Every believer in the Church of Jesus Christ is called to be holy — pure and blameless in God’s sight. So, if you have been born again, holiness must be the cry of your heart. “God, I want to be like Jesus. I want to walk holy before you all the days of my life.”

The New Testament tells us we are called to be holy “even as God is holy. How on earth are we made holy in the sight of God?

“As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).

As you read the New Testament on this subject, you may be alarmed. “You mean that I am to be as holy as Jesus was? Impossible! He was spotless, perfect. How on earth could anyone live up to that standard?”

That was the very purpose of the law — to show us that it is impossible for anyone to measure up to God’s standard of holiness. Therefore, if there is none holy but the Lord, there can only be one way for us to become holy. We must be in Christ and his holiness must become our holiness.

Paul says that because Jesus, the root, is holy, then we, the branches, are also holy (see Romans 11:16). And John writes, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5). In other words, because we are in Christ, we are made holy by virtue of his holiness.

Jesus stands alone in perfect holiness and if any person is ever to stand before the heavenly father and be received by him, that person must be in Christ. Our daily prayer should be: “Lord, I have no plea but Christ. I come to you only because I am in Christ and I claim his holiness. I know I stand before you uncondemned because I am in him!”

“A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:8).

Of all the Old Testament prophets, Amos speaks most clearly to our times. The prophecy he delivers zeroes in on our generation as if it were ripped from today’s headlines. Indeed, Amos’ message is a dual prophecy, meant not only for God’s people in his day but also for the church right now, in our time.

Amos described God as a roaring lion, ready to strike Israel with judgment. The Lord was using Amos to awaken Israel with the message that God was about to send judgment on his people because of their overwhelming evil and corruption.

The Lord never judges a people without first raising up prophetic voices to warn them. “Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (3:7). As Amos saw the cloud of judgment gathering, he was compelled to speak: “If the trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?” (3:6). Amos’ message here is chilling: “God has sounded a trumpet of warning to his people but no one is alarmed.”

Sadly, too many Christians have become biblically illiterate, open to great deception, and our nation has become pleasure-mad. But God still has a holy, separated remnant, those who aren’t caught up in worldly pursuits; they’re brokenhearted before the Lord and have a holy reverence of him.
Think about the events unfolding in our nation at this moment. Few want to hear a message having to do with judgment even though our nation is filled with fear. People are even saying, “I can’t handle any more.” But the Lord speaks when he will and his Spirit provides us strength to hear his Word, as delivered by his anointed servants. Our Lord will faithfully empower his people to endure whatever may come.

So, what are believers to do? Heed Amos’ warning and follow his message: Seek the Lord with all your heart; allow yourself to be judged by his Word; and confess and forsake your sin. Then God will bless you with discernment and you can walk in total assurance of his presence and safety.

Our Lord always has a remedy for a world in chaos, a remedy he has used for generations to wake up his church, and it is simply this: God raises up chosen men and women!

In times such as these, our Lord uses individuals to respond to a world in crisis. He touches his servants in a supernatural way, transforming them and then calling them to a life of total submission to his will. “Blessed is the man You choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts” (Psalm 65:4). In short, God’s Spirit woos this servant into intimate communion with him. There, the servant is given God’s mind and he receives a divine call. His soul is filled with an urgency and he begins to walk with spiritual authority.

When God chooses someone to be set apart for a special, redeeming work, he gives that servant a call — and how the servant responds determines the power and intensity of God’s touch in his life. This is the call to “come up” and it summons us out of the activities of life and into an unshackled pursuit of God’s presence. Consider Moses. When he became Israel’s leader, he was suddenly an extremely busy man. God’s people numbered in the millions and Moses’ life became hectic as he judged and ministered to the people from morning till night.

Watching all this, Moses’ father-in-law Jethro intervened and warned Moses that he would wear himself out if he didn’t make some changes. “You’re the pastor, Moses, and you need to shut yourself in with God. Assign others the jobs of arbitrating and counseling. Then get alone with God, seek his presence, get his mind, and receive his word. This should be your priority” (see Exodus 18:19-22).

Moses heeded this wise counsel; he appointed others to act as judges and counselors and he determined to accept God’s call to “come up.” Scripture says, “Moses went up to God” (19:3). “The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up” (19:20).

Moses prized the presence of God in his life, as have many Christians who have experienced this call, this divine urge to commune with the Lord. The Lord is asking you to “come up,” to meet him on the mount and let him fill you anew with his presence.

In Revelation 9 we see a warning that describes a worldwide invasion of locusts: “Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power” (Revelation 9:3).

Satan himself is behind this terrifying swarm of locusts. Of course, these locusts aren’t real insects, they’re demon-possessed, Satan-controlled men: “Their faces were like the faces of men” (9:7). The locusts are described as men of war: “They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle” (9:9).

The image here is of an army of demonic tormentors, prancing like horses anxious to fight. Their “wings” imply that they can sting from the air and there is deadly power in their sting: “They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months” (9:10). In short, each of these demon-possessed men has the ability to sting, or poison, from the ground or air. This is no mystical allegory, it’s a real army.

The locust-men are given a limited time to do their tormenting work (see 9:5), which tells us two things: (1) terrorists will not be able to destroy America and (2) we need to be prepared for ongoing calamities. The whole world is shrouded in a cloud of fear and, sadly, it’s going to get worse for those who do not know the Savior.

God’s focus right now is on his own people; he is concerned with his church here on earth. His question is: “Are my people becoming more peaceful and at rest, even as the locusts rage on?” God’s desire for you is that you live all your days without fear. “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let them also who love Your name be joyful in You” (Psalm 5:11).

Those who trust in God’s promises to keep them can rejoice and find true rest.

“Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed” (Psalm 112:1-2).

Within these verses, the Lord assures us of the security of those who are godly. There is a reason to walk with God, a reason to read the Bible and pray. God says that He will bless your children, even if they are no longer under your roof. Start walking with God, going into the prayer closet and doing what the Scripture says, and you will soon realize that God is not limited as we are.

“Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord” (112:6-7). For those seeking the Lord, freedom from fear will be a heritage.
Those who are right with God will not be afraid of whatever comes on the news tomorrow or happens in the world around them. When Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James went to the tomb after Jesus was crucified, an earthquake had just occurred, and an angel of the Lord had rolled away the stone from the entrance to the tomb. When this happened, the Bible tells us the “guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint” (Matthew 28:4, NLT).

Notice what happened next! The two Marys heard the voice of the angel speaking to them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus” (28:5). I believe the same will happen in our day as people shake in fear as they witness great calamities on the earth. Those who have chosen to follow God will be able to hear and believe as the Lord speaks to them: “Don’t fear because I know you seek Jesus.”

I believe every believer comes to a point of decision where he determines to go all the way with God, a decision that affects the rest of his life. If there is sin in your life, get rid of it quickly! Instead make the choice today to say, “I will not justify wrong in my life. By the grace of God, I am going to trust him for the power to finish this journey in victory.”