Complete in Thee: Sanctification

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Sanctification

"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3)

God desires us to be holy, as He is holy (Leviticus 11:45); we are to be sanctified by His Spirit; a clean and beautiful sanctuary that He may dwell in (1 Corinthians 7:19,20). This may seem like a major, unattainable requirement, but if we dwell in Christ, and Him in us, all things are possible. As He who is holy dwells in our hearts, we cannot help but be changed by it.

God gives us specifics for sanctified living. If we are truly His, these will be ever increasing in our lives.

"Rejoice everymore." This doesn't mean we'll always be having a party. It does mean we will have a constant joy and peace from having Christ in our hearts, satisfaction, and a trust in His will that gives hope and vanquishes despair. "For while in Him confiding, I cannot but rejoice!"

"Pray without ceasing." As children of God, we should have a consistent relationship with Him-- not just praying only at set intervals like mealtime or bedtime, but constantly walking with Him, talking to Him, and listening for Him. We "ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke 18:1).

"In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." We shouldn't grumble and complain about the things God allows in our lives. As we grow in Christlikeness, circumstances should not greatly affect our inner peace in Christ. We must remember that each circumstance in our lives comes from God; He rules over all, and He will never alow anything that will harm you, but only will draw you closer to Himself. We can give thanks for that!

"Quench not the Spirit." We must not try to drown out the Spirit's voice of conviction in our hearts by trying to keep busy and distracted by events, music, movies, people, or anything else. Neither should we try to quench it by doing the same wrong thing over and over again until our consciences are "seared". If we belong to God, we will have a willing heart to hear and obey all He would tell us. We will be quick to confess and forsake sin before God and live a life to please Him instead.

"Despise not prophesyings." Rather we should take the Word of God that we hear, and live it. We should not reject it because it doesn't make us comfortable, but embrace it because it will lead us to fuller life in Christ.

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." We must be like the Bereans, who "searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11). We must prove all things by God's revealed Word, making that our standard, and then hold fast to it, refusing to be swayed by what the world and the devil have to offer. We must, like Martin Luther, boldly proclaim, "My conscience is captive to the Word of God... Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise."

"Abstain from all appearance of evil." We will not allow sin to have control of our lives; neither will we put ourselves in a position to be tempted; even further, we will not put ourselves in a situation where what we're doing even looks like sin, if we can help it. A true Christian will live up to his name (Christ's people), and do right, no matter what. We will not even let the slighest evil taint the reputation of Christ that is given us to defend.

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

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PRAYER REQUESTS

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18)

PLEASE PRAY...

* That I would draw nearer to God every day and never allow my relationship to become stagnant ritual; particularly that I would grow in the area of submission, patience, 1 Corinthians 13 love, and wholehearted devotion

* That I might have wisdom as I edit "The Marquis' Daughter"; that the Lord would bless and work through it; and that I might find just the right publisher for it.

* That I would submit to the Lord's work in my life, whatever it may be; that I would take each opportunity He brings me (even the seemingly hard ones) to draw closer to Him and point others to Him

*That our Etsy shop might be successful and that it would be a means by which we can glorify God and share the Gospel

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

"The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?"

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

"Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty."

"Victory over all the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions. Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them."

"And shall I pray, Oh, change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
Ah no, Lord, no, that never could be, rather
I pray Thee, Blend my human will with Thine."

"A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked."

"And as we rest our hearts upon what we know (the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good), leaving what we do not know to the Love that has led us all our life long, the peace of God enters into us and abides. And then we see our light."

[A Practicing Christian]...it means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying, "How would he wish me to deal with this?"

Christ says: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you."

"I was not born to be free. I was born to adore and to obey."

"What is saving but taking us out of the dark into the light? There is no salvation but to know God and grow like Him."

"I will not try to convince you of anything about God. I cannot. You must know Him. I only tell you I believe in Him with all my heart. You must ask Him to explain Himself to you, and not take it for granted that He has done you a wrong because He has done what you do not like. Whether you seek Him or not, He will do you justice. But He cannot explain Himself unless you seek Him."

"Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and it's response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, it's spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophies never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches."