Living Holy...

Back in August 2009, I was featured in Exemplify Online & Magazine's monthly issue. It was a proud moment for me and helped me fully understand that my writing IS good enough! Exemplify has since ended it's online ministry, so hence the magazine, but I thought I'd share my article here. It is long for a blog post, but I do hope and pray that you are blessed by it!

Holiness – living a holy life - is something that has not, and still does not, happen easily for me. I set out to do what is right to honour God, but the habits of old creep in. It’s not through lack of wanting to please God, but more through a lack of reminding myself to live how God intended. For me it also goes a bit deeper than that. The knowledge of having lived a life less holy can make me feel that I’m not deserving of God’s presence in my life.

So, what is holiness?

Basically, holiness is what God is. In Leviticus 19:2 He tells us to “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” Holiness is about how I should live; my thoughts, words and actions. It’s living a life filled with love for God and for others. God is love, and thus holiness is love. It encompasses right living based on who God is and how He tells us to live. It’s what Jesus displayed and how the Spirit guides us now. Whether we do this or not shows how we feel about His love and His requirements of us.

Holiness is recorded in the Strong’s Concordance as both a noun and a verb. It describes what God is while also tells how we should be – holy, one and the same. What is so brilliant about this word is that both the noun and the verb say exactly the same thing; set apart, consecrated, sacred, separate, sanctified, dedicated, devoted. To be set apart, implies the action of set-apartness, i.e. living in the world but not of it; to be consecrated, we are to live a life of consecration, i.e. giving all we have to God for His purpose; and so on.

Being holy entails sharing God’s heart with others and living out who He is and what He stands for; being dedicated and devoted. By being holy we are not only honouring God but also outwardly acknowledging His selection of us. 2 Timothy 1:9 tells us about God “...who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” We are called to have a fearful and grateful respect for our Holy Creator and “Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous and praise his holy name.” - Psalm 97:12.

How do we live a life of holiness? As holiness cannot be achieved without Him or by our own works, we must ask Him for help in this area. We must invite Him in and make room for Him in our hearts, minds, and lives. We have to let Him in and be a willing student. 1 Chronicles 16:29 tells us to “...ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendour of his holiness.” We do this by offering ourselves, kneeling before Him and giving everything we have to Him.

We have been born again and made new through the blood of Jesus Christ, so we can fully cast off our old selves. This can be a difficult thing to do depending on life’s circumstances. I have struggled with this for many years and am only now starting to overcome and release my past. Ephesians 4:24 tells us that we are “...to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” The first step to achieving this is to pray Psalm 51:10 and ask God to “Create in me a pure heart...and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” God wants us to live with a clean heart and new spirit, and it is He alone who can help us to achieve this.

An important thing to do is learn more about God and His holiness through reading His Word, and also sharing it. He has given us His Word, written down by his servants and messengers to guide us today and into the future. Every word is relevant in one circumstance or another. We must learn it and meditate on it daily. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” - 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

It’s not only our lives that must be holy; our homes should be too. Deuteronomy 23:14 tells us that “...the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.” Holy living flows from home to work to church to family to friends. It is not just one part of our lives; it is all of our lives. It’s said that home is where the heart is, and that is certainly true of holiness. We are our natural selves at home. If holiness is there, then holiness can be carried into the outside world as it is in our heart.

The result of following these principles will be living a life that is holy; being a living example of God’s love. As He is holy, so we will be, but only when we stay close to Him. He is the root and we are the branches. “If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.” Romans 11:16. This verse reminds me that, as a parent, as I display holy living my daughter will see God’s love and holiness showing through me.

All these things will help us to grow into the person God has planned for us to be. We were made in His image. He sees us differently, and knows us to be different, from how we see ourselves and how others see us. He knows our potential. It’s an exciting prospect to think that within us is an incredibly amazing person just waiting to be released! 1 Peter 1:14-16 provides apt advice in regard to holy living -

“As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 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."

Let’s live it; let’s do it! It IS possible in Him, through Him and for Him. His holiness, and His love for us, is more than enough reason to honour Him by living holy lives. Let’s live out HOLINESS.

Honest

Open

Living ... in that I’m free to live as God intended

Invigorating

Newness ... in that I have been born again through the blood of Jesus

Eternally

Satisfying

Service ... delivered daily in honour of my Father

(All scripture has been taken from the New International Version.)

Spotlight on Exemplify Online...

It's been a little while since my last Spotlight On post (how remiss of me!). Today I am spotlighting the Exemplify Online & Magazine web site channels. Not only do the channels cover a myriad of topics, but I am also going to start writing for the singles channel next month. Yay! Excited much!

Not only does the site have the Devotional, Family, Ministry and Singles channels, there is also the Marriage channel. And lets not forget the wonderful Editor's Blog where we can keep up with what the amazing cupcake Kristen is doing!

I had the privilege of writing a feature article for the Magazine last year. It was the most humbling experience I think I've ever had! Just to think that my words, glorifying God, were being read by women around the globe. I never would have thought that less than 12 months later I would be a blog writer for them! So...thank you Kristen for the opportunity!

I hope you all get the chance to check out these blog channels and subscribe to the magazine. Kristen's vision for the magazine and web-site is amazing and she has a wonderful team supporting her!

Inspiration For Our Souls...

With the Yes To God study starting last Tuesday, it seems that blogland is abuzz with how this study is going to change the lives of so many lovely ladies here. Everywhere I turn I am being inspired by the openness and rawness of ladies whom I have not even met in real life. It just goes to show that we do live a spiritual life, even as mere mortals here on earth. God is touching our lives through Lisa's book; with her challenge to us to become authentic and to get real.

The indicators that the time is right for me to get real with God is all around outside of blogland too. In the last 2 days I have come across the following 4 quotes, and as I read them I could not help but think that they are telling me something. Have a read and see if you can pick up on what I mean:

"I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday, and I love today." - William Allen White

"Life is a wilderness of twists and turns where faith is your only compass." - Paul Santaguida

"You see things and you say, "Why?" But I dream things that never were and I say, "Why not?"" - Geroge Bernard Shaw

"Surrender your blunders to the Lord. He can use them to make the pattern of your life more beautiful." - Corrie ten Boom

Yes To God ladies, and others reading this post, do...you...get...it?

I know I do! Do not fear. Remember but don't dwell on yesterday. Love where you are today. Life will always take us in directions we least expect. Have faith. Don't question the "why" too much; only God knows all the answers. Imagine what life can, and will be like, and embrace it. Give up your past to the Lord; release it and let it go. He let us experience what we did to make our life so much better today...yes, TODAY!

The Corrie ten Boom quote came with a verse from Proverbs 16:3 -

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."

Therein is another instruction from our Amazing Father as to what we should be doing to become more authentic and to get real! Give it up! Give up trying to be in control. Give up trying to be someone that we're not.

When I think of the real Paula, the authentic Paula and who God wants me to be, I think back to when I was a child; when I had innocence and looked at the world as a wide-eyed child. I have to stop myself with my daughter and remind myself that she hasn't been there and done all that yet, so I must become like a child in some ways so I can appreciate all that is in front of me. Does this sound familiar?

Yes, Jesus told us in Matthew 18:3-5 that we must "...become like little children...", that "...whoever humbles himself like this child..." and "...whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." This could be part of our key to getting real with God.

We need to return to our Father. We need to welcome Him back in completely. We need to renew ourselves, plant ourselves back at His feet and say, "here I am Father, I need you, I cannot do this by myself anymore, and I am sorry for going against you and thinking that I could." We need to admit that we just cannot do it alone, that we need to uncover who is actually under all, as Lisa says, "the fluff", and we need to become the women that God originally intended us to be.

Where we are did not happen by accident. He gave us a free reign to do as we pleased, and most of us messed it up. I know that I did, and not just once, but twice, even three times. But I know now where I went wrong. I can admit that I made the WRONG CHOICE! I didn't do what God had told me I should have done. As a young child and teenager, He told me, but I chose not to listen.

Despite all this, the current pattern of my life is more beautiful that it's ever been. My life is not exactly how I would like it to be, but I dare say that if God were standing in front of me right here and right now, He would tell me that it's exactly where He wants me to be. That's good enough for me. I can deal with that. I don't have my sweetie with me, I am raising a child alone, I have health issues that wear me out, but at the end of the day, I have my Lord who sticks by me so amazingly that if I didn't know that He loved me so, I would actually wonder why!

So ladies, we need to elimate the fear, the yesterdays, the questions, the trying to live life by our road map, and we need to have some imagination and faith. And we need to do it TODAY! And most importantly, we need to show the same love for ourselves as God does. That might just be a big ask, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Dear Lord, Thank you for the love you shower on us, your Girls, as we do life and now endeavour to do it real for you. Please give me the strength to not fear, to dream, to imagine, and to have more faith that it will be OK; that I will be able to let go and let you lead. The best is yet to come, as I know better now, and I am thankful to you for sticking by me all this time. In Your Wonderful Name, Amen

The Man God Has Given You...

I read an article last night in a Christian women's magazine and it's about a lady who met and married a lovely man back in the early 1960s and how she went from living and working overseas to the wife of a farmer in a matter of a year. She then talked about her life experiences with her husband and three daughters, moving back to the city and how her husband was diagnosed with not one, but two illnesses, with Parkinson's being one.

She then told how her husband died suddenly, but not unexpectedly, and how she wished she could have said goodbye and told him that she loved him; told him how much he meant to her, and all those other things that one probably doesn't tell one's partner enough or regularly or at all. In closing she said the following, which really touched my heart and made me shed a few tears.

Love the man God has given you (and tell him you love him often)
Spoil the man God has given you
Forgive unconditionally...he's not perfect and nor are we
Laugh a lot
Seize the moment and do things together today!

© Pamela Melocco (Christian Woman magazine, Sep/Oct 2008)

Please enjoy and remember to do all these things, especially if you are blessed to have your man with you.