Holiness Part 4 by Tanner – age 18

Holiness Part 4 by Tanner – age 18

Having seen that God is not pleased by good works alone, especially when done in the arm of the flesh, a question that soon arises is “well then, what does God want?” The answer is that He wants your heart. He wants you; your motives, your love, your gifts, your good, your bad, everything you are. He wants you to give Him everything you were born into and remove the sin from His creation so that all that is left is what He created in the beginning; the image of God in His creation. Basically, God is not interested in what you do…He is interested in a sacrifice of your old, rotten, flesh contaminated heart and for it to be burned on the altar and continue to burn for all of eternity. When the sacrifice is complete and when you are empty of all you are, God will fill you with all that He is. That is where all of the works come from…God in you. All that God desires is submitted vessels that His unadulterated power can flow through so that more sons and daughters can come home to the Father. God wants lovers and children not slaves. God’s mission is to bring back His lost children so that He can love on them and so He can spread His glory and love all over the earth. God is always ready to give but only on His standards, and the only standard that God has, in order for us to receive all that He is, is that we lay down our lives and take up His life that is set before us. The only thing that stands in between you and your full identity in Christ is the cross and it is unavoidable…you MUST lay down your life (Matthew 16:24 & Luke 9:23). After this is done you invite the Holy Spirit in and once He is in, you no longer live…God lives in/through you (Galatians 2:20) and produces the works that are worthy of Him. Man’s works are not good enough for God, but God works through man…that is what is required, and that is what pleases God.

Galatians 2:20 (GNV)

I am crucified with Christ, but I live, yet not I anymore, but Christ liveth in me: and in that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God, who hath loved me, and given himself for me.

Matthew 16:24 (GNV)

Jesus then said to his disciples, If any man will follow me, let him forsake himself: and take up his cross, and follow me.

Luke 9:23 (GNV)

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.