Holiness
I am sure we have heard this song played or sung. The title is “Holiness, holiness is what I long for; Holiness is what I need; Holiness is what You want for me.”[1] 
 The definition of holiness is “the state of being holy”. Holiness is intrinsically connected to God. God is the holy one par excellence, with the exclusive power to confer holiness unto others. Not only is God the source of all holiness, but human bodies require holiness in order to be in the proximity to the deity.”[2] 
 How do we live a life of holiness? To do this, we must look at the life of Jesus. The history of the church, in general, has missed the biblical definition of holiness. The church, as well as those outside of the church, attributed the definition of holiness to an outward appearance. Holiness is a lifestyle based on our relationship with the God, the Father. Jesus lived a holy life in honor of his relationship with the Father. Because of his security in the Father, Jesus was seen with the outcast. He dined with “sinners” and tax collectors. He touched the lepers and the dead. He validated women and the poor. And he interacted with people who the religious people deemed unworthy. Yet in all these things, He remained holy.  
 How did Jesus remain holy? By obedience. Our holiness is directly linked to our obedience. We read in 1 Peter 1:14-16, “As God’s obedient children, never again shape your lives by the desires that you followed when you didn’t know better. Instead, shape your lives to become like the Holy One who called you. For Scripture says: “You are to be holy, because I am holy.” Obedience shapes our life of holiness. We remain holy when we are in total obedience to the Lord.
 Therefore, obedience calls us to be separate. Holiness is “set apart”; that is, we are a people set apart for God, even as God is “set apart” from all gods. To be holy is to be absolutely devoted to God in all that we do, demonstrating who he is to the world. Grace has imbedded holiness into our lives, yet we are to make right choices and to yield to Christ and God’s Word as the Holy Spirit lives in us. Holiness is not merely actions we perform, but what we absorb and manifest as we live our lives in God’s presence.[3] Go deeper, be holy! 
 
   [1] Jesus Army - Holiness is What I Long for Lyrics.
   [2] J Ayodeji Adewuya, Holiness in the Letters of Paul: The Necessary Response to the Gospel (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2016), 3.
   [3] Ben Simmons Revelation: The Unveiling of Jesus Christ (The Passion Translation (TPT)).

Intimacy is closeness between people in personal relationships. It’s what builds over time as you connect with someone, grow to care about each other, and feel more and more comfortable during your time together.[1] Intimacy is all about connection. I believe God has intentionally hard wired us intimacy. We find this amazing truth in the relationship between the God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is in perfect interrelation with each other. All three are preferring or submitting to each other in harmonic union. When God created man, the need for intimacy was placed in him.
 Therefore, it is no surprised that God wanted to be with Adam. The Lord desired an intimate relationship with the first man. We notice that intimacy was fostered in the Garden of Eden when God walked with Adam in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8). We also notice that intimacy was being nurtured by constant communication between God and man (Genesis 2:15-24). This is no different for you and me today. God desires an intimate relationship with us.
             According to Alyssa Mancao, fostering a sense of closeness in any relationship requires a combination of four types of intimacy: emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical.[2] The Lord meets us on these four levels as we come into a covenant relationship with him. The example given in Scripture is a marital covenant between a husband and a wife (Genesis 2:21-24; Isaiah 54:5; 62:5; Hosea 2:19-20; Ephesians 5:22-33).
 Yada, in Hebrew, means to know intimately, to perceive, to understand and experience.  To know God means that we experience Him intimately.[3] God wants us to yada (know) him. To know him intimately we must spend time with him. We cultivate intimacy by reading the Bible, praying, fasting, meditating, and worshipping. The deep things of God are for us. This is why the Scriptures say: Things never discovered or heard of before, things beyond our ability to imagine —these are the many things God has in store for all his lovers. But God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Spirit. Yes, he has revealed to us his inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit, who constantly explores all things (1 Cor. 2:9-10 TPT).
 We can have intimacy with the One who loves us. It is his good pleasure to reveal Himself to us.
 
 [1] https://www.healthline.com/health/intimacy#overview
[2] https://www.wellandgood.com/types-of-intimacy/
[3] https://free.messianicbible.com/feature/divine-invitation-intimacy-god/

We often hear phrases such as, “man or woman of integrity”, “integrity of heart”, or “leadership integrity”. So, what exactly is integrity? And what does integrity have to do with our relationship with Lord. According to the dictionary.com, integrity is “adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty; the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.” A person who has integrity lives out these characteristics in their everyday life. When has a lack of integrity, people know it. I say this because a person who lacks integrity is a person who operates in deceit. If we lack integrity, it will damage our relationship with the Lord.
How should we view God’s integrity? God’s integrity is known because he back up his word (Isaiah 40:8, 55:11; Matthew 5:18; Psalm 132:2, 18:30; Jeremiah 1:12). For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment (Luke 1:37 AMP). Since God’s Word is powerful and will be fulfilled, it produces in us wholeness, trust, confidence, boldness. Because of God’s fidelity you do not have to “throw away your confidence, which has a great reward” (Hebrews 10:35).
Integrity is also based on character. A person who has a flawed character, is a person without integrity. When we operate in good character, it is said that a person has integrity. We know the actions of someone by their character. We as the question, “What is their modus operandi, their method of operation?” God’s methods are consistent with his character. God does not change who he is based on what is happening. His word, behavior and actions are in alignment with each other. He will not deviate from his word to cause a different outcome.
Therefore, this brings peace and rest in Christ Jesus. When Jesus says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest, that is exactly what we will receive, rest. We all can go deeper into God’s love, peace, and joy because our God is a God of integrity. As a result, we trust.

The news was devastating. It hit with the full force of a category five hurricane. It was a swift kick to the gut, soon as you would gulp a breath through your mouth, another kick even more punishing than the first hits again. We heard the news of the helicopter crash that killed nine people to include Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi. The world responded with an outpouring of grief and a strong sense of loss. But nothing could have prepared the families for the dreadful loss of their loved ones. For the families, an unimaginable nightmare came, sending them into a fog of despair, shock and questions of “why?”. The answer to the “why” may never come.
            We find a story from the Bible, in the book Job, of a man that was hit with a tidal wave of calamities. Job, through a series of disasters, lost his children, possessions, and health (Job 1.13-19; 2.7-8). I am almost certain that Job must have asked the same question, “Why?” Yet what Job encountered through these unwelcomed misfortunes was an iron clad faith in God (Job 1.20, 22; 2.10).
            What’s intriguing about this story is the response Job’s three friends had to his tragedies. We find their response in Job 2.11-13, which is a blueprint for our response to tragedy. We do not know how Job’s friends heard the news, nor the distance they traveled to get to Job. What we do know is that they were intentional in their determination to reach him. “An appointment together” (2.11), proved their loyalty to Job. Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar did three things. They came to Job, they sympathized with him, and they provided comfort for him (v.11). They entered Job’s suffering by coming alongside him. When they saw Job from a distance, he was unrecognizable. To know a person and then come to know what has befallen them can be devastating and jolting. They knew Job in his health, wealth, and prosperity, but now they know him in his disease, destitute and misery. But instead of being repulsed, they “raised their voice and wept” (v.12), an expression of lamenting and mourning. They further expressed their anguish as “each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky” (v.12). This was the same response Job displayed when he heard the news about his children’s demise and destroyed possessions (Job 1.20-21).
            “Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights” (v.13). Job’s friends entered his suffering by being with him. Being with someone in their darkest most vulnerable hour is not only a comfort, but also an assurance that someone identifies with your pain. “They did not speak a word to him” (v.13). No words needed to be said. What does one say in the rawness of pain and suffering? Why in some cases does silence speak louder than words? It’s because nothing needed to be said when “they saw that his pain was very great (v.13). Silence shouts into the depth of the mourner’s inner being saying, “I AM HERE”.
            Just how Job’s friends came alongside him to partake in his suffering, so does our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ in ours. Jesus enters our suffering through His Spirit. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; but He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, He was oppressed, and He was afflicted (Isaiah 53. 3, 4, 5, 7 NASB). As He enters our pain, He remains silent to our questions because He is suffering with us. He joins us in our sorrow and weeps with us (John 11.35 NASB). Christ at times is our silent partner because “we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15 AMP).
            Christ sits with us as Comforter and Friend. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever (John 14.16 KJV). He gave us the Holy Spirit, the same as the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8.9 NASB), to be with us forever. In our personal time of grief, we are comforted by the Person and Presence of Christ. Therefore, we can say, “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1.3-4 NASB)).
            Our response to family members or friends who are suffering is to be like Job’s friends. We must make an appointment to enter their suffering with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1.4 NASB). Even if that comfort remains silent.

Our Priority: First Things First

As we begin the New Year, there’s much expectation, anticipation and excitement in the air; and rightfully so. The beginning of a new decade will have its challenges, to say the least. The decade started off with the threat of war in the Middle East with troops being deployed to the region. On the domestic front, removal of the President from office looms along with seemingly endless challenges in our communities. Because of the emergent issues of the world, coupled with our daily hustles, it’s easy to lose focus of the truly important aspects of life. We may see, hear and even pause for a minute, but life goes on. So, what should be our priority as we start this new year and decade?

The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality. Somehow, we would be able to have multiple “first” things. One leader told me of his experience in a company that talked of “Pri-1, Pri-2, Pri-3, Pri-4 and Pri-5.” This gave the impression of many things being the priority but actually meant nothing was. [1]

 Can we truly multitask? Can we truly give our attention to several things at the same time? I conclude that we can only give our attention to one thing at a time. Therefore it’s important to have a priority, an order of doing things. I believe our first priority, as we start the new year and decade, should be relationships. Note that the word “relationships” is plural. Hence, if priority is singular, how can relationships be plural? This is why we must put our relationships in order. The priority of our relationships should be firstly with our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, then with family, then church and finally with community.

In all four we must find stability. If we neglect any of the four, we will replace it with something else. More often than we realize, the replacement will be self. Jesus said, “But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also (Matthew 6:33, AMP).” We must keep in mind that when we seek the Kingdom, our priority, “all these things will be given to [us] also.” These things are family, church and community. It is imperative that we do not extend ourselves or take on another priority that doesn't contribute to the four. Take note that our jobs are not included in the four. Our jobs are only a source to support the four. Yes, we give attention to our jobs and should "work willingly at whatever [we] do, as though [we are] working for the Lord rather than for people (Colossians 3:23 NLT)." But our job is not our priority.

Notice that in all four relationships, we are servants. If we serve the LORD, in the position of Him being first, the other three priorities, family, church and community will be also. I’ve mentioned the word “servant.” Jesus said, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37-39 NLT).” The greatest commandment is fulfilled in our daily interactions with our neighbor.  Our family, church and community are our neighbor, and we demonstrate our love for God when we are serving and loving them. This naturally comes back to our priority of “seeking His kingdom and righteousness.” Therefore, the priority of our relationship with God, in His Kingdom, includes family, church and community. If our vertical relationship is right (God), then our horizontal relationship is right (neighbor). This also works in the reverse direction. A neglected vertical equal a neglected horizontal.

As we set our eyes on the journey ahead in 2020 and the beginning of a new decade, let us all remember our priority. Our priority is our relationships which begin with our LORD. Will there be challenges that will attempt to pull us away from our priority? I have no doubt that some will attempt to do so. Therefore, let me encourage you in this, “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless (1 Corinthians 15:58 NLT).”

[1] Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (New York: Crown Business, 2014), 16.