As we’ve move into the new era this new year, God is inviting His people into something that He’s been very intentionally leading up to for more than two decades.
For well over 20 years now, God has been pouring out a revelation of His Father’s heart along with the tangible reality of His certain love. This has been one of the main messages and manifestations of charismatic Christianity since Heaven invaded the earth through the Toronto outpouring in early 1994.
It has led to a profound revelation of how radically loved and totally accepted we are in the Beloved (see Ephesians 1:6), as well as an epoch of miracles, signs and wonders as we press into and worship the One who loves us so. Bodies have been healed. Souls have been restored. Angelic feathers and heavenly gemstones have appeared. The dead have been raised. Revivals have broken out. It’s been glorious.
It has also been building up to something that is strong on God’s heart. Something that He is inviting you and all of His people into right now.
What God Has Been Up To
The heavenly agenda of these past 20 years goes well beyond our realizing how completely loved and accepted we are in Christ. God’s desire has been that with this realization, the lies and burdens of religious performance would be torn down so that we can more fully and powerfully step into the reason that we are here.
Have you ever wondered why we don’t go straight to Heaven as soon as we get saved? The answer is right there in Genesis 1:26-28.
Since day six, God’s plan has been to have a people in relationship with Him, who operate as His agents of impact in the earth, stewarding creation on His behalf and to His glory. One of the main ways we do this is to realize that we are made in His image (see Genesis 1:26) – choosing to operate in His character and nature; choosing to be holy, for He is holy (see Isaiah 6:3, Revelation 4:8), and not trying to be righteous to earn favor, blessing or relationship from Him. That’s the doomed “performance-pressure” and the striving of religious self-righteousness.
God desires for us to realize that through the Love-Gift of His Son, He has made us holy as He is holy; not only so that we can be restored to relationship with Him, but from within that relationship, we can be champions of righteousness on His behalf – Heroes of Holiness who positively impact all of creation with every righteous decision we make.
You Are So Much More Powerful Than You Realize
We are so much more powerful than we think. We see the proof of all this in Romans 5:18-19 (NLT):
“Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.”
When Adam chose to disobey, it was not just him who was made unrighteous. It allowed unrighteousness to enter the earth and affect all. When Jesus chose to obey, it was not Him who was made righteous (He already was), it made righteousness available to all.
Decisions made by those in relationship with God in the earth impact all of creation. You have the ability to operate in heroic holiness and make a real difference in the world every time you choose to embrace the power and potential of your righteousness in Christ.
The choices you make ripple throughout all creation. Your decisions not only affect your life, they affect the whole wide world. Choose sin and darkness, and sin and darkness will enter the world. But, and this is a HUGE BUT, choose to operate in the heroic holiness of who you truly are in Christ, and righteousness will ripple throughout the earth.
Choose love, peace, joy, generosity, fidelity, integrity, patience, faithfulness, mercy, kindness and forgiveness and they will be released out into all the world.
Transformed by Jesus
In John 8:1-11, we read the story of the woman who was caught in adultery. When this sinner encounters Jesus she is transformed. Not only because she is set free from the power of sin by the mercy of the Messiah, but also because she is launched into a revelation of her true identity in Christ that will continually transform her life as well as impact all of creation. This is why Jesus tells her, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11b NKJV). He is not saying, “Sin no more so you will be forgiven.” He already forgave her earlier in verse 11 when He declared that He would not condemn her.
When He invites her to “sin no more,” He is inviting her into a ministry of heroic holiness; not to earn mercy, forgiveness, favor or blessing – she already has all of that in her born-again relationship with her Savior (see Ephesians 1:3, 2 Peter 1:3) – but to propel her into what has been God’s plan for her since day six – to operate as one of His “Dominion Stewards” in the earth, who shatters darkness by choosing to arise and shine as a Hero of Holiness!
Our True Born-Again Nature
Look at 1 Peter 1:15-16:”But 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.'”
If we do not understand who God really is and what He is really like, we could easily misconstrue this passage of Scripture in 1 Peter. It is not a command to perform for acceptance. It is an invitation to step into our true, born-again identity of being made in God’s image, and being about our Father’s business in the earth at a level of effectiveness and impact we have yet to even come close to fully realizing or understanding.
As New Testament Believers, 1 Peter 1:15-16, and the Scriptures in Leviticus it echoes back to, are not some religious, quid-pro-quo burden of performance God is laying upon us while saying, “Hey, jump through My rule-hoops or I will smite thee!” No.This is God reminding us who we really are in Him. This is God inviting us to step into our true, born-again character and nature.
This is God helping us to a global ministry of radical impact in the earth through the decisions we make with our free will to look and sound and act just like our Father, in whose image we are made. This is how we co-labor with Him as His dominion stewards in the earth!
Keep My Commands
We are in a John 14:15 hour. God is reminding us that if we love Him we will keep His commands. This is not a demand to prove devotion, or a stipulation to earn favor and blessing.
This is God helping us step into who we truly are and long to be. This is an opportunity for fulfillment of purpose, potential and identity at a level we barely comprehend.
For 20+ years, God has been going out of His way to help us see and know and feel that we are totally and completely loved by Him (see John 3:16). Loving God is not a way to get His love, it is the natural response to the certainty of His love (see 1 John 4:19). Obeying His commands is not an offering or sacrifice for relationship, it is an embracing of powerful identity and purpose within that relationship.Heroes of Holiness Will Arise!
A company of righteous radicals is arising. These Heroes of Holiness truly know who they are in Christ. They know how loved they are. They know in whose image they are made. They know all of creation has been longing for them to walk in the power, purpose and passion of their true identity.
These Heroes of Holiness are waking up to the incredible power they have to impact the world through the decisions they make. They know that when they choose to operate in righteousness, patience, honor, unity, mercy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, forgiveness, love, peace, joy, gentleness, self-control – when they choose to be who they truly are in Christ – these divine attributes ripple throughout all creation.
The Kingdom comes. His will is done. Light shatters darkness. Territory is taken. Powers and principalities are torn down. Not with carnal weapons or natural strength, but with weapons that are mighty in God (see 2 Corinthians 10:4), wielded by the Heroes of Holiness who are powerfully aware of who they truly are.
Do you want to be one of His Heroes of Holiness? Tell Him today.
Take a Joshua 3:5 moment and consecrate yourself anew, declaring that by His grace and through the leading of His Spirit you will walk in greater and greater fulfillment of who you truly are in Christ. He will work wonders in your midst!
Robert HotchkinMen on the Frontlines | Robert Hotchkin MinistriesEmail: robert@menonthefrontlines.comWebsite: RobertHotchkin.com
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