God has been having me read the Witness Testaments of The Book Of Benjamin Kareth of late… to remind me of all He has brought me through so far… and today I sat to spend time with Him and He had me pick up Part 17: The Fifth Witness Testament and I opened it to this chapter, and I God said to post it here for you, or maybe for someone you know:

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Part 17: The Fifth Witness Testament

The Goal, Righteousness, Right-Standing With God
February 1st, 2022, 7:00am – My House, Redding, CA, USA:

As I was soaking in God’s presence this morning He brought to mind a question, “Why are you trying to be perfect?” And as I pondered this question… the very extreme root was simply this…

“I want to be perfect so I can justify myself. I want to be sinless so that I can be worthy. I want to be perfect so I can do ministry work. And the list seemed just seemed to go on and on…”

And then God asked, “So you want to be perfect to stand alone?” Hard hitting for sure.

Right-standing with God has nothing to do with perfection. The truth that is found in the word of God is: we are saved by faith in Jesus alone. He is our salvation. Period. I am saved by the blood of the lamb. Not by any of my works so I cannot boast.

So that leaves the question, why seek to be transformed in mind, body, and heart. Simple answer: relationship. God is holy. And He will be proved Holy by all who approach Him.

Ponder this:

“Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: “ ‘Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’ ” Aaron remained silent.” – Leviticus 10:3 NIV

The Lord is holy. He is pure light and goodness. And for those of us who pursue a deep and intimate relationship with Him, holiness is required. We are covered in the blood of Jesus, this is truth. And so we boldly come before the Living God. And that seems to be where our thinking stops. But what happens to us when we stand before a holy God in close proximity. His light and love and goodness washes over us and exposes everything that is not Of Him.

So we are transformed by His presence for His presence. We are being continually transformed from glory to glory so that we can be closer and closer in relationship with Him. This is truth throughout the Word of God.

We all sin. Near continuously. That is truth. On this earth we have a sin nature and the world around us that continually wages a vicious war against our souls. But God… But God draws us close and His presence changes us from the inside outward. Our hearts have to be changed first… then actions change. Lasting and eternal changes in us happen because our heart has been changed. And this can only happen by the grace and mercy of God, by His Holy Spirit, by time with Him. There is no other way.

Many are those who take the broad road. But the way to life is narrow. Many are those who remain on the foot of the mountain, content to let others approach the holy God and speak from Him.

I want to climb the mountain. I want to see God. And this means entering the smoke and the flames… to be surrounded by the thunder and lightning… to have all the darkness in me exposed near always… and to have it stripped away, healed… it means facing old pains and deep wounds, it means facing my own pride and arrogance… it means dying to myself. But God is worth the journey to the mountain through the narrow gate. Sometimes it’s a very lonely journey… and a journey we must all walk alone with God.

In this world you can surround yourself with so many things that will tickle your ears and say what you wanna hear to justify your sin and disobedience. But hear this… and I’m speaking to myself as well… in the end I will stand alone before God. It will be Him and I. All of my life will be laid bare. Yes, Jesus will stand with me. He will cover my failures. But will I hear the, “Welcome home, good and faithful servant?”

And after years of walking with Him, I will hear these words, “Welcome home, good and faithful friend.” Will you?

And I’ll hear this not because I was perfect, no, I’ll hear it because I never stopped climbing the difficult mountain seeking Him, to pursue a relationship with Him… no matter the cost.

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