Paying For Peace

21 Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. Mat. 5:21-26

Let us begin right away with verse 25.

“ Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge…”

The Bible is talking in the Spirit, not in the natural; therefore, it is not talking about an earthly judge, but a heavenly one. There is a heavenly court, and there is an earthly court. Jesus was not therefore lawyer-ing in the natural; on the contrary, He was talking about things in the Spirit.

Here on earth, there is no place you can put someone on trial for being angry. Not even in the most despotic countries. There is no judge in the world who can utter the words, “You are hereby accused of anger.” Or of hatred, or lust.

These are things of the heart. Their court is heavenly, not earthly. And God, and not men, is the judge of these ‘crimes’ of the heart. And the Bible says we are to be reconciled with whoever we have committed these things before we reach to the judge. The Bible says,

“Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him”.

When exactly are you “in the way” with your adversary?

It is now. Now – right now – is the time to make our inner peace with every man. Who knows tommorrow? If we have anything – anything – in our hearts against a brother or sister, or, indeed, anyone, we need to make sure we clear that situation as quickly as possible with them. Then shall we be at peace with God, who is the true Judge of these things. As I said, no earthly judge is going to judge these things; but God will.

The Bible talks about issues of the heart. This is therefore a state of one’s heart. The heart that can do this is a repentant heart, a heart that pleases God (Is. 57:15; 66:2). This is the essence of the cross: to crucify our pride, and whoever and whatever we are, that Christ might live in us.

Recently, our church decided to hold an outdoor meeting in a certain village, and we were directed to the only person who could rent us sound equipment in that region. The minute we made contact with the man, that same evening he began sending us threatening messages, telling us that he would rent the equipment to other people if we did not pay immediately. We hurriedly came up with the money and paid him.

Unbeknownst to us, much of the equipment was unserviceable, and it would not perform. The worst part was that we realized this too late, just when the meeting had started. We went through a lot of trouble trying to get other equipment, and at more cost.

When I called him to explain the situation, the man again became hostile.

It was the perfect setting for hearts, especially mine, to be tested. The meeting was succesful, and a number of souls came to Christ. But, unknown to me, something was not right in my heart. But I only realized this after the meeting ended. After the meeting ended, something in me kept saying, “Call the man, and thank him.”

But I would push the thought away with the logic, “Why thank him? For failing us?”

I realized the problem was the pride in me. I feared that if I called, the man would not respond the way I wanted him to respond. I had discovered he was not a peaceful man. Probably he might insult me? Probably he would chastise me? So many scenarios came to my mind.

But, during one of those days, I locked horns with my heart. I said, “What if he were to kill me? Would I still stand up for the gospel?”

With that bold thought, I dialled the man’s number. I was determined to make peace with him at whatever cost.

When the man picked up the phone, and after the initial greetings, I told him that I wanted to thank him for the help that he had given us, and that I was sorry for whatever shortcomings might have arisen in our dealings with him.

I waited for his response. But it was not forthcoming. The man kept quiet for a while, and I thought he had gone away, but he had not. Finally, he spoke. He said, “Forgive me also for all that happened.” He spoke a few more words; but for me, that was enough.

I told him, “Forgive me also.” I loved the man.

Our peace was restored. But, at what a price! But it was a small price to pay compared to what I would have had to pay if I had allowed that situation to fester in my heart.

No Longer After The Flesh – Part 1

“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh…” (2 Cor. 5:16)

I do not know of many rich people who have any spiritual depth, and that’s a fact. The reason for this is because money has a way of blinding people to spiritual things. So does fame, worldly status, etc. That is why many of today’s Christian leaders are as blind as a bat. They allow themselves to become attached to their titles, soaking in the power and worldly esteem that comes with these things – and they go blind.

God has arranged it so that there is no man or woman who considers the things of this world who will see into His spiritual Kingdom. In fact, the Bible commands in 2 Corinthians 6:17:

“touch not the unclean thing”.

What do you think the unclean thing is?

We do not know sin as God knows it. With God, anything that is not of the Spirit is sin.

In order to have the things of God’s Kingdom, you must surrender this world.

But I digress. I was talking about the rich man. Not many have spiritual depth.

Am I the only one saying this?

Hardly. The Bible in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 expressly says,

“26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

If you want to glory in any way in the Kingdom of God, you must glory in Jesus alone.

This is one of the most difficult things to penetrate our hard hearts. We are so twisted we have no inkling of how God operates. That is why, however hard we try, we keep coming back to glorying in men in the natural.

But God has not ordained it to be so. In fact, God has ordained it to be the exact opposite. We are to glory in the Spirit. The Apostle Paul says,

“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh…” (2 Cor. 5:16)

How powerful could scripture get?

We know no man after the flesh. Who are we? What do we have? Do we have any knowledge?

We are nothing, we have nothing; and we know nothing. The Apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12:11 states of himself,

“I be nothing.”

The only reason Paul wrote those words was because it was fact. He knew he had to empty himself of self in order for Christ to be in him.

If you, a man or woman of God, have anything, it can only be

“Christ in you” (Col. 1:27)

So how does the Apostle Paul present Christ?

He presents Him as

“Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23)

In the natural He was weak.

And what does Paul say of himself?

“… of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.” (2 Cor. 12:5)

That is what it means to know God. That is why, as a rule, God denies the men and women who have something to hold onto in this world the heavenly things. It is too easy an opportunity for the flesh to exalt itself.

But God is merciful. He always has a remnant. Therefore there will always be men who are rich, educated or of high societal standing, who will be able to see into the things of the Spirit. As with everything to do with God, these are chosen as a matter of God’s mercy.

No man is ever allowed to say that they are where they are in their standing with God outside of God’s express mercy, choosing and grace.

This understanding brings God’s grace to a man’s life. It did with our Lord Jesus, and with the apostles.

[As unassuming as babes]

Abigail’s Beauty – Part 1

Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. 1 Sam. 25:3

I am going to put out a rambling post here but, amidst the ramblings, there is a concrete gem, a gem that I will try to pry free from the general ramblings. The gem encased in these ramblings is a gem of priceless worth. The subject is centered on the heart, the human heart. The heart we are talking of here is not the organ that circulates blood in our bodies, no. We are talking of the other heart, the spirit of a man.

As a man is, so is his heart. Your character cannot exceed what your heart carries. In other words, your character can do no more than reflect your heart. The intentions of your heart will come through in your character. As a man is, so is his heart.

Was Abigail a physically attractive woman or was she not? I am sure she was. But that is not what the Bible is talking about here. When the Bible says that Abigail was “of a beautiful countenance” it is not talking about her physical beauty. At no one time has God ever been concerned with anyone’s physical beauty. God created both what we call “beautiful” and what we call “ugly”; and He saw it was good. Both are His, and He values them equally. At any rate, even the world itself has something that puts a balance between the so-called ugly and the beautiful. It is the saying that “beauty is in the beholder’s eye”. What you consider ugly someone else calls beautiful.

But, praise the Lord, none of this is of concern to us here. God is Spirit.

On the contrary, when the Bible talks here of Abigail’s beauty, it is talking about her heart. God told the Prophet Samuel:

“…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7)

Nowhere in the Bible is it written that God said later, “Sorry, I recall I said a while back that I look on the heart, but let it be known that once in a while I look also on man’s outward appearance.” When God says something, He does not come back and add to or try to take back a little bit of what He has said.

God does not, has never, and will never look at or talk of anyone’s outward appearance. God is not moved by physical appearances or outward manifestations.

But that’s not us! (And here I am deliberately digressing, for I love these kinds of challenges that the Bible throws at us). Oh yes. The natural man is easily drawn to outward beauty. We have a big problem there. The charismatic gospel in particular has given room to physical, material and outward expressions of “Godliness”.

But we are called to be spiritual, and the spiritual man is not drawn to outward appearances or beauty. He is dead to that.

[So many different hearts in this photo; but Jesus would want them all to be identical in beauty]

Seeing Like God

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ… Eph. 1:3

This scripture is so powerful! It talks, not only of the power of the Kingdom of God, but also of God’s focus.

If I went to the U.S. and tried to purchase things with my third world currency, everyone would be laughing at me. And yet, surprisingly, if someone made purchases in my country using the American dollar, they would be much welcome! The dollar is so powerful that it is usable virtually anywhere in the world. When it comes to currency, the rich and powerful in this world deal in dollars.

This is the difference between the things of the Spirit and the things of this world. The former is so much more powerful. The latter is weak and ultimately insignificant.

In everything, therefore, in totality and in His entirety, God deals in the Spirit, through the Spirit, and in the things of the Spirit. I remember one time my wife and I had a big financial need. The need had to do with the church, we had bound ourselves to it; but when the time arrived, we did not have the money. On the exact date that we were supposed to deliver the money, an amount of money was deposited into our personal account. My wife called me and said, “Someone told me there is some money in the bank, go check.”

I went and checked, and there was more money there than we needed to clear our debt to the church.

The money came out of the bluest blue. We had neither informed anyone nor solicited anyone for it.

It is easy and desirable for us to claim miracles like these, but much of the time we do it for our own personal advantage. But God never looks for the advantage of the flesh. He always looks for the advantage of the Spirit. In our case, He supplied our need miraculously because He knew it would do a work for Him.

God is so much more magnanimous, of course, and He blesses us even when our sights are not on the things of the Spirit. He blesses us even when all we want are His material blessings.

But for us the central question should be, What pleases the Lord? We should be interested in what pleases the Lord rather than what pleases us or having our needs met. We should not find leisure in the blessings that God gives us without considering whether we are pleasing God therein or not.

In Africa we often joke that when an African sees a white man he sees, not a fellow human being, but dollars. In other words, according to the joke, a white man is a bundle of walking dollars.

Well, God certainly views everything in about the same manner, except all that God sees is Spirit, spiritual. When God sees money, He sees it in the Spirit, i.e. what it can accomplish for His Kingdom. And when we talk of God’s Kingdom, we are talking of bringing men to become more like His Son Jesus. In the same manner, when God sees a car or a Gulfstream jet, He does not label it ‘private’ so He can ride it alone with His Son Jesus. No. God considers what that plane can do to bring men, women and families to attain to the three things that constitute His Kingdom: righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost! (Rom. 14:17)

Thank you, Jesus, for enabling us to see in the Spirit and to not become bound by the weak material viewpoint of this world.

[Mysterious pre-colonial rock paintings near Singida Town]

The Temporal vs The Eternal

1 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!
2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. Mk. 13:1-2
Jesus was that fast. He could cut out the lights faster than they were lit. This was because Jesus always stayed in the Spirit. When you are in the Spirit, you don’t have the time for the kind of stuff this disciple had.
You would be surprised to learn the things that the church today is getting animated about. Today, it is almost about normal to find people in church getting excited about things in the natural than things in the Spirit. If someone in church, for example, buys a new car or if he builds a new house, or if they graduate with a degree, you will find that hotter news in church than the report of the brother who has stopped beating his wife. People will look up to the man with the brand new car as if he were God. They will walk up to him and congratulate him and tell him all kinds of ridiculous things; but few will hardly take notice of the guy who stood up in church to testify that he recently stopped beating his wife. Much less, certainly, the many brothers and sisters in whose hearts God is quietly working and who are slowly changing for the better.
Actually, there is every kind of non-spiritual nonsense going on in church today. It beats me personally how we can not only bring the spirit of the world into the church, but even go as far as to applaud it. People are “high-fiving” each other over natural merits and accomplishments. In the church today, modernism is taking root against spirituality.
I have lived on both sides of the spiritual divide and I recall there was a time when things were not the way they are today. There was a time, in my lifetime, when nearly all the saved people that I knew of were poor folks. No one even had a bicycle, let alone a car. In those days, saved people were revered strictly for their holiness. They had nothing in the natural to boast about. For that reason, no one made any connection between material prosperity and salvation.
With time, however, progress brought about education and, with education, material prosperity. In the same church that I was in a few decades back, today it is not just bicycles, but motorcycles and cars have filled the church compound. The same people who lived in indescribable hovels have now built respectable homes for themselves. The deep sense of poverty that once pervaded the church has been replaced with an acceptable level of prosperity.
There is nothing wrong with that, of course. But it is the devil’s job to throw a spanner in the works at every opportunity. The sad fact about all this is that the spiritual aspect of the church’s calling is getting buried under by the material viewpoint. Just the other day, someone came from Dar es Salaam and the first thing he told me was how prosperous a certain sister had become. He threw in as many details as he could about all the wealth this dear sister was amassing. There was not the slightest mention about this sister’s spiritual state.
In the same strain, some years back I passed by a brother’s house in a certain town. I arrived late in the evening and, upon realizing I would be leaving early the next morning, the brother hurriedly bundled me into his car and we shot off miles into the countryside just so he could show me a new piece of land he had just bought. It was about 9 p.m. at night and, even with the headlights blazing, I saw only sage brush. The experience left me stunned.
But that is not the worst part. The worst part, as I said, is people bending over backwards to talk of and praise these material achievements as if they were the Spirit. The church looks up to these people as if they had been filled by the Holy Spirit. Today, people – brethren – achieve status in their fellow brethren’s eyes according to the level of their material or other earthly achievements. But a brand new car or a new house is as far apart from the Spirit as night is from day. One is earthly, temporal; the other is heavenly, and eternal.
It is the easiest thing to go downhill rather than uphill. It is the easiest thing for the church to look up to materialism rather than the things of the Spirit. But God couldn’t care less about how well you are getting along materially. God’s business is strictly spiritual. And He is still calling. Jeremiah 6:16 says:
“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”
God is talking about asking, or seeking for, the ways of the Spirit. But notice what the next sentence says.
“But they said, We will not walk therein.”
We should not deceive ourselves that we are any different from these people.
[Below: “The good life” does not constitute the spiritual life]

Our Mandate – Grace

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. Jn. 1:12-16

Before I go ahead and discuss today’s subject, I have an apology to make. I wouldn’t want to bury my head in the sand and pretend that this blog is running extremely well. My readers will certainly have noticed that, of late, I have been posting very irregularly, and that my posts are few and far between. I pray that no one will interpret this as a sign of slackness on my part, for I carry the running of this blog as a serious responsibility from God.

The reason for my long absence here has to do with other responsibilities which have recently cropped up and had to be dealt with. But they are only temporary, and I will soon be free to run this blog like clockwork.

My apologies, therefore, to all those who might have began thinking that I had given up on this blog! Not, by the longest shot.

Today I want us to meditate on our responsibility as children of God. As sons and daughters of God, we have a responsibility in this world. We are called to be men and women of grace – and truth. Let us combine verses 12 and 16 in this portion of scripture, which makes perfect sense:

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name… And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”

The Bible here says that we who have believed in Christ have received the fulness of God’s grace. In other words, we potentially have as much grace as Jesus had when He was here on earth. For Jesus came and lived on earth in the body of flesh, without sin (v.14). Even in the flesh Jesus reflected the fulness of God’s grace and truth.

I can almost hear a pin drop as we contemplate the profundity of this fact. Knowing how weak we are, we wonder if that could even have been possible.

But as children of God, we are mandated to carry the same grace and truth that Jesus carried. Why? Because this was God’s mandate to Jesus, and Jesus accomplished it to the full. How could we do less?

But carrying the grace and truth of God is not easy, for it requires death to the flesh. The Apostle Paul was one of the people who fought valiantly against the flesh, and yet he had this to say:

“18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” (Rom. 7:18-19)

In other words, Paul by and of himself could not carry the grace of God and do that which pleased God.

Paul concludes cryptically:

“24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord…” (vs. 24-25)

But in Galatians 6:14, he explains exactly what he means by these words.

“14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

Paul knew what he wanted. It was only through the cross that Paul could find the grace and truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So Paul gladly welcomed the cross and the sufferings of Christ into his life.

Where can we find true joy? It is when our flesh is crucified on the cross. This is where we can find true spiritual victory. This is what we find with Paul, the apostles and the early church.

Unfortunately, the flesh does not love to be crucified. The enemy of our souls, the devil, knowing this, has set in the path of God’s people heretical gospels, gospels that cater to the flesh. And men, as long as they have “religion” in their system, are contented. When God’s people are following only religion, but are not allowing the crucifixion of their flesh, there is no spiritual growth in their lives; and it is this growth that makes us men and women of grace and truth.

If the Church today is serious about fulfilling God’s mandate to carry His grace and truth as our Lord Jesus did, then there can be only one way to achieving this: it is by walking in the revelation of the cross, denying self, taking up our cross and following Christ.

Only through the power of resurrection can we truly walk in God’s grace and truth.

Finally, let us consider what it means to walk in God’s grace and truth.

It means being a good person. But it is more than that. It is to be spiritual, something which is infinitely far beyond being just good. Being a spiritual person is knowing the will of God. And in most cases the will of God has nothing to do with being good in the natural.

[Below: A young boy in Mwanza City breezes along in his wooden ‘car’]

Israel, not Jacob!

“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not:  for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name;  thou art mine.” Isaiah 43:1

In the scripture above we see that God is addressing two different kinds of people: Jacob whom He created, and Israel whom He formed. Without going into long drawn-out discussions about the meanings of the words “created” and “formed” here, we at least know that God is more interested with Israel than Jacob because when the angel of the Lord met Jacob on his way back to his fathers’ land, Jacob demanded a blessing from Him, and the Lord told him, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel:  for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” Genesis 32:28.

Henceforth Jacob would be known as Israel. That is of profound significance.

In all His dealings with man God allows the natural to precede the spiritual, and if we are not careful we miss out on the real blessing that God intended for us to have. That is why we who are called by God under the New Testament cannot simply rejoice in the material and physical blessings that God gives us. They come so easily and naturally we are tempted to think they are an end in themselves. On the day I got saved God healed me of a terrible physical illness. It was such a big miracle, and it could still be the highlight of my life with Jesus.

But we must discover the hidden meaning of God’s true calling in our lives. The Apostle Paul talks about a hidden mystery. When we read the Apostles’ epistles we see they did not talk very much about miracles and material blessings, even though they experienced all these. Rather, they spoke about something infinitely more spiritual – the changing of our carnal selves into spiritual, which is a process!

Nor can we rest in the mere act of salvation itself. We cannot underestimate its importance in our lives (eternal life with Jesus), yet the Bible is filled with proof that this is not the end of the matter. For example, in 1 Corinthians 3:15 we read that “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss:  but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

Elsewhere in Jude 1:23 we read: “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire;  hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”

Paul also talks about “a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:  and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

There are many Christians today who are so worldly-minded that it cannot be said of them that they would love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Which means that people will be saved all right, but there will be a distinction: while some will enter in triumphantly, yet for others it is as if they will have barely made it.

The conclusion of the whole matter is that God does not want us to remain ‘Jacobs’. Here I mean carnal, or immature Christians. He wants to form us into the image of His spiritual people, “the Israel of God”  -Galatians 6:16. When we speak of “form” we get the impression of people in whose lives God’s hand has worked to bring out something out of something. He works on what He has created to form something new. It is this which He desires to do in our lives. There is a big difference between the simple calling of God and his formative work in our lives.

Hence the revelation of the Cross. It is of utmost importance to us to understand that the apostolic gospel that has come down to us is a revelation. The Apostle Paul (whose mental faculties we cannot fault) says he received the gospel by revelation. Moreover, in Ephesians 3 he implies that all true apostles and prophets in every generation would be men who would have caught the gospel by revelation, a revelation of the Cross. They would understand what it means to be a Christian: it is to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, that our minds may be renewed (i.e. put far from sin) and that we may conform to the image of Christ. And this will be accomplished by the work of the Cross in our lives.

When you receive the Cross as a ‘Jacob’ (i.e. without revelation) you will understand that Jesus came to die for your sins so you do not go to hell, which is true. But you cannot go beyond that, and soon you will turn to the weak, worldly materialistic gospel which does not have the power to deal with sin. But when you get the revelation of the Cross, which is only found under the true apostolic ministry, you will understand that the Cross came to work in your life also so that your body of sin may suffer and die with Christ, and to rise to the resurrection from the dead in newness of life; and to become a mature son and daughter of God, worthy and capable to inherit that spiritual Kingdom, as we read in Galatians 4:1-7: “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son;  and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

Note the angel’s words to Jacob: “as a prince hast thou power…”! He had fought the good fight and he was worthy!

In other words you become a man or woman who has died to sin. Many people today are praying for the hand of God upon their lives. Behold, the hand of the Lord is the Cross! If we think the hand of the Lord are the worldly blessings He gives us, the healings and all that, we are doomed to spiritual immaturity and carnality. While in Mauritius, I witnessed the death of a man whom the church had prayed for a long time to get healed. I visited him one week before he died, and he was sitting there, weak in body, but strong in faith, in righteousness and holiness. He died triumphantly, and we rejoiced on the day of his burial.

We need to join ourselves with the true gospel of Jesus Christ, Christ crucified. Then we will know, as Paul says in Romans 12, “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” How can we say we are in the will of God while we are walking in sin? It is simply impossible. We are called to a walk of holiness and purity – of body, soul and spirit: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;  and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Anything beneath that, however flamboyant it might appear, and under whatever name it is called, is carnality!