You are Holy.

"And tonight, God wants to encounter you, and wants you to feel His love, His amazing love. Without it, these are just songs, these are just words, these are just instruments, without the love of God it's like we're up here just making noise. But the Love of God changes us, we're never the same, we're never the same after we encounter the love of God." - Kim Walker

"There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for the long apprenticeship in the what earlier generation of Christians called holiness." - Eugene H. Peterson

I've talked before about going through the motions, and living like christians who are all half asleep. Let's build on that.

I had a friend once tell me that what she felt to be holy, or recognized as sacred were things in the church like candles, the hand motions that they do during services, or the prayers that they've memorized and recite as a group. Now, I may be wrong, but I have a different take on the matter. See, what i feel to be holy are the things that God is involved in. That connection that I feel when I'm praying, and it's just me and God, raw and honest, out there working with each other, Father and daughter, I feel like that's holy. When a pastor delivers a spirit filled message that speaks straight to the heart, triggering a change in someone's soul, or when you're worshiping God in the simplest ways in your everyday life because you know deep inside you that that's what you're meant to be doing. That's what is holy to me, because God is in on them.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes the word holy as, "exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness." I know that i'm not worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness, but God is, and He makes me worthy. The church, the building, the candles, as elaborate as they may be, they aren't worthy either, it's God, it's his presence that makes things holy. And i'm making a promise, a commitment right now, to give God more reign in my life. I don't want to sleep through this. God, here I am, make it real, spread this fire that I have in my heart, share this love that I have in my soul. Use me to bless the people and the things that you want to bless. Lead me to the places and the problems that you want to touch. You are the master, you are the Father, we're nothing without you, and we need to accept that. Be present in my life Lord, and I will be modest before your commands.

Humbly,

Marley