holiness

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“For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. Consequently, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.” – 1 Thess. 4:7,8 nasb

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Journal,

One of the scariest words in the Bible for many people is the word holiness. And even though believers are children of God, there are times we don’t really feel very holy. We are all aware of our failings and our weaknesses.Yet there is something that believers need to understand. Regardless of our feelings, believers have been made holy in Christ

Our holiness in Christ is known as ‘positional’ holiness. Positional holiness is a foundational building truth of the Christian walk.

Positional holiness means that our life cannot be separated from Christ Jesus. This is why the apostle said that we have already been raised up with Christ, and seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Jesus fully represents all who truly believe in Him. Because He is holy, we are also holy.

God planned for holiness to be the centerpiece of His work of salvation. Adam lost his holiness before God. Thus the human family became what Adam became. Christ Jesus went to the cross so what we could be joined to Him forever. From Adam we inherited sin. From Christ we inherit holiness and righteousness.

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Every child of God carries in his or her heart the divine presence. The problem, however, is that while we carry in our hearts the presence of the Lord Jesus, we are yet in earthly bodies, and in these earthly bodies we are subject to temptations, to failures, to stumbling, and even into a relapse into an area of sin.

The answer is that Jesus said that He would be with us always. He isn’t just with us when we are good. The apostle carefully pointed out that nothing could ever separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus. Jesus is even present in our badness. Paul said that we are sealed for the day of redemption. He also said that we can cause the Holy Spirit to grieve when we fail to walk as we should.

And this brings us to one more aspect of holiness.

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Experiencing Holiness

We need a power in our lives that can help us to live a life that is truly worthy of the Lord. This is where experiential holiness comes in. Experiential holiness is the work of the Holy Spirit. Experiential holiness is where we experience the power and presence of Christ in our lives. The Holy Spirit is continually at work in each believer, helping the believer to process his or her life from the cross. Thus He empowers us to walk in a way that is pleasing to God. (The perfection of holiness takes place in heaven.)

Is there nothing we can do to facilitate experiential holiness in our lives? Yes there are things we can do. There are certain things all believers can do. These things include giving ourselves over to Jesus daily, being devoted to prayer and the study of God’s Word, learning to live a life that is sensitive to the prompting and guidance of the Spirit, and, finally, learning to live with an attitude of repentance. 

Oh yes, repentance. Many don’t realize how very important repentance is in the walk of holiness. In the ancient Hebrew tradition, repentance was considered to be an act of worship. It spoke of a daily, or a moment-by-moment adjusting of our life to the will of God.

Think about it. What does it mean to repent? To repent means to change one’s mind, to change one’s actions, to change one’s attitude. In repentances we are making adjustments to come into line with the will and Word of God.

Most of the time repentance is simply an adjustment of the heart. The Spirit of the Lord is always present to help us make these adjustments. In fact the Holy Spirit is the One who brings us to repentance and thereby helps us humble our hearts in making these spiritual adjustments in our lives.