It is impossible to be holy if you have not been saved and understand what a Christians is. Go to the "Jesus as Savior" page and get saved first. Then read the page on "Christianity" before you read this holiness page.

In these last days God is separating His children (believers) from the world (unbelievers). God said He would rather us be either hot or cold, for Him or against Him. If we are trying to ride the fence with one foot in the world and the other foot in Heaven, God will allow you to go through Hell here on Earth a little longer until we make a definite choice of who we will follow. As long as you are still trying to ride the fence playing with the world's way of living you will have trouble. Revelation 3:16, "..because thou art luke warm and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth." God does not want you lukewarm. He wants you on fire for Him. He wants you to walk as holy and Godly as you possibly can spiritually, in thoughts, words and actions.

I know many people who I believe are saved spiritually and on their way to Heaven when they die, but they have not 100% given their whole self over to live holy on a daily basis. They are saved but their behavior is far from Holy. They still smoke a little, do drugs a little, drink a little, curse a little, watch movies that are a little inappropriate, gossip a little, lie a little, sleep around just a little, and so on. They think just because they are not as bad as they used to be that they are doing good and God is well pleased with them. They say well I have changed a lot. I might still do some of those same things I did before I got saved but only a little. I mean nobody is perfect right? You don't want people (your worldly friends) to think you are going TOO FAR over the top. Well this is not a "HOLY ATTITUDE". God does want you over the top on fire for Him. When you get saved and accept Jesus as Savior you start to change immediately and keep on changing and working on your behavior until you leave here and get to Heaven. What alot of Christians do is get saved and change just enough of their behavior to get into Heaven but they do not want to change so much that they can not still "enjoy" some of the sins of the world.

If you are having problems in your life and it has lasted longer than a season you need to examine your holy walk. Everyone experiences trials and tribulations, even Jesus did. But if the bad times just keeps lingering on year after year with no improvement there is probably a personal problem you need to correct. In Solomon 2:15 the bible says it is the "little foxes that spoil the vine." This means there are some little things you may be doing continuously that is holding you back from God's best for you. If you are having financial problems read all the verses on finances and money in the bible and see if you need to make some changes. If you are having relationship problems read all the verses there and see if you are doing ALL that God commands. There is absolutely nothing going on in your life right now that is not covered in God's word.

God is getting serious in these last days. He wants His children to stir up the fire of the Holy Spirit on the inside of them and show the world who HE IS. Some Christians have such ungodly homes and behavior that the world can't tell whether we are Christians or not. Churches are filled with people like this too. Churches also have pastors who try to have one foot in the world all week and play the holy one on Sunday morning.

All Christians are called to be holy. Once the Holy Spirit of God is birthed within us we are called to be holy. And because we have the Holy Spirit of God within us it is possible for us to be holy. It is the job of the Holy spirit of God to lead us step by step day by day to holiness. God would not tell us to be something that is impossible for us to be. Holiness is the character of God. It is having ONE MIND with God. We think they way He thinks, we talk the way He talks, we live and act the way He says is right. We are instructed by God throughout the bible to be holy. Leviticus 11:44, "For I am the Lord your God, and ye shall be holy, for I am holy;" Leviticus 20:7," Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; For I am the Lord your God." Lev 20:26,"And ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." 1 Peter 1;15&16, "But as He which has called you is holy; so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written; be ye holy; for I am holy."

Holy does not necessarily mean perfect. You are striving for and working toward perfection and holiness. Holy just means something meant for God's use in any way He wants. We are instructed to be holy which means we are to be available to be used by God at any time for any purpose. Our bodies are to be holy which means we should not defile them but be pure righteous temples for the Holy Spirit of God to live in. Holiness is belonging to and associated with divine power. Holy means set apart for a specific purpose. Holy means worthy of worship or high esteem. Holiness is purity and righteousness in body, soul, and spirit. Holiness separates us from the world to God. Holiness fuses us to God. When something is holy it has been put aside for God.

Holy behavior is something you have to work on continually day after day 24/7. God is very interested in who you are when no one is watching and listening to you. All of God's children know how to put on our angel wings and halo when we think someone is watching and listening to us. God knows that and you know that. But what about when you are all alone and you absolutely know no one is around, what do you do? How do you talk? What are you sitting around thinking about? That is the person God is concerned with. That is the person God is judging.

Philippians 2:12, "Wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in My presence only, but now much more in My absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." As a Christian, God now has you under a microscope watching and listening to every little aspect of your life. He knows your thoughts, weaknesses, strengths, intentions of your heart, good attitudes and bad attitudes. Why you do things and don't do things. God wants you to know yourself as well as He does and work on your core issues that cause you to do and say the things you do and say. God does not expect you to make all these changes overnight or in your own strength. In fact it is impossible for you to. God Himself will guide you step by step day by day to live a holy life. Philippians 2:13, "For it is God which worketh in you to will and to do of His good pleasure." You have to listen to His inner voice inside you, you have to read His word, you have to be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses, you have to be willing to surrender and change every little detail in your life that God convicts you about. As a Christian, knowing that God is watching and listening to me ALL THE TIME, keeps me on my best behavior. Knowing that God is watching you, will help you keep your behavior more holy as well. Knowing that God knows your thoughts will help you to discipline your thoughts to holy thoughts. Holy thoughts will help you have holy behavior and holy words.

When we become Christians and begin our journey to discipline our lives toward holy behavior, sometimes it looks like we never get a break. God starts to hold us to a higher level of living. Sometimes it looks like the people up the street can lie, cheat, steal and get away with murder but you do something little like fake sickness and call in to work one day, but you get caught and it becomes a big deal. Then we question why is God so unfair? How can Mr & Mrs so and so live like hell every day and still seem to be blessed? The sinners up the street that seem to be getting away with all their sins is just deceived. They are not getting away with anything. God is not unfair, He just expects alot from His children. Rewarding bad behavior is something God does not do. He doesn't spoil His children either by throwing them material possessions they do not deserve or appreciate. Satan keeps his family in sin by enticing them in their own lusts while they are here on Earth. God does not have a problem blessing His children but before He does you will be tested and tried in life issues to make sure the blessings will not destroy you and draw you away from Him and His purpose for you. Be glad God is watching over you and revealing sinful behavior to you. You should welcome constructive criticism. Be glad God loves you enough to discipline you and help you see the right way to live. Hebrews 11:25, "..choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." I would rather be disciplined by God here on Earth and help me keep my behavior holy and in check, than live like Hell and miss the rapture and Heaven. Again I refer back to my childhood when it seemed like some of my friends could do anything they wanted and their parents didn't care. They never got in trouble for anything wrong that they did. If I did find the nerve to talk back to my parents and say well my friend Debbie can do that and her parents don't care. My Dad was quick to say I don't care what your friends are doing up the street, No child of mine is going to act like that. That is how God feels about His children He don't care what Satans kids are doing up the street, He cares about what His kids are doing. God is a good Father. He will not let His kids have bad behavior or a bad attitude and get away with it. You should be worried if you are not being corrected and you seem to be getting away with sin. God disciplines those He loves. Proverbs 3:12, "..whom the Lord loveth He correcteth." Be glad God is your Father.

Holiness is something that you are. You can not buy holiness. Holiness does not come from your holy actions. You have to "BE" holy before you can act or talk holy. You can not act or talk holy to "BE" holy. You are going to act and talk like the person you are on the inside of your heart. GOD IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN MAKE YOU HOLY. You can not make yourself holy. Holiness does not come from anything you do, but holiness will make you do and act a certain way. You can not make a monkey "BE" a human. You can dress them up in human clothes and try to train them to act human but they are still a monkey and no matter how hard you try to train them to be human they will still "BE" a monkey. Joyce Meyer says just because you sit in a garage all day does not make you a car. You are never going to "BE" a car no matter how long you sit in a garage. But if you are a car, you will sit in a garage. Holiness is a gift from God when we make the choice to dedicate and separate our lives to Him. He gives us the "HOLY SPIRIT". God leads us day after day toward perfect holiness. As we give into the teaching and prompting of the Holy Spirit of God within us we train ourselves to act holy and talk holy the way God wants us to. But ONLY GOD can make us "BE" holy. This may sound deep and complicated, but as you start living it God will give you better understanding.

God is holy and separated from all of us who are not holy. Once we are part of God's family we are holy like God and God can then associate with us and us with Him. We can choose to talk holy and act holy. The bible says our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost.

1 Corinthians 6:19 & 20, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a pric; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's."

God Himself and all His holiness, come to live inside our bodies. Each one of God's children are indivisual temples and vessels of God. We have to discipline our bodies to be holy and set aside for God's use. Don't defile your body (which is God's temple and home) with sex, drugs, alcohol, or excessive foods that can kill and destroy your temple. Don't use your mouth to slander, curse, lie, judge and hate. Don't dress and paint yours and God's temple up in a way that is inapproprate and shameful to God and the family of God. You are holy so you should act, talk and look the part.

God has a holy purpose for you. Something He has chosen just for you to do and accomplish in this world. 2 Timothy 1:9, "Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

We are told in Exodus 20:8 to keep the Sabbath day holy. That means we have a day every week that we worship God and put aside just for Him. To recognize His blessing and His goodness. God speaks of holy ground in Exodus 3:5 and Acts 7:33. Which is ground where God is or has been. The tithe is spoken of as holy in Leviticus 27:30. Which is that 10% of our income which is separated and put aside just for God. So no matter what is spoken of as being "holy" in the bible, it is something or someone that is dedicated, set apart and offered to God and for God's use.

Sin separates us from God, and joins us to the world. Isaiah 59:2, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." If we have sin in our lives and are separted from Him, He does not hear us when we pray and will not help us when we have a need. God wants us to strive for holiness for our own sake. We want God to be able to stay in constant access in every area of our lives. The part of our lives that we refuse to surrender to God in holiness is the part of us that God is not able to help us with. God will not go against our will and freedom of choice so if their are sins we refuse to give up and deal with and surrender that will be the open door that Satan has to come in and destroy us. We have to humble ourselves and be completely willing to surrender our whole exsistance to God. I believe when God is instructing us to be holy, He is saying that we need to surrender and dedicate all that we are to Him. When we do that it makes us holy in God's eyes.

God does not want a family that is His just part of the time. He wants a family He can count on and that is not ashamed to be called HIS. The bible actually says in Mark 8:38 and Luke 9:26 if you're ashamed of God He will be ashamed of you. No parents want their children to be ashamed of them. No children wants their parents to be ashamed of them. That is not family love. Satan is after the destruction of the family. He knows your weaknesses and He will use them against you. He will send the pressures of life to try to destroy you. Don't open a door for Satan to come into your life. Live life Holy. The closer walk we have with God the harder it is for Satan to come against us. In a family each member has to be as holy and righteous as God instructs. If we do we will all get along much better as a group. You can't have children with unholy behavior or parents with unholy behavior. Just one person, whether it is an adult or child, acting unholy and unlovely and undisciplined, will upset the whole family structure. Parents should stand by their children and children should stand by their parents. Wives and husbands need to be in unity with one another. Siblings should treat each other as best friends and cherish one another. Be quick to forgive. Love one another and accept one another. Do an intervention if you have to and help the weak link in the family to see the error of their ways so they can keep Satan out of their indivisual lives. If you have a loving family they will want to see the best for you. Listen to instructive and constructive criticism. Don't be offended. They are probably just trying to help you. Families are going to fall apart in the last days if they do not have God in their life and discipline their indivisual lives to live holy and acceptable in the eyes of God. God needs strong, unshakeable families in these last days.

When you accept Jesus as Savior the Holy Spirit of God comes to live inside you. He is HOLY therefore He will lead and prompt you to be holy. You will not need for someone to tell you what is right or wrong because you will know what is right and wrong by the Holy Spirit on the inside of you. The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth, guide you throughout every step of your day, nudge you in the right direction and to make the right decisions. He will pull you away from evil, darkness and sin. You must surrender your will to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and do whatever He leads you to do. Listen to what He is saying is right and wrong. Be quick to change directions and stay on the course of life that the Holy Spirit of God is guiding you through. You won't need for someone to advise you what is right and wrong, you have the Holy Spirit of God telling you what is right and wrong on the inside. James 4:17 says, .."to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not it is sin." God will tell you the right things to do with your life on a daily basis, it is up to you to listen and obey. If you don't obey it will be sin and rebellion to you. Once you belong to God you must do things His way. You must love and trust Him with your life. God says, in John 14:15 & 21, "if you love Me, keep My commandments. He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love them and will manifest Myself to them."

When you are truly converted from a sinner to a Christian, you will start to see changes in your desires. These are changes in your heart brought about by God. He gives you a tenderheart with the ability to love and be loved. You now must start making changes in your mind, will and emotions. You have to train your mind to think a certain way. Until now, your mind was used to thinking like a sinner. Now you have to train your mind to think like a Christian. You have to keep your emotions under control in order to react in situations, as a Christian should. You should have a different outlook on life. When you were a sinner, your spirit felt comfortable around sinful things. Now that you are a Christian, your spirit will begin to feel uncomfortable around certain people and environments and situations that were once comfortable. Sitting in the middle of a bar with a few loudmouth people drinking, cursing and carrying on might have felt like home to you in the past, but now you should feel like you just don’t belong there anymore. And, you’ll be right. You don’t belong there anymore.

Sitting around with your kids watching movies filled with sex, violence and vulgarity where every other word is the “f” word may not have bothered you before, but you will find it really bothers you now. And, it should bother you.

These uncomfortable feelings around sin and sinful people is the Holy Spirit letting you know that whatever is going on now is not something God is pleased with. The Holy Spirit will continue to help you differentiate and discern right and wrong situations and good and bad people as long as you pay attention to His promptings. But if He prompts you that what you are doing is not right or that you are not in a good situation and you just ignore Him and continue to do as you please, He will back off and allow you to sin if you so choose. Remember that you have free will: you are free to act as a sinner even when you are a Christian.

. James 4:4, "..know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore should be a friend of the world is an enemy of God." 1 John 2:15, "Love not the world neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in Him."

When that spiritual change happens in your life, you will have a hunger to go tell people about Jesus. You will hunger and thirst for knowledge of God and want to know Him better. You will actually hunger for holiness. You will want to please Him and live your life just the way He wants you to.

God wants us to be examples of what a good Christian is supposed to act like. He doesn’t want us to ride so close to the sin line that people can’t tell whether we are Christians or not.

A lot of Christians think they can keep the same friends they had before they were saved and do some of the same things they did before. I have found that to be very difficult. You end up being just like the people you hang out with the most.

I personally found it easier to find new friends. It could be a problem if you have family members that are not Christians. I’ve learned that you can’t change other people, especially if they don’t want to change. But you can change yourself. I made up my mind that if family members do no respect me for the Christian I choose to be then they can just stay away. I love them and always will, but I will not go to hell with them. If they need my help, I will help them if I can, then just forget about it. They don’t owe me anything. When the family gets together on holidays and birthdays, I can be kind and sincere without lowering my standards as a Christian by gossiping, arguing, drinking, cursing, and pretending to be someone I’m not. I just excuse myself from the party and say it’s time for me to go home.

I don’t let my children hang out at other people’s houses or with other children whose parents do not run a Christian household. I want my children to learn to make good choices when finding friends. My children are not perfect, but overall they are good Christian people. And I feel I am raising them just like Jesus would. I have counted on Jesus being my partner in raising my children since they were conceived. I want them to be secure enough in themselves to realize that you are better off having no friends at all than having bad friends. A lot of adults have not even realized that yet.

No one is perfect. I know I’m far from perfect. I have plenty of flaws and weaknesses that I have to struggle with on a daily basis. But the point is, we keep trying and never give up. We keep reaching for perfection and holiness.

Don’t be deceived about your life either. If you have a weakness, admit it to yourself and others. If your mouth is unholy, you need to consciencly work on that. If you are acting unholy you need to change and do better. If you think unholy thoughts you need to discipline your mind and replace those unholy thoughts with holy thoughts of love, goodness and purity. I know some people who are openly living in sin but to talk to them you would think they were doing nothing wrong. They think because “everyone else does it” then it is all right. IF YOUR MORALS AND STANDARDS FOR LIVING ARE NOT BASED ON THE BIBLE THEN YOU DON’T HAVE GOOD MORALS. The bible is your only basis for right and wrong. The bible is going to tell you how to live a holy pure life. You can’t say you are living right and have morals because you live and think like the majority of the people you know. You are deceiving yourself if you think this way. Only God's way is the holy way.

Another thing people say is, “I thought God was love. If God is love, then how can He send me to hell?” God does love us—all of us. But again, the choice is ours as to whether we live for Him or not. He doesn’t bend the rules for anyone. God loves us but He wants us to be holy in speech, thoughts and behavior. He wants our attitude to be holy. He will correct you everytime you stray away from holiness.

Our mission as Christians is to portray God in our speech, actions, ways, thoughts and lifestyles. Don’t be a pretender and a hypocrite. God hates that. You are better off admitting your shortcomings, rather than pretending you have none.

God wants us to allow Him to express Himself through us. Say what He would say, do what He would do, and react the way He would react. We are to deal with people the same way God would deal with them. As you read your Bible, you will see how Jesus reacted to Christians and to sinners.

Our number one priority as Christians is to show love to people. When you love someone, you help them if they need help, correct them when they are doing something wrong (constructive criticism, tactfully and gently given), support them, and try to lead them in the right direction. You do not insult them, yell at them, talk about them to anyone who will listen, lie to them and say they are doing fine when they are obviously far from the mark. You think the best of them and give them the benefit of the doubt, but you are also honest and up-front with them.

Discernment and judgement is different than conviction and condemnation. You have to be able to discern, or recognize, good and bad behavior and good and bad people. That is not judging people. It is simply recognizing and being aware of your surrounding and the people who you come in contact with. How will you know who and what to stay away from and separate yourself from without discernment? Conviction is when you recognize something you are doing is not holy and you need to change it. Conviction is the validity of your discernment. You discern something is wrong and then you are convicted to change. Condemnation makes you feel worthless and horrible when you do something wrong. Jesus said in John 3:17, "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." Jesus did not come into the world to "condemn" us and tell us how pathetic and sinful we are, He came to "convict us" by showing us and telling us right from wrong and how to do better. He came to make our way to be holy in God's eyes easier. We were not able to "be holy" in God's eyes without Jesus. Only the blood of Jesus makes us holy to God.

As a Christian, you will undoubtedly run into people who will make fun of your beliefs. The world hates holiness. John 15:19, "If you were of the world the world would love it's own; but because you are not of the world and I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." People will criticize you and maybe even try to cause you great problems at school and/or work, or even within your own family or neighborhood. Don’t be shaken by these people. Unholy people do not like nor even have the ability to understand holiness. Just continue your life and responsibilities, as you should. Being a Christian does not mean you have to take abuse from people. Sometimes you have to stand up to people. It’s all right to do that. Defend yourself. Tell and do exactly what you need to. But, it’s the way you say it and the attitude you have about it that matters to God. There is no need for screaming, cursing or fighting to get your point across to people. Just calmly and firmly defend your position and then separate yourself from them if they are unwilling to respect your position.

God also expects us to be witnesses of Him. God wants us to tell others about Him and how to come to Him. He does not want anyone to go to Hell. It is up to us, His children, His family to tell people about Him. God will put certain people in your life for you to be a witness to. It maybe your spouse, children, parents, friends, in-laws, or even a passerby. Someone may come into your life that will never hear about God and Jesus unless you tell them. Reach out and touch someone’s life. Of course, you can’t make people accept Jesus, but some people want to know and want to change. You’ll be able to spot those people. When you do, go ahead and be God’s witness.

The reason God wants us to be holy, good and right is so He can use us to fulfill His desire for the whole world. That desire is for everyone to know Him, love Him and live our lives as He instructs us to. Make your life holy and acceptable before God so He can use you as His body here on earth to touch people in a positive way. He wants you to represent Him. Be His words, His actions. Show His personality, His kindness, love and forgiveness towards others. He has great plans for each of us if we allow Him to use us.

God wants us to go forth and show random acts of kindness toward people. If you are standing in the line at the grocery store and the person in front of you is $10 short, then pay it for them and tell them God bless. If you see someone on the side of the road who has ran out of gas, then help them out and give them $20. You don't have to be a millionaire to do acts of kindness for people. If you are mowing your lawn and your mean neighbor needs his lawn mowed then mow it. Acts of kindness does not make you holy and does not assure you a place in Heaven, but God expects HIS CHILDREN to act a certain way and kindness and generousity is part of it.

God will not ask you to do something that is impossible for you to do. God knows what each and every one of our potential and resources are. Luke 12:48, "..for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." If God has blessed you abundantly He will require you to be an abundant blessing to someone else, and not just people you choose. God may require you to help someone who does not like you. It is a test of your character and your level of obedience. God will probably not ask a poor man to buy another man a car. But he would ask a rich man to do it. If you know someone in need and you can help them but you ignore their pain because of your selfishness, God will allow the same pain to come upon you or some of your loved ones. You reap what you sow. Also doing 1/2 of what God says is still disobedience. If God says give Mr Smith $1000, but you give him $100, to God this is disobedience and you receive the consequence of disobedience. God is never after your money or your stuff. He will however ask for your money or your stuff to reveal bad character or a bad heart condition, such as selfishness, pride, vanity and hatefullness.

The thing God is truly concerned with in your life is your heart and your soul. That’s what He will be dealing with continuously, making sure you have a good clean heart full of love, compassion and sincerity to others. Keep your thoughts and your attitude clear and pure and the rest of your life will fall in place as it should. God judges us by our hearts. Wherever your heart is, that is where you spend your time, money and attention.