October 26, 2010

Clean Conscience:
The Conscience is the capacity to know the difference between good and bad and something that alerts us when we do something wrong.
Holiness: This, along with conscience, has to do with good and bad. It is living right, doing things according to God’s heart, being blameless or without blemish, being connected to God in such a way that He is constantly filtered through you, being pure and washed clean before God, set apart, being able to face God and speak with Him, being able to resist temptation and being disgusted by sin, dedicated or devoted to the service of God, having a spiritually pure quality.
Can we actually attain holiness? Maybe temporarily if we are lead in a holy way, but because we are on the other side of heaven, it’s harder. It’s something we should strive for every day. The bible says we are holy by the blood of Jesus but we may not always live like it even though He always sees us this way. Sin, pride, our will, independence, selfishness, impure thoughts, temptations, apathy (I can’t be bothered), worldly desires, wounds, rage, guilt, ignorance, our morals or values, our guilt about out past, unforgiveness, and our world view/upbringing stops us from being holy.
Namen (the leper) was told by a prophet to bath in the Jordan River to be cured. (Lepers are usually set apart because they are highly contagious and seen as dirty, filthy, dangerous and unholy.) He was a very brave soldier that one many battle and the favor of the king, but he was covering up his leprosy with his armor until he was at home where nobody could see him. Everyone saw him as a brave honorable man and nobody knew about the pain and the disease he had covered up. It was something that was keeping him from being holy because of the emotional pain and unforgiveness of his own body. He desired to be clean but was scared of being exposed and for people to know his imperfection.
God is light, there is no darkness in Him. If we say we have communion with Him but live in darkness we are liars. But if we live in the light with Him and like He does, we have community with others and the blood of Christ covers our sin. Therefore, we CAN be holy. It’s very difficult but it is possible.
Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways declares the Lord. And my thoughts and my ways are higher than the heavens above the earth.”
Do we walk so people don’t discover who we really are and walk in fear so people won’t know what is really inside of us? Namen didn’t believe that he could be cured so simply and wondered why he had not been cured by God if he was in such favor. It wasn’t even the prophet that told him, it was his servant and it frustrated him. He was angry at this simple cure and thought that the God that had blessed him with so many victories in battle and so many riches wasn’t giving him a great glorious redemption and refused it at first. Then when his servant came to him and asked why he wasn’t following God’s way, he went and bathed 7 times in the Jordan River and was healed.
Then Namen tried to offer gifts to Elijah the prophet but he refused saying that he would not take any payment for what the Lord had done. But as Namen started to leave, Elijah’s servant chased him down and lied saying that his master wanted 2 sets of clothing and 2 bags of silver. Namen gladly gave these things to the servant and sent him back home. When Elijah heard of this, he called his servant and asked him where he had been. When the servant replied by saying he had never left, Elijah called him out. Then the servant was cursed with the leprosy that Namen had just been rid of.
(James 3:1-12) Verse 2-3 talk about putting a bit in a horse’s mouth and how you can turn the whole horse by its mouth. Sometimes we need to control our whole selves by controlling how we use our words. With our words we can bind people and condemn them. (James 5:9-12) “…let your yes be yes and your no be no…” verse 16 says “…pray for each other and confess to each other your sins…”
Colossians 2:13-15 “When you were dead in your sins God made you alive with Him….triumphing over sin on the cross.”
Hebrews 12:11-17 “When we are punished it seems to us at the time something to make us sad and not glad…keep walking on the straight path…try to be at peace with everyone and live in holiness…let nobody become like a bitter plant…or immoral…”
Matthew 5:29 “So if your eye-even your good eye-causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”
Matthew 5:17-20 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

“How many kings step down from their thrones? How many lords have abandoned their homes? How many greats have become the least for me? And how many gods have poured out their hearts to romance a world that is torn all apart? How many fathers gave up their sons for me? Only one did that for me.” –Downhere