Holiness

“Hebrews 12:14 tells us "Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord!”

These are words we should not be reading lightly. Even after you know for sure, you are indeed holy, even then you still read these words with a sober thought in mind which is “Am I walking in holiness?” The answer will be a big yes, just as long as you keep walking in the Spirit and keep walking in His light. It is indeed simple. Only the Holy Spirit, by putting the spotlight on us can show us the way to Holiness. Only He can teach us the difference between living with suppressed behavior and truly walking in Him, in the light of God.

 Holiness has nothing to do with our zeal for Him, with our rank in the world or outward respectability. It has nothing to do with our knowledge of God’s Word, or how our pastors see us. It is not about having religion, attending services or going to Church. The Bible is filled with these types of people and they were not holy and one that comes to mind is Jehu.  Another misconception is that we tend to think that holiness is something we receive slowly as we go through life.  Holiness is like pregnancy, you are either pregnant or not. You are either holy or not. Which is not to be confused with Christ working through us gradually to perfect our holiness. That's another stage of our walk with Him. 

The bible has oodles of references if we want to draw a picture of a holy man or woman. A good book that is free on the internet you can read about holiness, is written by J.C. Ryle, and titled “Holiness, its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties” But, I have to caution you when you read such book you can either have a headache for days or you end up making a list of things to do and start walking with your suppressed behavior in order to get there. But, a suppressed behavior it's not the same as walking in the Spirit. 

While in the wilderness the Holy Spirit mentioned to me that I needed to move forward with Him toward holiness. In my simpleton mind, I did not understand, nor that did I wait for Him. I left Him behind and set out to understand how I was going to make myself holy.  Suffice to say that after a few months I gave up it was all too much for me to bear. We tend to do the same thing again once we know for sure we have been made holy; we go crazy trying to find ways to keep our holiness intact, so we read books, and we start applying ourselves because somehow we think we can lose the holiness we received from Him. While it is partly true but this is a whole different story and it pertains to those who fall away.

I wish someone had told me that all I needed to do to walk in holiness before an after, is to cultivate His mind and remain plugged in His divine nature. If we practice that, then being a man or woman after His heart, practicing the sermon on  the mount in our lives, shunning sin, keeping His commands, walking in humility etc., are all to my knowledge and experience with Him, the fruit of holiness.

Holiness actually leads to a different level of Sanctification and no you are not holier than thou. The walk is still painful and most of the time mundane because this is the nature of the Christian journey.  So, you enter a different level of sanctification because the Spirit is perfecting your holiness which He continues until death when we will be perfectly holy. In this walk of holiness, or as some call it, pursuing holiness” you learn to walk in His grace in steadfastness as you are chastised, tested, and refined by Him. In your afflictions you learn to persevere and endure through faith and His grace as you walk diligently while keeping your eyes on Him. In my opinion which is based on my experience with Him, the sermon on the mount are not some sort of rules we follow, but rather what He is able to work out in us as we pursue holiness.  

Another thing we will also find that He works in us more and more is righteousness. But two things we can be sure of are, that holiness and righteousness do not come without holy afflictions which we are to go through while submitting to His hand on us. The second one is that this holiness and righteousness in question are not ours they are Christ’s.  Hence, this righteousness we are told in Mathew 5:20 that we are to possess until it surpasses the righteousness of the Pharisees, along with holiness cannot be worked out in us while living in the flesh. They are the work of the Holy Spirit as we go on in faith and grace apprehending this life we have in Him. They are worked in us solely by Him and in His own way.

As I explained in my book, it feels as if you are an embryo being fed in the mother’s womb through the tubes that connect you to her. Except that, the mother’s womb is none other than Christ’s. You are formed and fed, you live, you breathe, and you find life right there in Him. The nutrient that He is passing to us it is found through the blood He shed for us. It is His very life.  

Beloved, it is indeed a phenomenal thing to be able to experience our spiritual life in Him! It is my biggest desire, and for some of you if you end up in Heaven, you will be able to see how much I prayed for all of you. I will continue to petition God until my last breathe, to revive hearts and take away the blindness so we could all learn to walk  and live in Him. I am begging you to believe me when I tell you there is a different Christianity that most of us do not know of.  It is one where you are led solely by the Spirit while you abide in oneness with Him. Please stop living in the flesh. You cannot hide from Him or lie to Him. This life in Him is real.  Open up your heart do not let Satan have a fiesta at your expenses. Make that decision today!

I will leave you with a thought to ponder after Paul warned the Christians Galatians he said this in Galatians 6:6-8

"Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.  Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

This Blog is related to my newly released Christian book “Apprehended & Apprehending”. Feel free to get yourself a copy  

Paperback on Amazon              Kindle on Amazon

Please visit my website www.apprehended.ca