Warning: This might hit the lukewarm Christian where it hurts.
I feel the Lord really putting a finger on the reality of believers needing to live, walk, and abide in the spirit rather than the flesh.
We are living in a time where many Christians live, act, and speak the same as unbelievers.
Make it make sense!
We are called as a set apart people- meaning we should live, look, act, and speak differently than those who do not follow Jesus.
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you.” 2 Corinthians 6:16-17
I can almost feel the palpable resistance the Body of Christ has to living in holiness.
It feels religious to some, it feels restrictive to others.
This is usually the case when you want to hold onto what God has asked you to let go of.
There should be nothing in this life, or in this world, that means enough to you that when God asks you to lay it down, you choose not to.
There are so many things that keep us in the flesh and they range from simple, practical things to deep, spiritual things.
God alone knows what keeps you from communing with him in spirit and in truth.
I was meditating on Psalm 24 as David begins to speak of God’s dominion in the earth- God created the earth, and everything belongs to him, including the people.
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. v.1-2
Then David transitions into speaking about “ascending the holy hill of the Lord.”
He asks “Who can do such a thing? Who?”
Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? v.3
The Psalms can feel as if they are randomly strung together because of their poetic nature. At first glance, some can seem like they do not even connect from thought to thought.
This was my thought process as I was reading Psalm 24.
How did we go from speaking of God’s dominion, to asking who can commune with him?
But as I lingered before this beautiful Psalm, I realized that David was connecting the fact that God is always with us- he owns creation and the human soul, because he made them; but just because he is always with us, does not mean we can always commune with him.
So if God is available to each of us, at all times, what makes the difference between those who can commune with him and those who cannot? What is the answer to David’s powerful question?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart. v.4
Does this mean you must be a perfect person? Absolutely not.
This speaks of a repentant heart that seeks the Lord with pure motives.
This speaks of the pursuit of a life of holiness that keeps us from ‘blemishing’ our hands.
I have been studying the book of Ezekiel the past month, and I came across a powerful passage about sin, righteousness, and death. In chapter 18, the Lord speaks of the people’s sin as offense.
The Lord led me to study the original definition (in Hebrew) of the word offense. It was fascinating to discover what God was saying as he used this term in reference to the sin of the people.
The primary definition in Hebrew language for offense, means stumbling block.
God is calling their sin, or offense, a stumbling block to righteousness.
This is a critical view for us to understand when it comes to holy, sanctified living.
It is not simply about following rules and regulations.
It is not merely about a blind surrender to what our Father says to do, without understanding or context.
It is not about being a perfect person, or Christian.
The purpose of holy living is so that we may ascend the holy hill, for God requires this to commune with him.
When you accept salvation from Jesus, you become justified and redeemed by his blood- your access to the throne of God is immediate, because the blood has washed you clean and made you pure.
But there is a deeper level of consecration God is speaking about in this season, that allows us to go into deeper places with God- to truly see him and hear his voice.
You should not desire to stay where you were when God first redeemed you from the pit- you should desire to grow into the deeper things of God- and that requires deeper sanctification.
Righteous living is also what allows us to stay on the narrow path.
Living in holiness protects us from stumbling blocks.
Stumbling blocks are put on the path to trip you up, keep you down, and make you weary.
They will keep you from completing the race and finishing well.
They will keep you from hearing “well done, good and faithful servant.”
They will keep you from having spiritual eyes and ears.
They will effectively keep you living in the flesh.
Each season of my walk with the Lord, he has pruned away more and more of the flesh.
Sometimes that has been TV shows, podcasts, or music.
Sometimes it has been anger, jealousy, or envy.
Sometimes it has been time spent on Instagram or turning to food for comfort.
Things that once felt “normal”to me now feel foreign and unfruitful in every way.
The closer I move towards God, the more this world has to pass away from me.
The deeper God calls me into visions, dreams, and revelation, the more I have to let go of worldly wisdom and cultural entertainment that enters into my eye and ear gates.
The farther I step into the realms of the spirit with Jesus, the more my flesh has to die, die, and die again.
The more I am called to grow in the love of Christ, I must choose to forgive quickly and discard my offenses.
We are made to be consecrated people.
We are made to look different, act different, live different.
Simply because we are different.
We carry the glory of God.
We carry freedom.
We carry authority.
We carry transformation.
We carry liberation.
We cannot carry these things and be bound at the same time.
We cannot proclaim God’s truth and keep living in lies.
We cannot be people who speak of God, but have no demonstration of his power in our daily lives.
We cannot keep living in the flesh.
It can feel so tender when God puts his finger on what we do not want to give up.
But he does so, because he loves us.
He does not want us to stumble.
He wants us to run freely.
He wants us to be consumed with him, because he is pure, loving, and just. He does not want us to be consumed with the world around us which is cruel, evil, and harsh.
He always wants what is best for us.
And we should desire to commune with him, deeper and deeper each day.
How do we do that?
By keeping clean hands, and a pure heart.
By remaining repentant, and open to laying down whatever he asks.
By recognizing when we run towards the world more than we run towards him.
To see as he sees, because we are on the holy hill with him, not down below, being consumed by the cares of the world.
Living in the spirit is a gift- it is a high calling and it demands holiness.
Freedom means becoming truly unhindered from the things of this life and this world- not because we are trying to live up to rules and expectations of perfection, but because it truly brings us into a joyous, peaceful way of living that has no open doors for demonic attack or fleshly pain.
Consecration allows you to see as you were meant to see: unhindered and free.
It allows you to live in the fullness of what Jesus died to give you.
It allows you to ascend the hill, and gaze into the eyes of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Are you really after him, or are you after a Jesus that gives you the world on a side platter?
Because the latter does not exist.
It is a trick and a trap that will keep you stuck in bondage all the days of your life, and never truly living out the redemption Jesus died to give you.
When you look upon his face, those things fall away.
When you begin to crucify your flesh, it becomes more simple to see.
When you begin to give him everything, you realize you want nothing else.
You cannot strive and do it in your flesh.
You need to meet with him, pure heart, open-wide, asking him to refine away what keeps you from his face.
He will tenderly show you how to walk the narrow road.
And you will learn to die, day by day.