Victory through holiness – Part 1

Key Verse: Hebrews 1:9, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” (KJV)

Everybody wants victory in life and nobody wants to suffer defeat. Families want victory; churches want victory; government institutions want victory; corporate bodies want victory and business organisations to want victory. Although there may be many secrets for victory, there is a fundamental secret that I want to present to you today, whether in your personal life, family life and corporate life, among others. Wherever you are, there is a fundamental secret and the church cannot afford to toy with this secret. The secret is that no one can prosper in the absence of holiness.

Your victory is assured on the platform of holiness unto the Lord. Every day, people say they are receiving blessings and every day, some other people say that they are pronouncing blessings. There may be a need for prayer in our lives and yet, there is something without which the prayer cannot work. There may be a need to always present the Word of God, yet there is something without which the presentation of the Word of God will be very ordinary. There may be a need to shout the name of Jesus all the time, but there is something without which the shouting cannot work and there may be a need to always shout “Praise the Lord” and “Alleluia and Amen” and yet there is something without which the shouting will amount to exercise in futility. All these things, religious ceremonies and claiming all these promises of God will amount to nothing in the absence of holiness.

When you come to church, you will see the pastors. At the temple of God at Shiloh, one of the pastors was named Hophni and the other was named Phinehas. They were children of Eli the chief priest at Shiloh, but they didn’t have a good testimony. They were good-for-nothing priests and they knew not the Lord (1 Samuel 2:12). Every pastor must have a good testimony. Any pastor anywhere that does not have a good testimony is a problem to himself. He is a problem to the wife, he is a problem to his children, he is a problem to his kindred; he is a problem to the church; he is a problem to his congregation; he is also a problem to his relations and he is a problem to everyone looking up to him. It is not that you don’t know how to preach. You preach very well and you may be the best preacher, but the problem is that you don’t have a good testimony. I don’t need to be the best preacher and I don’t need to be the best dresser as a Christian leader. My business is to set an example and tell others to follow me.

We are supposed to be Christians. We are supposed to be like Christ. We are supposed to mirror Christ and we are supposed to exhibit Christ. We should have plenty of Christ and submit our lives completely to the Lord. Our business is to reflect Christ in our thinking, in our speaking, in our action, in our decision-making and if we fail to reflect Christ in whatever we are doing, we are a total failure. If you are not showing Christ in all you do, you are a failure. You are not there to show yourself but to reflect Christ. Any pastor that mounts his pulpit and is not showing Christ is a total failure.

Today’s Nugget: Victory is assured on the platform of holiness
Prayer: Lord, help me to walk in holiness
Prayer lines: 08054477940.
E-mail: servantofgod111@yahoo.com
Rev. Pastor Ejikeme Ejim, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God Nigeria.