As obedient children do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:14-16.
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Be holy for I the LORD am holy. Holiness is a very desirable quality because without it you cannot live in perfect peace. My rest, that is, Shabbat, is all about holiness. In fact, that is the first time the word “holy” is mentioned in the Bible: “And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when He rested from all His work of creation.” Genesis 2:3. And the process of becoming holy is sanctification—being purified and set apart as one like Me who lives in light and perfect peace. True authority over every area of your life flows out of holiness. A holy life is a beautiful and powerful life.
Today we begin a new series, it is merely called “Holy,” for that is who you are in Me. I AM, I was and I always will be the LORD who makes you holy. Yahweh Maccaddeshem, the LORD who sanctifies you, who makes you holy, who sets you apart from the world. Do you not know that you are My temple (sanctuary) and My Spirit dwells in you? And My temple is holy, and that is what you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.
It is time you became holy, no longer behaving as infants in Christ, selfish and unstable, tossed about by every wind of doctrine, tormented and tortured, depressed and grumbling, gossips and fault finders, exaggerators, scoffers, and permitting, or even pursuing, unclean things and deeds of darkness that you are ashamed to bring into the Light. I know that many of you have very good intentions and do love Me but you just are not taking the authority in your life that I give you by grace to discipline your thoughts and words so that you walk in holiness and truth. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one can see Me, for I am pure goodness, love and light. Darkness can find no place in Me. And that is what holiness is—purity undefiled by sin, evil, and darkness. Those things have no place in the light. And I am Light.
But holiness is more than that, it is so amazing when you sense it in My presence it overwhelms you with awe. It makes the angels and those in Heaven cry out, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!” and fall down in unfeigned worship that flows from the deepest depths of who they are. Holiness cannot be missed. That is why Jesus could not escape notice wherever He went, He stood out. Why? He was HOLY. It made Peter fall at His feet and say, “Leave me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
Holiness befits My house for length of days. I told My people, if you listen to My voice and if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My special treasure among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:5-6. A people set apart, that is, walking in an integrity and purity of purpose that differentiates them from all others. That is, standing apart on a pedestal of glory—a lamp on the golden lampstand, a city on a hill, above and not beneath, the head and not the tail.
To be holy you must put off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. If you are careful to do so, you become bullet proof. Being holy is living constantly in the Light. I told Abraham to walk before Me and be blameless, He was to keep in the Light of My countenance at all times. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in Me. John 3:20-21.
How do you become holy? The answer is very simple but takes life-long diligence on your part to maintain: GIVE PLACE TO ME AND NO PLACE TO THE DEVIL. And I mean totally opening the door to Me and totally closing the door to the devil in your life. You cannot serve two masters; you cannot walk in light and darkness. Give NO place to the devil, give him no opportunity to even get even a foothold into your life, even if it seems justifiable, such as offense, anger, bitterness, and revenge. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Cast your cares on Me and guard your heart with all diligence for in it are the issues of life. Vindication is Mine and I will vindicate you when the time comes. Never seek revenge. Do not return insult for insult. Remember you are walking in the light above and not the darkness below. I have already seated you in the spirit with Christ at My right hand so keep your mind above with Christ, who is My Word, and I have given you the mind of Christ, that is, the anointing of the Holy One, and His thoughts are holy. And yours can be too.
If you are tormented by unclean, impure or angry thoughts that you do not want, then you must not fight with them in the sense of thinking about them and trying to wrestle on your own with them because that just makes you think about them more. In that arena, which is fighting in the flesh, you will not control them. Your weapons are not carnal but spiritual, just as your adversary is not carnal but is a spirit that has become unclean but still a spirit being. By faith in My Word, you simply must realize that Jesus took your evil thoughts from you—it was your iniquities that He bore on the cross, and for your thoughts specifically His thorn crowned head, and redeemed you from these. He took them. Like the plate of pure gold I had the Israelites make to fasten by blue cords to the turban of the High Priest that rested on his forehead that was engraved with the beautiful words, “Holy to the LORD,” whereby the High Priest took on himself any iniquity and guilt of the people of Israel when they consecrated offerings to Me. And he had to wear it on his forehead always so the thoughts of the people would be acceptable to Me as they came with their gifts. Exodus 328:36-38.
So when the evil thought comes you take it captive to the obedience of Christ. He was obedient to Me unto death, that is, in obedience to My plan of saving you, He accepted all your sins, impurities, wrong thoughts, guilt, shame, fear, depression, sicknesses and pains as if they were His own though He had never sinned or had an evil thought, though the devil had tried with Him but Jesus gave the devil NO PLACE in Him, John 14:29-31, and He took the punishment for them in your place. They are not yours any longer that you have to put up with them and even allow them entrance. Honor Me by refusing them entrance since My Son went to such lengths of obedience to save you from them. In other words, you tell that impure, unclean, evil, angry, offended, depressed, fearful, or anxious thought that it is simply not yours since Jesus already took it on His forehead crowned with thorns and you forbid it and refuse to entertain it. And then, BY CHOICE, think on something else that is in line with My good Words and promises about you. I have made you a new creation in Christ, the old things have passed away, new things have come. And they are good things, holy things, precious things.
Things will come at you, the devil is still patrolling the earth looking for someone he can devour by their lack of knowledge, but Jesus has overcome the world and He is in you. So do not worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Cast your cares on Me because I care for you and then just proceed to do whatever I tell you. That will make your life much less complicated once you make the decision to be firm about this. And you can by My grace, for if you are willing and obey I am at work in you to bring it to pass.
Tell Me what you need, and thank Me for it before you see it come to pass. And do not forget all that I have done for you in Jesus for that is the key to holiness. Awake unto righteousness! Then you will experience My peace, My shabbat, My rest, which exceeds anything you can understand. My peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus, for He gave you His peace the night before He gave His life for you. It was His bequest to you and then He died. Once the testator dies, his Last Will and Testament should be probated immediately. You are not waiting until you die to get all that Jesus gave you, you obviously do not wait until you die to inherit from your earthly father or brother if he should predecease you, you get it on his death not yours. Do you understand? All Jesus died to give you—forgiveness, healing, righteousness, peace, prosperity, a pure mind, holiness and all My good promises that are all “Yes” to you in Him, you have NOW, for He has already died. You are not waiting on Me to give it to you, I am waiting on you to receive and take it. I gave it to you, that is My part, and you must receive, take and walk in it, that is your part. Just as an inheritance is not automatic, you must claim and receive it, so too with all you have in Christ Jesus. I have made Him to be wisdom for you, righteousness, sanctification and holiness. And how does He make your mind holy? By washing it in water with the Word. My Word will clean your mind and make you holy for I am My Word.
So fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Think on holy things. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from Me in My Word, and in Jesus who is My Word—everything you heard from Jesus and saw Him doing. Then I, the God of peace, will be with you. I AM, was and will be Yahweh Shalom.
Always think, say and do things that you can bring into My light. There is no darkness in Me at all and you should not permit any in yourself—just expose it to the light and it will become light. Remember that what you are speaking in secret, even to yourself, for I know your thoughts from afar and I know the word you will say even before it is on your tongue, will be broadcast from the housetops. Live that way.
I have rescued you from darkness and translated you into My marvelous Light. You have no business playing in the darkness, live as children of Light, for that is who you are. Take up My full armor and take a stand. Close the door to the devil and open the door to Me. Never lose the peace My Son died to give you. And He told you how not to lose it, “do not let your heart be troubled, do not let it be afraid.” He does not tell you to do something I have not given you the grace to do. Worry does not befit holiness. I never worry and you should not either. I AM with you. Is that not enough for you to overcome everything and anything with Me? If I am for you, and I AM, who can be against you? You should know the answer and you should forbid anything that is no longer yours.
And that is holy. No place to darkness and all of you filled with light. And it is from knowing Me, for when your eye is good your whole body is filled with Light. So keep your eyes on Jesus, that is, My Word. The revelation of My Word gives light.
Watch your thoughts, watch your words, and watch who you are spending your time with—ungodly friends will not make you holy. Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with the devil, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has My temple with idols? For YOU are My temple and I AM the one and only living God. I will dwell in you and walk with you, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. Therefore, come out from spending your time with unbelievers and behaving like them, do not participate in the deeds of darkness with them for you are holy, be separate and do not touch what is unclean; no immoral or obscene speech should be in your mouth, rather the giving of thanks unto Me, know the sacred from the profane, and I will welcome you. And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. And you will be holy as I am holy. If you will just come to Me and be willing to obey, I will make you HOLY. And I have already, for I have given you My Holy Spirit to dwell in you forever. Do not grieve Him.
I would like for a moment to return to how Jesus obediently took all your sins upon Himself to the point of death, death on a cross, to make you realize the seriousness of playing around even in the smallest degree with the lusts of sin. Do you remember on the Cross, Jesus cried out, as David had foretold in Psalm 22, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46; Psalm 22:1. Lama means “why,” “sabachthani” means forsaking in the sense of pulling out your presence and leaving, that is, departing so you are no longer there. The wages of sin is death, and My eyes are to pure to behold evil. I turn away from sin and that is what destroyed Jesus. My presence is your life. Do you recall that when Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, the Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. John 2:18-22.
Does this remind you of when My people rejected Me and went after other gods and even put their idols in My temple that Solomon had built for My Name? I gave Ezekiel a vision of the abominations going on in the Temple, how I was being pushed out of My own house, and then as he watched the cherubim upon whom I was enthroned in the Temple over the mercy seat mounted up and My glory, that is, My presence, went up slowly, hovered a moment looking back from the threshold and then departed. Ezekiel 10:15-20. I had been thrown out of My own House, and soon the Babylonian army came in and conquered Jerusalem and destroyed and burned down the Temple without leaving one stone on another.
But when, in their exile, the people repented and turned back to Me, I miraculously brought them back and funded the rebuilding of the Temple and again dwelt with them.
But now fast forward to Jesus in that temple at Jerusalem in the gospel of John. Jesus said to the Jews, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. John 8:58-59. He was driven out of His own house. Later, Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” Matthew 24:1-2. Thrown out, torn down. The wise woman builds her house but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands. Do you not know that you are My temple and that My Spirit dwells in you? Avoid idols in your temple for if any man destroys My temple, I will destroy him, for My temple is holy, and that is what you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. Sin will destroy you. I warned Adam of that but he did not listen. Sin gets you out of the flow of My presence in your life. Avoid sin at all costs. It is very serious and will rob you of your destiny. You cannot be holy and be practicing sin at the same time. You cannot say you are in My Light and continue to walk in darkness. Hate can do that. Be careful not to hate people.
I love you. Be holy for I am holy. And in this series of life lessons, I will show you how.