Hello all & God bless you!

This is the day that the Lord has made!  We will rejoice and be glad in it!

I would like to share with you some things that God has been laying on my heart for quite some time now.

Our subject is holiness.  Our aim is to be holy, to be pleasing to Him in all we think, say and do.  

I do not pretend to have mastered being holy or, as Paul stated it, presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God
(ROMANS 12:1), but I'd like to think that, like Paul, I press toward the mark of holiness and am striving to be more like
Jesus everyday (PHILIPPIANS 3:12-14).

I'm sure that I'm not the only Christian who has this desire to be more like Him and who strives to know the will of God
and line my life up with that will of God.  In fact, what kind of a Christian would I be (if at all!)  if I didn't have this holy
desire to be holy as He is holy?  If this weren't  the case, it would behoove me to examine myself, whether I be in the
faith or not (2 CORINTHIANS 13:5).

That being said,  I look forward to the continuing opportunity to learn and grow with you...those of you who are reading
this installment of FIRE IN MY BONES!

First of all, I would like to define holiness.

What is holiness?

Holiness is simply being set apart by God, to God and for God.

As those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are holy.  Not because we do everything right according to
God's definition of right and not because we never do anything wrong according to God's definition of wrong.  We, as
Christians, are holy because we, at one time or another heard the Gospel message, recognized our sinfulness before
God and the impending judgment of God because of that sinfulness, and received Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord,
who took our sin upon Himself and suffered God's punishment for us as a result.

When we made that decision, when we prayed that prayer, when we did that, God did this...He, “...delivered us from
the power of darkness, and hath transfered us into the kingdom of His dear Son:” (COLOSSIANS 1:13).  The Living Bible
says it this way, “For He has rescued us from the darkness and gloom of Satan's kingdom and brought us into the
kingdom of His dear Son.”

The act of God bringing us into the kingdom of His dear Son upon our decision to confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus
Christ and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead (ROMANS 10:9) makes us holy.

To use a big biblical word, God “sanctified” us to Himself at that moment, or, in other words, He made us holy.  He set us
apart for His use, pleasure and purpose!

Upon our profession of faith in Christ Jesus (ROMANS 10:9 ; HEBREWS 10:23), we were set apart by God, to God and for
God.  We were made holy!

The Bible says in 1 PETER 2:9 that, as believers, we are a, ”... holy nation...”, not because we are perfect and never
make any mistakes and thus offend God, but because of what Christ did for us on the cross, our acceptance of that fact
and God's subsequent action to separate us from Satan and his kingdom and draw us near to Himself, for Himself  and
into His dear Son's kingdom!

We are holy, NOW!  Praise God!!

But, wait a minute...what about this question of sin in the believers life?  What about what the Scripture says in 1 PETER
1:13-16 (and in numerous other places in the Bible!) where the Apostle Peter admonishes the believers to, ”...be holy
now in everything you do, just as the Lord is holy, who invited you to be His child”?

If we are holy now, like you are saying ( with all of our ungodly habits, addictions, attitudes, behaviors and so forth)
why does the scripture also call us, as believers in Christ Jesus, to, “...be holy...” (1 PETER 1:15-16)?  After all, the call to
“be holy” strongly implies that we are not “holy” after all and thus, the call to “be holy”!

The answer is simple!  We are both holy and not holy at the same time!  We are both holy and unholy at the same time!

Huh?

I will go into this a little bit more in our next installment of FIRE IN MY BONES, but for the meantime, know and be
comforted in the fact that, in spite of our failures, faults and follies, when you prayed and asked King Jesus to come into
your heart and be your Savior and Lord, God made you holy.  God sanctified you.  God set you apart to Himself and for
Himself and nothing can ever change that position which you have before God in Christ Jesus.  

As the Apostle Paul said, “For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love.  Death can't, and life can't
(Ah, LIFE...which includes all the struggles that are common to us as Christians, as  we strive to live this life in a way
that is well-pleasing to God!).  The angels won't , and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God's love away.  Our
fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, or where we are - high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean - nothing
will be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when He died for us”  (ROMANS
8:38-39).

Our POSITION, being in Christ Jesus, is one of holiness to God. We are His!  We belong to Him!  Our CONDITION, is,
more than likely, a totally different story!  

This is where the Scripture in PHILIPPIANS 1:6 comes into play, where the Apostle Paul encourages believers who were
holy before God as it pertained to their POSITION, but were discouraged as it concerned their CONDITION before God,
saying, “...he which hath begun a good  work in you  will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”.
So, POSITIONALLY, we are holy.  Yet, CONDITIONALLY, we are a work in progress!  

We are working toward holiness ( to be pleasing in His sight in word and deed), not to earn Heaven or God's favor
(because we already have that in Christ Jesus!) but because we already have Heaven and God's favor (because of
what Christ did in our behalf!) and our desire to “be holy as He is holy” is our way of saying thank you to God for all He
has done for us through Christ Jesus our Lord!

We will talk a little bit more about this dichotomy that exists in the life of the believer in our next installment of FIRE IN
MY BONES, but maybe you've been reading this and you are not a Christian.  Maybe something you've read here has
peaked your interest, struck a chord in you, ect.  Maybe your ready now to give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ and be
transfered by God from Satan's kingdom into the Kingdom of His Dear Son.

I invite you to visit this page:


http://slaveswage.net.p12.hostingprod.com/salvation.html


Here you will find out what it means to be a Christian and how to become a Christian.  I hope you will visit the page,
gain a Godly perspective, pray the prayer and begin your new life in Christ Jesus.  He loves you and He went to hell and
back for you to prove it.

Until next time, take care, God bless and stay tuned for more from Slaves Wage!


Jeff Saenz

SLAVES WAGE