July 2008 Newsletter

“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
I Peter 1:16
For I am the LORD that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy”. Leviticus 11:45

Does the word “Holy” bring pleasant or unpleasant thoughts to your mind. Does it conjure up images of people who have claimed to be representatives of a “Holy God” but their personal lives are stained with iniquity. Do you see people dressed in black and being extremely legalistic about who God is and how He must be served? What comes to your mind when someone makes reference to “holiness”?

Is it “Pentecostal fanatics” with plain faces and unattractive dress...is it some human being in Rome that carries a title? What exactly comes to your mind when the Bible says, “Be ye holy for I am Holy”? When the Word of God tells us to be like Him and that He is Holy...what do you think God expects?

If we are to be like Christ...if we are to be like God...if we are to show Christ to others through our life...how are we to do it. God is love! An absolute necessary quality of a believers life in order to be like Him is to show love. It is the first of His commandments. To love Him and to love others like we love ourselves. God’s likeness is His Holy Spirit. God is a Spirit and must be worshiped in spirit and truth. So to be like Him, His Spirit must live in and thru us. You see, His Holy Spirit is Him! Love is produced by His Spirit, we can limit it or release it in fulness.

To be Holy is to be like Him. To be like Him, His Spirit fruit must live thru us. So then, God is not only love, but also joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. (Galatians 5:22-23).These are characteristics of God and should be of those of us that believe, not by our power but by His Holy Spirit living thru us.

God is joy. Joy is holiness. The opposite is depicted in society as a characteristic of God. Holiness is seen as long-faced and with no sense of humor. Black robes and a somber countenance has been portrayed as holy. Not so! The contrary is true. Laughter and smiles reflect joy. God is joy, as God is love. It is a clear picture of how we should be in order to be like Him. There is no gloom in Christ, no darkness at all in God. God is joy. Holiness must include joy, even joy that is unspeakable.

Troubled, chaotic, disturbed, dark, hopeless...these are not and cannot be part of Who God is and what God expects from us. God is Peace. He does not simply give peace, He is peace. God is what the fruit of His Spirit describes. There is one Spirit with “nine flavors.” Fruit can only be the product of it’s source. Peace is Who God is, to be like Him and to show Him to others, Peace must be displayed, because that’s Who He is. He is Love, He is Joy, He is Peace.

This peace is peace with God, peace with people, and it is a positive peace, filled with blessing and goodness – not simply the absence of fighting. We could say that this peace is a peace of the Holy Spirit, because it is a higher peace than just what comes when everything is calm and settled. This is a peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.

God is Longsuffering or Patient . . . longsuffering means that you can have love, joy, and peace even over a period of time when people and events annoy you. God is not quickly irritated with us (Romans 2:4, 9:22), so we should not be quickly irritated with others.

Patience itself is a work of the Spirit! Martin Luther said, “Longsuffering is that quality which enables a person to bear adversity, injury, reproach, and makes them patient to wait for the improvement of those who have done him wrong. When the devil finds that he cannot overcome certain persons by force he tries to overcome them in the long run . . . To withstand his continued assaults we must be longsuffering and patiently wait for the devil to get tired of his game.”

God is . . . Kindness, Goodness: These two words are closely connected. About the only difference is that goodness also has with it the idea of generosity. Can you imagine God being anything other than “kind” and “good”? Unfortunately, the image many people have of God is that of an unkind judge. To be like God, His Holy Spirit of Kindness and Goodness must live thru us.

And God is Faithful...to be like Him we must have faith and be faithful. Spirit of God works in us faithfulness both to God and to people. Reliability must be a quality of a man who is yielded to the Holy Spirit of God. It cannot be otherwise. A man can be found faithful and full of faith by being like the Holy Spirit of God that lives in him.

God is Meek...He is Gentle. What a great image this brings to our Holy God. In His Mercy and Grace we see His Gentleness. The fruit of His Holy Presence can only produce gentleness. God anoints the humble and the lowly of heart. The assertive, demanding abrasive personality is a warning flag of the absence of the likeness of Christ. His great honored gift is humility. Desire for flattery and recognition of men? This is not what God has in mind when He says to be holy. We are to be holy because He is Holy and His Holy Spirit lives in us.

To be like God we must know self-discipline that always benefits others. Temperance is what the KJV calls this fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. God is never out of control. Self-control involves a yielding to God’s Holy Spirit and an agreement with God’s Holy Word.

The world knows something of self-control, but almost always for a selfish reason. It knows the self-disciple and denial someone will go through for themselves, but the self-control of the Spirit will also work on behalf of others. God is Temperate. His Presence strengthens the will to do what is right. It is the enemy of the glutton and addict.

So, to be Holy because He is Holy requires simply yielding to His Presence in us thru Christ Jesus. His Spirit cause us to be like Christ. Other spirits cause us to be unlike Christ.

"Blessed are You, LORD God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, And You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great. Now therefore, our God, We thank You And praise Your glorious name." I Chron 29:11-13