Friends of God
Section:

Be Holy

If I were to come to you right now and say, “Whatever you do, you must try to be holy”, I would miss it. I would altogether be outside of God’s plan. But I take the words of the epistle, which says, by the Holy Spirit, “Be Holy” (1 Peter 1:16) It would be as easy as possible to be holy, but you can never be holy on your own efforts. God wants us to be consumed with a holy zeal for Him, so that every day we walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
Smith Wigglesworth

Most of us have a concept of holiness as sinless, so we try to be sinless on our own efforts. Sorry to break your bubble, but none of us can be sinless by following the law. We’re not here to follow a rule book, we’re here to follow Jesus. The true concept of being holy, means to be set apart, consecrated, unlike everyone else, dedicated completely. Think of it as burning with a zeal for God. Now that’s something I can relate to; being dedicated, set apart, and sold out for God, rearranging my day so that God gets the best of it.

So let’s take this corrected view and look at the quote from Smith Wigglesworth again. “God wants us to be consumed with a holy zeal for Him, so that every day we walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit.” God wants us to take that energy and pursue Him. A good example of this would be King David, he had a zeal for God that burned hotter than a blue flame. In fact, half the book of Psalms was a direct result of his passion for God. You can read the Psalms and hear his hearts cry for god. Sometimes it’s a cry for mercy, and other times it’s a cry to know and be with him.

Psalm 25:11 For the sake of your name O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
Psalm 26:8 I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells.
Psalm 27:4 One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 28:2 Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help,
As I lift up my hands toward your most holy place.

When we have a passion for God, He looks at the “Yes” in our Spirit and imputes the righteousness of God. You become a godly man or woman of god. Not by following a law but through the gift of the Spirit. How do we get this passion, by knowing who he is, and having personal encounters with Him. Jesus is the beautiful one. He’s also a bridegroom King and Judge. The more we get to know Him, the more we are amazed at who he really is.

God has always amazed me, you could be at home, thinking about something and the Holy Spirit might interrupt you to either confirm or deny what you were just thinking about. Imagine that, there’s 6 billion people on the planet earth and God knows every thought from every person on the entire planet. Remember, you didn’t ask God to show up, you were just meditating on something. God decided to break in and give you a little insight on the topic. The more you burn for God, the more He shows up.

The second part of the message from Smith says, “walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit”. As life goes on you’ll find that sin still brings in a separation from God and that if you want to walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, you have to understand what He’s doing for you. On good days, when you’re walking in righteousness, you’ll be filled with the “Joy of the Lord”, an internal joy that opens up our fellowship with God. The bible says, “The joy of the Lord is my strength”. It will give you power to choose the better way. There’s nothing in life better than having the presence of God living in you. Sin just doesn’t compare, it’s not worth it. I’d rather be with God. So set your mind on receiving the Joy of the Lord.

When everything else fails, ask God to circumcise your heart, taking out the spiritual knife and cutting out the unclean part. Before we can enter into the Promise Land, God requires a circumcised heart. Before Joshua could enter the Promise Land with Israel all the males had to be circumcised. This tells us that God required Holiness to enter the promise land and our Promise Land is none other than the Presence of God.

Psalm 24 3-5
Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who does not lift up his soul to an idol,
Or swear by what is false.
He will receive blessing from the Lord
And vindication from God his Savior

When sin enters in, and our hearts condemn us, there’s no power in prayer, no power in preaching. We are just “sounding brass or clanging cymbals”, but when our own hearts do not condemn us, we can say to this mountain in our life, “Be removed” and it will happen. In this way, the Holy Spirit is showing us that there must be a Ministry of Righteousness to walk in the Holy Spirit.

As we get to know Him, we become so thankful for all the things He’s done for us. We just want to do something for him. I remember times in the past that my thankfulness was so great I just said, God what can I do for you? I’m going to stop drinking. So “not drinking” was something that gave me joy, as I was doing something for God, offering my life to him.

Righteousness is a pillar in God’s kingdom. God will work with us as we learn how to walk in righteousness. Note, you will probably never be sinless, but you can walk in holiness. Say “yes” to God and walk in a passionate way in pursuing him. Watch the presence of the Lord continue to increase. You’ll find yourself walking and obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit as your joy and the presence of God continues to rise.