Women in Holiness (Inner & Outward Peace) by Evangelist Rene Richards
Women in Holiness
(Inner & Outward Peace)
(Inner & Outward Peace)
1 Peter 1:13-16 KJV "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written,Be ye holy; for I am holy."
First let's look at the Dictionary's meaning of a few words.
Holiness:
The quality or state of being holy; sanctity.
Holy:
Dedicated or devoted to the service of God, the church, or religion: a holy man. saintly; godly; pious; devout: a holy life. Having a spiritually pure quality:
Sanctified:
To set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use: consecrate: to free from sin: purify: to impart or impute sacredness, inviolability, or respect to: to give moral or social sanction to
Peace:
Freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc. Tranquility; serenity; silence, serenity, stillness
You ask what Holiness looks like. Is it how I where my hair? Is it the shoes that I wear? What about how my earrings look? NO. It's about YOU living a devoted life to Christ. Or, better yet it is really a choice to march to the beat of a different drum, the drumbeat of Christ and not the drumbeat of this world.
You ask what some of the benefits of Holiness are or being Holy? Peace on the inside and outside. Holiness gives you that peace of mind knowing that Christ has your back. When you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He has you it brings about a since of peace even in the midst of a storm.
When you are walking in inner and outward PEACE people notice that there is something different about her. Her smile comes from inside out. It is not forced it is there! I was at work one day and walking through the security door (that I don't normally go in), I smiled and spoke with the security guard. He kind of smiled backed but then proceeded to tell the man behind me that I was a very "HAPPY" person, he said it with a smirk.
As we continue to walk in holiness our love for Christ grows and grows which develops that perfect love which is in 1 John 4:18-19 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear hath torment. He that fear is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us." We know that in Christ there is no tournament that's inner peace and when we have that inner peace it shows on the outside.
Another benefit is how you look. There is something different about our look. One of my lifelong friends invited me to her class reunion. As I watched everyone partying, drinking and having what they thought was fun, the Lord had me look at the women's face. All of the sudden I realized that they all looked 10 years or older than me. I came home and asked my family if I looked old. They thought that I was crazy, but some of these women looked old, hard, worn out and beat down. Then I realized what the Lord was showing me. He was showing me that it was Him that had kept me. Living a life of holiness had kept me.
Don't get me wrong, there was about a five year period that I had turned away from Christ because life outside of Christ looked like it was more fun, some of the friends that grew up in church had left and they were partying, sleeping around and it made me feel like I was missing something. One good thing was that I did not go too far away from the shore because God had his hand on me. I knew that he was God and feared him so I didn't want to go too far away from him. The whole time I was away from Him I still longed to be with Him, I still missed that relationship, that personal time that I had with him. It was like a child being away from their parents for the first time kind of rebelling, but still missing their parents. I was blessed because I made it back, but some of my friends didn't make it back to him. Some of my friends ended up on drugs or died at a young age. The only thing that I can say is, that I was blessed to not have been separated too long from Christ and that he kept me.
What is our duty as a Women in Holiness? It's important for us to develop a healthy and holy lifestyle as we are looking at the soon appearing of Jesus Christ. We must be a beacon of Christ's love and share it with others. 2 Peter 1:19 KJV "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:"
As women we also have to keep our focus on the Lord, because we have so many more distractions then men do. We may have a husband, children, work, school, etc..... we have way more emotional issues than men. We have more chances of becoming a Martha, being so busy that we don't have time for the Lord.
It's important for us to take or make deliberate time to spend with Christ and also time for refreshing of our body, soul and spirit. Pursuing holiness over temporary satisfaction of the flesh that is sinful or that can lead us into sin. We have to activate our passion for Christ and his will to maintain our connection with Him and to be able to continue in Holiness.
We also must continue to walk in Faith, because Faith brings us into a living contact with the truth where we yield obedience to the commands and in bracing the promises of Christ for this life and that which is to come after this life.
As a woman in Holiness according to Titus 2:3-5, 10-13 KJV tells us that "The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;"
We should also be effective witnesses as we walk in holiness and allow the love of Christ that gives us inner peace to show on the outside. An inner peace smile that comes on the outside can make people that we don't even know and see us or people that are in our lives want to be happy and have that peace like us. It makes people want to know why we are so happy and it can open up the door for us to plant a seed of God's love. The Bible tells us he that wins souls is wise so why not let the inner peace show on the outside in a time where people are walking around with no hope at all realize that they can have hope in Christ and learn that in the end we win. Why wouldn't we have peace and why shouldn't they want that same hope which is in Christ? So, let's continue to walk in holiness. Lets become strong fishermen of men.
Here are some great bible versus for us:
"Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness." Romans 6:18-19 KJV
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:". Ephesians 1:4 KJV
"As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:14-16 KJV
"That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a
crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;"Philippians 2:15 KJV
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; where unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:" 2 Peter 1:19 KJV
"But godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6 KJV
Thank you for reading!
Evangelist Rene Richards
Artesian Well Church
Thank you for reading!
Evangelist Rene Richards
Artesian Well Church
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