
and my prayer is pure.