“I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!” (1 Peter 1:1-2)
They lost everything. Their lives shattered and then scattered like seeds to the wind. Can we even imagine what this would be like? They had houses, families and friends. They were not given an option of packing up and saying goodbye. Rather, they ran in the middle of the night hearing that someone was coming to arrest them and kill them for their faith. Any dreams were shattered and left on the threshold of the old and the new.
Like Jacob who ran when Esau was going to kill him because he stole the blessing, they didn’t really know where they were headed, just that they had to leave with the shoes on their feet and maybe an outer garment. Perhaps this is similar to those in a country where Christian’s are persecuted and prosecuted, looking for a place of refuge.
Their promise was not an easy life, luxury or success. Here Peter encourages them that not one of them were out of God’s sight or missing. Their promise was that their Father had their eye on each one of them and will help them live a holy life in the midst of confusion. Through the trial, they would remain strong and be brought through as gold refined in the fire, bringing praise, glory and honor on the day that Jesus is revealed (1 Peter 1:7)
How many know that strength is a gift from God? The Lord will strengthen us to endure trials and tribulations. He will strengthen us to go through them and endure to victory rather than run away from them. Isaiah 40:31, “But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”
Peter tells them that in the midst of their trials, to put all their eggs in one basket – Jesus and His gracious salvation (1 Peter 1:13). “Jesus, Your all this heart is living for” is singing in the background. He is our only hope and place of safety. Often, there is a temptation to only trust Him partially and lean on our own resources or own ways as well. We love Him but don’t want to fully depend upon Him.
They were not to slip into old ways of living of satisfying one’s own desires which is so easy to do under stress and duress. The lie tries to slip in that you have to make your own way and disappointment and loss easily lead to seeking escape and consolation in the world. 1 Peter 1:14-16 says, “But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
Often when I hear “must be holy,” I think about trying incredibly hard to get everything right. But this is not the holiness that is being spoken of here. You cannot perform your way out of performance. The holiness spoken of here is that everything Jesus touches turns holy. It is an invitation to hold onto His hand and become holy as He is holy.
Do we see this? The way to holiness is not in the pursuit of character traits. The way of holiness is in pursuit of the One who is holy. As we touch the hem of His garment, the power goes out of Him and changes us and transforms us. It is in touching Him that we become holy.
Here is another part that we can sometimes struggle to wrap our minds around – the “power” is not a source with properties such as electricity. Rather, while He is like electricity in a way, the power source is living. It is the Holy Spirit. He points us to Jesus, connects our hearts and makes us holy. He is the source of Christ’s power. He is this immense, glorious and inexpressible treasure that Jesus gave to us as a gift – His friendship.
We cannot have a genuine relationship with Jesus without the help of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit.” Jesus told His disciples that unless He went away, He could not send the Holy Spirit as their Advocate. He said it was needed because it was best for them because “He will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgement” (John 16:6). He leads and guides us into all that is holy.
Because of this incredible gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus told people “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28). If we think we haven’t been given all the advantages or certain people who did powerful things in the Bible were given special abilities, we are wrong. There is no good thing that the Lord has withheld from us.
To be holy as He is holy is to listen to the loving voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The more we let Him (the Holy Spirit) dictate our lives, the more our lives become holy. He is the source of entering into a relationship with Jesus, growing in that relationship and understanding the things of the Kingdom. It is through Him that we get freedom, deliverance and healing.
He is so humble and illusive that He is hard to describe. He is like wind, like rain, like fire, like oil… He is like dew on the grass and a song that rises up out of the depth of your heart. He is like being wrapped in a warm hug of unending love and understanding when it is beyond your knowing. He is like explaining the Word of God directly to your heart. He is like giving you divine revelation for writing an SQL Access Database at your job. He is like someone that tells you a joke that is both so kind and funny that it never leaves you. He is like a wound that is bleeding that is wrapped up and healed with deep understanding. He is like warm light shining on your face that warms you all the way through down to your toes. He is like the ocean dancing to praise the Lord and Him taking you along to see, hear and experience it first hand. He is like an intimate secret between friends. He is like the dream that you needed to hear. He is my best friend that I can’t describe and makes me cry when ever I think of Him.
He is there when I fret and look at the two license plates on the cars in front of me and they both read 377, and when I read , Psalm 37:7 in the Bible, I know exactly what He is talking about. Psalm 37:7, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”
He surrounds me in every little way. He is in the music that plays exactly what I need to hear to get freedom from being stuck. He is in the time that reads 1:11 and He is calling me to a Sabbath rest. He was in it when I was praying in the Spirit in my car and kids next to me saw and mocked me and then the muffler fell off their car. He tells me when I am off track and when I am on track. He is the wisdom that I need to hear when I feel something is off course. He brings me back to the heart of the matter. He orchestrates everything. He is in everything and He is in me! I am so grateful for Him!
There are times that He is probably unhappy with me. If I am not gentle and not considerate of others, I feel it in my whole being that He is not with me. It is like a thud in the room. It makes me want to vomit. Other times when I am distracted, indulging or self-seeking, He seems to be missing. I just don’t hear or see Him and begin to feel lost. When I think that He is unhappy with me, I sometimes stress about it and indulge on food while beating myself up about it – just making it worse. Or, sometimes He gives me a dream to correct me.
He is even there when I pray for Him to wake me up every morning at a certain time to spend time with Him and then sometimes (more than I would like) I drowsily make excuses and fall back to sleep for awhile. He is a treasure. I love His friendship. I sometimes get crabby when He corrects me for being off course and I realize I am not giving Him my best when what I really need to do is to start that moment giving Him my all.
I especially miss Him when I am pressed and rushed. When I am thinking about the next thing and looking to all the things that I have to get done, I don’t sense His nearness at all. He is in the moment rather than the future or past. He is right here with us ready to take our hand and walk with us. Being with Him makes us holy!
In this way, learning the walk of holiness is learning to walk in the present with God. Being present to the moment at hand and entering into His purposes in obedience from our heart. It is learning to be with God and share the moment with Him. It is learning from Him and being with Him where He is.
He seems to operate some like the oil poured into jars in 2 Kings 4. The widow borrowed as many jars as she could and as the oil poured, it filled jar after jar. Then when she ran out of room, the oil stopped pouring. The Holy Spirit is like oil that comes and fills all the empty spaces we invite Him into. As long as we create space for Him, He will keep filling and filling our places of need, giving us more and more good things of value. But then there is not faith for Him to fill the jars or no jars available to fill, He stops pouring.
To pursue holiness is to pursue a relationship with God. It is to seek after Him with our whole heart, mind, soul and spirit. He is with us! We only need to make room for Him. He is here for us. He listens and understands us amazingly well. As we walk with Him, letting Him draw us to be hand and hand with Jesus, He will guide us into all truth and bring glory to the Lord through us by telling us everything He hears from Jesus.
“I just want to make You glad. I just want to move Your heart God, to give You all I am. It’s by Your will and for Your pleasure I exist, You are worthy Lord” sings in the background.
I love the Holy Spirit and how He is willing to walk through every day with us. I love how we are never alone. I love how He fills me with joy or floods me with peace. I love how He is always there for me giving me wisdom. You only need two to have a party and He is always an available guest! His friendship gives my life joy.
I love the work of the Holy Spirit. I love every gift He has to offer. I love to contemplate on His Word and when He speaks to me through it. I love to worship and find Him connecting me so closely with Jesus that I can see and hear Him in the room. I love to pray and find myself weeping as He shares the heart of Jesus with me for someone. I love when He gives me His perspective. I love to watch Him heal or set people free, remembering what this was like for myself and how despite I was. I love to pray in the Spirit and hear myself being called “daughter.”
I love that He cared enough to lead Jesus right to the man with the legion of demons so that He could cast them out of Him. It mattered to Him that He got freedom. I love that He gives dreams and visions about the future. I love that He has an opinion about matters and it is always right. Being His friend has always been my deepest heart desire.
He is in us when we accept Jesus as our Savior and will give us more of His presence if we ask to be filled with Him! He is in every denomination that put's Jesus as the Son of God central. I love all the different expressions of faith in each denomination and different ways the Holy Spirit expresses Himself. They are all beautiful in their own ways – from the fiery Spirit filled Pentecostals, devoted Seventh Day Adventists, and rich in the Word Baptists to the seeker passionate Evangelicals, contemplative Lutherans and rich tradition honoring Catholics and all in between. All of it is so beautiful and the Holy Spirit is in all of it!
We love You Holy Spirit! We welcome You in every area of our lives. We want more of You in our lives. Come and dwell among us. Let Your goodness overflow in us! Fill us to overflowing! Be the first voice we seek to hear in the morning and the last One we speak to before we fall asleep. Be our song in the night and our precious treasure. Help us not to grieve You with sin or leave You behind. And as we take Your hand, help us to walk into Your holiness.
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