“in all your ways acknowledge him”- “fear the LORD and shun evil.” Proverbs 3:6a & 7b
Speaking of holiness, J. Sidlow Baxter said, "What God chooses, HE cleanses. What God cleanses, He molds. What God molds, He fills. What God Fills, He uses."
Holiness is being devoted to God!
Holiness is being dead to self!
Holiness Is being directed by the Spirit!
Devoting yourself completely to God through Christ brings you into relationship with Him! Dying to yourself allows the blood of Christ to cleanse you and the Spirit of God to fill you. Once you have been filled with the Holy Spirit you must follow His direction to remain in relationship with God.
Holiness being the important issue it is, the Apostle Paul wrote much about it to the Churches under his care. Here are several examples:
“I say then: Walk in
the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so
that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit,
you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident,
which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish
ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness,
revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who
practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires. If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking
one another, envying one another.” Galatians
5:16-26
“But if we walk in the light, as he is
in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:7-9
Are you walking in the Spirit?