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Day 31 – Holy Unto the LordThursday August 23
One morning a friend of ours awoke to an unusual vision. He was standing, as if outside himself, and he saw the word “HOLY” being stamped on his forehead. As this was happening, the phrase, “holy unto the Lord” was ringing over and over again. As he lay in bed pondering what this meant, a friend called and he shared what he had seen. “You know what that means, don’t you?” asked the friend”. “No,” he answered. “It’s like the high priests in the Bible”.
Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD. Fasten a blue cord to it to attach it to the turban; it is to be on the front of the turban. It will be on Aaron's forehead. Exodus 28:36-38
Holy is a word that has “fallen out of time” in our world. And for many of us in the church, holiness in a truth with which we struggle. We know the scriptures.
Without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." 1 Peter 1:15-16
But be holy just like God? That seems like a pretty tall order for a fallible human being.
But God wants us to understand that while it is true that we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling and living by His grace and power to make right choices everyday that align with His holiness, we are not holy because of our choices. We are holy because of His.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:3-4
Before we existed, before even the world existed, God had already decided, through Christ, He would have a people holy unto Him.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9
How has God marked us as a holy nation, His chosen people? By light.
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12
You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 1 Thessalonians 5:5
We don’t belong to darkness. From the very beginning of creation, God separated light from darkness. And He made light the inheritance of His kingdom.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9-14
As we go through this process of healing and circumcision, God is preparing us to possess our inheritances – the inheritances of the kingdom of light. He wants us to understand that we don’t have to walk anymore under the power and dominion of darkness. We are citizens of the kingdom of light and qualified to share in all the inheritances of this kingdom.
So how then shall we live?
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Ephesians 5:8-10
To be holy, consecrated, set apart to the Lord, not just for these 52 days, but for our lives, we just have to embrace this simple truth: in Christ we have become children of light. So free from fear and religious obligations, with hearts full of love and desire to please the Lord, we can embrace light. We can with joy open our hearts and lives and allow His light to flood every inch of our being.
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. John 12:46
Today let us commit afresh to live in the full inheritance we have as children of the light, knowing that we are a royal priesthood, holy unto the Lord. Let’s pray this prayer together:
God, I thank you that you are the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light. In you O God, there is no darkness! Thank you that your kingdom is a kingdom of light and that you have rescued me from the power and control of the enemy of my soul, who dwells in darkness, and you have established me in the kingdom of the Son who You love. Father I declare that I am a son/daughter of light and I do not belong to the darkness. I have no fellowship with darkness or the fruitless deeds of darkness.
But rather because of my love for you and my desire to please you, God, I want to see every dark place in my life exposed to the light. So God, I open up my heart and life to you right now and I ask you to come and flood and fill every area of my life with your light.
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