RESTRAINT & HOLINESS...

Deliberate, and diligent restraint accompany the believer in their walk WITH THE LORD *GOD*; a restraint which finds them aware, and conscientiously considering their thoughts, words, actions, and reactions; which covers every issue known to the human condition, for we now KNOW that we are spirit, NOT flesh---

Pride IS at the root of all which plagues Mankind; it IS the source from which the deadly sins are derived, and IS the reason we struggle in our journey through this world! Pride allows for lust, greed, gluttony, envy, wrath, and sloth, as having been reared in worldly ways, we have adapted ideals geared to satiating the flesh, and give little thought to the spiritual being, or the soul, that is UNTIL we turn to THE LORD! When we DO turn to HIM, we are challenged all the more as bad habits, and wrong-mindedness runs deep enough to confuse us, and to leave us feeling as if we are losing greatly IN our allegiance TO THE LORD *GOD*! But this is due to several factors, such as the enemy's influence, our likes of self-inclination, and a certain comfort in our erring, as we imagine it to be common to our existence in this realm, along with more hidden, or evasive matters which KEEP us struggling! KNOWLEDGE, and understanding ARE KEY to diminishing, and eradicating that which works against us, and finds us stumbling! THANKS BE TO *GOD*, we HAVE an ADVOCATE, and instruction, which we SIMPLY, cling to, and continue learning, as well as utilizing THAT eventually, it melds within us...

1 THESSALONIANS 4: 7...
For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.

To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work of faith. The rule according to which all ought to walk and act, is the commandments given by the Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification, in the renewal of their souls under the influences of the Holy Spirit, and attention to appointed duties, constituted the will of God respecting them. In aspiring after this renewal of the soul unto holiness, strict restraint must be put upon the appetites and senses of the body, and on the thoughts and inclinations of the will, which lead to wrong uses of them. The Lord calls none into his family to live unholy lives, but that they may be taught and enabled to walk before him in holiness. Some make light of the precepts of holiness, because they hear them from men; but they are God's commands, and to break them is to despise God.

There ain't gonna be more of the same in THE KINGDOM; NOTHING but what is HOLY will continue to exist eternally! While we CANNOT grow PAST our humanness on our own, that we become ONE WITH THE LORD, and HIS WILL IS on us, AS IS our commitment TO HIM, and THE WAY! It is NOT drudgery TO align, and adhere TO our TRUTH, though it IS difficult, but ONLY because we are like backwards, having been trained in ways of the world, HOWEVER, WITH HIM, we CAN be retrained, renewed, restored, and totally transformed INTO our TRUTH!!!

We ARE PARTNERS of THE COVENANT, and this implies DUTY TO it! WHEN we proclaim CHRIST JESUS AS OUR LORD, and SAVIOUR, we ARE then DEAD TO the world, and it's ways, and ARE MADE NEW in spirit, and spirituality! We are NEW creations, THUS our thoughts, words, actions, and reactions MUST correlate TO HIM, HIS WILL, and HIS WAYS, EVEN THOUGH it IS a PROCESS, to which we should be engaged in! WHEN we are HONEST IN OUR DEVOTION, we ARE WILLING TO release the holds the world has on us, and NO!, it is NOT easy, YET it IS IMPERATIVE, and CORRECT behaviour FOR HIS OWN!!!

We are NOT CALLED into more impurity! It IS TO our advantage that we REALIZE what it means TO BE A CHILD OF *GOD*; we ARE to BE a HOLY Priesthood, FOR HIS GLORY, and the sake of our soul; FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, LOVE, and ALL which IS GOOD TO OVERTAKE what is wrong, bad, and unjust! REMEMBER that lust, greed, and other desires ARE rooted in EMOTIONS, and ARE CONTROLLABLE, ESPECIALLY for those who claim to be Christian! SURELY, we WILL meet tests, trials, and tribulations along THE WAY; it IS par for the course, but THROUGH PRAYER, PRAISE, WORSHIP, REJOICING, and HONOURING THE LORD IN our ways, we ARE FREE TO RECEIVE what IS necessary TO completion!!! 

1 PETER 1: 15-16...
15+++But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,
16+++for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

A strong and perfect trust in the grace of God, is agreeable with best endeavours in our duty. Holiness is the desire and duty of every Christian. It must be in all affairs, in every condition, and towards all people. We must especially watch and pray against the sins to which we are inclined. The written word of God is the surest rule of a Christian's life, and by this rule we are commanded to be holy every way. God makes those holy whom he saves.

1 THESSALONIANS 4: 8...
Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.

THE WAY IS A WAY OF HOLINESS, and the unclean shall NOT travel it; to them it is a route of foolishness, and works against their carnal desires! While the HOLY are NOT yet HOLY in this realm, they who claim citizenship IN HEAVEN, ARE being MADE HOLY BY THE MOST HIGH *GOD*, and SHALL endure, and persevere IN whatever they might face!!!

Someone decided that when CHRIST JESUS died it was a done deal, and humanity had NO role IN SALVATION, but that is NOT what we are taught, and truly, WHAT sense DOES it make for one who LOVES *GOD* to continue on in ways which ARE against THE LORD, and HOLINESS? HOW can one who LOVES *GOD* insist on being immoral, impure, and immature? Many Christians believe they are right in their choice to continue in conscious errs, such as promiscuity, deception, hostility, and other wrongs, partly because they WON'T let go of the world, as they are convinced they CAN have both the world, and *GOD*! NOT SO: JAMES 4: 4...
You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.

ROMANS 12: 2...
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. 

The apostle having closed the part of his epistle wherein he argues and proves various doctrines which are practically applied, here urges important duties from gospel principles. He entreated the Romans, as his brethren in Christ, by the mercies of God, to present their bodies as a living sacrifice to Him. This is a powerful appeal. 

We receive from the Lord every day the fruits of his mercy. Let us render ourselves; all we are, all we have, all we can do: and after all, what return is it for such very rich receivings? It is acceptable to God: a reasonable service, which we are able and ready to give a reason for, and which we understand. Conversion and sanctification are the renewing of the mind; a change, not of the substance, but of the qualities of the soul. The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more, and living to righteousness more and more, is the carrying on this renewing work, till it is perfected in glory. The great enemy to this renewal is, conformity to this world. Take heed of forming plans for happiness, as though it lay in the things of this world, which soon pass away. Do not fall in with the customs of those who walk in the lusts of the flesh, and mind earthly things. The work of the Holy Ghost first begins in the understanding, and is carried on to the will, affections, and conversation, till there is a change of the whole man into the likeness of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. Thus, to be godly, is to give up ourselves to God.

There, of course, are more references, but let us mull over these for a while, taking them deeply to heart, for they are important IN our growth, and development AS CHILDREN of THE LORD *GOD*: such does NOT exist to cause us grief, INSTEAD, for our protection, FREEDOM, and provision: FOR HIS GLORY, the sake of our souls, and that of other souls, as well!!!

LWINSOR © 2017
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS