Tag Archives: living a holy life

February 7, 2025 · 5:24 AM

Living Set Apart

Early on in the Bible, God began to tell his people to set apart land, cities, items and animals. The things he told them to set apart were considered His and they were holy. In the New Testament, He told the Early Church to,set apart Barnabas and Paul. They were called to be missionaries. You and I as believers are also called to live set apart from the world. We are God’s and are expected to live lives that are holy to the Lord. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. To be set apart is to be clearly different To the point it was known what things were set apart. In Exodus God kept making a clear distinction between His people and the people of Egypt. I believe God is still calling for a clear distinction between His people and the people of the world as we are to be in the world and not of it. We are set apart for Him.

Here are some Bible verses on living set apart:

1. Sanctify them in the truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]; Your word is truth.

John 17:17 AMP

2. I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 1:5 NLT

3. And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.

Romans 8:30 GNT

4. But you are God’s chosen treasure —priests who are kings, a spiritual “nation” set apart as God’s devoted ones. He called you out of darkness to experience his marvelous light, and now he claims you as his very own. He did this so that you would broadcast his glorious wonders throughout the world.

1 Peter 2:9 TPT

5. [I am writing] to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called to be saints (God’s people) and set apart for a sanctified life, [that is, set apart for God and His purpose]: Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:7 AMP

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

May 4, 2016 · 5:30 AM

Doing God’s Will


Too often we think it’s hard to know God’s will. We say we want to find it for our lives, but I wonder if that’s just an excuse we use to keep us from doing something. We don’t like change. We like things that are comfortable for us. We rationalize that if God opened the heavens, gave us a clear sign, and spoke to us in an audible voice then we could do the things that are uncomfortable. We put parameters like that on how to know God’s will so that we can remain inert.

The truth is that we know what God’s will is if we’ve read any of the Bible. We know His will for how we should live, we know His will for how we should treat the least among us, and we know His will for what we should do with our knowledge of Him. What we don’t know is how to do it. So the real question isn’t, “What’s God’s will”, it’s, “How do I do God’s will?” That’s the real problem most of us have, but we just can’t admit it because if we know what His will is, we are responsible for doing it.

I do an exercise with managers at work to illustrate the difference in telling someone to do something and teaching them how to do it. I create a long tube out of easel paper, tell them to hold out their fingers, put it on top of them, and tell them to take it to the ground. The problem is they can’t do it. They know what I want them to do, but they can’t. I keep telling them my will, but they don’t know how to do it so they get frustrated. Many walk away from the exercise frustrated because they aren’t successful. They give up because something that seems so easy is do hard to do.

After letting them struggle for about 10 minutes, I finally teach them how to do it. They then are able to do it with some struggles. I think it’s similar to doing God’s will. It should be easy to love our neighbor, defend the orphan, or tell others about Jesus, but it isn’t. I think David struggled with doing God’s will too. That’s why I think he prayed this prayer in Psalm 143:10. He prayed, “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing” (NLT).

I can relate with David. I know God’s will and I want to do it, but I struggle with doing it. Maybe you’re in that boat too. You want to do what He’s called you to, but you just don’t know how. Let David’s prayer be your prayer. Change your question from, “What’s your will” to “Can you teach you how to do it?” We still might struggle with doing it, but I’d rather fail at trying to accomplish His will than to fail God by doing nothing. Pray today to ask God how to do His will, then look for opportunities to do it. God will teach us and give us opportunities too.

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,