Daily Bible Study – Immanuel experience…
LEARN and PRACTICE the WORD of GOD
Prepare for Christmas – December 12
Holiness
1 Peter 1:16 says “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
What is holiness? How can we be holy?
The word translated “holiness” in the New Testament means to be “set apart.” In the Old Testament, holiness was generally connected with God’s perfection.
How can we be set apart and perfect?
All people have sinned (Romans 3:23 or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God) and are imperfect. Our only option to be set apart is through the salvation offered through Jesus Christ
Three are three concepts can be very helpful in our daily walk with God for a holy life.
1. When we are saved, we are made holy.
2. We are called to obey God and grow in holy living each day. Though we will never be perfect in this life, God can and will work in our lives to help us better live for Him.
3. We can anticipate a perfect, eternal existence with God in which we no longer sin and are made perfectly holy, living in the presence of God forever.
Blood of Jesus purifies us from all sins
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin
All redeemed people are called to be holy
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Holiness is available for all one who declare Jesus as their God
Romans 10:9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
You have been saved by grace for a holy life
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Your identity is holy
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light – God calls us holy even though we still commit sins during this life.
Jesus demonstrated holiness by His life
There were three primary factors in His life revealing holiness:
(1) Jesus had a heart for God. His desire was to be totally obedient to His Father (John 14:31). He was totally dependent upon God for His daily strength, and He sought to reveal God to those around Him (verse 9). Jesus had a heart for holiness. Sin had no hold on His life (verse 30). He lived dedicated to the principles of godliness. Throughout His life He sought to maintain intimate union with God. (3) Jesus also had a heart for others. He came to give His life for sinners (John 10:15-17; 15:13-15). His life and death revealed His dedication to saving and serving sinners. Christ’s holiness was manifested in the way He dealt with people.
(2) There is no holiness for us today without Christ. We cannot live a holy life in our own strength, either before or after the experience of salvation. Only through a daily walk and intimate connection with Christ do we find holiness. The thought is nice—seek to live like Jesus. Ask yourself the question “What would Jesus do?” Then do it. There is only one problem. Holiness is not imitation—seeking to do what Jesus did. Holiness is participation in the very life and character of Jesus.
(3) Jesus gives us a holy heart filled with His presence. In Ezekiel 36:25-27 God promised to cleanse us, give us a new heart of flesh, and place His Spirit within us. The result produces a life of obedience (see verse 27). When Christ promised the Holy Spirit as another Comforter (John 14:16-20), He stated that “on that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (verse 20). Notice the promise that the coming of the Holy Spirit would mean that Christ would be in us.
How to be Holy?
- Belong to God and thirst for holiness
- Think of holiness as the character of God.
- Receive Holy Communion regularly
- Prepare your soul, spirit and body for holiness
- Reflect on God’s command to holiness
- Set yourself apart for God
- Practice self-control and Patience
- Do not tolerate sin or temptation
- Die to self but love who you are.
- Consider working catalysts into your daily routine.
- Do not setup strict laws to achieve holiness
- Pray for holiness
- Commit to Obedience
- Make good company otherwise bad company corrupt good character
- Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
- Seek the Kingdom of God
- Serve the Lord in a life of holiness
- Focus on Jesus first.
- Each day take a few minutes to focus on Jesus life and ministry when He was on earth, and now that He ministers for us as our High Priest in heaven (Col. 3:1, 2; Heb. 12:2, 3).
- Focusing minds on Christ at the beginning of each day
- Claim the reality of your salvation and eternal life in Christ (1 John 5:11-13).
- Depend only on Christ
- Do not delay to confess sins
- Believe and accept God’s power of forgiveness.
- Surrender control of your life to God as Master and Lord
- Walk in intimate union with Christ.
- Live in the reality of the divine union – soul, spirit and body
- Believe and declare that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
- Holy Spirit will destroy if anyone destroy His residence
- Do everything to please God
- Give and take by the name of Jesus
- Meditate the Word of God
- Practice Word of God in the practical life
- Always wear armour of God
- Make a conscious choice to believe and accept Jesus is the only God
Face the reality of what God wants to do in our lives. Romans 6:22 says: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Here, the promises are real. God makes us holy. He claims us as His own. And He will produce living holiness in our lives as we walk with Him.
1 Thess. 5:23, 24 “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it”
Prayer: Abba Father, You are Holy God and I desire to be holy too.. set apart unto You, and living my life in a manner that is worthy of You and pleasing to You. Search my heart I pray, and if there is any cherished sin lurking within, I ask that You would root it out, for I know that only the one that has clean hand and a pure heart may stand in Your presence. Purify my heart, cleanse my inner thoughts and examine the very motives behind my acts and attitude, for I desire to live in holiness of heart – and if there is anything that is displeasing to You in my life.. I ask that in Your grace You would root it out, so that I may live in godly holiness all the days of my life, clothed in Christ’s righteousness.. separated unto You and walking in godly love. My God and Lord, Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love only what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me so, O Holy Spirit, that I may always be holy. I pray by the name of Jesus. Amen.