Category Archives: Holiness

Shadows

Colossians 2:16-17
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.  These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ

Looking at Adam in the Garden of Eden, he didn’t really have to do much other than name animals. Look at when God cursed the land, then he said you will have to toil and labor for your food (Genesis 3:17).  You see, Adam lacked knowledge of good and evil, so God cursed everything to give him a lesson.  “You need to understand character, responsibility, and you will understand good and evil.” So we have dietary laws and regulations to show us discipline, but when God reveals his character through the Holy Spirit and gives us knowledge, then we can focus on the spiritual directly, rather than looking to physical things as parables.

Look at how Jesus taught the crowds, through the natural, but to the disciples he spoke plainly to them saying, “the knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, have been revealed to you but not to them.” (Matthew 13:11)  All these things are a type and shadow that were meant for spiritual truths.  So do not worry about clean and unclean, Sabbath days, or any other regulation.  The focus is all on Jesus Christ.

So then seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and you don’t have to worry about the other stuff. He gives you the life.  Remember Jesus went hungry in the desert because “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the God.”  and “My nourishment come from doing the will of the Father.”

We do have a physical body that needs to be taken care of, but the focus is on the spiritual.  God rewarded the people who ate right because they wanted to care for the body.  It was out of love.  The trust is in God though, not the food.  So you don’t need to worry about food or clothes, money, or anything.  We’ve heard the scripture before, but it hasn’t sunk into our hearts.  The meaning has been hidden from us. God has not forsaken us, but has broken the barrier between us so that we can be together.  Heaven is so much closer than we realize.

Make Me!

It’s funny, I’ve heard pastors say that in order to love God, you need to pray that God will help you love him. I guess that makes sense, but I want to provide a little clarity.

When I was a teen I used to pray that God would turn me into a robot. I wanted to be committed to him and do whatever he said without question. The problem with that request though, is that it gets rid of freewill which is a part of God’s design. He will not force us to do anything, he does not manipulate hearts. Manipulation makes you do something you wouldn’t normally want to do. He doesn’t do that. He tries instead to persuade. He will allow us to sin, and do things our own way so that when we see that it doesn’t work we will surrender to his will. If you ask your child to clean their room and he says “Make me” that sounds really disrespectful. That’s not submitting. Same with us.

What you need is knowledge. God wants you to know the truth so that Satan cannot deceive you with a lie. When you know why things happen, you can trust God and not sin.

When we sin it is out of hate. How can you love a person and steal from them? How can you love them and kill them? How can you love and envy saying, “Good for you, glad you got it even though I think I deserve it more.”? That’s bitterness and pride. But when you love, against such there is no law.

We don’t have to work at anything to see God move, but three things we must do always: listen, obey, and love (care).

Distraction or Motivation

I have a chapter in my first book called “Distraction or Motivation”.

It says that many of the things that we think are pulling us from God, are actually things that God puts in our lives to drive us to him.  We think hectic schedules, lack of money, emergencies or the urgent, keep us from seeking him.  The story of Lazarus teaches us that nothing is truly urgent.  The man was on his death bed, but Jesus took his time and just sent a word that he would be ok.  No one believed him and he died.  When Jesus came he marveled at them, “I thought you guys said you believed I was the Son of God and you presume to tell me I’m late?  The Messiah is never late, he arrives precisely when he means to.” (heheh)  But really this tests us to see if we trust God more than circumstances. (John 11)

Then the opposite also gets us in trouble.  The Pharisees were said to have sought the scriptures for eternal life, but they completely rejected Jesus. Sometimes we try to do the religious rituals instead of focusing on the heart and purpose of God.  The religious leaders allowed those that were in ministry to give the money that was due their parents for like the retirement home, to be given to God as offerings instead.  God said “I don’t need the money!!! I told you to honor your parents!”  And Jesus said “your hearts are far from me, you don’t even understand the law.” (Matthew 15)

The thing is, we think if we get wrapped up in the Bible, or church enough, that God will be able to have his will and we’ll have revival.  But what do all the Religious “retreats” do?  They keep you from the circumstances for a week or weekend.  No, God wants you to see both and recognize that he is bigger.  So that when circumstance comes, you see that God has it taken care of and don’t worry.  You can see both at the same time and it’s fine.  Do not ignore or take your eyes of the problem, but put the problem up against God like David did with Goliath… or the giant pickle and recognize it’s just an opportunity for God to show his glory.  “Your big, but God’s bigger, and when it comes to him that’s when I figure, little guys can do big things too.” – Jr Asparagus

 

Salvation is Repentance

For some odd reason we treat God like Satan when it comes to salvation… but sort of in reverse.

With Satan a person would be tempted to sell their soul in order to have wealth on earth.  Christians sell their life to God to have a good afterlife.  It’s like, “Ok, now he’s Lord, I have to do something good and go through crap now because it builds character or whatever.  At least there’s heaven later.”

But Jesus said he came to give life, and that more abundant.(John 10:10)  Meaning here AND there.  We focus on the “Lord” part and think everything comes with a catch and that we are slaves.  Not quite.  God is our Father, and while you obey him like a master, the relationship is completely different.  Jesus said that the Kings of the earth exercise authority over their servants and lord it over them, NOT SO WITH US.  He said that whoever wants to be great must be a servant and slave of all, JUST AS the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:25-28

God loves us and cares for us as a Father, and what he says is not “for the heck of it” but for a purpose and for our benefit.

For some odd reason we keep thinking of this as a transaction.  “You have to repent before you can receive salvation.”  Not quite, it’s more like “Repentance IS salvation”.  You see, because sin is pushing God out, holiness is inviting God in.  Salvation is being saved from God’s wrath by being hidden in him.  So how can you accept God and reject him at the same time?  You can’t receive salvation while remaining in sin because they are complete opposites of each other.(Romans 6:2)  It’s not a catch.  You have to understand what it is.  Heaven is being in God’s presence.  You can have the peace and joy that comes with heaven if you are in Christ.  When you have an understanding of holiness and stop thinking it’s about works, but just trusting God (“The righteous shall live by faith”- Romans 1:17) then it doesn’t seem so impossible.  We fear because we don’t think we have what it takes, but God just wants us to have himself.

Note:
This is not to say that every time you sin you lose your salvation; as many have come to believe.  When you pray for salvation you are saying you no longer want to live for yourself and that you want God to guide you and help you love and follow him.  From then on God is in charge of your sanctification and working out all your flaws.  (1 Corinthians 6:11, Hebrews 10:14)

Entitled vs Entrusted

Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. – Luke 12:48

Many Christians think they are entitled to anything and everything they say “in Jesus’ name”. But Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give.”(Matthew 10:8)  Meaning when we are given something, there is a purpose. We are not entitled, we are entrusted with gifts.  Remember the parable of the talents.(Matthew 25:14)  God has given us faith, required us to do works and fulfill his purpose.  When we ask for something we don’t ask for others, we aren’t interested in others.  We should be.

If someone gave you a Ferrari, would you neglect oil changes and car washes?  Or would you take care of it and cherish it?  We are not to trample the grace of God underfoot (Hebrews 10:29).  He gave us the ability to overcome sin (Romans 8), to overcome the enemy (Luke 10:19), and to deny that power and subject ourselves to Satan is insane.

When we don’t use what we have, why would God trust us with carnal desires?  We haven’t done squat with his own Spirit.  This is why we don’t even have confidence for little things.  We know something is wrong, but we don’t want the accountability (James 4:2-3)

The Israelites failed constantly because they believed they were God’s chosen people and were entitled.  God chastised them time and time again saying “It was because of your father Abraham that I chose you, his heart and his love for me.  You did nothing to deserve it, and now you do not cherish it because I see you chasing after other gods instead of holding on to me.”   We are entrusted with the Truth.    Cherish it.

New Age

 

Yoga and martial arts originate from eastern mysticism. Martial arts teaches self-discipline but at the same time fuels your carnal nature. You learn to defend yourself, vindicate yourself, beat someone into submission. Jesus says do not resist an evil person (Matthew 5:39) and God is your vindicator (Psalm 135:14). Even spongebob makes a parody of it in his Flying Dutchman episode watching a new age video with the mantra “the power within”.  Everything is focused on self and self preservation. Jesus, in contrast, speaks of laying down our lives.  
 
Yoga is mixed in with religion, Hindu I believe, and the positions they teach are supposed to invoke evil spirits to possess you. It’s not just the meditation that’s new age. You can’t just bypass that and do everything else. God says not to flirt with false religion, that’s why when the Israelites went to war they destroyed everyone and everything down to the last child. That nothing satanic would remain. He said that the names of the foreign gods should not even be mentioned. (Exodus 23:13)  This is the doctrine of Balaam.  He tried cursing Israel, but could not, so instead he enticed them to mingle in with those who worshipped foreign gods so they would be the cause of their own destruction. (Numbers 24; 25; 31:16)

 

 

Just a warning because the church has been so lax regarding holiness and America has been all about acceptance and toleration that we forget where these practices came from.  Then many churches focus on signs and miracles whilst practicing these things and see demonic manifestations and mistake it for the Holy Spirit.  That sort of thing happens all the time.  That’s actually how Islam and Mormonism came about. Joseph Smith practiced folk magic while loosely holding on to Christianity.
 
God outlaws divination with Moses (Leviticus 19:26).  Paul warns about seducing spirits (1 Timothy 4:1,Colossians 2:18) .  Many mainstream preachers are getting involved with it, especially the charismatics.  Todd Bentley being one of them focuses on bizarre events, doctrines of angels, and things that are not in, but completely contrary to the Bible. Look at what Revivalist Andrew Strom says regarding the Kundalini.  Some things have even slipped into IHOP and respected religious leaders.

Today

The Bible says today pretty often.  Like “Today if you will hear his voice and do not harden your hearts” or “Encourage one another as long as it is called today.”  It helps us keep focus as finite beings.

I said before that Jesus criticized his disciples for having little faith, but that it wasn’t their amount of faith, but their faithfulness.  Meaning they believed, but they weren’t consistent and that is reiterated through the gospels.  For instance when Jesus said “be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees” and the disciples start worrying about having no bread right after Jesus multiplied supper twice for crowds in the thousands.  Their hearts were hard and they couldn’t keep the faith.

So, when we talk about “arriving” we think we’ll never “arrive” because it means we will never make another mistake and we’ll be perfect forever.  Stop focusing on forever and just think about the here and now.  Make the right choice this time, believe just this once, sort of a Vegas mentality.  This time it’s gonna work.  Not focusing on the past loses, but maintaining hope. People use this for carnal goals all the time.  Quit smoking by taking it a day at a time.  If you’re on a diet and you eat something bad, forget about the one instance and focus on sticking with the goal.  Say, “Yesterday’s sins are in the past, I am forgiven, and I’m starting afresh confident that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning.”

Paul says to pray without ceasing, which I think he says that so we won’t become lax in our relationship with God.  Keep on it, don’t procrastinate, remember God in all of your decisions for all your actions.   God wants us to keep this thing simple but consistent.  It keeps our guard up, keeps us humble, keeps us focused, keeps us hopeful.

When you arrive, you are humble enough to know you could fall tomorrow, but are focused on pleasing God today.

Complete Trust

Quick note:

I’ve said it before that you can’t really build trust, at least not with God.  If we committed our lives to him, fully immersed baptism, saying “be Lord of my life”, you can’t just give part.  There’s a problem with that, and it’s not about you holding up your end of the bargain, it’s God not being able to work because he doesn’t have all of you.

If you trust him with one thing, when you receive that one thing, there will be a consequence of it and we are often afraid of “ok, well can I trust God after that?”  For instance, “God I trust you with my life… but wait if I die what about my kids?”  Or other times we may be tempted to make a deal with God.  “If you get me out of this jam I’ll do something.”  Like we have to pay for his grace.  If you have to earn it or pay for it, it’s not grace.  So if we ask for something, we fear “at what cost”?  or “What’s the catch?”

God tries to relieve our worries with Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you, plans for good, not for destruction, to give you a future and a hope.”  He is altruistic.  He even tells us “It is for freedom you’ve been set free” Galatians 5:1  So trust him with everything.  

Faith – seeing clearly

God is not capable of speaking lies, whatever he says comes about. He spoke the world into existence, everything he said in prophecy is being revealed.  In order to operate in faith, it comes by hearing and hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17).  No one is saved unless they first hear the message of the gospel, believe in their heart, and then confess with their mouth the conviction within their heart (Romans 10:9).  When the word of God abides or dwells in your heart, you see that he is true and everything else a lie.  The entire world was corrupted by man believing a lie of Satan.  Man was created in God’s image and then all the sudden he was without God.  He stepped outside of God’s truth and everything has been corrupted (Romans 8:20-21).  When the truth came back (Jesus) he restored us and allowed us to be holy again.  Emmanuel, means God with us.  We have God with us, his Holy Spirit living inside of us.  Nothing was holy on earth, but corrupted, however because the presence of God dwelt in the Ark of the Covenant, it was holy.  We now have become holy.  This is why Paul said that we have a new nature to take part in.  We have been created in Christ’s likeness (Ephesians 4:22-24).  That’s why we can throw off the old nature, and partake in God’s nature if we just believe his words.  We have the capacity, but you have to make his word come alive in your heart.  When you see that everything he says is truth, you can claim any scripture because you know in your heart this is God’s will, this is his ultimate desire (Ephesians 4:13).  To make things whole, to heal, to bring the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.

Faith is believing God’s word and seeing it instead of with our natural eyes.  I can’t condone watching the Matrix, because it has language and God’s name in vain, but if you have already seen it, it is a very good example.  Like the green characters flashing across the screen is just jargon, so spiritual truths cannot be discerned without the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14-15).  Until Neo dies and comes back to life, and then sees everything, literally, in a different light.  He can see what the characters mean, and overcome the enemy.  Before he was afraid of them, now they are afraid of him because he knows and believes the truth.

We need to wholly accept his word, not pick and choose, not try to explain away because it doesn’t match our experiences.  Understand it is truth, and when we wholly devote ourselves to his Word and abide in his Word, then our experiences will match.  We have to be holy.

In Him

We’ve been missing out on holiness in the church.  Holiness is not the same as being self-righteous where you try to avoid evil and do good for goodness sake.  No holiness is abiding in God wholly.

I’ve wondered how to receive healing for a long time now and tried teaching on it.  Yesterday I felt as though I was coming down with the flu.  Elijah was sick, then my mother-in-law, and I had terrible nausea start when trying to eat lunch.  I knew I was coming down with something.  I had a fight with my wife the night before, and knew that having that bitterness when walking into my mother-in-law’s house would open me up to getting sick.  It did.  But as I was in the bathroom about to puke my guts out I started praying, “OK, I’m not going to pray just to try to avoid sickness, I’m just more aware than ever that I really need a change.  I’ve been trying to be righteous and holy in my own strength, but I haven’t been sincere, and I know I’ve been missing you.  If the only way you can get through to me is making me deathly ill, then fine, I’ll blow chunks and not get mad at you.  I’m the cause of my own problems and I’m sorry for blaming you all this time.  You’ve tried to tell me and I could never seem to get it past my mind and into my heart.  I need a revival in my own life.”  And He healed me.  I returned to my seat and apologized for everything I had done to my wife.  I never barfed, the chills and nausea left and God showed me what was possible.  For me I finally had something indisputable and I could see Him work.  I always had doubt before.  Maybe the cold sore went away on its own, maybe Michelle not having any more pain from the kidney stones is a fluke, maybe…etc.  Anyway,

That’s it!  That’s what we need. Jesus said that if we would abide in him we would receive whatever we ask for in prayer.(John 15:7)  We are supposed to share in him in his sufferings and in his glory.(Romans 8:17)  We receive our inheritance by living in Christ.  We are to pray without ceasing.(1 Thessalonians 5:17)  This is why we are baptized by submersion.  We are supposed to give God our all all the time.  He says he wants us to be hot or cold or he’ll spew us out of his mouth.(Revelation 3:15)  We don’t tend to believe holiness is attainable because it requires us to make a choice.  I can’t just give him the time between 11:00 and 11:30 everyday and say I’m devoted.  We are to be a slave to righteousness, not a friend of righteousness.  Meaning we are bound to do the right thing, not prefer it one hour and not the next.  Jesus says if we set our hand to the plow and look back we aren’t fit for service in the kingdom.(Luke 9:62)  We can’t give God just part.  He left the 99 to search for the 1 because he wants us all.  He is a holy God and wants us wholly.

The Bible says for us to confess our sins to one another so that we can be healed.(James 5:16)  Meaning no hiding, no pretense, no bitterness, just his love uniting the church.  John says I pray that you prosper and be in good health as your soul prospers.(3 John 1:2)  We are in good health when we are in Christ.  This explains why Paul left someone sick in Miletus.(2 Timothy 4:20)  We think  Jesus is a magic word apostles use to perform signs and healing.  But no.  Jesus preached and taught and told the disciples to preach “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17; 10:7)  He got their hearts ready to receive him.  The requirement to receive anything from God is humility we know he resists the proud. (James 4:6) So it is for everyone at any time, but only under the right circumstance: our heart being broken.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bering with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. – Ephesians 4:1-3