OpenHeaven.com - THE PRICE OF HOLINESS

The Price of Holiness

By Ron McGatlin

For thousands of years human beings have lived well below their designed quality of function and order. Adam was created to live in pure holiness in the image and likeness of God. Righteousness reigned in the world in Adam and Eve. They knew no pain or suffering until sin entered their lives through disobedience. In Adam mankind lost his intimate God connection. His spiritual side died and man was locked into only the natural realm of life. Spiritual death with all its pain and suffering entered and began to rule in man.

Mankind was left to strive on His own with only his natural understanding and abilities. All those higher supernatural spiritual attributes that had made life to be righteousness, peace and joy were no longer known to man. In Adam all mankind were locked out of the access of the tree of supernatural holy spiritual living that had been the higher portion of man’s original design qualities.

In the very next generation envy, strife and murder presented into the world as one of Adam’s sons killed another one of his sons. The deep pain of a father and mother seeing one son murdered by the other and loss of both sons was known on earth for the first time. Pain and suffering has continued in mankind without the supernatural spiritual portion of his original design. As a result the combined sufferings of all mankind throughout all of history are immeasurable.

Jesus came to redeem and restore the world to the order of the kingdom of God.

Mankind has not been without accomplishments. Man’s striving has built a world of cities to the glory of man. Cities filled with great buildings and other works of grand architecture have been constructed by the natural efforts of man. Only to turn again and bomb them to destruction and kill masses of the people and then rebuild them again repeating the cycle of the lofty pride of man without God. Yet, there is a measure of temporary comfort and safety for the strongest nations. In that temporary pseudo peace mankind establishes social order of well being. For a season, quality and comfort of life increases until the next destructive war of Adam’s sons killing one another.

The world is entering the beginning season of a massive historical shift.

God is moving intensely in our world to bring forth His kingdom. By His Spirit, He has poured out powerful moves of supernatural spiritual love, healing and miracles seeking to bring people into the reality of the God Family. Spiritual outpourings sometimes called revival or renewal have been poured out into the world through less than pure vessels resulting in a mixture of God and fallen-world ways.

In this pivotal shift, God is set to cleanse the mixture and is now in the process of raising up people who will separate the precious from the vile.

In this time of mixture in churches and ministries it has been important to discern and receive the fresh anointing from God and not receive the fallen-world stuff in the mixture. However, all that is going to change as the fire of God purges all contamination from the works of God and His people.

Jer 15:19: Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth….

There really is a new breed arising in the world. A new breed of pure holy people without mixtures who will not compromise and who are untouched by the lure of fame and fortune are in the making. These young soldiers of God are destined to become spiritual leaders in the world. If you know of one or two you know more than most because they are not at all in the limelight but are growing in the stature of the Lord in less visible venues of pure service seeking to bring the next level of real kingdom government. They do not seek after supernatural spiritual activity and power but along with love it is a normal developing state of being for this new generation of kingdom men and women.

These are not a part of the 90s wineskin and are not a part of the old dead one man pulpit and pew form of church. Nether can they be. They were formed in the deserts and in the mountains of separation by the Father and are sent to bring forth the pattern of God Family from heaven to earth. Without the hindrances of most of the natural world’s philosophies and religious limiting patterns they are free to move by the Holy Spirit into the realms of supernatural spiritual reality. These are men and women who will speak the vast resources of the God Family from heaven into the earth.

Most of what is behind us that has been poured out of God leading us toward the real kingdom of God is contaminated with the mixtures of fallen world ways. God has continued to pour out into impure vessels knowing the wineskin would burst but also knowing that even the bursting would pour out light and help move some of us one step further on the road to the purity and holiness of the real kingdom of God.

What we see as the failures of those who have touched the supernatural realms of God is the failure of all mankind. Our ways are not the ways of God. We have gone astray and have carried the ark of God into the doldrums of our fallen world ways of pleasure seeking, self focused lives based on ourselves, our needs, our desires and our comfort. The thing is that Christian religion, ministry and church is under a dark cloud of human natural westernized thinking and is asleep to the heavenly fire of God and in bondage to our independent self focused fallen ways. False humility covers our pride and religion covers our lust and greed. Remember, all this is mixed with the real works of God.

God will have a people without mixture and without compromise who will not stop and will not turn back and will not love their lives to the death - people who will speak with the voice of God words of consequence. Supernatural works of God will be released to bring God’s order to Planet Earth. The light of God will show forth His glory in magnificent grandeur beyond all we can ask or think.

God is preparing a holy people. If you are enduring the pain of failures in life you may be on the road to holiness.

The cost of victory is often the pain of failures. The price of holiness is the laying down of self which may involve failures in natural life. Failed dreams, failed business endeavors, failed relationships, failed ministries and other failures are painful tolls paid along the road to the victory of true holiness. These can all be a part of the return of mankind from natural existence in a fallen world into pure holy spiritual life in the higher realm of holy supernatural heavenly living.

Often those of us who seek God with our whole hearts will encounter the failure of our past lives. All that we honored and trusted in to provide what we needed and wanted in life crumbles along the road to holiness. It is like there are toll booths along the road. At each toll booth we must pay the painful cost of more failure in our old natural lives. In the seasons between toll booths we enjoy increased holiness as God fills the void created at the previous toll booth. We feel really good until we approach the next toll booth where more cost must be paid. Another failed area of natural life brings fresh pain. It is hard but the price must be paid if we are to continue on the road to holiness. Again, we feel the pain of death as more of our old life is handed over at the toll both. And again we have more of God and less of us and less of our old natural lives as we move on down the road.

After the pain and devastation of each toll booth, our lives are progressively more righteous, more peaceful and joyful. The wisdom of experience teaches us that the price of passage at each tool booth, though painful, is always followed by greater life. Soon our reason allows us to look past the next place of pain to the greater life beyond it. It is possible to actually welcome the next painful failure knowing we are moving closer to the reality of pure holy living. However, most often we are cruising along enjoying our fresh life and are surprised when we look up and see we are arriving at yet another toll booth.

Acts 14:22: …."We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."

When we asked God to make us holy, He believed we meant it and began this process.

We prayed a prayer something like this, God I want all you have for me. I am willing for You to take me and make me to be like Jesus. Give me a pure heart and make me holy. We may have thought that we would one night lay down one way and get up different in the morning. Even more common is to think that God will make us holy and then we will go on living the same natural life as before. Not a bad life, of course, but one with the same goals and same friends and same job in the same town and so on. It simply is not that way.

Please be assured that our lives can never be the same. Our lives restored by Jesus to the original design of man with full access through the Holy Spirit into the upper realm of supernatural spiritual reality will never be the same as our past life experience.

1 Cor 2:9-10: But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”