holiness and a holy God

When I say the word, "holiness" - what does that mean to you?

Does it conjure up a list of "don'ts"?

Does it bring back feelings of the legalism you lived through as a young person growing up in the church?

Is it simply a list of rules and regulations to be followed in order to please a judgmental, harsh God?

Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3 (as we shall see in tonight's dvd series segment with John Bevere), "Finally, dear bothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you.  You are doing this already, and we encourage you to do so more and more.  For you remember what we taught you in the name of the Lord Jesus."

God desires that we live a holy life!

The word holiness, from the Greek (in which the New Testament was written originally in) simply means, "to be separated".  "Consecrated to God."

In other words, God desires that we come up to His level of living. 

Living an extraordinary life in God means that I talk like God, I think like God, I act and react like God.

As Will Rogers once said, "Live so that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip."

That can be difficult, if not impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit.

It's a combination of God's Holy Spirit, and my willingness to live a holy life.

That willingness can always come from this:  A healthy, respectful, reverent fear of the Lord.

Believers who struggle with habitual sin - the root is always - whom am I going to fear?

If I fear God - I am going to live a holy life.

I was reading today of a Leadership magazine cartoon by Mary Chambers,  where two couples are seated in a living room engaged in Bible study. One of the women is speaking. "Well," she says, "I haven't actually died to sin, but I did feel kind of faint once."

God doesn't want us to feel "faint" to sin, God desires that we "die" to sin.

So, how can you break free?

Well, admit that you have a problem.  Agree with God that you have sinned.

Submit yourself to God.  Receive His grace.

Commit yourself to God's Word.

Pray and say the Word over your life.

Be accountable.

May God bless us all with a life of holiness, in which we are truly free to live for him - and live an extraordinary life.