14
MARKS OF A
GENUINE SAINT
By
Frank McEleny
CONTENTS
2) An Awareness Of The Actual Presence Of God.
3) Having The Genuine Joy Of God.
6) A Separation From The World.
7) The Desire And The Joy Of Prayer.
9) The Love Of Brothers And Sisters.
12) Baptized In The Holy Spirit.
To: Table of CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
In the following pages and points I want to speak to the magnificence of genuine Christianity. To be actually born again is the wonder of all the ages. Now, little men have torn away at it, counterfeited it and made religious establishments out of its truths. There has in recent decades been a rush to the bottom. Some call it nominal Christianity, others call it cheap grace, but now "Christianity," is measured by its lowest common denominator. As long as one "confesses," that one is saved then that one is accepted. This confession is more often than naught a mental assent to an abstract truth.
An example would be "do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God." And if you answer yes to this question then we are led to believe that this one is a Christian even with no radical change. This is many things, but it is not genuine Christianity. There are no accidents of birth in the Kingdom of God. It does not depend upon being born into a Christian household, it depends upon the second birth, being born again into the Kingdom. The born-again man or woman is not just the wonder of our ages, they are the wonder of all existence. This is God’s plan in action. This is His expression of Himself through those whom He has literally transplanted into them a new heart. No longer a heart of stone, now a new heart of flesh and glory and upon that glory He has infused His characteristics and His children shall be known by them. Just as in counterfeit money, the enemy attempts to flood the world with those who would call themselves by the glorious name of Jesus in order to devalue that very name.
The name prevails. Jesus. The Church prevails and the gates of hell have not been able to bring her down. The Body of Christ prevails and she is alive to the glory of God. She may be hated. She may be despised but they hated and despised our Lord and Saviour. The following points are just some of the indicators of the genuine faith and the genuine saint. You will see these marks in the children of God. Let God be true and all men be liars. Let these points help you keep your mind and know that you are not alone. God has His saints all over the world and these are their marks. It is these very children of God that we are called to fellowship with and all the more as you see that day approach. You cannot have true fellowship with those who are not His.
To: Table of CONTENTS
1) BEING BORN AGAIN
Being born again. It seems strange to have to write that but there it is. Actually being born again. Not salvation by osmosis nor salvation by being raised in a Christian home, but salvation by actually being born again. It is an actual experience as opposed to some theological construct. There is a before and there is an after. There is the darkness of life without Jesus and then there is the glorious light of salvation. There is death and sin and then there is light and life. Both states are very real. You do not have to reach the dark levels of debauchery to know that you are a sinner in need of a Saviour. Without Christ you are a sinner, Christian household or not.
It does not matter if you went to church every Sunday, got baptized in the church and were a good person. There are no good people in the Kingdom of God, there are only former sinners who have been redeemed and now they are children of God. And how to we become children of God? By being born again. There are no exceptions. Your goodness and your Christian family history and traditions are mere filthy rags to God. The genuine saint has been born again and is actually a new creature in Christ, behold all things are new. I did not say all things are perfect, but all things are new. You are not who you were. There has been a glorious transformation from darkness to light.
This is the fundamental mark of the genuine saint, this is where it all starts. If you cannot give a testimony it is because you do not have a testimony. One preacher put it like this "Your Christianity is either supernatural or it is superficial." If you are a genuine saint then your Christianity is supernatural and you have a story to tell the world. It will be a before and after story and it will be the testimony of Jesus who now dwells in you, whom you were once alienated from by sin.
To: Table of CONTENTS
2) AN AWARENESS OF THE ACTUAL PRESENCE OF GOD
An awareness of the actual presence of God. In other places it is described as the manifest presence of God. It used to be written about a lot, but I don't find that anymore. Christendom has been so inundated by soulish activities and music that at least a couple of generations have grown up in Christendom knowing nothing of the manifest presence of God either personally or corporately. They have never felt that holy heaviness come down from heaven and rest like dew upon their heads, then filling every part of who they are. Quieting them, lowering their heads. Raising their hands in surrender and worship.
Not in response to the words of a "worship leader,” but in response to the awareness of God’s presence. A presence that stills their very souls and elevates them to the throne of grace where they can only whisper "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty,” lest they take any attention away from a Holy God who has come down to rest upon them. Awe and majesty and reverence accompanied by rivers of tears flowing from their very depths and a deep, deep inner sense of wholeness and of all things being possible.
This is "the knowing." It is not a matter of the head, no not at all. It is a matter of the heart. If you have encountered the resurrected Christ, the Son of the Living God, then you will have experienced the burning glow of His glory in the very depths of your heart. A woman from my hometown, who had just very recently got saved but had known nothing of genuine Christianity described her salvation in this way "it is as if someone has lit a candle in my heart."
How wonderful, what a perfect description of a new heart in a new creature. Has the Lord Himself lit a candle in your heart? Has your heart burned in the presence of God? The awareness of God, an essential element of true and genuine Christianity. Perhaps not in perpetuity but certainly along the way.
To: Table of CONTENTS
3) HAVING THE GENUINE JOY OF GOD
Now this joy is not the joy of the world nor as the world knows it. It is very much related to that part of the spirit that is ever connected to the presence of God. The world’s definition of joy is "a feeling of great pleasure or happiness.” Yet this is not the joy of the saint. The saint’s joy is not rooted nor does it spring from the soulish realm of feelings. It is an activity of the spirit which produces joy from our very relationship to the Lord. It is sensed in its greatest depths when, at least as far as the world can see, there is absolutely no reason for pleasure or happiness at all.
The essence of the joy of the saint is to know that he is loved and that the Lord is with him in whatever his circumstances are. This produces an inner happiness and contentment when there should be none and it is one of the great strengths of the saints. It is also a testimony to the genuine nature of their relationship with the Lord. It emanates out from the spirit, though the soul and manifests itself in the flesh for all the world to see. This kind of joy cannot be counterfeited. Whatever is dominant in the life of the saint will be seen by all when the fire burns the hottest. When the smoke clears the world will know who is His. Joy denotes victory.
To: Table of CONTENTS
4) SPEAKING WITH AUTHORITY
A genuine saint now speaks with authority. In Acts 2 when Peter spoke to the crowd, scripture tells us that the crowd were "stabbed in their hearts.” The Greek word for this phrase is Katanusso. A similar word is used when Jesus is stabbed with the spear, that word is Nusso. Now Katanusso is a much more violent word than Nusso. It means to agitate, to thoroughly pierce, to violently agitate. And so the Holy Spirit is showing us that there is greater violence taking place in Acts chapter two than even when the Lord was run through with a spear. The violence was to men’s souls. Their hard hearts were being violently penetrated by the very words spoken under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
In Acts chapter two those affected cried out "what must we do,” yet just a few chapters later when Stephen is speaking with the same power, men were stabbed in the heart but gnashed their teeth and fell upon Stephen and stoned him. In either case, men were not left unmoved by the power of the Spirit speaking though the saints. Every genuine saint is going to agitate those around them. Loved ones, friends and associates will be drawn or they will recoil. There is no apathy for the saint. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.
The genuine saint is part of an army that presses in. They will live and they will die, they will suffer and they will endure. They will fight with everything that is within them. They stand in the authority of God and upon His word and they do not relent. They have found a pearl of great price and hell itself will not wrestle it from their hands. With the armor of God and a two-edged sword in their hands and the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, they will overcome.
To: Table of CONTENTS
5) AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
Understanding the Kingdom reality of our lives and knowing it is like a vapor. There is a reality of this world and it is powerful. It presses in on the senses and for those outside of the Spirit of God it is all-consuming. Yet there is a greater reality that lies within the saints. It is the reality of the Kingdom of God as they walk in it. Now these two realities undoubtedly compete. We as saints must be on our guard that we do not let the realities of this world overwhelm us and rob us of the realities of the Kingdom in which we truly walk. This is the battle line between the spirit and the flesh. The clear sense of reality therefore is truly knowing that our time here is short and knowing that we are on a narrow path that leads us to eternity.
When we walk in this reality, the reality of the world begins to lose its power. We begin to see more clearly in the spiritual than we can see in the natural and the spiritual begins to dominate everything that we do. Day by day, precept upon precept, a process of sanctification, all of these things that are led by the power of the Holy Spirit should cause the scales to fall from our eyes. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.(Mat 6:22) The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of light in which there is no darkness. When we walk in the light as He is in the light then we truly have fellowship one with another.
To: Table of CONTENTS
6) A SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD
In the life of a genuine believer, he or she is clearly separated from the world. This leads on from point number four. When we see and know and walk in the Kingdom reality, it necessarily separates us from the world for we will be Kingdom minded, our hearts and thoughts will be eternally focused. The closer we walk with the Lord, coming into His presence and dwelling before His throne, the dimmer the world becomes. One by one the things of this world begin to lose their savor. None of these things are necessarily bad in and of themselves, they simply do not have eternal value. The currency of heaven and its eternal treasure is what captivates the heart of the saint.
This is a process and as each year passes in the life of a saint, as he or she becomes mature, we begin to see this decided lack of interest in the things which tend to captivate the world. Yet, lets not confuse separation from the world with separating ourselves from the world. We go into the world every day as we should do. We do not run from the world and hide behind walls seeking some kind of holiness away from the world’s influence. It’s in the very midst of a dark and dying world that we have the most impact as Kingdom minded saints who walk in a very different reality. We bring that reality everywhere we go. We bring our light into the world’s darkness. We are a city set on a hill, a light for all the world to see. This is our calling.
To: Table of CONTENTS
7) THE DESIRE AND THE JOY OF PRAYER
The desire and the joy in prayer. This point is so important. To put it very simply, we love to talk to those we love is that not right? When we are walking with God then talking to God is as natural as breathing. It becomes your constant source of strength and sanity. Yet you must believe that you are actually talking to God, and this is where understanding and having experienced the awareness of God plays such an important part in the saint’s relationship with God. If you have never experienced the manifest presence of God then quite possibly your prayer life is at best a discipline, like exercise, something that has resistance and must be pushed through. This is quite a bit different from the breathing analogy. Now in everything in the spirit there are seasons, this is not what I am talking about here.
There can also be spiritual warfare in the realm of prayer, and there will be, I am not talking about that either, I am simply saying that for the most part, there will be delight in prayer. We know what happens if we stop breathing, we die. If we stop praying then the process of spiritual death has already begun. Our relationship with Jesus begins and ends with prayer. If you have no prayer-life then you do not have a relationship with Jesus. You must breathe to live yet you are not consciously aware of having to breathe. It is so important to the body that that it comes as a default in us. The genuine saint is enraptured by prayer for he or she is talking with the one that they love. The grand obsession of their life is ever there before them and they walk through this world hand in hand
To: Table of CONTENTS
8) LOVING GOD’S WORD
Genuine saints love the Word of God. Can I just say that I have been a believer for a long time now and I have yet to meet a genuine saint who does not love God’s word. It is a lamp unto their feet and a light in the darkness and especially in times of trouble it is their very strength. How often a single verse can hold you through the darkest periods of your life and of course it’s not the verse itself its the author of the verse. The author of the word has given us a love for the truth. (2 Thess 2:10) This is something we receive from God Himself. The Word keeps us with its reminder of God’s promises and faithfulness and it assures us of what it to come.
It is the revelation of God to man and it is illuminated by the Holy Spirit. It can be understood to a certain degree without the Spirit, which is why many religious men preach from it, but it can only be truly understood by the Spirit working in the hearts and minds of the children of God. Not only understood but lived out. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (Joh 1:14) The Word of God is made flesh in His children. It is realized and expressed by the children of God. The Living God as expressed in the Word, taking up residence in us as an expression of Christ Himself to a sick and dying world. And the world beholds His glory through the genuine saint.
To: Table of CONTENTS
9) THE LOVE OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS
The genuine saint will love other saints. Brothers and sisters, I have never met a genuine saint who does not love other saints, it’s in our spiritual DNA. Now, how do we know? How do we know who is a part of the Body of Christ? But we do "know." We have a witness in our spirits. It defies explanation. It is part of all the previous points but most of all it comes down to having a passion for Jesus. We know that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Speak with passion about Jesus and watch many back away from you slowly with their eyes rolling back in their heads. This passion for Jesus either repels or draws people.
Saints, genuine saints, love Jesus with a great passion, He is their grand obsession. He Will not be obsessed with Calvin or Luther or any man's name or title, He will be obsessed with the man, Jesus. Find those people who love Jesus and you will find the Body of Christ. And you will love them, despite completely different backgrounds and cultures and economic class, you will find the beating heart of Jesus. And together your hearts will burn within your chest with love for Jesus and for each other. Our love for one another is how the world will know that we belong to Jesus, especially in a day and age when every society and religious organizations are tearing themselves apart.
To: Table of CONTENTS
10) PRAISING GOD
A mark of a genuine saint is someone who loves to praise God with his lips in song, especially corporately. We know that the Word tells us that the Lord inhabits the praises of His people. Ponder and rest upon that phrase for a moment. We know that He inhabits the hearts of every genuine believer, but here we see that He also inhabits the praises of His people. There is what I call rarified air. The saints of God come together to worship the Lord in song that is led by the Spirit. An atmosphere if you like. The awareness of God all around us.
We breath it in and we soak it in through our very beings. It is in an encounter. There is the presence of God to be found in enthusiastic and energetic worship, the kind of worship that lifts your spirit. It can lift up the head that hangs low and invigorate the heart and fill you full of joy and leave you strengthened. This is good worship. Yet there is another kind of worship that seems to have fled the land. A worship where we breathe in rarified air. Oh how desperate is our need for this kind of encounter in our day.
The first kind of presence lifts your heart to gaze upon the Master, the second kind of presence invades every part of who you are. It falls from heaven like a heavy dew, heads are lowered and hands are raised. All becomes quiet, one barely dares to breathe as the Spirit of God slowly descends down through our out-stretched hands and our hearts and minds and down to the very soles of our feet, and the ground upon which we stand becomes Holy ground. The first kind of presence uplifts us, the second changes us fundamentally. As living waters pour into us then it rises up like a great river that is so full that it overflows its banks.
The genuine saint gives himself or herself to this river, no longer ankle deep or up to our knees or waist, but fully immersed and taken by the current to a different place. And in that place we are changed. In His presence we are always changed. The counterfeit manipulates with noise and beat and dimmed lighting and smoke machines. A momentary sugar high that only ever penetrates the soul but can never enter into the spirit. In this soulish atmosphere nothing changes, you shall leave the same way you came in.
To: Table of CONTENTS
11) HOLINESS
Holiness. In every age the genuine saint of God walks in holiness. Holiness is very much related to the first point, experiencing the awareness of God, the manifest presence of God. We hear people talk about having a close walk with the Lord. Oftentimes when the inquisitors of the dark ages would come to a town or a village to seek out the saints to kill them, they would ask the townsfolk who among them were living exemplary lives. This was frequently an indicator that those who were living such lives were born again saints and therefore a threat to the religious powers that be.
A few decades ago there used to be a t-shirt that would read "If Christianity was a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?' Walking in the beauty of holiness, in a closeness with God results in many things. Exemplary lives would just be the start and would be your minimum service to the Lord. Holiness also produces more love, more forgiveness, more passion, more desire. Having now passed through so many generations of cheap grace, the notion of holiness is somewhat quaint to the religious and the humanist. We know that the Word says that without holiness no one will see the Lord.
This is not a legal fiction but a living reality. In our day and age we have turned everything into abstract truths and as long as we give a mental assent to those abstract truths then the living reality of it is not required. What an absolute tragedy. Not so for the genuine saint. Let God be true and every man a liar. His living reality is expressed in our living reality of who He is. Do not be fooled, those who are a law unto themselves are lawless and cannot be holy and therefore are not genuinely His.
To: Table of CONTENTS
12) BAPTIZED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
Being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Without the power of God coursing through our spirits we can do nothing. Every genuine saint is baptized in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who leads us and guides us into all truth. He is the presence in the dungeon that encourages Paul and Silas to sing the praises of Jesus even in the gross darkness. He is the power that came down and shook the prison and opened every door. He is the power that makes the demons flee. He is the power that compels men to their knees. He is the power that raises men from the dead. He is the power that convicts all men of sin.
The genuine saint has the boldness to share the truth because they are empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit. They are unashamed of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus for they know it is the power of God unto salvation. The religious man is the deadliest enemy of the Holy Spirit. They will deny His power. They will ascribe His power to the devil thus blaspheming Him. They will despise and reject His many gifts and those whom He has gifted. They will do all of that in favor of their own intellect and traditions. The genuine saint brings His gifts from the Holy Spirit to the Body and thus is used to edify the Body. It is a glorious thing to be used by the Holy Spirit in anyway He sees fit and the saint is never more at peace when he or she is being used by the Lord in their giftings.
To: Table of CONTENTS
13) FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness. The genuine saint is a radical forgiver. It is a mark of his place in the Kingdom. Forgiving our enemies wrecks the flesh. It tears strips from it as it kills it. Forgiveness is one of the materials that make up the cross that we are called to pick up daily. Saints will forgive. It would go against the nature of Christ in them to hold onto unforgiveness. One simply cannot walk in the Spirit if that one refuses in their hearts to forgive those who have abused them or mistreated them. How many times shall we forgive? Saint, you know the answer to that.
And so this is why this is one of the fundamental marks that are common to the genuine saint. It is readily apparent in those who cannot or will not forgive. This root of bitterness takes a hold, perhaps slowly at first but it goes on to infect every aspect of who they are. Anger goes right along with the bitterness of unforgiveness. It can be the genesis of all kinds of wickedness, even murder. This cancer of the soul eats away at its victim until they are consumed. Forgiveness is the only antidote and this forgiveness comes from the Lord Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit.
See the Lord as He cries out to His Father to forgive them for they know not what they do. See Stephen cry out to His Father in heaven as the stones rain down upon him, to hold not this charge against those very people who are murdering him. Hear the martyr cry out from the flames that they love their enemies. The power of God and the mark of a genuine saint in complete surrender.
To: Table of CONTENTS
14) THANKFULNESS
Thankfulness. The genuine saint, above all, is thankful. His heart if full of thanksgiving. Even in the depths of terrible trials, the genuine saint is thankful. Thankful that he does not have to walk through the fire alone. Thankful that when he passes through the waters he does not pass through them by himself. Thankful for his very sanity that rests solely upon the Lord his God who reigns upon the throne of his heart. This thankfulness is the very thing that keeps the bitter flood waters from flooding his soul.
Like a fortress it protects him from anger and bitterness. We see the opposite takes place in the heart of the merely religious man when trials come and the hot sun rises in the midday. They have no peace. They have no joy. They are quick to anger. They cannot appreciate anything they have. They are consumed with the things that they do not have, the things that they have missed out on or lost in life. And they begin to die, spiritually. The bitterness that seeped into the innermost fields of their hearts begin to seep up and out to the surface.
What was once hidden away in the heart begins to manifest itself to the world. Family are the first to suffer, then co-workers and friends. They do not see someone who is filled with the love of God and the light of His life, but someone who is embittered and filled with darkness. Those afflicted with this malady, this disease, lets call it what it is, this high crime, will wander in the wilderness and they will die there. The genuine saint is protected by his thankful heart. He will run to thankfulness when he is hard pressed on every side. She will run to thankfulness when she have been crushed by circumstances.
His focus will be on the light when darkness presses in all around him. With their dying breath they shall give thanks to God. This decision of the heart, this deliberate act of the will, is the power of God in your life. This is overcoming. This is enduring to the end. This is the fire. This is your sanctification. this is your narrow path that leads to life. Find it, walk in it and keep your eyes fixed upon its horizon. A thankful heart is a delight to the Lord.
To: Table of CONTENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Frank McEleny was born and raised in Greenock, Scotland. He and his wife moved to the States when he was 26. He gave his life to Jesus at the age of 27. He attended Bible School in the United States. He writes for “A Call to the Remnant,” and has published over 700 articles. He was the moderator of a national prayer call for revival for two years and has been involved in various aspects of the revival ministry. He has helped moderate revival conferences and also has been a prayer co-ordinator. He initiated and helped organize the Greenock Revival Conference in 2008. He was ordained in 2013 by a small church in Oklahoma. He is also a published poet, publishing one hundred and fifty poems in the book entitled “A Poem for Every Psalm.” He also writes hymns and songs, many of the songs have been recorded. His website is www.acalltotheremnant.com. He currently lives with his wife and grown son, who has Down Syndrome, in Kansas where he has lived for more than twenty years and works as a Real Estate Agent. You can find many of his poems at
https://www.facebook.com/PoemsFromFrank
To: Table of CONTENTS