The Holiness of Abiding
Followers of Jesus are the light of the world...witnesses that the cost of becoming right with God is actually worth it.
Right now, there is so much division, so much finger pointing and arm-chair quarterbacking of what is going wrong in the church, yet there are so few witnesses that the pain is worth it to follow Jesus.
Rejection is guaranteed if you follow the rejected son of God. The world hasn't gotten more holy since Jesus hung on the cross...no, it's gotten much worse.
Some, here and there, are starting to touch the truth: What Jesus is looking for are those willing to pursue His personality in theirs. This is called Holiness or abiding. Without it, you won't bear fruit (John 15).
If you are going after this lifestyle ... A holy lifestyle obtained by following Jesus and letting Him adjust your personality to become one with His...then you need to testify that this is the way.
This happens in a very certain order laid out in Matthew 5. There are 8 steps laid out in the Beatitudes to allowing Jesus' personality to become one with yours:
1. Poverty- step one is admitting how unlike Jesus you are. This is the foundation for letting Him change you. He didn't come to save people who didn't need it. He came for the sick and lost. If you think you are fine the way you are, you will end up in hell. For sure.
Revelation 3:17“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—
18“I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
19“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
20“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
3. Meekness- if you ask, you will certainly receive. If you want your personality to look more like Jesus', you admit it doesn't, and you mourn it, you WILL become more like Jesus. People will notice. The next step is to go after meekness with intention. You get meekness the same way you get every other facet of His personality...you admit you don't have it, mourn it, and get it.
4. This sets off a hunger and thirst inside of you. You suddenly become aware of your GREAT need, you know He is within reach, and your life starts to change to crave the things of heaven. You begin to taste the superior pleasure of knowing God. You begin to see the power to change everything is literally requests away...everything else tastes 'flatter' than true closeness to God...this is the turning point into whole-hearted love for God.
5. Mercy - this awareness of hunger and the generosity of God to provide results in learning mercy for those who haven't touched this...tasted it. We STOP pointing the finger at everyone else's error and start to see our massive personal need for Holiness is just beginning to be filled.
6. Purity of heart- this is the beginning to starting to see right...realizing we cannot distinguish well between good and evil. We begin to discern the Lord's judgment of everything we thought was 'good' and see much of our work was loveless (obedience-less) and unacceptable. This is where we begin to let God direct our every step, refusing 'good works' if they aren't obedience manifest. We would rather do nothing but sit at His feet than win the whole world and forfiet the soul.
7. Peacemaking- we testify of the reconciliation between us and God as a testimony that makes a way for others to reconcile. We put others before ourselves...the second commandment begins to flow from the first. The kingdom begins to manifest around us.
Satan is finally threatened to the point of retaliation. The retaliation comes from within the parts of the church NOT pursuing these Beatitudes!! Believers kill prophets, the world really doesn't care about prophets.
8. Persecution from believers- this is the natural and REQUIRED consequence of disrupting Satan's stolen kingdom and imposed leadership structure on the church. When we actually begin to get Jesus' personality, Satan is finished controlling the atmosphere around us.
This was satan's massive miscalculation: He thought he was killing one Jesus...he wasn't...he was making possible billions of those possessed by Jesus' personality all coming to fruition at the same time, called the harvest! The falling away is evidence of the pure and spotless coming forward!
Matthew 13:30‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Now is that time. Now is the time of the harvest. You know because so many 'christian leaders' (what does that even mean anymore) are quitting Jesus openly!
Testify.
If you find that this has been alive and active in your life, you must TESTIFY that laying down your life for Jesus works!! You shine it, don't hide it!
Matthew 5:11“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
12“Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Many are falling away and many more will fall away soon. This is a sign. We overcome not by arm-chair quarterbacking why they fell away...we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
For real.
Don't fall away by growing in self righteousness, which many will do right now, thinking they are holy when they are not. Climb the hill and begin with poverty and mourning your OWN lack. It works.
Revelation 12:11“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
12“Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Right now, there is so much division, so much finger pointing and arm-chair quarterbacking of what is going wrong in the church, yet there are so few witnesses that the pain is worth it to follow Jesus.
Rejection is guaranteed if you follow the rejected son of God. The world hasn't gotten more holy since Jesus hung on the cross...no, it's gotten much worse.
Some, here and there, are starting to touch the truth: What Jesus is looking for are those willing to pursue His personality in theirs. This is called Holiness or abiding. Without it, you won't bear fruit (John 15).
If you are going after this lifestyle ... A holy lifestyle obtained by following Jesus and letting Him adjust your personality to become one with His...then you need to testify that this is the way.
This happens in a very certain order laid out in Matthew 5. There are 8 steps laid out in the Beatitudes to allowing Jesus' personality to become one with yours:
1. Poverty- step one is admitting how unlike Jesus you are. This is the foundation for letting Him change you. He didn't come to save people who didn't need it. He came for the sick and lost. If you think you are fine the way you are, you will end up in hell. For sure.
2. Mourning- the next step that is required is giving voice to the pain of poverty. It isn't enough to know you need to change, it must be verbalized...decided upon. This happens "sector by sector" of our heart. We ask the One who can change us to actually do it. This opens the boundary between us and salvation...between us and Jesus. He will never violate the boundary between your sovereignty over yourself and His sovereignty over everything else. You have to let Him in. You do this by mourning...telling Him you are not ok with how different you are from Him:
Revelation 3:17“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—
18“I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
19“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
20“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
3. Meekness- if you ask, you will certainly receive. If you want your personality to look more like Jesus', you admit it doesn't, and you mourn it, you WILL become more like Jesus. People will notice. The next step is to go after meekness with intention. You get meekness the same way you get every other facet of His personality...you admit you don't have it, mourn it, and get it.
4. This sets off a hunger and thirst inside of you. You suddenly become aware of your GREAT need, you know He is within reach, and your life starts to change to crave the things of heaven. You begin to taste the superior pleasure of knowing God. You begin to see the power to change everything is literally requests away...everything else tastes 'flatter' than true closeness to God...this is the turning point into whole-hearted love for God.
5. Mercy - this awareness of hunger and the generosity of God to provide results in learning mercy for those who haven't touched this...tasted it. We STOP pointing the finger at everyone else's error and start to see our massive personal need for Holiness is just beginning to be filled.
6. Purity of heart- this is the beginning to starting to see right...realizing we cannot distinguish well between good and evil. We begin to discern the Lord's judgment of everything we thought was 'good' and see much of our work was loveless (obedience-less) and unacceptable. This is where we begin to let God direct our every step, refusing 'good works' if they aren't obedience manifest. We would rather do nothing but sit at His feet than win the whole world and forfiet the soul.
7. Peacemaking- we testify of the reconciliation between us and God as a testimony that makes a way for others to reconcile. We put others before ourselves...the second commandment begins to flow from the first. The kingdom begins to manifest around us.
Satan is finally threatened to the point of retaliation. The retaliation comes from within the parts of the church NOT pursuing these Beatitudes!! Believers kill prophets, the world really doesn't care about prophets.
8. Persecution from believers- this is the natural and REQUIRED consequence of disrupting Satan's stolen kingdom and imposed leadership structure on the church. When we actually begin to get Jesus' personality, Satan is finished controlling the atmosphere around us.
This was satan's massive miscalculation: He thought he was killing one Jesus...he wasn't...he was making possible billions of those possessed by Jesus' personality all coming to fruition at the same time, called the harvest! The falling away is evidence of the pure and spotless coming forward!
Matthew 13:30‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Now is that time. Now is the time of the harvest. You know because so many 'christian leaders' (what does that even mean anymore) are quitting Jesus openly!
Testify.
If you find that this has been alive and active in your life, you must TESTIFY that laying down your life for Jesus works!! You shine it, don't hide it!
Matthew 5:11“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
12“Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Many are falling away and many more will fall away soon. This is a sign. We overcome not by arm-chair quarterbacking why they fell away...we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
For real.
Don't fall away by growing in self righteousness, which many will do right now, thinking they are holy when they are not. Climb the hill and begin with poverty and mourning your OWN lack. It works.
Revelation 12:11“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
12“Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
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