The nature of holiness is that it is not satisfied to be in just one area. It wants to penetrate into all areas; it wants to purify the whole; as light it wants to brighten every corner and crack. In this study of personal holiness, I want to discuss every possible area of holiness in our lives—complete holiness. As I see it, there are generally two areas of personal holiness: outer holiness, or holiness in the body, and inner holiness, or holiness in the mind and the spirit.
HOLINESS IN MIND AND SPIRIT
These areas of our inner being must be considered of primary importance when it comes to holiness; for without holiness in these areas, the outer body will neither be holy.
The mind.The mind is that place from where we think and reason and imagine. And though we believe that these things originate in the brain…
I have been writing a book on the Tribulation and blogging it. I am now up to the end of the Trumpet judgments. I am now beginning an interlude (Rev. 1-11:14) that comes between the sixth and seventh Trumpet of Revelation, Part one. You may want to follow along in your bible.
Just after John saw and recorded that a third of mankind was killed by the locust creatures and that those who survived do not repent, he suddenly saw a mighty angel coming down from heaven. We will look now at the identity of this angel and a few other things that God wants to tell His people in this second interlude. God’s intention here is to give them a short break in order to encourage and comfort them and to remind them that He is in control and will ultimately bring them victory. We will look at this…
This post on sexual purity is part of my category on holiness. I wrote it over ten years ago and is an excerpt from my book on prayer. We all need this more than ever these days.
Some would say, “It is impossible these days to keep your eyes pure, because there is so much pornography out there; we see it practically everywhere we go.” But I want to tell you that with God’s help, and with practice, it is a battle that can be won!
In this post we will talk about how people get trapped into viewing pornography, then about its results, and last, about how to fight against it.
How People Get Trapped Into Viewing Pornography
The reason why people (both men and women) get trapped into viewing pornography is because they have not been warned against it, and they are unprepared to face it. Satan comes against them as an angel of light to deceive them and trap them, and as a roaring lion to devour them. And the reason why they continue in it is because they find…
The practice of meditating on the Word will be most beneficial for right thinking, because when you are meditating on the scriptures your mind is occupied with right thoughts. And the scriptures will also guide you in what else to think about in the world besides the scriptures. One of the passages that specifically tell us that is Philippians 4:8. Here Paul outlines for us seven things we should think about; or I think we could also look at it as seven qualities or virtues we should seek out and think about in different things in the world, such as in people, books, movies, and institutions.
But we are not to just casually think over them; the word translated “think on” or “meditate on” (logizesthe), suggests more than just thinking. The word actually means to take inventory, to reason, to reckon, and to esteem. Adam Clark suggests that…
1. Practice consecration with prayer.Consecration is the act of giving ourselves completely to God through prayer for His will and service, recognizing that our life and all that we have is His. E.M. Bounds has said: “Prayer enters into every phase of a consecrated life…Consecration is really the setting apart of one’s self to a life of prayer.”
And how does all this affect holiness? If affects it directly and in every aspect. We cannot be holy without it. Why? Because consecration is that which prepares the heart for holiness. It is the act of giving ourselves to God by bringing our desires in line with His, thus by making our attitude right before him. Moreover, by consecration we both prepare ourselves for holiness and we enter into that holy life. A holy life in every phase is a life of consecration with prayer.
It seems that, with this new abortion ruling, we are seeing new extremes for good and for bad. The abortionists are venting their anger and the pro-lifers are venting their joy. I just hope we pro-lifers will not feel sorry for the sad abortionists. They have been guilty of sin too long. Their time has come. Let them meet God.
Similarly, let all Christians see sin and evil for what it is. If there are evil spirits and demons, let them be called out in Jesus’ name. If there is ongoing sin, let it be quickly rejected. It is time now to stand strong for Jesus.
There will soon be coming on the earth the ultimate stand-off between good and evil. It will happen after the Rapture—so we might see it from heaven. It will be the battle between the two witnesses who will preach the truth, and the Antichrist who is full of lies and deceit. This battle will go on for three and a half years until God’s restraints are lifted off of the Antichrist, and he will kill the witnesses. Then we will see how evil the world is. They will rejoice over their death. And will let them lie dead for three and a half days. Then when God raises them to life and takes them to heaven, we will see the good and godly ones rejoice. (Revelation 11)
So, make no mistake, there is now good and evil, and we all live and work together. We very often smile at each other and try to be at peace. But at other times, we see the differences and we clash. Sometimes it is hard to see who people are. But Jesus has said, one lives for God, the other for the devil. I think it is best that the truth be known. It is never good to live in deception. Let the truth set you free.
Now let me be clear, those who speak against the six Supreme Court justices that ruled against abortion and against all pro-life people, those are on the side of evil! Their father is the devil! Jesus said in Luke 17:1-2,
It is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.
Hence, let the battle continue, good against evil, until finally God overcomes all evil and Jesus reigns over all.
I have been reminded recently of this truth—that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And because of this fact, we ought to flee from all that defiles this temple, mainly sexual immorality.
Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
I Corinthians 6:18-20
If any man is serious about his own purity, this passage is one of the best to memorize and take it to heart. I found that it helps in my studying of it to go over it backwards. Let me show you.
From verse 20. God bought me with the price of His own blood. So, He owns me. I am His property. Hence, He has given me access to this body, and I am its steward. And when I am found to be a good steward, I am honoring Him.
From verse 19. Here is more about this body: I can call it my body because God has purchased it for me and given it to me. The purpose of this body is to house God’s Spirit. My body is called a temple, the temple where His Holy Spirit dwells. He lives in me.
From verse 18. Now in light of this truth, I must do all I can to take care of this body. But there is a grave danger to it that I must be aware of and guard against. It is sexual sin. All other sins are outside of the body, but immorality is a sin against the body (and who knows how many ways it goes against my body). Therefore, I must flee from this sin. It is the only way to fight against it. I cannot try to fight with it and overcome it. If I try that, it will always deceive me and trap me. No, nothing I do will work to destroy this sin. I must run from it. That is the only way of escape. It is the only way to keep my body (the body that God gave me) clean and pure and honoring to Him.
Holiness is a process, which means that it takes time and continual effort. It doesn’t happen all at once. It is a process of transformation by renewal (Rom. 12:2). Renewal starts with the mind and then works into the character. The objective of renewal is always to renew the whole person: spirit, mind and body (complete renewal, however, will come after this life on earth; read 1 Cor. 15:51).
Have you ever seen an old building being renovated? All the old rotten material is removed and new material is put in its place. Sometimes it is found that the entire building must come down and be replaced. And so it would be a process of starting over. That is the picture of what renewal is. It is a renovation process. The old comes out and the new is put in its place. Hence, with us, all uncleanness and…
Sinceit is God’s will for every Christian to be holy, He has given us the following gifts as necessary resources for holiness.
Jesus Christ
When you were saved you received Jesus as a gift (Jn. 1:12). In Him you were justified and made righteous—absolutely holy. “For He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew not sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Hence, His righteousness is credited to us. That means that positionally, we are eternally righteous and holy before God; we were made holy forever in Christ.
Now, though we are holy and sinless in our position or standing before God, practically we are not sinless and holy. In fact, though we have a new nature and desire not to sin, we still have our old sinful flesh; and so we find that…
This morning I’m hanging out in one of my favorite places for breakfast: Panera Bread. It’s cool in here but hot outside. It will be 100 degrees today, the hottest day yet.
I’ve been reading Killing the Killers, by Bill O’Reilly. So far in the reading it’s just been a lot of killing by terrorists. I’m waiting for the good guys to show up.
I’m taking some time off from work—my painting. I know I will have some jobs coming up soon. I always do. People will call. Actually, some have called but I said no. I like my days off too much.
Divine Encounters
I’ve been thinking some on “divine encounters.” What I mean is the encounters I would have with people as an ambassador for Christ—when I am walking in the Spirit. Thus, when he or she meets and engages with someone, since we as Christians have the Holy Spirit in us, we normally have a divine encounter with them. And so, everything we say to them is as if God is talking to them through us. We are the instrument of God bringing His message to them. This is a concept that we don’t always think about, but it is true. And we realize it most when we are walking in the Spirit—walking close to God in obedience.
I want to remind myself constantly of this idea—that I am always His ambassador and that normally every encounter I have with people is divine. I must not waste my time. I must make the most of it. If I am walking in the spirt, everything I say to people will be from His (God’s) mouth—from His heart. But if I say what is trivial and not of the Spirit, I am blocking the flow of His Spirit through me. That is a tragedy, and unfortunately, it happens too often in too many Christians. Too many of us are walking around as zombies (dead to the Spirit), and what we say is contrary to what the Spirit is trying to say in and through us. We must open our heart to Him; we must clean out our mouth and let the Spirt flow through us and out to others—so that we have those natural “divine encounters.”
