CAN I REALLY BE HOLY IN 2019 ? YES,YES,YES.
I am sure we will never forget that day, when the Holy Spirit moved on our life and you experienced deep conviction of sin, and realised (perhaps for the very first time you were heading to a lost eternity and then the Holy Spirit began drawing you and putting faith and grace into your life so you could repent and be born again Eph. 2:9 NKJV For by GRACE you have been saved through FAITH, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
We sure didn’t understand much about God’s gift of Salvation, but we sure knew SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED AND WE WERE ON OUR WAY YO HEAVEN 1 John 5:13 NKJV These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may KNOW that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
It may have been years later that we began to understand all that God had accomplished for us through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul expresses it so well in Romans in Romans 6:6-14 NKJV KNOWING this, that our old man (our sinful nature was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be SLAVES of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, RECKONyourselves (that your old nature has been rendered powerless) to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore do let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but PRESENT YOURSELF TO GOD (continually) as being alive from the dead, and your MEMBERS as instruments of righteousness to God. For SIN SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU, for you are not under law but under grace. The PASSION Translation express it Could it be any clearer that our former identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with him to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us, so that we would not continue to live one moment longer submitted to sin’s power.
Obviously, a dead person is incapable of sinning. And if we were co-crucified with the Anointed One, we know that we will also share in the fullness of his life. And we know that since the Anointed One has been raised from the dead to die no more, his resurrection life has vanquished death and its power over him is finished. For by his sacrifice he died to sin’s power once and for all, but he now lives continuously for the Father’s pleasure. So let it be the same way with you! Since you are now joined with him, you must continually view yourselves as dead and unresponsive to sin’s appeal while living daily for God’s pleasure in union with Jesus, the Anointed One.
Sin is a dethroned monarch; so you must no longer give it an opportunity to rule over your life, controlling how you live and compelling you to obey its desires and cravings. So then, refuse to answer its call to surrender your body as a tool for wickedness. Instead, passionately answer God’s call to keep yielding your body to him as one who has now experienced resurrection life! You live now for his pleasure, ready to be used for his noble purpose. Remember this: sin will not conquer you, for God already has! You are not governed by law but governed by the reign of the grace of God.
I have included a second translation to help us get a clearer understanding of all that was accomplished for us.
Your reaction and mine is ” well that sounds good but it sure isn’t like that in my life much of the time”. Let is look at some of the words I have capitalised in the NKJV for us to consider.
KNOWING, v6. This is not a mental knowing this is REVELATION (a Rhema word) where information takes on a new personal reality, my old nature was “rendered powerless through the death of Jesus.
RECKON v.11 This is sitting down and considering and CONFESSING (and keep confessing) “God said it, I believe it that settles it
PRESENT V.13 here is the key, Letting Jesus be the BOSS OF YOUR LIFE 24/7 please note our members, that is our senses, our drives, our mind, our will, and our emotions
What is the result no longer will we be slaves of sin, v.6 no longer will sin have dominion over our lives’
WHAT A GLORIOUS SALVATION
We all know that prior to our conversion, we developed many bad habits that in many cases had become a lifestyle, and sadly these do not instantly disappear when we are born again, we know the well known verse Romans 12:1 NKJV I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Where Paul is challenging us to continually surrender our lives to the Lord (presenting our members (Rom. 6:13). Please note verse 2 And do not be conformed to this world, (not letting the world squeeze you into its mold J.B.Phillips) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
PAUL LINKS SURRENDER WITH THE MIND.
We all know the mind is the battle field of the soul (every battle is won or lost in our mind). Paul’s letters have so much to say about the mind, and how we must protect it, again through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has made available to us a COMPLETE SET OF ARMOUR to protect us including the Helmet of Salvation (Ephesians 6:11-18) to protect our mind.
I am totally convinced Biblically that God’s order is that someone comes alongside us as soon as we are born again and walks with us, (for as long as it takes) so that the above BECOMES A LIFESTYLE. Sadly this is not the norm, so for years often the Believer struggles, his life like the stock exchange up today and down tomorrow, and often decides (this is the best I can get and settles down to a mediocre defeated life, I thank God some break through and begin to not endure but ENJOY THEIR SALVATION.
The devil has no new tricks, what he did with Adam & Eve he still does today in the 21st century and we must learn to recognise the “wiles & tricks) of the evil one (Eph. 6: 11)
What do we read in Genesis 3:1-5 NKJV Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “HAS GOD INDEED SAID, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
THEN THE SERPENT SAID to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The devil attacked Eve’s mind, filling it with doubts and causing Eve to question God’s instructions to them, it would seem we will have sinful thought until the day we die (or are raptured) that is not the problem, it is what we do with that thought. For example if something is said or done against us, the first reaction is to respond, or if we have a sinful (or sexual thought) the human response is to “meditate on it, but Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 10:5 NKJV (the moment the thought comes) Casting down DESTROY, DEMOLISH,SMASH arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. We MUST NIP THE THOUGHT IN THE BUD AND IMMEDIATELY DISMISS IT.
Satan then attacked here senses and her emotions were stirred Genesis 3:6 NKJV So when the woman SAW that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
I joke with my Asian friends that the fruit was a Durian (known as the king of fruits), I am sure it was not a boring “apple: as Western Theologians would suggest, because of where the Garden was situated it would probably have been a tropical fruit like a Mango or a Papaya, whatever IT LOOKED GOOD). I wrote a blog recently “what are we looking at?”, we must make a Covenant with our eyes Job 31:1 NKJV I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a woman?
MESSAGE Bible “I made a solemn pact with myself never to undress a woman with my eyes.
The Bible says we are fearfully6 and wonderfully made Psalm 139:14 NKJV I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.
So when Paul says PRESENT YOUR MEMBERS AS INSTRUMENTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS TO GOD, he is saying, to live a holy life our bodily drives, and senses (including our eyes) and our soul, our mind will and emotions must be continually surrendered to God, and we can declare that in 2019 we CAN LIVE A HOLY VICTORIOUS LIFE. Amen.
Have a fantasic blessed weekend
