WHAT IS HOLINESS When people hear the word holiness, many think of people who are ‘perfect’ or ‘without blemish’ which is completely unrealistic and misleading. Others may think of Biblical holiness standards for women in regards to dress and hair which is only skimming the surface. It goes much deeper than that, and holiness standards apply to EVERYONE. We should ALL be pursuing a life of holiness every day of our lives. Did you know that if you are not pursuing a life of holiness that you will not see God? Yep, that’s right. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord ~Hebrews 12:14 But what does holiness mean? What does it look like? Well, we can go to scripture to get a very good picture: Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world ~Titus 2:12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ~Romans 12:1 OK, so what does this mean? Well, God is a spirit and we, all humans, were created to work in concert with a spirit. Ideally, that spirit is God, but the devil is also a spirit. At any given time, either one or the other is influencing you. And you don’t even have to be aware of it. But even if you aren’t aware of it, it is happening. The devil with carnality and a love of the world will take you down a sinful path. Jesus wants to take us out of the world. When we live for Him and obey Him, we will begin to pursue a life of holiness. It all begins with repentance. When we repent we ask for forgiveness of our sins and then ‘go and sin no more.’ That is the first step into holiness and is followed closely by baptism by immersion in water in the name of Jesus. From there we pursue Jesus, pray, fast, study God’s Word and come to develop an intimate relationship with Him. Now, there is one part that can happen at any stage of our pursuit of holiness, of living for God and becoming like Jesus and that is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is absolutely essential that you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, of God’s Spirit. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. ~1 Corinthians 6:19-20 You cannot live a holy life without the Holy Spirit living in you. It is just that simple. We will explore the Holy Spirit’s role in holiness in future posts, but for now, know that it is vital to a life of holiness. So, I will let you digest this for a bit. If you have any questions, please either comment here or email me directly. If you would like to see something in particular covered in future posts, please let me know. In summary, the things that are necessary to live a life of holiness: Repentance Baptism by immersion in water in the name of Jesus The infilling of the Holy Spirit Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts Live soberly Live righteoulsy Live Godly Live for God in everything that you do And how do you do all of these things? The short answer is to pray regularly. Have a dedicated prayer time where you talk to God. Not just five minutes a day, but serious, relationship building prayer. You also must study God’s Word, fast, praise, worship and fellowship with other like minded individuals. In other words, attend church regularly. You need to sit under a pastor. Having that spiritual authority over you will protect you and help guide you so that you don’t stray from the path. The short, short answer is to live every breath with the complete commitment to be like Jesus. (and that is a whole other post in itself – to be like Christ means to be all those things mentioned AND draw others to Him – to populate the Kingdom). See, Holiness is really the crux of it all, of living a life for Christ.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 13:02:56 +0000
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