Who is Holy?

The Holy Spirit comes to us at conception in Christ in diminutive amount, which is all that is required to test our faith, and bring about change. It seems like a lot at the time, like an overflowing, because before that we had none, and any amount of Holy Spirit seems like a lot because we have never experienced it before, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. The amount we receive after that depends on how much we want to walk in the same light Jesus Christ walks, and believe me when I say… there is an endless amount. To us, the Holy Spirit is endless, and at the beginning we are by no means holy ourselves, although many think they are. Even after many years of walking in Christ, most never seem to achieve any great amount of the spirit. They seem to think that their carnal mind can study the word of God to a point where they actually believe they know it all and have now become holy, because of what they know, instead of what they do. But alas, they will never become holy until they realize that words mean nothing, even Gods words, until a pure heart for truth and obedience bares fruit. In other words, the word and the spirit combine to be one…the truth. The word is dead without the spirit. Once one accepts this and allows Jesus to work in them, the Holy Spirit will minister and convict in such a way, that they will not be able to stop themselves to repent. They will despise sin, and have a burning desire to sin no more, and keep Gods temple clean.

There was a story once I heard, that showed me the essence of holiness. There was once a group of men in a far off land who wanted dearly to seek God, truth and holiness. Let’s call them monks for want of a better term. Now one day these brothers were walking by a stream, with their superior who was indeed a holy man, when suddenly they could not help but notice a bunch of young beautiful women washing their clothes in the stream. As they rolled up their dresses so they would not get wet, their legs were clearly visible in the light of the midday sun. One of the monks said “isn’t that beautiful legs”. And upon hearing him, one of the higher order who was well disciplined in mind, said “they are dangerous., don’t look at them and don’t let the site of flesh arouse lust in you, it is not good to let the devil into a clean house, it will cause you trouble”. Then a third one who understood what they had said replied “they are neither beautiful nor dangerous, they are there for the purpose of supporting the body and walking”. Now later when they had reached home, the superior summoned all of them together and announced that he was going to leave them. He told the one who was well disciplined that he will now be in charge of all the rest, taking his position, because his work on earth is now completed, in order to move to a higher place. Then he said to the third one who saw no danger or beauty at the stream, you can follow me if you like because you are above all of them. You have now crossed over the point of no return. Nobody and nothing can affect you now to cause you to waver. Then side by side they walked out the door and out the gate and up to the sky and disappeared, because as they had realized saintly hood, they had acquired miraculous power through holiness.

We all agree no doubt, that we cannot possibly become holy by our own methods and strength, but rather through Jesus Christ who promised all who believe in Him, that he would send His comforter, to lead and guide us in truth and righteousness. John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever. It is likely very few will achieve it. There will be many who profess it, but the holy of God NEVER profess it. They simply show it, and let you be the judge. Jesus never professed to be good even. Praise Him in the highest. Being holy or perfect should always be something to aim for…even if it is never achieved. Think of the humble onion and compare the qualities of it to us. Where do you believe the best part of you is? The good part of course. The part in you that desires goodness, not the part that enjoys the pleasures of the flesh and of the world, and it is true that there is good in everyone. The same is with the onion, with the worst part being the skin, and the middle is the best part. What is required to get to that succulent part of the onion? First one must peal off all the layers one by one, and as we get closer to the heart of the onion, the better it tastes, until one reaches the pure taste of the heart. The heart of the onion. And so it is with us, the skin is our worst sins which we cast off first by repenting, and as we grow with a pure heart in God, we cast off more and more, layer by layer just like the onion, until we finally (hopefully) are left with only the best part of us. The part that is the reason God called us in the first place…the heart. Only when all the layers of sin are gone can our Father reveal His full measure to us, and we can then become holy. And that should be everyone’s aim at least, through our Lord Jesus Christ, to bring glory and honor to the only one worthy, our Father.

Life has been given us by God to do with it what we choose. We only get one crack at it, so it’s imperative for our own soul we make the most of it. Some choose the lazy way by turning to crime which always leads to destruction in the end, some choose a life on the dole that allows them to party all night long at the taxpayers expense, but some choose hard work, and a life of righteousness that leads eternal life. With the latter, God gives us a chance to be perfected in His will through his son Jesus, and this chance is the greatest gift in the universe because firstly we don’t deserve it, and secondly it costs us nothing, as all debts were paid by Jesus at the cross. As mortal humans, we are more fortunate that the angels as we have flesh and spirit, and angels are only spirit of course. As humans we can experience and practice things that can strengthen and perfect us spiritually, but angels can not do this as they are only spirit and cannot put into practice life experiences. Once we die in the flesh, we will be just spirit like angels because we can’t practice any more, and our spiritual level will always be the same as with the angels

So it is of the greatest importance that we strive to be perfected in spirit even if we never reach the mark, because that level that we reach will be our everlasting level as there is no practice in heaven, and that is why Jesus said He would give to the overcomers white robes and the power to rule over nations. It is this level that is called holy. Many know what it means, but so very few will ever reach it. Heaven does not have the advantages that we have in this material world which is the best training ground for the above reasons. Heaven has no adverse conditions that is needed for growth, so therefore we can not train ourselves, but we have the perfect conditions for training purposes here as mortals, and it is by choice in deciding the best way to use these resources that will in the end decide our eternal future. God has given us the perfect blue print that even a child could understand clearly, and if we follow this guide to perfection through our Lord Jesus and diligent practice, we can all be holy people. It’s all a matter of how much we love God. If we love God half as much as we profess to, then that will be all we need to accomplish holiness.

How do we know if we have the Holy Spirit? And how do we know how much we have? Well Jesus used the simple tree as the perfect example, and He even cursed the fig tree when it produced no fruit. Mark 11:14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, (the tree) No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. If a tree is planted for the reason of bringing forth fruit, good fruit that is, and you find it produces small fruit, rotten fruit, diseased fruit, or even no fruit at all, then that tree becomes useless to you, and you cut it down and plant another in its place don’t you? Mt 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Hell)

And so it is with us, if we bare good fruit, we are useful to God, and if not, then God will not use us. Lu 6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. So the answer to the above question is; we know by our fruits how much of the Holy Spirit we have, and also others. Lu 6:44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. If we claim to have the Comforter, but don’t bare the signs (fruit), then we only fool ourselves.

Now let’s look at the signs of the Spirit. Paul tells us in Galatians; Ga 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, so lets now just briefly check them out one by one shall we.

Love is giving freely and expecting nothing in return, and not boasting about it. It’s doing to others what you would like them to do to you. It’s appreciating the little things of others that usually go unnoticed. It’s disciplining and correcting the ones you love for their own betterment. It’s always being honest and loyal, and it’s forgiving and forgetting the hurts caused by others because that’s what God has done for you. The ultimate sign of love is sacrifice.

Joy is being grateful for all things that bring happiness. It’s knowing the Comforter is in you, and the ultimate joy is knowing that God is who He is. It’s knowing that He is righteous and we are sinners, but He still forgives us.

Peace is total trust in God, and being content with the life He has given you. It’s accepting that God’s will for you is the best for you.

Longsuffering is the price we pay for love. Its evidence of our faith in the unseen and the willingness to be obedient to the one we trust in.

Gentleness is the encouragement and guidance we give to others without causing them pain. Knowing their weaknesses and teaching accordingly so as not to dampen their spirit.

Goodness is simply righteousness and what ever is pleasing to God.

Faith is believing all things good are possible through Jesus Christ. Faith is also trusting in God to regard you as His child and protect you from harm. Faith is NOT believing you will get what you want, but instead what you need.

It could be said Paul left out an extra one or two fruits here (although he did mention truth in Ephesians), and that is truth and humility.. If one is out of or against the truth, one is obviously not in it, so it shows indisputably that one has not the Holy Spirit. Eph 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth ;) And Jesus said in… Mt 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth, so humbleness has to be a fruit of the Spirit.

Well so far we have looked at the good fruits, but what about the bad ones that we should watch out for and use for discernment. Apart from the above opposites, maybe we could also include the following among other things.

Proudness is those who cannot take discipline or correction. You know, the ones who cannot admit fault, or cannot force themselves to say sorry. They won’t ever take a step backwards, but will argue till the cows come home to prove themselves always right. It's all about "me" and not about Jesus.

Boastfulness is those who want to tell the whole world how much they do for God. All you hear is…I, me, and myself. You probably heard it before. “ I give more than my 10% to the church” or “I work so hard at the Op shop for God” etc. Our relationship is with God, so do you think He don’t see our efforts? It is not man that gives salvation, so don’t boast to him…boast to God in prayer in the privacy of your closed doors.

Glory seekers, similar to the above, like to take the podium and preach loud and charismatic sermons with great pride so as to impress the multitude with appearance and excitement rather than truth, and make long drawn out prayers to impress also. God does not even listen to these hypocrites, but he will hold them accountable. The gullible will fall right into their trap, so be aware of these wolves in sheep’s clothing. These are usually the ones who show more interest in the well to do type, than the meek and poor.

Liars can cause devastation to Gods people, and are nowhere near the mark. In fact it could be believed they are anti Christ because they actually lead Gods children away from Him, but at the same time remember, His sheep hear His call.

Cruelty is not always easy to detect, but anyone who is cruel to man or beast definitely is not of the Spirit. Period.

Love of mammon sticks out like a sore toe and needs no explanation, but when you see it, don’t be deceived by the words…”God loves me and rewards me for my good deeds with wealth”, or anything similar. A man of God knows the wages of his work, and that is first in heaven, not first on earth.

As far as I know, I have never met a holy man, but that don’t mean there isn’t any. I myself am far from it, but thanks to the mercy and grace of God, I know it can be attained; it just depends on how much I want it. This I am sure of, and that is God gives freely His Spirit proportionate to our proven faith, not to the weak and unproven. For example, suppose I tell you I can leap a tall building in a single bound, are you going to believe me in faith? No of course you won’t, so if I profess to you with my mouth that I believe in God, but with my actions I don’t show it, this shows that I lie because if I did, then I would indeed show it. Right? So if I take up my cross and follow Jesus the way He asked us to, then that would be a manifestation of my faith and God would reward me with more of His precious self, the Holy Spirit. In other words, you give God your time, and He will give you His. Amen!

I once heard of a true story about a holy man in Asia somewhere. This man took to the mountains to be alone in meditation with God because he was tired of the worldly traps that kept him from worshiping God to the max, and let’s face it, in this world the way it is, it is very nearly impossible. Anyway, to cut a long story short, over time he became so close to God in spirit that his faith was absolute and this lead to holiness. Through God almighty, he was able to achieve anything he needed and was given many great gifts from God including healing. People would come from all over the country to hear his wisdom and see his healing powers. One day, a rich man who had a dying son only 12 years old that the best doctors in the world had given up on, decided to pack his bags and his son, and leave America to visit this holy man in the hope of making his son whole again. On contact with the holy man, his little boy was instantly healed which brought immeasurable joy to the father of the child, so much so that he asked the holy man to accept his offering of ten $100 bills for his trouble. The holy man flatly refused saying he is in no need of money, but this rich man was so insistent that the holy man took the money and ate every single $100 bill and swallowed them all right there in front of the rich man. This I believe is a demonstration of holiness. Those bills would have been so contaminated with germs it would be enough for the average person to cause sickness, and even death under the circumstances, but it was obvious this man was under the complete protection of God. And also the fact that he was a poor man and still refused the money was true testimony of holiness.

How can we tell a holy man apart from the rest of the phonies? Very easily actually. A holy man firstly shows the fruits of the spirit as mentioned above, but it will also be evident that he holds nothing of this world dear to him. You will see a man who listens not to man, but only to God, and obeys every command. You will see a man whose journey is with God only, and his fight is with the world only. You will see a man who seeks things of heaven and not of earth. You will see a man who shows no malice at all, but talks of and abounds in love only. You will see a man of total humility seeking only to bring glory to the Almighty, and nothing of himself. And you will see a man who speaks very little, and the few words he does say will have huge credence and truth. You will see a man who is poor, meek, and not rich and handsome. Finally, you will see a man who fulfils the will of God because he knows it pleases God, and not for reward. When you see a man who is quick to listen and slow to talk, you see a fruit of holiness. When you see a man who is slow to anger, a man who is humble, a man who is gentle, a man who gives without receiving, a man who is wise with words, a man who is a doer instead of a preacher, a man who shows meekness, a man who walks away from argument, a man who worships no one but God, and a man who despises the world…then feel blessed because you are in the presence of a holy person.

It should be the heart felt aim of all true believers in the Christ to become like Him and be holy.

Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Not many will, but that should not be a barrier. If Jesus said it, then it is possible so long as we call on Him. Jesus knew what was to come, that the law will be planted on our hearts through the comforter which would help guide us and give us the power to overcome. It is His free gift to all who will accept Him, so we should use it to the maximum. There is no other way under heaven that one can overcome. When/if one reaches this holy level of righteousness they will find they already have all the above characteristics of the Holy Spirit. They will indeed be holy. He will not profess to be holy, and because of his humbleness probably wont even know it himself, but others will surely see him as holy.

A few verses from the Apocrypha.

Wis 5:19 He shall take holiness for an invincible shield.

Many times I have heard it said; “ I wonder what I am doing wrong? Surely God knows I believe in Him”, every time something goes wrong. We think because we say in public and in prayer that we believe in God that all should be well with us. Well, some will go well for you, but not all unless you are holy in the presence of God. When you are holy, it will be a invincible shield that will give you fear of God ONLY, and will give you the power to do anything and receive anything in the name of the one who gives it. But guess what? When one does indeed become holy, he will ask for nothing of himself. I can’t tell you why this is so, you will have to work that one out yourself. I am not suggesting I am even close to holiness, but I have been given the answer.

Wis 6:10 For they that keep holiness holily shall be judged holy: and they that have learned such things shall find what to answer.

Holiness is not only a shield…but also a revealer.

Sir 17:29 How great is the loving-kindness of the Lord our God, and his compassion unto such as turn unto him in holiness!

There you go, that’s where the blessings come from. Many feel they are blessed with wealth, but did wealth do Solomon any good? Now he was the wisest of all time, but it was wealth that brought him down in the end. Think about it!

Ro 6:19 I am using words in the way of men, because your flesh is feeble: as you gave your bodies as servants to what is unclean, and to evil to do evil, so now give them as servants to righteousness to do what is holy.

There it is folks…straight from the mouth of the great man himself. If you are serious about your faith, you will sacrifice your flesh for the sake of the kingdom of God. Look at the rewards.

Ro 6:22 But now, being free from sin, and having been made servants to God, you have your fruit in that which is holy, and the end is eternal life.

As above, look at the rewards.

2Co 7:1 ¶ Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.

It is ONLY in fear of God that one yearns to be holy. It is a Holy Spirit driven desire by the conviction of our sinful lives that allows us to see the truth of the will of God. Once we can see His will, then only then can we be corrected and seek to please Him.

1Th 4:7 Because it is God’s purpose that our way of life may be not unclean but holy.

And there it is, in black and white…Gods will.

Keep up the good fight now people of God, and use the power of Jesus…don’t let it wither and die.

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