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THE POWER OF HOLY LIVING
This article was posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008
A humorous story is told of a man who repeatedly prayed aloud during a weekly prayer service; “Oh Lord, fill me. Fill me with thy Spirit.” Finally his disturbed wife cried out, “Don’t do it, Lord, he leaks.” Many Christians are hardly ready to be filled with all the blessings of a praying- answering God. Many would quickly lose what God might give them because the vessel is not whole. God is looking for vessels in which to pour His presence, but few are found. Here is the truth of every age. God is looking for someone He can use, someone He can set apart through whom the masses can be reached. And when it comes to prayer, He is looking for a very special people. Isaiah call them the “Holy people” (Isaiah 62:12) Unfortunately, many people would like the privilege of prayer without purification of the soul. But prayer is only as powerful as the spiritual condition of the pray-er. With this in mind, let us examine several definitions of Holy living.
1. Holy living is total separation from the world.
It is a sad and subtle argument that says Christians must live like the world in order to understand those who live in the world. Consider Abraham in comparison to lot. Lot lived where all the action was. Although Abraham lived a great distance off, in the quiet country hills, he was the one who was chosen to pray the powerful prayer that saved Lot from certain destruction.
2. Holy living is putting off the old man.
The reason why many are finding prayer so unsatisfactory and the life of prayer so unattractive is because they have attempted to enter into the celestial realm of prayer in the strength of the ‘old man’. The ‘old man’ can no more wield these weapons which are not carnal but mighty through God, than he can love his enemy, or rejoice always, or have the mind which was in Christ Jesus or fulfill any other Christian grace. “ God does the forgiving, when man do the repenting.”3. Holy living is what we are when we are alone.
Any man can play his part in the side -shows but to be disciplined within, in his own bosom, where all is permissible, where all is concealed is the real point of holy living. It concerns what we think and do when no one else is near or watching.4.Holy living is to be clean and ready for God.
God wants only one thing in the whole world, the thing which He needs…. That thing is to find the innermost of the noble spirit of man clean and ready for Him to accomplish the divine purpose therein. He has all power in heaven and earth, but the power to do His work against man’s will ‘He has not got.’ In His sovereignty He has elected to give man choice to accept or reject His gift of salvation. The consequence of our choice is what we cannot change. We have chosen our destiny.
5. Holy living is learning to call sin, sin.
A man is in bondage to whatever he cannot part with that is less than himself. Nothing destroys more than sin. Sin destroys our fellowship with God and our relationship with others, Sin blinds us to the truth of God’s word. Holy living requires a proper label for sin, recognizing it for what is- uncleanness that separates a person from God. Without holy living our prayer has little power.
6. Holy living is loyalty to the king.
“ We cannot limit the triumph of God to social evil in the world at large, to the corruption of government, to the arrogance of godless nation, the calamitous (disastrous) insolence (extreme discourtesy) of dominant minorities, to the sins of caste, and the faults of society. We can pray for all these things, but only after we have faced the question of our own absolute allegiance to the rule of God in our lives. It is idle to pray with the triumph of God, if we are living at peace with evil” by E. M. Blaiklock in his book THE POSITIVE POWER OF PRAYER. All questions on holy living sooner or later boils down to loyalties. Are we loyal to the king? Prayer is only as prevailing power in The Christian who has learned the importance of absolute loyalty to the king.7. Holy living is hating sin.
Sin hurts our Lord dearly. We must never love it, never give it a place in our hearts. There must come a time in our lives as truly committed Christians when we become obsessed with a hatred for sin.8. Holy living is growing in Christ’s perfection.
One of the deadliest expressions in the Christian church consists of two words. “Nobody’s perfect!” It is a statement some use to excuse their unholy conduct. Christ did say, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) Olive Wyons definition comes close to the true intent of the biblical meaning of perfection: “It does not mean an impossible purity or blamelessness, but rather the idea of ‘completion’. In other words, we are meant to go on to maturity. Holiness is simply ‘the flowering of Christian growth and development’.Next posting: A FOXHOLE FRIEND
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