He Rose For Our Justification

 He Rose For Our Justification

 We are justified in Christ

 

 

There was only one law in the beginning.

Just one.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”–Gen. 2:17

People want to act like God is some eternal killjoy, who is just hovering about ready to strike you down with furious wrath and bolts of lightning.

But, in the beginning there was only ONE law.

And Satan in his rebellion used a serpent, which by the way, was not a snake. It was a dragon, or as we like to call them, a dinosaur. (Rev. 12:9)

He used it to tempt the first couple, in order to get them to fall.

He tricked Eve into breaking the one law. But, Adam was not tricked. He knew exactly what he was doing. (1 Tim. 2:14)

He knew it was wrong and chose to listen to his wife instead of listening to God. (Gen. 3:17)

Adam was Satan’s target. Adam had the dominion of the Earth. He was the one who needed to fall. (Gen. 1: 26-28)

Why Adam chose to ignore God’s Law is not given to us. Adam probably explained it away, some how. I tend to think He loved Eve and did not want her to die alone. Or perhaps he did not want to be alone again, if she died after eating the fruit.

It’s hard to say, but when the first couple ate of the fruit they quickly discovered why God had warned them. God’s laws are typically designed to protect us.

Something changed in them. Their eyes were opened. God had created everything good. There was no death. But, now there was evil present. Death and evil, flooded into the world. (Gen 3:6-10)

Adam and Eve had fear, where none had existed before.

Evil was contained somewhere else, and now came upon the humans. It corrupted them and now corrupts all of humanity ever since.

This brought death. Death is separation. Remember, we are eternal beings. Death is not an end. We have no end. We are made in God’s image. We are eternal spirits. Death means separation. We die physically and are separated from our loved ones on Earth. We then die spiritually and are separated from God and our loved ones who are saved, forever.

Why?

In order to contain the evil. Hell/The Lake of Fire is a quarantine. It exists in order to keep evil from destroying all of eternity. It was created for Satan and his angels. It is a garbage dump outside the city of God, where all filthy things are thrown, in order to not corrupt Paradise. (Matt. 25:41, Rev.22:14-15)

Since Adam chose to follow Satan instead of God, He gave up the dominion. That is why Satan is the god of this world. You go into bondage under whoever overcomes you. If you give your authority to another, they own you. (2 Cor 4:4, 2 Pet. 2:19)

And that is the state we live in.

We are born into this world, totally corrupted. Filled with fear and evil, facing eternal separation from God and all things good.

We cannot do right. No matter how hard we try. We are under the control of Satan and his demonic hordes who whisper into our minds and get us to do whatever evil deeds they want. Seeking to rob us, kill us and destroy us, because God loves us, and the demons hate God. They seek to hurt God by hurting us.

And Satan sits and accuses us, day and night (Rev. 12:10)

He accuses us to God.

“Look at these creatures you created. They are filthy. They don’t love you. If they loved you they would have stayed with you. They are scum. Destroy them. Kill them. Punish them. They do all manner of evil, and mock you. Destroy them.”

But God loves us, and He had a plan.

It was a plan started at the foundation of the world.

A plan that grew and spread and remained hidden from the enemy.

It started with Faith, in Abraham.

A way to be righteous. (Gen. 15:6, Rom. 4:3, Gal . 3:6, Jas 2:23)

Then, it moved to the Law, in Moses

In order to show us that we are sinners and cannot obey God. (Rom. 7)

A law that so happened to also allow for cleansing our disobedience through sacrifice.

Then, finally God himself came to Earth in the form of Jesus Christ to save His creation from Satan and the sins that keep us in bondage.

Satan thought that Jesus was here to teach us to obey. He thought Jesus was teaching us to follow the Law, which the enemy had already corrupted with human philosophy, traditions of men and doctrines of devils.

It would be a failed mission. Humans cannot obey. No matter how hard they try. Satan had made sure of that by corrupting us in the Garden. We are totally depraved.

Then, Satan and his demon princes killed Jesus. They used their human slaves in government and religion to do it.

He thought he won. He thought he had finally won.

He might have even accused us before God again. Just like he accused Job. (Job chapter 1 and 2))

“Look at those creatures. They murdered your Son. They obeyed me, not you and killed you. Why do you love them? They spit in your face.”

And God smiled.

Because through His death, He had saved us.

So, that anyone who desires it can be free from the bondage of Sin, Satan and Death.

All they have to do is turn to God and ask Him to save them in Jesus name. (Acts 2:21)

But, that wasn’t the end.

God was not finished.

Because Jesus, was the lamb without blemish. He was not tarnished by evil or sin. He was not worthy of death or separation. He was the perfect sacrifice.

And death could not hold Him.

God Himself died for us and rose from the dead to prove that we are saved and justified. (Rom. 4)

We do not have to answer to the accuser. We do not have to fear death or evil. We do not have to face wrath. We do not have to face Hell or The Lake of Fire or separation from God. We are clean, righteous and justified in Christ.

We are saved by God’s grace, through faith.

Because He, Himself came and set us free in His death and rose to prove it.

All we have to do is turn to Him by faith and ask.

And we are made righteous and justified forever.

We will be with Him in Paradise.

Where “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Cor 2:9)

He has restored that which was lost. And He will continue to restore all of it, back to what He originally created. (Matt. 18:11, Rev. 21, Rev. 22)

Praise Jesus

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Cover photo by pexels/Guillaume Hankenne

They Chose The Devil

 They Chose The Devil

Barabbas is a picture of Satan 

 

 

God came to Earth, in the form of Jesus Christ. He lived a sinless life, because we cannot.

He came to set us free from the bondage of Sin and Satan.

The devil found out the plan; hidden since the dawn of time. He and his demonic hordes worked to oppose God’s design. They would not let humans go. The Fallen Angels rule the Earth. Satan is the god of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4)

They used their human slaves to harass, and falsely accuse Jesus in order to murder Him.

The religious leaders listened to the demons whispering into their minds. They did not know God. They did not want to lose their positions of power to this Jesus person. They were full of fear, jealousy and envy. (Matt. 27:18)

So, they secretly arrested Jesus by night and held a trial, out of the eyes of the people. Like all those who serve Satan, they work in secret. In small committees out of the questioning eyes of others.

The demon princes of this world worked to get them to convict Jesus and deliver the Lord to the Roman government for execution.

Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He uses the governmental powers he controls to destroy the saints, in order to keep God’s truth from spreading. He did it in Jesus day, He does it around the world today, and he will do it when he is cast down to Earth and infills the Anti-Christ. (Revelation 12:10, Rev. 12, Rev. 13)

The religious leaders delivered Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor at the time.

The religious leaders knew that Pilate would release a prisoner unto them. It was a strange custom, done during the feast. (Matt. 27, Mark 15, Luke 23)

The religious leaders, hearing the whisperings of the demons worked to get the people to reject Jesus and get Barabbas released unto them.

Barabbas, a man who was accused of sedition and murder. Like Satan, a rebel and a murderer from the beginning. (Luke 23, John 8:44)

The people shouted, led by the religious leaders to crucify Jesus, and release unto them Barabbas the murderer.

They said to let the blood of Jesus be upon them and upon their children, cursing themselves in his death. (Matt. 27:25)

And Barabbas who is a picture of Satan was released unto the people, as they rejected the King of Glory. It is even said by scholars that Barabbas's first name was Jesus. This shows a clear picture of Satan offering a replacement Christ, or Anti-Christ.

And they took Jesus to Calvary, also called Golgotha. A place outside the city walls, near where the trash was thrown. Near the dump, which is the picture of hell. Where the lepers lived and the dogs dwelt. Where the fires are not quenched and the worms (maggots) never die. (John 19)

 There they crucified Him between two thieves.

The thief crucified next to Jesus saw the truth. He heard the call of God in his heart. He witnessed to the other thief, and he confessed Jesus as Lord. He asked Jesus to remember him.

And Jesus said, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

And at that instant that thief was saved, and would be with the Lord forever in Paradise.

He was finally free.

And Jesus died bearing the weight of the sins of the world. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The sacrificial Lamb bleeding for anyone who asks to be saved; calling on the name of Jesus. ( Rev. 13: 8, Eph 1:4, Acts 2:21)

And the demons cheered. And Satan thought he had won.

Till he realized that the death of Jesus set humans free if they asked, and was the beginning of the end for the demonic hordes, who rule the earth.

And today, we have a choice to make. Do we choose the devil? Or do we listen to God’s call and choose Jesus? Do we demand His blood? Or do we receive His sacrifice for us? There is no middle ground. We are with the Lord, or with the devil. It is war.

But, the end is not yet, for there will come a future time quickly approaching where we will be given a choice to choose the Devil or the Lord. A time when a man rises up and the whole world runs after him. A man who will be the picture of Satan, a usurper ruling the World. The “instead of” Christ. The Anti-Christ.

He will make war with the saints and over come them. And many will fall way. Those who never really knew the Lord. They will deny Him and help beat the servants of the Lord. They will turn back to the world, because they never really knew Jesus. Remember Lot’s wife. (2 Thess. 2:3, Luke 12:45, 2 Peter 2:1, Luke 17, Rev. 6, Rev. 12, Rev. 13)

But the Lord will come from heaven with a shout and the trump of God, and all the saints will come with Him. ( 1Thess. 4:16-17)

And we will meet Him in the clouds and forever be with Him.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

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(Cover photo by pexels/David Kouakou, Edited by the author

 

Should We Be Hearing From God?

 Are we crazy?

 

 

People don’t tend to like it when you say “God told me” or that you imply that you hear from God.

They think that this is the realm of the cult.

They think this is what false prophets do to lead people into crazy stuff.

They might ask “Did you hear an audible voice?”

Trying to imply that you are insane if you hear from God.

We’ve all seen the movies and heard the stories of insane people who hear God. Or the mentally ill woman who killed her kids because God told her to.

News flash. That probably wasn’t God. That was a demon.

When we know the Word of God and believe it, we can compare those thoughts to the Word and cast that demon out.

When Abraham was tested to kill his son. He had far more insight into what was going on. He had walked with God and trusted God. It was years of seeing God’s character.

It was not some random thought that drove him insane. He was creating a picture of Jesus Christ, and God stopped him. Abraham even said before hand. “God will provide His own sacrifice.” He knew God would fix it. (Gen. 22)

Why?

Because He walked and talked with God. He heard from God.

That is relationship. That is walking in the Spirit. It is living by faith.

We can trust God.

The Bible says in Proverbs “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”–Prov. 3:5-6

Pray to the Lord about everything. Don’t trust your own fleshly thoughts. Seek Him. Seek wisdom. Seek the truth from the Holy Spirit. (John 16:13, James 1:5)

Talk to God and He shall “Direct thy paths”

That means we hear from God. He speaks to us. He guides us. He does this in many ways, through His Word, through His creation, through our lives, and through His Spirit.

There are some churches who ignore the Holy Spirit working in our lives and directing us. They don’t even mention it. If you talk about hearing from God, or act like God told you something, they will reject you and treat you like you are crazy.

Satan uses this to keep people silent and to cut the communication between God and his saints. The fear of appearing crazy keeps people from speaking on what God has done for them. It silences the testimony they have been given. It impacts the working of the saints.

Every person who God has called to serve Him are really supposed to appear insane to the World. That is kind of the point of it. We are not of this world. It is not our home. We should be a little crazy for Jesus.

But, too many folks want to fit into this world system and cannot have their customers or business contacts thinking they are a crazy religious person. So they stifle the Spirit.

Every preacher is supposed to preach as unto the oracles of God. (1 Pet. 4:10-11)

They are supposed to put forth the message God has laid on their heart, using the Word, the gifts and The Holy Spirit.

They are supposed to be telling people what God has told them.

Every week I pray for the Lord to tell me what to write for my sermon. And something always comes up, or I’m directed to re-do something old.

Does it make me crazy?

I think that in all history, when God touches people they are transformed and cannot go back to normal. They are no longer conforming to this world, but are being transformed as God renews their mind. This makes them seem crazy to those who are still conforming to this world.

Jesus said, “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”—John 10:26-28

Do you hear His voice?

Do you hear Him guiding you?

Ask Him.

Read and study the Word, with the Holy Spirit teaching you. (1 John 2:27)

All of the Bible is God-Breathed. It is alive.

Jesus is the living Word. The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth.(John 16:13)

We are supposed to be fools for Christ.

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”— (1 Cor. 1:18-21)

Jesus said, “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?”— (John 3:12)

Those who do not know God, do not understand heavenly things. They do not understand the spiritual. It is foolish to them. They do not hear His voice, and they hate those who do.

God has called them. Just like He calls us. But, they have turned away and ignored and let the devil snatch the Word from them. They have let the pleasures and troubles of life, along with the deceitfulness of riches choke out the Word.

He is still calling.

He is calling you if you are reading this.

Don’t let Satan snatch it away. Don’t let the demon get you to think you are crazy for hearing God knocking on your heart.

Turn to God and ask Him to save you.

Turn to God and ask Him to teach you and grow you.

We do hear His voice.

He calls us to Him.

He guides our life.

Listen to His call, and fear not.

(Cover photo by pexels)

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Transformed!

 Transformed!

 God works in our lives to change us.

 

 

We often forget that it is God who calls us to Himself.

All humans are utterly depraved. We are so wicked that we cannot even see how wicked we are. (Romans 3:10-18)

We were created good by God. We are flesh covered spiritual beings created to last forever. But, we are fallen. There is something wrong with us. Our minds, souls and spirits became corrupt. We fell in the Garden and Satan took over.

“ There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”

No one seeks God. Therefore, if you are having thoughts of God. If you are feeling led to go to church or learn of spiritual things. If a sermon or the Gospel message of Christ is speaking to your heart. If you are reading this…

That is God calling you.

No one comes to Jesus to be saved unless God calls them. (John 6:44)

This is part of His Grace and part of why He saves us, not by our own efforts, but by His.

When we hear this call we turn to the Lord and ask Him to save us. That is what repentance is. It means “to turn”

Since God is the only way to be saved we obviously turn to Him. Then, He washes us in the blood of Jesus and cleanses us of all sin. We do not need to understand it. We just turn to Him and ask.

We confess Jesus is the Lord and make Him our Lord, believing He rose from the dead. (Romans 10:9-10)

Then the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and work in our lives to help transform us and help us to serve God in building the Kingdom. (John 14:26)

When we first get saved, there are things God will remove from our lives. People will notice we are different. When we give ourselves to Jesus we are free from sin and the the things that hold us down. He has taken all of it upon His shoulders, and when we believe this, we are changed. We are transformed. We are a new creature.

This is believing God’s Word.

God’s Word tells us that He will save us and change us. It tells us He will take our sin and cast them away from us and wash us. When we believe this, we put our faith in Him and it works to change us.

We are saved by grace through faith not by works lest any man should boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)

God calls us. We hear His word, and believe Him. Then, we turn to Him to be saved.

God Himself came to Earth to die for us, to set us free from Sin and Satan, who took dominion when Adam fell. We are slaves to the enemy and the power of our own flesh. Our spirits are dead and our souls are trapped as we go through life being led by Satan and our worldly ways.

But, when we hear God call and turn to Him for salvation we are set free and we begin to transform.

The Holy Spirit comes into us and begins to change us and teach us. We study God’s Word and learn of His promises and His ways.

When we have thoughts that are contrary to God’s Word, the Holy Spirit reveals it to us and we take those thoughts captive and tell Satan to be gone in Jesus name, then we choose to believe and follow God’s Word instead. This is the battle between the flesh and spirit. As we wage this battle we are transformed over time. (2 Cor. 10:5, Gal.5:17)

This is not salvation. We are already saved; if we confessed Him as Lord. But, we can prove our salvation to ourselves by the fact that we struggle with the enemy. Unsaved people do not struggle. This struggle is our sanctification. It is God working on us through His Holy Spirit to help change us and to help us in our lives.

We confess our sins and thoughts to the Lord, and He forgives us and starts working to transform us. (1John 1:8-10)

“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.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”—Rom. 12:1-2

When we read this we might think that we are condemned because we fail and cannot do it. We might think we are such utter failures, and the preacher keeps beating us.

That is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. It is conviction.

The answer is to turn to God, and confess it to Him. Pray to Him about it and let Him get to work. Our salvation and sanctification is God’s work, not ours.

The fact that you desire to change and feel convicted is proof of your salvation. The Holy Spirit in you is calling you to work with God in your sanctification. This is the relationship we have.

We see changes in our lives and in our spirit, as we are renewed in our minds. Our spirit is alive in Him and we are transformed.

We are not perfect. We sin. We fail. But, we are perfect in Him. He holds our salvation in His hand.

When we think wicked thoughts of hate or revenge or fear or doubt or pride, we capture them and rebuke them in Jesus name. Because thoughts work to become actions. The more we do this the stronger we become.

We quote the Word out loud to ourselves, and it builds our faith and drives the demon out.

Because that is what is behind those thoughts. Demons whispering through the hedge of protection trying to get us to open the door. If we fail and listen to those thoughts. If we follow through with sin, we start working to open the door a little at a time. Eventually, the demons can come into our mind and life as often as they want. We have fallen back into bondage. But, through the Lord we can stand up and resist. We can shake them off. We confess it to Him and let Him cleanse us and work to change us.

We can struggle with these things in our flesh but it does nothing to our spirit until God Himself does it. This is why obeying rules does nothing spiritual. This is why no one is saved by the works of God’s Law.

It must be God making the changes and transforming us. Flesh cannot transform spirit. Only spirit can do that. God is a spirit, and those who worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The truth is Jesus Christ. The truth is God’s Word, and Jesus is the living Word. (John 1, John 4:24)

We are transformed when we are saved. Then, we live lives of transformation as we continually turn to Him and abide in Him.

Going to church and obeying rule won’t do it.

It’s a relationship with Him.

It’s a spiritual battle with the enemy who attacks our mind, and life.

No matter what. Always turn to God. Do not let the enemy get you to think that you can’t trust God. Or you failed too much. Or that God is out to get you. Take those thoughts captive and say “begone Satan in Jesus name, God will never leave me nor forsake me. He is my helper.”

Draw closer to God. Praise Him. Read His Word and let the Holy Spirit teach you.

And watch Him transform you.

(cover image by pexels)

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Confessing Our Sins, Changes Our Life

 Confessing Our Sins, Changes Our Life

Walk in the Spirit 

 

In the book of Genesis, we get an indication that God enjoyed walking with Adam in the coolness of the day. They talked and had a relationship.

We see the same thing with Enoch. He walked with God. (Gen. 5:18-24)

Walking with God, is an indication of spending time with God. Knowing God and being friends with God. It is walking in the Spirit.

Like Paul said about Abraham. He was called a friend of God. Why? Because Abraham believed God. He trusted God. He believed God at His Word. And God declared him righteous. (Gen. 15:6, Rom. 4:3)

These saints trusted God. They believed His Word. They walked with Him and spent time with Him and built a relationship with Him, and God built one with them.

I say this, to get you to see that you can trust God. That building the relationship is important in our salvation and growth in Him.

Confessing our sins to Him is part of that.

It says in First John chapter one, to confess our sins and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So what does this mean? 

It means don’t hide anything from God. You sin. It’s a fact. We all sin. ” If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10)

So, if you cannot admit that you sin, then you do not know Christ. Jesus is the Word.

If we say we do not sin, we make God a liar. Because He says that we do. It’s not just about the ten commandments. Its about not loving people as well. It’s about the sinful thoughts we have. Humans are so utterly depraved we desperately need Jesus.

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If you honestly cannot think of any sins, then ask God to show you. But, you better hang on. Because God will let you see how bad you really are. (Not like Satan does. But, to show you so you can confess.)

Confess it all to him. Tell him about your addictions, your adultery, your lust, your hate, your violence. Tell him about all your filth. Your pride, your unkindness, your false beliefs, your rebellion. Sins of commission and sins of omission. Remember that homeless guy God wanted you to help, but you were too busy?

Don’t justify your sin.

Surrender to God and confess it.

Because He will forgive you.

But…think about it.

He already forgave us and washed us in His blood when we were saved. If you know God, and turned to Him asking Him to save you, and confessed Jesus as your Lord. You were forgiven of ALL sin at that moment. You were born again and saved.

God declared you righteous and washed you clean in the Blood of the Lamb. All your sins were forgiven and forgotten. Never to be brought up by God again.

That’s our salvation.

Do we need further washing?

Of course not. He is not referring to that.

He is telling us He will forgive us, because the devil is telling us He won’t. 

The enemy whispers into our mind that we have fallen too far. Or that we are not worth it. or that we should be ashamed or fear God. Those are lies.

God loves us and is on our side. The enemy wants us to think we have disappointed God, in order to get us to turn away and run from God. Then, the enemy can attack us easier.

Confessing sins to God in prayer helps us to be washed and grow in Him. It protects us from the attacks of the enemy when we believe God forgives us. When we trust His Word.

Not only that, but God is telling us that He will wash our feet and make us whole; despite the lies the enemy tells us. (John 13:6-10)

But not only that..God will clean up our whole life. The verse in First John says “All unrighteousness” Meaning that as we keep confessing, and praying. He is working to help us overcome these sins that keep us down.

He is helping us to overcome them, as we give them to him to defeat. He doesn’t just forgive the sin, He starts working to change us and change the situation that helps grow the sin.

But, if we are unwilling to confess our sins to Him, or claim we do not sin, can He work?

Keep confessing your sins to God in prayer. He is working to change you and everything about it. This is part of the relationship. This is part of Walking in the Spirit. This is how the Holy Spirit develops fruit in our lives. This is part of the renewing of our mind. (Rom. 12:2, Gal. 5:16-25)

There are things I have prayed over and confessed to Him for years. And I have seen Him molding me, and changing me. My life has changed and the things I once struggled with, have been removed and I no longer desire them.

 Praise Jesus

Trust God. Confessing sins and letting Him grow us takes time. But, this builds patience and trust in Him. It builds faith as we walk with Him.

He does not leave us. He is with us and works in our lives, as we walk in the Spirit, confessing to Him.

It’s about our relationship with Him. It builds our faith as we see Him move. It fills our lamps with oil, and we can shine His light as we tell everyone the great things God has done for us.

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Cover photo by pexels/Rodolfo Clix

Be Ye Holy

 Be Ye Holy

What is real holiness?

 

 

God tells us in His Word “Be Ye Holy for I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:16, Lev. 11:45)

So, let’s rightly divide this verse so that we are interpreting it correctly, Because often times we get told that this verse is about our behavior or not sinning. So, we fight and struggle to try to please God. We fail and fail, then finally give up. Because let’s be real. What human can be as holy as God is?

What human, born with a corrupted nature, surrounded by sin and full of sinfulness can even understand what holiness is, let alone do it?

We can’t. And that’s why God commands us to be Holy. To get us to turn to Him. To get us to see that we need more of Him. We need more of Jesus. We need the Holy Spirit to do it.

Holiness means to be set apart. In the Temple there were tools made of gold. They were set apart for the Temple use. That’s all they were for. But, they were just tools. Their holiness came from God and the dedication for their use.

So, how does that apply to us?

To be holy we must first be saved, by turning to God (repent) and asking Him to save us and Confessing Jesus as our Lord. (Romans 10:9-10, Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16)

Holiness means to maintain the relationship with the Lord and abide in Him. It means that when the devil attacks us or life gets hard, we don’t just throw God away and go our own way. This implies that we never knew Him. Build that relationship with God.

People sin. But when we sin we run back to God. Not run away from Him.

We wash our feet  by confessing our sins to Him. ( 1 John 1:8-10) This is part of Walking in the Spirit. (Gal. 5:22-25)

We grow in Him. We listen to Him as He grows us.

We are totally devoted to His work. This doesn’t mean all of us are in the ministry professionally. But, in our lives we respond when God leads us to do something. In our jobs, in our families we always seek to do what God wants and acknowledge Him  in all our ways.

 Holiness does not mean being a perfect goody two shoes. We are perfect in Him, not ourselves. We are holy in Him. We are set apart for Him. We are golden, because He is refining us. Holiness like God is peace. It’s not worry about whether you are obeying the rules. 

Be ye Holy as I am Holy means that we turn to Him. Because he is the only one who can clean us and teach us. And make us holy.

It is only through His Holy Spirit that we can be Holy.

It is only through the Blood of Jesus and being set apart that we are holy.

Not by works, lest any man should boast.

All Things Work Together

 All Things Work Together

 He is with us in all of it.

 

 

I got “saved” when I was young.

I had no idea what that actually meant. But, God did. And that’s all that matters. I turned to Him and He came running.

No one who gets saved, knows the Bible. They do not know anything. We cannot say “I won’t sin anymore”, because we do not even know what that is.

We just hear His call and turn to Him.

That’s it, and that’s all that’s needed. If we really heard and turned.

It’s all on Him. He takes care of it.

According to some people, when you get saved you instantly become this person who never sins. That was not my experience.

I turned into a violent drunk who destroyed everyone and everything.

But, God was with me. I know He was.

And as I sowed evil into my life and into the world, all of it worked together to break me.

Because God and His promises are not based upon my ability but on His.

I’m a failure. He is not.

When we read in Deuteronomy Chapter 28, we see the blessings that come when we obey God, and the curses that come when we don’t.

This is not about eternal salvation. That’s settled when you turn to Christ.

This is about reaping what we sow in this world. It’s is about being blessed or corrected. It is about being broken.

God designed His creation to respond to reaping and sowing and harvest. Whether physically or spiritually. (Galatians 6:7-9)

He created it this way when we were still in the Garden, before the Fall. So, we were not doing evil. We were not corrupted. We sowed and reaped goodness. But, when we fell, evil came and now we sow and reap evil.

 So as I lived my evil life. The harvest of my evil actions was growing, and God was merciful. He gave me grace and protected me. But, eventually that harvest came upon me.

I was cursed and destroyed in every way. I lost everything.

Just like it says in Deuteronomy Chapter 28. That is “Rock Bottom”. That is reaping what we sow.

Now, I had a choice. I could have gotten mad at God and rejected Him. I could have become bitter. And I would continued to face “Rock Bottom” and correction, in various ways.

Or I could let it break me, and turn to Him, and learn from Him and grow in Him.

I chose Him, because He chose me. (1 John 4:19)

People forget brokenness as a spiritual discipline. The act of utter destruction in order to be rebuilt by God.

So many churches are built on a false belief of perfect obedience, because they have never been broken. They have never experienced God destroying their life, in order to rebuild it. They grew up in church and never left. They have never been corrected, because they have never really known Him. They just obey the rules.

But, ALL things work together for our good, when He calls us, and we love Him. (Romans 8:28)

I can look back at my life and see His movements and know that He was with me in my destruction. His hand was on the temperature gauge of my burning. And it’s ok. I trust Him. I trust Him because He has brought me through.

This is my testimony. It is between Him and me. By our testimony we shall over come the enemy. Because we can see and say the great things God has done for us. (Rev. 12:11, Luke 8:39)

I no longer care about peoples religion or their dead beliefs. I know the Lord. I have a relationship with Him.

It came because of my failure and my brokenness. All things work together. His grace is sufficient for me.

When we sin we turn to Him, and confess to Him and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we pretend like we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and Jesus is not in us. When we say we don’t sin, we make God out to be a liar. Because He came to die for our sins, not our failures. Not our mistakes. Not our misunderstandings. But, for our sin. (1 John 1)

All things in this life work together for our goodness when we are with Him. Good or bad. If we do good we get blessed. We reap goodness because we sow goodness.

And when we sow evil we reap correction into our lives. We reap destruction and brokenness into our lives. And it works to grow us. It changes us, if we turn to Him. The trouble and brokenness works as fertilizer for growth.

And as we confess our sin and turn to Him, and grow. As we are broken and corrected through our life. As we face tribulation, and sin and failure, and turn to Him over and over and over again.

We change. We grow. We bear fruit.

I have changed.

My mind has been renewed to what God created it to be before it was ruined by my corrupted nature and my own sinful deeds. (Romans 12:2)

Not by my works or efforts but by Him, breaking me and saving me.

That is how the Holy Spirit develops the Fruit in us. Patience comes by a life time of trusting and waiting upon the Lord, as He molds you and shapes you. Love comes by facing the unlovable. Peace comes by facing chaos. Joy comes by misery. Self-control comes through correction and brokenness. That is meekness. All of it comes by constantly turning to Him, confessing, praying, and letting Him work.

 That is the relationship.

I no longer struggle to obey God.

I just obey, or get corrected and both are fine. Because I trust Him.

He fixes it. He changes me.

I find myself, sinning less.

I’m not perfect in myself. In my flesh.

But, I am perfect in Him. He no longer sees my sin. According to Him, I am in Christ and do not sin at all. (1 John)

I am washed in the Blood. I am clean. I am white as snow. My sins are as far from me as the East is from the West. They are in the deepest sea, and I am hid in the cleft of the Rock of Christ. I am on the Ark. I might be a termite on the Ark. But, I’m there because of what Jesus did, not what I do.

When you hear Him call and turn to Him. His Holy Spirit comes into you and teaches you to love Him and know Him. And you realize that God is with you and will never leave you, nor forsake you. (Heb. 13:5)

And you will see that ALL things work together for your good.

Because of Him and His promises. Not you and your obedience or failure.

He does it because of who He is, not because of who you are, or what you do.

Turn to Him and trust Him.

 (Cover photo by pexels/Gary Barnes)