Many years ago, in the process of asking The Lord for clarity on a life that He desires me to have, the Lord gave me a vivid vision in a dream. I saw few people were ascending to Heaven along the “stairway” of Jacob. Their precious testimonies taught me about some truths of Holiness. Thru the years my understandings of the idea of Holiness have been deepened. Yet, in reflection, I have not been able to walk in the fullness of its light, and still remain in a place of great need for the practice of the life so revealed.
These are two things these dear saints shared with me in the vision:
- They have completely separated themselves from the world.
- They would hold nothing back from The Lord.
Now I understand, as we render ourselves a living sacrifice unto God, He will flow unto us His purifying river of life unto us. We are made holy thus by the One who is holy.
David also testified that such a holy ascension will only include those who has a pure heart and cleans hands. In retrospect, cleans hands symbolize that one has done away with the earthy life, but pure heart means something much deeper and much difficult for us to grasp even as true worshipers of God . The significance and the profound work of sincere faith and divine wisdom requires one to have a constant and vigilant examination of his conscience and his standing before The Lord. No pretension, pride, or false humility (hypocrisy) can be retained, not mention to self justify such. In another place, after much severe dealings of The Lord, David cried out to God, “exam my heart, oh, Lord, see if there is any hurtful way in me.” This is to ask God to move the stumbling blocks or sins from his heart, so he could stand blamelessly and righteously before Him.
As we walked with The Lord further along the way of His holiness, it is much easier for us to see this reality. That is to flow our heart, our soul and our mind into the washing and renewing of the river of His life is a much greater work than simply jumping into it from the dry and dusty banks of our worldly life.
Yet, The Lord ever is ready to us to flow into His life, washing away our filth while revitalizing us with the substance of His life. In this, we have Him, the Victor, and learn to overcome all things in Him.
We can then be transformed to be the ones He will confess before His Father and His angels:
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Revelation 12:11 NIV)
Oh, dear Father and Lord, make us holy, as You are holy!