There is a dimension of holiness simply referred to as righteousness, this doesn’t require any contribution or effort from you, all you need to do is to invite Jesus into your life as Lord and Savior, the moment He comes into your life He gives you an entirely new nature (2Cor. 5:17). This is the only requirement to be reconciled with God, this not only guarantees your eternal salvation but grants you the privilege to access the presence of God as a child approaching his father without a sense of guilt, shame or fear (Heb.4:16)

However, it doesn’t stop there, there is another dimension of holiness that requires you to purge yourself and maintain a life free from iniquity, this is so important because for God to have an unobstructed fellowship with you and use you for his glory, you will need to be separated and sanctified. This is the dimension I seek to bring light to in this article

The Bible said in 2 Timothy 2:21 “If a man, therefore, purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work”.

Being a Christian is more like entering into a love relationship with someone, one of the most valuable things in any relationship is communication, where the two people in love enjoy the company of each other and become so addicted to each other that they can’t afford to stay a day without seeing or talking to each other, their hearts longs for each other and their love get stronger each passing day. This is just the tip of the iceberg to the kind of intimacy God passionately desires to have with you, and as He loves you, He wants you to love him too.

God is neither dump nor deaf, He speaks, He has feelings and desires that He wishes to communicate to you, it doesn’t stop there, He also wants to hear you speak to Him, He wants to hear those secret tears and pains, He wants you to tell him your anger and confusion, He desires a true relationship and He wants to be closer to you than any human can ever be, However, He wants this relationship to be pure, Just as you will not be happy if your spouse cheats on you with another person or says hurtful things to you. So also it breaks the heart of God when you do hurtful things. He doesn’t reject you when you go astray like some humans, but he still desires you to walk blamelessly before Him. This is where the true meaning of Holiness comes in

Let me share with you a story of my journey, God became real in my life the moment I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in August 2012, but before then I had battled with pornography for as long as I can remember, I thought that such a powerful encounter with God will end my addiction instantly, I wish it did, but I was wrong. It seems the addiction only grew, I wasn’t defending myself, I knew I was wrong and at that time I was already a sunday school teacher at church, but this spirit just wouldn’t leave, I prayed and fasted but it never seemed to respect my spiritual activities. I still remember going for 7 days without food, the question that left me as a new believer was how 7 days of rigorous spiritual exercise and activity not remove an addiction from my life, I love the Lord with all my heart, but this shame wouldn’t leave me. 

I would indulge in pornography and cry to God for mercy, and since I had already built a relationship with the Holy Spirit, I could hear the voice of God in certain areas, but it seemed God was silent over this particular topic. Aside from pornography, I didn’t know anything else that was an addiction in my life and I knew that if I could get rid of this evil desire from me, I would be a much more productive child of God.

One night while praying, I heard a word in my spirit and it was ‘MEN LIVE HOLY BY ATMOSPHERE’ That was all I heard, but I knew I had caught a dimension of light that would bring freedom not just from pornography alone but from any kind of sinful control.

UNDERSTANDING THE ATMOSPHERE

Let me explain this so you can understand what it means, As humans we live in the section of the earth known as the atmosphere which is composed of certain gases, You can only breathe normally when you remain in the atmosphere, the moment you step out of the atmosphere you will need some kind of support to assist you maintain the condition present in the atmosphere.

In the same vein, Holiness exists in an atmosphere, you carry that atmosphere the moment you receive the righteousness of God, but to live holy you must maintain that atmosphere, the moment you step out of that atmosphere, you may still be alive, but your process of spiritual slumber had just started.

What I learned is that to live holy and overcome a sinful appetite you must keep your atmosphere continually charged and how you do this is by occupying your spiritual atmosphere with things and people that make your heart hunger and burn for God.

So when I learned this, I made sure that worship music and gospel messages that steer hunger in my spirit never left my ears, I will practically play music while I sleep, sometimes I even hear the worship play in the background while having a dream, I have had many spiritual encounters by mainly playing worship music and messages while sleeping. when driving, I don’t drive in silence, I keep the atmosphere charged with worship, I am rarely free from spiritual things, I am either reading a Christian book, listening to a message, or playing a worship song, while bathing a worship song is playing while cooking or doing any house chores, I maintain that atmosphere

With time I began to discover that without much effort from my end, the urge for pornography and lust began to fade on its own, it seemed my atmosphere was just too hot for the spirit, so even without fasting or much effort the spirit just became so uncomfortable and had no choice but to leave on it’s own

Many believers are struggling with sin today because they have made the atmosphere conducive for this evil and unclean spirit, a life of constant prayer sets your atmosphere a blaze, you don’t overcome addiction by trying to stop the addiction, your self-control may not be sufficient, but when you set your atmosphere on fire and you continue in prayers, the urge for sin leaves on it’s own.

It is one thing to set your atmosphere on fire, but another to maintain the fire, to maintain the fire, you must continually edit the things you watch and the kind of conversation you allow to enter into your heart, it may require you to stop viewing some TV shows, it may require you to go off some social media platforms, or even disconnect with some friends, it may not be easy, but you will be thankful you did. Certain things are not wrong in themselves, but I just don’t do them, because I can’t seem to find the value they add to my spiritual stature. You should get to a point where your passion for God is more than any other thing that you do in life.

In conclusion,

The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23. “Above all else, guard your heart with diligence, for everything you do flows from it” The best way to maintain an atmosphere of holiness is to pay attention to your heart, protect the things that go into your heart as you will protect your eyes from flying or harmful objects.

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