C. Peter Wagner once said, “The body of Christ needs to re-discover holiness.” He went on to say, “There’s one movement that really understands holiness. The problem is, they don’t talk about it. That movement… the Wesleyan movement.”
He made this statement in the early days of establishing the Wagner Leadership Institute. It was also a time corresponding with the birth of what we now call the Apostolic/Prophetic Movement. A passing comment back then. But I believe it was also a prophetic statement we need to press into now, more than ever.
A Call to Holiness
Holiness is a common theme throughout the Bible. We discover a great emphasis on holiness in Leviticus 19-20. The Hebrew word for holy is qadash which means to be sanctified, consecrated, and dedicated. It also means to be separated from the world and worldliness.
Peter addresses the same call to holiness when he writes, “You must be holy in everything you do, just as God chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say ‘You must be holy for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1;15-16).
The body of Christ has lost touch with holiness as a result of the lie many believe saying, “we are just human.” Or, “it’s human nature that we sin.” This simply does not line up with Scripture. Paul tells us it is possible to be holy as God is holy in Thessalonians. “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NIV).
On our own, it is true, we cannot live a holy life. But when we discover the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, allowing Him to transform us into the image of Christ, we can live a holy life. The “One who calls us is faithful and He will do it!”
Soul to Flesh Vs. Soul to Spirit
We know the flesh is weak and Paul tells us we must “crucify the flesh” (Galatians 5:24). However, many times we cave into the flesh, as a result of conflicting emotions in the soul, which can be called the soulish mind.
I entitled this post the Tipping Point of the Soul for a specific reason. The call to holiness God is releasing into the body of Christ asks us to stop allowing our emotions to control our Christian walk of holiness. The tipping point of the soul comes when we find ourselves in situations that create an emotional roller coaster. When this happens our emotions overtake our responses moving us out of the Fruit of the Spirit. As a result instead of being consecrated and set apart, we move back into worldly reactions.
God’s call to holiness has not changed. We are to be holy because He is holy. The good news is, He’s provided us not only with salvation in Christ which saves us, but He empowers us with the Holy Spirit allowing us to take every thought captive to Christ Jesus. This enables us to respond in love as described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, as well as the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23.
The secret to living in the spirit when the tipping point of the soul comes is found by truly living a holy life. We would all do well to spend time praying and pondering the words of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and Galatians 5:22-23. This results not only in personal holiness, but it makes us “more than conquerors” moving from the life of a soulish mind controlled by our emotions, to life in the spirit.
Just a guy on a journey,
Rus