“Holiness is not an option for anyone who chooses to sell out to Me. I’m not talking about the striving, struggling kind of holiness. I’m talking about the peaceful, flowing in My presence kind of holiness. You finally need to accept that there is nothing you can do to bring yourself to that kind of fullness in Me. You can only accept My work being done in you.
“You need, however, to really accept My way of developing Myself in your inner being. I am continually refining you, so that My new life bursts forth. Your way of attempting to change by doing and hoping and striving only brings failure, defeat, and discouragement. My way, the implementing of pressures and the use of circumstances that you can’t handle by yourself, changes you from within. My changes are eternal. They not only develop holiness, but also an eternal friendship with Me. I want you to be enthusiastic about the weight of My hand on you. You are too valuable to have Me leave you the same as you were. We will rejoice out loud as you become who I know you will be.”
Hebrews 12:10-11 NIV
10) Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
11) No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Rev. 3:19 AMP
Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].
I know people who have been crushed by infant teachings somewhere in their past. They are afraid that if they are ill, or times are rough, or their lives don’t look “successful” in the eyes of the church, they have done something wrong. Worse still, they have been taught to speak “faith” into a difficult situation so that they can be removed from it. What a sad life, supposedly in Christ.
God’s ways are so different from ours. His longing is to have an earnest, vibrant relationship with those who are His. That can’t happen until we choose to embrace God’s ways and have His heart. Both are accomplished through pressure.
Removal of a pressure of some sort, in itself, accomplishes nothing but temporary, carnal comfort. Submitting to that pressure is actually siding with God against that same carnal desire to remain comfortable rather than becoming like Jesus.
The understanding that difficulties will come your way is not a lack of faith as some proclaim. It is the epitome of faith in the One who is faithful. It takes a vast amount of faith in God when all seems hopeless and you turn to Him for strength rather than your own resources to deliver you. (However, don’t be foolish enough to believe that the consequences of decisions made in ignorance are God’s hand or that the refusal of medicinal help when needed is an act of faith.)
An amazing benefit of turning only to God when you are in a helpless situation is the astounding faith and love for God that is implanted deep within your inner parts - not in spite of the trials, but because of them. After walking through shadow after shadow together, the faithful God Himself becomes our only desire. More of Him becomes our request. Only holiness - so that there is no separation - is the common goal.
Needing to remain long enough to be thoroughly changed,
Jim Corbett
