Live Discussion Notes: Spiritual Disciplines
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Live Discussion Notes: Spiritual Disciplines
Live Discussion Notes: Spiritual Disciplines
Spiritual Disciplines (General)
Spiritual disciplines can be referred to as the necessary parts of a Christian’s walk with God.
We are disciples (needing to grow), and these are the tools by which we are individually discipled (grown)!
When the disciples had come to a roadblock in which their walk was not enough for the day, it was Jesus Himself who turned to them and recommended spiritual disciplines:
21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Those were just two out of a wide range of disciplines there are. Of course, there are major disciplines that are wider topics that more teaching and discussion is necessary on, which is what we are here for today!
My Thoughts
I believe that God is speaking to many of us right now in our lockdown that this daily devotion time and prayer at home is what prayer was always supposed to be.
Prayer was never meant to be that thing we do at church that gets us through the rest of the week and us feel good about the fact that we did it.
And it was never supposed to be praying just so we could say that we prayed.
It is to be a continual thing in our lives that connects us to the throne of heaven.
And I believe that one thing that is significant about the coronavirus outbreak is that it has exposed areas in our lives where we need to improve. And for many of us, that involves spiritual disciplines.
For instance, the “I’m just too busy,” sort of excuse we sometimes give to justify our not having personal time with God.
Now, that cannot be said.
We are all overflowing with extra time. And I know this because I’ve used that excuse about busyness before. And perhaps what you can clearly see now is that all of this time, the idea of “busyness” was just a cloak to cover up it just being an excuse for not prioritizing that time with God.
This is just a mere example… we need to have our eyes open to those areas of our lifestyle and our daily walk that are being highlighted. Now is the time to take charge and to grow.
Diverse Ways to Connect to God
Everyone has a different way they communicate. And we need to find our connection to God each day.
We make many things priorities in our life, but what needs to stand high above it all is your own time with God.
We all know if it’s really been made a priority in our lives or not.
But you have to find what works the best with you.
If you have to read your bible in smaller segments to digest it, do that!
If you do well hearing the Bible read, there are options there, as well.
If you need a written out bible reading plan to go by, there are plenty.
If Bible journaling keeps you engaged, there are resources for that.
If having a specific prayer list to go down helps you pray, do it.
If you pray well with worship music in the background, you can do that.
Prayer
Prayer has to be at the forefront of the Christian’s life.
I believe that a prayer life is a thermometer for the spiritual state someone is in.
I heard someone say before (a pastor) that when someone would approach him with an issue or counseling, the first words out of his mouth are often: “How’s your prayer life?” or “Have you prayed about it?” And the answer would determine what problem number one really is.
Prayer is our direct contact to God.
Therefore, to neglect our prayer would be to neglect our God.
Furthermore, it is not only necessary that we pray - we are called to make war in prayer.
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
General Scriptures
5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
17 pray without ceasing,
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Prayer enables a Christian to receive God’s promises as well as spiritual direction and power.
God promises to answer his prayers, supply his needs, deliver him from temptation, and work all things for his good.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
To receive these promises, we must ask in faith, from a repentant heart, in God’s will and not from carnal desires.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
Fasting
Fasting does not earn favors from God, nor is it meant to punish the body.
Rather, it helps a person to discipline self, focus on priorities, and draw closer to the spiritual realm.
16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Bible Study
Christ’s disciples must be students of the Bible.
Jesus said:
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Through the Word we gain faith.
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Through the Word we gain knowledge. God warned Israel:
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
It’s through the Word that we develop the character of being a Christian:
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The truth is, no Christian can advance beyond infancy without serious Bible study.
Also - you don’t have to be a super-professional theologian bible student in order to learn and let God speak to you through His word.
The Spirit led Philip to the Ethiopian Eunuch out in the desert.
That Eunuch was holding Old Testament scripture in his hands at the time.
Philip asked him, point blank: “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And the Eunuch essentially asked for Philip’s help. So Philip helped him understand.
And by the time it was over, the Ethiopian said, “Here is water, what’s stopping you from baptizing me right now???”
The Spirit orchestrated that experience that happened because someone looked into the Word.
He didn’t have the finest commentaries and insightful resources to get to this experience. He just sought help.
And I really believe that if we will make effort to study His Word, use the helpful resources that are available to us, and ask God to speak to us and teach us, absolutely anyone can be ministered to and grow by reading their Bible.
To know truth, perform God’s will, and overcome temptation, a Christian must read, study, meditate on, and learn God’s Word.
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
16 I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Don’t let intimidation of the size and scope of the Bible keep you from digging into it. Find your way to immerse into it.
There are countless bible reading plans that will give you structure.
There are apps and recordings that will read the Bible to you, if you do better in that way.
And there are all sorts of study helps.
Faithfulness/Fellowship/Submission
Christians all need the instruction, fellowship, group worship, and evangelistic outreach that a local church and pastor provide.
1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
Crucial to Christian life is a general attitude of submission.
The word submission signifies the voluntary yielding of one’s rights to another.
First, we must submit ourselves to God:
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Second, the true disciple must submit to his spiritual authority in the church.
17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
It is a fearful thing to rebel against church leadership:
15 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”
The model attitude of submission to have is represented by David and his relationship to Saul:
5 Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. 6 And he said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.”
God brings justice to those under Him in His way and in His time, every time. “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.”
It is also important to realize that God leads His church through His shepherds:
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
This authority cannot be bypassed.
Spiritual leadership in the church is provided by a chain of command that is God-ordained in scripture.
Giving
Tithing began before the law of Moses and continues after it.
Abraham and Jacob paid tithes.
20 And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he gave him a tithe of all.
Tithes are ten percent of “increase” (income) and are used to support the church. Offerings are any additional freewill gifts.
8 “Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts;
12 And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?
7 Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?
8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?
Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? 14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
Sacrificial giving is something also blessed of God, and can have great purpose in the believer’s life, very similar to fasting something.
1 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”
Service
We should find ways to bless the Lord with the talents and resources He has given us.
Though we should certainly give of our finances, there are many other ways that we can serve God in His kingdom, some very unique.
To name a few ways that I have observed people serve God in His Kingdom:
Lawn care
Cleaning
Photography
Secretarial work
Nursing duties
Singing and instruments
Teaching and training
Ushering and greeting
Giving rides and bible studies
Even social media, design, and promoting!
The New Testament churches of Macedonia received great words from Paul for their giving, not only of their money but also of themselves. He said they “first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.” (2 Cor. 8:5)
In the parable of the talents, Jesus confirmed the importance of profitability (producing with our service). To the men who had made wise investments, the master said:
21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
But the man who refused to work fo rthe benefit of his master was called “wicked, slothful… [and] unprofitable” (Matt. 25:26, 30).
Worship
1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
1 Praise the Lord!
I will praise the Lord with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Christians must worship in spirit and in truth.
Scriptural expressions of worship include private devotions, group worship, praising with loud noise, singing, thanksgiving, playing musical instruments, praying aloud, raising hands, clapping hands, weeping, and dancing before the Lord.
All of these things are scriptural and they are approved by God.
2 Praise the Lord with the harp;
Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
2 Let my prayer be set before You as incense,
The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
3 Let them praise His name with the dance;
Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the humble with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory;
Let them sing aloud on their beds.
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said:
‘Why did the nations rage,
And the people plot vain things?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand,
And the rulers were gathered together
Against the Lord and against His Christ.’
27 “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”
31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
God evidently loves boisterous worship, as the heavenly outbreak of rejoicing in Rev. 19 confirms:
6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!
Key: worship that is expressive and of authentic emotion is highlighted throughout our Bible, and the Lord loves it! It should never be frowned upon.
Disciple-making/Witnessing
There is simply no argument to have against the spiritual discipline of outreach and disciple-making, for it was the conclusion that Jesus gave at the end of the gospels (The Great Commission).
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
A witness is two-fold. It involves what a believer is and what a believer does.
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
It is something that should come naturally in a Christian’s life and become a continual mission.
20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
Holiness of Life
Pursuing holiness is as important as the new birth.
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
God commands His people to be holy in all conduct because He is holy.
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
They are to obey this command in order to:
(1) please God, for they belong to Him,
(2) communicate Christ to others, and
(3) benefit themselves, both now and for eternity.
For God’s people, holiness means “a conformity to God’s character” - thinking as He things, loving what He loves, hating what He hates, and acting as Christ would act.
Specifically, holiness is:
(1) separation from sin and the world system and
(2) dedication to God.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
17 Therefore
“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
18 “I will be a Father to you,
and you shall be My sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Christians must not love this ungodly world system, identify with it, become attached to the things in it, or participate in its sinful pleasures and activities.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
They must avoid three major areas of sin: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
They must discipline themselves, and they must abstain from all appearance of evil.
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
Holiness is both inward and outward.
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It includes attitudes, thoughts, and spiritual stewardship, but also actions, appearance, and physical stewardship. Both aspects are essential.
The life of holiness is a continual striving for perfection.
48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
God expects continual growth in grace and knowledge and increasing production of spiritual fruit.
1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
The Christian’s daily goal is to overcome sin.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
Holiness is not a means of earning salvation, but a result of salvation. It comes by:
(1) faith,
(2) love, and
(3) walking after the Spirit.
All aspects of salvation, including the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work, come by faith.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
If someone truly believes God, he will obey God’s Word. Moreover, if someone truly loves God, he will obey God’s commandments.
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
The Holy Spirit teaches holiness by:
(1) the inspired Word of God,
(2) anointed preachers and teachers who proclaim the apply the Word, and
(3) internal promptings and convictions (which do not deviate from the Word).