It is my intention, as time permits, to make this as practical as possible. To answer the question, “What does all this mean?” Let me conclude this study with some principles in hopes that the importance of what we’ve been saying reaches the daily level of your desire to walk after Jesus with increased intentionality.

The Holy God is to be worshipped in Spirit and in truth.

Recognizing and acknowledging the holiness of God is to know before whom you live, move, and from whom you have your being, let alone your salvation. You stand before none other than YHWH, the Holy One of Israel.

And what should your response be? Worship. What does it mean to worship? It comes from a word that means to bow. You can bow your neck, you can bow at the knee, you can bow to the floor, prostrate before the Majesty, the Holy One. It is an inward posture before it is specific acts. Bow your heart before Him when you pray and when you praise. In the apostle Paul’s memorable words: whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31).

The word worship also means to decrease yourself, because in the act of decreasing yourself, you are increasing the one that you are worshiping. When you lower your height, you make the person standing beside you taller. And in this case, when you bow before the King, you are exalting Him. You are lifting Him even higher. You are acknowledging His holiness. And so you must worship God with sincerity, with all your heart.

Worship also implies intensity. Live with focus and intentionality. Do not be half-hearted, lukewarm, or indifferent. Take heed before whom you stand. Let the fire of his holiness kindle the fire of your love for Him—and for others. It is solely because of His mercy that you can pray: Our Father, in Heaven, may your Name be sanctified, hallowed, set apart as you truly are: Holy! Holy! Holy!

To come into the presence of the Holy God is to be obedient and yielded.

How foolish it is to think that the Holy One of Israel could possibly be manipulated. That one does not understand what kadosh really means. Every rationalization and justification burns away in the fire of His holy presence. We are laid bare, and all our attempts at maintaining a posture of respectability are exposed. We are undone.

Do not try to turn God to your purposes. This is a great temptation, one Jesus himself faced in the wilderness.

I believe the way we interpret the Beatitudes needs correction here: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven (Matt 5:3). The poor in spirit do not possess the Kingdom or the King; the King possesses them. To avoid misunderstanding and possible manipulation, it would be better translated, Blessed are the poor in spirit [or the humble], for of such is the kingdom of God.

In other words, the humble, those who mourn, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the persecuted, the peacemakers—these are the ones who make up the kingdom of God. But they do not own. The kingdom is not theirs in a possessive sense.

The King has taken hold of you. When He does, you tremble and shake.

The whole illusion that Western man has of self-sufficiency crumbles in the presence of the Holy One. You lose all sense of self-sufficiency, of pride, of egotism, of accomplishment. When you stand in front of the one who cast a billion galaxies into existence, and in every galaxy there are billions of solar systems, do you think He is impressed by paper bills or minted coins? Or by what we build? Or by our reputations?

No. At a single glimpse of true holiness, we realize that we must give up all to Him. It is there we discover a paradox. In the upside-down Kingdom, those who yield receive good gifts. The humble enter the Kingdom; those who mourn are comforted; the hungry are satisfied, the merciful obtain mercy, the pure in heart shall see their God.

The Holy Spirit is a gift from above. All spirituality is imparted. It is not something you generate; it is something He alone gives: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:17).

Some Pentecostal traditions mistakenly teach and believe a type of spiritual elitism, that some people have more of the Holy Spirit than others. How can that be true? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 11:13). The reality is this: it is not how much of the Holy Spirit you have, it is how much the Holy Spirit has of you that makes the difference.

Discipleship is a matter of how much of yourself you are willing to give to God, your Holy Father.

Do you see the difference? We tend to think first about ourselves. But that is idolatry, attempting to make God in our image. Because we are made in His image and likeness, the question is not how much of the Holy Spirit we have, but how much of us is yielded and surrendered to His control. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me (Luke 9:23); I die daily (1 Cor 15:31).

He has sanctified us, set us apart for his use. As Paul reminds us: We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Cor 4:7). The surpassing power belongs to and resides with the Holy God. We are not reservoirs for storage. We are to be channels through which his sovereign will flows to earth as it is in Heaven.

He is the sole source of life at work in and through us. In this light, we understand that the words of King Jesus are not a blank check for us to cash on things we desire. They are an assurance that Heaven will provide what we need to do the Father’s good works right here, right now: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (John 15:7).