Series: The Word
Hebrews 12:14 ESV
2 Thessalonians 3:16 ESV
Isaiah 57:15 ESV
I Samuel 2:2 ESV
I Peter 1:16 ESV
Isaiah 55:9 ESV
Romans 8:26-27 ESV
As I sit praying and listening I realize words are very unimportant. What I desire is to sense the breath of God.
I long to be held and cherished.
There have been many times in my life when I turned to God and I had a sense that something great was about to happen. I did not know if it was great good or great disaster. In that moment, sitting with holy God I knew it didn’t matter. Everything would be okay however the circumstances played out.
God would make everything good.
Holy God makes all things good.
Holy God is what matters.
Holy God who offers peace makes a difference.
Hebrews 12:14 says, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
Now it seems to me that striving for peace is a given. At least it is for me. I love peaceful moments and I cherish sitting in God’s peace.
I don’t remember anyone in all my years telling me they want violence and war. Even military people who fight are fighting for peace. In other words the end game is not fighting to live in a world where war and violence rule.
Strive for peace. Look for it.
2 Thessalonians 3:16 tells us, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
When you need peace, stop and get off the busy road you are traveling on (metaphorically speaking) and ask God for peace.
That’s the endgame.
Then we are told to strive for holiness. But it isn’t just any kind of holiness.
The puzzling part of the scripture says without holiness no one will see God.
No one will see God without holiness.
Here, the prophet Isaiah gives us a clue.
In Isaiah 57:15 he wrote, “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
God doesn’t just have holiness, God IS holiness. According to Isaiah God seeks to dwell with those who are contrite, who genuinely surrender everything to God.
That means if you are struggling with a decision you made, surrender it to God. If you messed up, go to God and tell God you messed up.
You know when my kids were young and they did something they weren’t supposed to do, it was always better when they came to me and admitted they messed up and they were sorry. Then we could fix it together.
That’s exactly what God wants. He wants to help us fix what got messed up. In addition to that according to Isaiah 57 God wants to revive our spirit. God wants to heal our heart.
God IS holy.
God wants to share His holiness with us.
But here’s the deal…we cannot get there on our own. We are human. Only God is holy.
We know from scripture in I Samuel 2:2 that, “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.”
I Peter 1:16 tells us, “Since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Seeking God and sitting with…that’s where we learn holy.
The prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Surrender to God. It’s not easy because almost everything in this world tells us to fight for what we want. Surrendering is counter cultural.
Finally, in Romans 8:26-27 we are told, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Surrendering to God is the way to peace and the holiness of God.
Spiritual Practice: Surrender
Sit with your hands open. Surrender everything you are carrying to God. Receive the peace and holiness of God.
In God, Deborah
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