The Benefits of Holiness Pt. 3

There's a truth that echoes through Scripture with unwavering clarity: we are called to be holy in everything we do. Not just in our Sunday morning worship or our quiet prayer times, but in every conversation, every decision, every relationship, and every action. Holiness isn't a suggestion—it's a commandment that flows from the very nature of God Himself. The challenge we face isn't that holiness is impossible. The real issue is that too many believers are living defeated lives, not because sin is stronger than God's power, but because they've stopped exercising their spiritual muscles. They've allowed sin to win by default, not by necessity.

Understanding What We're Fighting
Sin is more than just a mistake or a moral slip-up. It's any thought, attitude, or action that misses God's standard, breaks His law, or rejects what's right—all flowing from a heart that chooses its own way over God's. This definition matters because it reveals the comprehensive nature of what we're dealing with. Sin isn't just about the big, obvious transgressions. It includes the attitudes we harbor, the thoughts we entertain, and the small compromises we make daily. Romans 6:6 delivers a powerful truth: our old self was crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we would no longer be slaves to sin. Read that again. We are no longer slaves to sin. This means sin no longer has dominion over us. We don't have to serve it. We don't have to submit to it. We don't have to let it control our mouths, our minds, or our bodies. Sin is a spiritual disease with one agenda: to destroy your life, to kill you, and to separate you from God. While you might think you're in control when you're sinning, the reality is that sin is controlling you. It's running your life. And here's the liberating truth: righteousness is freedom.

No Excuse for Not Working Out
Just as physical fitness requires intentional exercise, spiritual strength demands intentional spiritual disciplines. First Timothy 4:7-8 instructs us not to waste time on godless ideas but instead to train ourselves to be godly. Physical training has value, but godliness has value for all things. The word "train" is critical. Spiritual maturity doesn't happen automatically. You don't accidentally become spiritually strong. You have to put in the work. Consider Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. At His most vulnerable moment, He asked His disciples to pray with Him for just one hour. One hour. Yet they fell asleep. Three times Jesus went away to pray—three hours of intensive spiritual preparation before the greatest trial of His life. And still, His closest followers couldn't stay awake for one. How much time are we giving God? Could we not pray with Him for one hour? We spend hours on our phones, at our jobs, scrolling through social media, watching television. Yet we struggle to invest even sixty minutes in the presence of the One who holds our destiny. Whatever you give your time to the most is what you truly trust. If your job gets more of your time than God does, then your job has become your god. You're trusting those resources instead of trusting the One who has all resources.

Three Essential Spiritual Exercises

Exercise One: Engage Your Will
Your will is a God-given force for your freedom. It's a voluntary surrender, a heart that chooses to give itself to God. Deuteronomy 30:19 presents the stark reality: every single day, you're given the choice between life and death, blessing and curse. Heaven and earth witness the choice you make. Your will determines your outcome in life. Not your parents, not your circumstances, not your spouse—YOU. The decisions you make today don't just affect you; they affect your children, their children, and generations to come. Your will is supreme in the contest with sin. This means you have the power to choose freedom in any area of your life. You're not bound unless you choose to be bound. Your will initiates God's will in your life. Until you will, He won't. A closed will can stop an open heaven. Matthew 16:25 doesn't say "let them pray"—it says "whosoever will." Your decision compels your determination, and your determination determines your destination. You have to will against distractions, will against gossip, will against dishonesty. This is active, intentional spiritual warfare.
Exercise Two: Listen to Your Conscience
Romans 2:14-15 reveals that God's law is written on human hearts. Even those who don't have Scripture know instinctively what's right and wrong because their conscience either accuses them or tells them they're doing right. Your conscience is an internal, God-given faculty that judges your thoughts, actions, and motives against a biblical standard. It's an inner witness, the place where God convicts. Your conscience works alongside the Holy Spirit like a monitor that goes off inside you, giving you a knowing that something isn't right.
The problem is that God's people keep looking for external, tangible signs while overriding the internal witness of their conscience. That's how you miss it. Your conscience will first warn you, then convict you, then confirm that you're wrong.
Every time you ignore the conviction of your conscience, you downgrade your ability to discern. Whatever you ignore today becomes comfortable tomorrow. First Timothy 4:1-2 warns that in latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. This progression happens when people leave the Word and stop fellowshipping with believers. Being led by God isn't difficult—it's about being sensitive, not according to your feelings but according to the internal witness of your conscience aligned with Scripture.
Exercise Three: Become One with the Word
John 15:3 declares, "Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." Many believers remain stuck because they don't have the Word specifically addressing their area of struggle. They don't know what God says about their circumstances.
This is why forgiveness is so difficult for some—they don't have enough Word on the subject of forgiveness. They don't understand that forgiveness isn't about the other person deserving it; it's about their own freedom and healing. This is why some remain in financial poverty—not because they don't work hard, but because they don't know what the Word says about money. They don't understand that they're blessed to be blessed, that their seed is an opportunity for spiritual and financial growth. In every area of your life, you must know the specific Word so that you can be whole. When you exercise spiritually, you grow spiritually. You get big spiritually. Your insides become bigger than the outside, and when that happens, there's nothing God will withhold from you.

The Choice Is Yours
The reality is simple but profound: sin has already been defeated. You don't have to be defeated by something that's already been conquered. The question is whether you'll exercise your spiritual authority and live in the freedom that's already yours.
Stop letting sin win. Start engaging your will. Start listening to your conscience. Start becoming one with the Word. The spiritual disciplines aren't burdensome requirements—they're the pathway to the abundant, powerful, victorious life God has always intended for you.
The choice between life and death, blessing and curse, is set before you today. Choose life.