He Has You

Do you want to know what God’s will is for your life? To be holy. Many keep asking, hoping for a different answer. Peter wrote “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).

Oswald Chambers said, “God not only expects me to do His will, but He is in me to do it”. The secret to being in God’s will is having God in you. The Lord promised, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27). 

You can never be holy enough to be saved, and that is why the Lord Jesus covered us with His own righteousness. But do not be deceived, the Lord desires for you to live a holy life. Be holy.

From a Harley to Holiness

As I grew in my faith, I thought the only way that I could have victory over sin was if I died. I was right. The only way to conquer sin is to die to our flesh. Dead men don’t sin. “For he who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:7). The problem is in killing that old man, because he doesn’t want to die.

I remember one morning on my faith journey where I cried out to God. I forget the exact sin, but not the conversation. I was on my knees in my garage kneeling next to my Harley, just before heading out to work. Here is the part of that prayer that I will never forget, “Father, I want You to shake up my life and draw me closer to Yourself”.

A few hours later I was in a motorcycle wreck. I busted up my leg and foot and was laid up for a few months, and on crutches for four months. Some people say we should be careful what we pray for. I say we should be reckless in our prayers, knowing our heavenly Father will only do what is best for us.

I want you to know that God answered every bit of that prayer. He shook up my life and He drew me closer to Himself. Friends, if we want to get closer to God then we must become more holy. Holiness is light. Nothing dark can approach the light, and nothing light can allow darkness to remain.

God taught me how to pray during this time like I had never prayed before. You can pray to God from your darkened closet, but to get near Him you need to walk in the light. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

I was on crutches for four months. The very weekend I set them down was the first time I stepped into a prison to do ministry. I spent the next seven years ministering in prisons filled by a mighty God. Be holy. Let the holiness of God reign in you. And then watch what He will do in your life.

You can be holy

You can be holy. Only one in a thousand will, so be that one. It is not that only one in a thousand can, but only one in a thousand is willing. Be that willing one.

Be holy. Everything in your flesh will tell you otherwise. Don’t listen to your flesh, but the Holy Spirit. “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it’ (Isaiah 30:21).

If you are not living the life of victory, you can. The problem is never that we are not strong enough, but that we are not weak enough. Not weak enough to let Him do it in us. He gives you everything you need to be holy, if you would just be weak enough to let Him do it.

“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

You cannot have the power unless you are first weak.

Desire to live out your faith, not to just live a life that looks like faith. Desire to be holy, not to just look holy. It takes more effort to fake holiness than to simply surrender that He would be holy through you.

The key to living the holy life is not in your doing but in your allowing. It is not in your striving, but your abiding. It is not in gaining ground, but yielding ground.

The Road to Holiness

The holier the man, the more convicted his soul. The Lord Jesus said, “And when He has come [the Holy Spirit], He will convict the world of sin…” (John 16:8). The road to holiness is only through the deep valley of conviction. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” (Psalm 23:4). Only your flesh can cast a shadow.

If there is no sacrifice then there is no offering. You cannot offer your life to God unless you are willing to sacrifice it first. Christ can only reign in a soul wholly given over to Himself.

God will only move in your life when you make room for Him to move. When you give Him you, He gives you Himself.

You are not set apart from it if you are part of it. If you act the same as everyone in the world, then what makes you different? The LORD God said, “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 20:7).

The end does not justify the means. It is in the means where God measures our holiness. Do the right thing, even if it hurts.

Victory over sin is not found in your strength, but in your love for Christ. Holiness is found by loving Jesus more than yourself. To be more holy, love Him more.

The Higher Calling

The call to holiness is not to shame us where we fail, but to call us up to where we should be. It is by “…the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Timothy 1:8-9).

The last thing you want to hear is often the first thing you need to listen to. Stop seeking comfort, but truth. Learn to desire holiness over happiness. Happiness may last a day or a week, but holiness will be with you forever.

Learn to develop an intimate fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is not that He would do something bad, but that in His goodness He would deal with you. It is in this reverent fear that holiness is found.

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). Holiness is not a burden but a freedom from the weight and bondage to sin.

You cannot be holy on your own, but Christ in you.

Be holy.

Blessings to you,

Paul