04/24/2026
Your holiness is showing. It is seen AND it is experienced. Outward holiness (being different from the world externally) and inward holiness (being different from the world internally) BOTH matter.
They are both essential yet experienced differently by others. Recognizing this, and valuing both inward and outward purification, does not diminish either one. Neither is optional.
Outward separation is like skin. It protects whatâs within: the organs, the blood flow, the vital systems. But if the heart isnât healthy, little else truly matters.
In prayer, the Lord impressed this on me: The Church must sharpen its discernment to recognize where hearts truly lie. He spoke to me that "a parasitical spirit distracts from discernment".
Simply put: âIf I look holy, you wonât question if I actually am.â
Our churches can become full of people who wear the uniform but arenât on the teamâwho lead ministries but are not led, who avoid spiritual accountability because theyâve learned how to appear right just enough to avoid being discerned.
âThe outside of the cup is clean, but the inside is dirty.â
The outside is what is seen.
The inside is what is experienced.
And who wants to drink from a dirty cup?!
Especially one that's dirty on the inside.
If only the outside is clean, you may not be a stumbling block but you wonât be effective in pouring into others, because whatâs within is unclean. Both must be purified.
Often, God works in what I call "circular conviction" âHe cleans something within, then addresses something outward. As we respond outwardly, He returns to refine something deeper within our hearts.
Jesus said in Matthew 23:26â28, âBlind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also⊠Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead menâs bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.â
So yes... I can see your outward holiness but I experience your inward holiness.
How is your inward holiness?
Where is your heart with God?
Do you love like Him?
Do you show love to His bride?
Thatâs how we are to be known. (John 13:35)
Are you bearing good fruit?
Do you carry a burden for the lost?
Are you a light everywhere you go?
Did someone experience the love of Jesus through you today?
Being holy is a lifelong process of purification where we never fully âarrive.â
We put forth our best effort, but we must always remember: it is the Holy Spirit who makes us holy. Our role is to yield to Him, allowing Him to continually work in us inside and out, and then even deeper within again.
