Tag: holiness

Growing in Christ Part 3 of All Things New Series

All Things New Series Part 3

God all made us for His Glory, we are His creation and He has made us with intricate intent. We may think at times and question God concerning the situation we are in. You may feel like you are at a dead end but God sometimes has to bring us to the end of ourselves for us to acknowledge the only One who can get us out of the mess that we have made ourselves to be at times. We were wired and designed to grow in Christ. But this World is constantly trying to persuade us to give, to grow not in God but in our passions, our own desires that are not of God. 

Galatians 5:24 " Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires"

So what does it take to “Grow in Christ” Paul says it in Galatians 5:24 “Crucify the flesh” The only way that we can grow in Christ is when we are dead! Not physically speaking but to put off the flesh, Ephesians 4:22-24 says it better…

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

To “put off our old self” meaning to not live that life anymore. 

To throw it out!

God is saying be Holy!

To be set apart from sin and evil.

The Road to Growth is Holiness

We have to make intentional choices in order to grow. There is no growth without change, there is no change without loss without pain. If we are going to grow, you will have to change, and change means you let go of some old things and grab hold of some new things.

“Put off your old self”

24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

LET IT GO

> Old habits

>Old hurts

>Old patterns

>Old sins

Throw them off and trust that God is working in you because without holiness we are unable to see God. We are made holy through the finished work of Christ. 

Holiness has to be continuously followed, put on and lived out in our daily lives. It is a work of God in us through the Holy Spirit that enables us to demonstrate holiness outwardly.

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Authenticity

Mirror or Masquerade?

woman-hiding-behind-mask

Romans 12:2

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God”

Let’s take a look at the definitions of the word conformed and transformed.

 Conformed– to put on a mask and attend a party or masquerade. It is to act in such a way as to misrepresent one’s true inner nature.

Transformed– One’s outward actions represent an inner change in the essential nature of a person.

The question must be asked of every Christian. “Does my life mirror the Christ within me, or is it a masquerade on display to the world around me?” The authentic leader does not “put on” false pretenses. He or she is transparent, seeking to mirror the very character of Christ in everything, and open to change if so prompted by the Holy Spirit. This daily process of experiencing Scripture transforms the mind and heart through a deeper understanding of what it means to be in Christ.

Are You Authentic?

I do not like fakes! What am I talking about? Fake products that advertise “Authentic”. I have shopped eBay one time for what I thought was a “authentic” Otterbox but soon found out it wasn’t. The material was not the same as what the picture was, the seal that keeps it waterproof wasn’t the same material as the real thing. The so called “authentic” Otterbox wasn’t the real deal. The outside looked good! Good enough to say it was authentic but the inside portrayed a different story.

Many Christians today have an appearance of Godliness, but on the inside there hasn’t been a transformation that has took place. They walk around with a mask.

Each of us has to choose between conforming to the culture and being transformed by the Holy Spirit. One mirrors the world and one mirrors the spirit of Christ. One pretends to be a lover of Christ and presents an authentic life, one of the most important and attractive characteristics of a Christian.

People are not wanting what the world has. They have questions, they have pain and hurt just as much as Christians do but they need to know who God is and who can be with them in their time of pain and trials. We cry out to Abba father, who are they crying out to? Are you wearing a mask? Or living a fruitful life before others and before God. It’s a choice we make and the choice has to be answered everyday.

GFJ

Awaken

__________________________________________________________________You awaken me

Definition – Rouse from sleep, to stir the interest of; exite

Ephesians 5:14-18 “For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “awake, O sleeper & arise from the dead & Christ will shine on you.

Romans 13:11 – Besides this you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For, Salvation is nearer to us now than we first believed.

As the days have been passing by, I hear the spirit pressing on my heart “Behold, I am coming soon” a reminder of how close we are to His coming. For to be a spotless bride without blemish or wrinkle. Let us get ready, in preparation of our Groom, Jesus Christ. And to let this World our community, our town, our friends that do not know the Lord that there is not much time, An awakening must occur.

~ Diluting the Truth ~

In 2001, a Kansas City pharmacist was charged with diluting the cancer treatment drugs Taxol and Gemzar to make a profit. After pleading guilty, the pharmacist, Robert Courtney, was sentenced to thirty years in prison. Judge Ortrie D. Smith told the man, “Your crimes are a shock to the civilized conscience.” Judge Smith also ordered Courtney to pay $10.4 million in restitution and a $25,000 fine. In his plea agreement, Courtney admitted diluting drugs for profit since 1992, affecting as many as 4,200 patients.

This man held life-saving power in his hands and for the sake of greed and personal gain diluted it to the point where it could not help people. We can do the same with God’s life saving truth.  – “30-year sentence for Druggist,” The New York Times (December 6, 2002)

“Let God awaken us to the reality of His Truth.”

As we all are praying that God would awaken this country, this World, His people to the saving power of Christ. As the Truth is being watered down to the secret sensitive mega sized congregations who have itching ears for the false prophets to stand and proclaim the social drinking, use of tobacco and the profanity that comes out of the mouth tolerable. To have the programs that entice men and women to join by having so called groups “Steaks & Stogies” etc. is disgusting. These messages and group gatherings have become a stench in the nostrils of God. Letting sin overtake a life by never allowing it to be convicted of the Holy Spirit. Being led the wrong way the churches of America are being led by the World instead of the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

“so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:27 

“As the pulpit goes, so goes the nation”

To gain influence over the people, most want the fame. To not tell the Truth, Truth hurts, and most times we are led by our feelings instead of a circumstance where we need to be led of the Spirit.

Jeremiah 5:31 “the prophets prophesy falsely,

    And the priests rule at their direction;

 My people love to have it so,

    But what will you do when the end comes?

The Jewish nation at the time of Jeremiah’s reign was given strict warnings of the destruction that was going to happen if they did not repent. The people were being misled by the false prophets, yes their mouth was praising God, but their hearts were far from Him. How different is it today in America than it was in the days of Jeremiah, no different. God never changes, His plan never changes and to see His plan for this country is for the church to wake up, to not put on sackcloth and ashes (not to be sorry) for their mistakes but to repent, to take a change of course!

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” – 1 Peter 4:17

“An awakening must start with the church, His bride, to perfect us. Holiness is the key to having a pure life before God.”

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”

My short time of ministering to the clients of the Farmington AA Clinic, also known as Aquinas; I had seen the full effect of tolerable sin take place over so many lives, ranging from the age of 17 all the way up to the 90’s of men and women who have been a victim of the bite.

~ The power of the Bite ~

I would hear stories of their life before their addiction of drugs and other habits of the flesh that took a hold of them. I referred to it as a baby wolf. Every creature on this Earth has to be fed in order to grow, and just like sin, it takes one look, one taste, one experience and you’re hooked onto the ever so dangerous downward spiral in a person’s life. We may tolerate it, thinking that it’s okay, but one day that wolf (pet sin) will outgrow you to the point where it overtakes you.

~ No grey area’s ~

“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth”

Rev. 3:16

“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not. Do you not fear me? declares the Lord. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.  But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.  They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’  Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. – Jeremiah 5:21-24

God has set boundaries for us to live by, commandments to follow by, teachings to learn from. But we see how far we can go without Him knowing it, (so we think). “If we are hiding in God, we don’t have anything to hide”. We can fool the preacher, the teacher, but we can’t fool God.

~ Getting back to Holiness ~

While God commanded that His chosen nation of Israel be a holy nation, we also find that those called and chosen in New Testament times, including our day, are also to be holy: “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

“When things are made holy, when they are consecrated, they are set apart unto purity. They are to be used in a pure way. They are to reflect purity as well as simple apartness. Purity is not excluded from the idea of the holy; it is contained within it. But the point we must remember is that the idea of the holy is never exhausted by the idea of purity. It includes purity but is much more than that. It is purity and transcendence. It is a transcendent purity.

In today’s society mentioning the word Holiness is briefly described as being a lunatic or some kind of legalism pushed onto someone else for not wearing the proper attire. Holiness happens within the heart. The primary meaning of holiness is defined as separate, It comes from an ancient word that meant, ‘to cut,’ or ‘to separate.’ Perhaps even more accurate would be the phrase ‘a cut above something.’ In todays churches and many lifestyles It has taken a backseat by complacency. God commands holiness in a believer’s life, without it we cannot see God —“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. Matthew 5:8

“do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,”

1 Corinthians 6:19

We are made holy when God calls us out of this world and gives us of His Holy Spirit in order to live as He does. His Holy Spirit gives us understanding of God’s purpose for creating us, and sets us on the road of overcoming the carnal way of life and living His way in obedience to Him.

~ Striving towards Perfection ~

Who said were perfect? None, except the only person who can help us strive towards the prize which is in Jesus Christ.

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” – Phil 3:12

Who said were righteous? Without Christ we are as filthy rags.

“We have all become like one who is unclean,

    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

 We all fade like a leaf,

    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” – Isaiah 64:6

But one thing must happen before there is a change. By allowing God to change us, baptize us in anguish, having the heart of God, not to be led by our emotions or concerns, but in anguish. Habakkuk, one of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament, Habakkuk had one question for God, as he labored in prayer for Judah; His country.

Hab. 1:1-4

1 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,

    And you will not hear?

2 Or cry to you “Violence!”

    And you will not save?

3 Why do you make me see iniquity?

    And why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me;

    Strife and contention arise.

4 So the law is paralyzed,

    And justice never goes forth.

 For the wicked surround the righteous;

    So justice goes forth perverted.

~ Voice of One ~

“I am  the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,”

John 1:23

The voice of one, the body of Christ; The head, we the body that make up the church

“so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another”

Romans 12:5

Where are the John the Baptist’s? Where are the men and women of God who say yes to holiness, no to complacency in order for God to baptize the heart of the believer with His anguish, His love for His people, to bring them back to the Cross?

~ Be Ready, Stay Focused, & Never Look Back ~