Knowing God: I wrote about this in May 2015. You can read that post here.
Holiness and Godliness:
Hebrews 12:14 "Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord."
"Make every effort" - being holy takes a whole lot of concentrated effort. You aren't going to be holy by taking a relaxed posture. The Christian walk isn't for the faint of heart, or is it?
Philippians 2:12 states, "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling." 1 Peter 1:15 says, "But just as He who called you in holy, so be holy in all you do." Holy is more than a state of mind, it is action. We must be obedient to His Word. And we can only do that through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we obey the Word of God.
"without holiness no one will see the Lord" - Holiness is extremely important for your own salvation. We cannot do as the world does, we have to elevate above its level of immoral behavior-we must be "set apart".
I have struggled for years with sexual sin, and continue to do so. But because of the Holy Spirit in my life, and a supporting wife, I can feel safe asking for forgiveness when I sin. The shame and guilt of that sin are lifted from my shoulders and put on the cross. My bride has to bear them with me, but that is the beauty of the body of Christ. We get to play a large part/role in each other's holiness through the confession and repentance of sin.
2 Peter 1:5-7 states, "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love." If we can find true holiness and godliness, it will produce in us a brotherly love like the world has never seen.
Holiness and godliness can only come through obedience to the Word, which can only come from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God only dwells in two places: Heaven and a broken and contrite heart.
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