HOLINESS IS LETTING ME LIVE THROUGH You. Since I dwell in you, you are fully equipped to be holy. Pause before responding to people or situations, giving My Spirit space to act through you.
Dear Jesus, Holiness is one of those virtues that seems so elusive. If we strive to be holy, we are in danger of falling prey to serious sins, especially pride and hypocrisy. Yet Your Word clearly instructs us to be holy. We are intrigued by the idea that holiness is a matter of letting You live through us. That seems more feasible than trying with all our might to be good. Thank You Lord for listening to us today.
Beloved, be careful not to confess being holy with trying to appear holy. The Pharisees fell into that trap: parading their pretension of holiness on street corners, at banquets, in the temple - wherever they found an audience. I reserved some of My strongest condemnation for them and their hypocrisy.
When you became a Christian, I put the Holy Spirit in you, thus equipping you to be holy. However, you are still vulnerable to the world, the flesh (sinful nature), and the devil. These three conspire against holiness, tempting you to respond to people and situations in your old, habitual ways. My Spirit will not force His ways on you, so it's easy for you to ignore His inner Presence. That's why I encourage you to pause before responding - inviting the Spirit to live and love through you.
Remember that I am Christ in you, the hope of Glory. The more you know Me and love Me, the easier it is for you to let Me live through you. Without you even realizing, intimacy with Me transforms you into My likeness - My holy image.
- Jesus
(Dear Jesus / Sarah Young)
Scripture Insight: 1 Peter 1:15-16; Romans 8:9 and Colossians 1:27
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15-16 / New International Version)
ReplyDelete"You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (Romans 8:9 / New International Version)
"To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory"
(Colossians 1:27 / New International Version)