Tag: sanctification

A Reverent Fear of Almighty God Defines Us

Psalm 25:12
Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

As good sons and daughters of our earthly fathers, we benefitted greatly from living in awe of the highest authority figure in our lives. We have been shaped by this key relationship and we will continue to be shaped throughout our entire lives by this relationship. Our earthly fathers took us through the follies of our youth as he provided for us in our formative years and prepared us for life in this world.

Fear of God can be compared in some regards to our relationship with our earthly fathers. While we may have feared punishment from our earthly fathers, it was the fear of offending the one we loved so dearly that held such power over us. The fear of disappointing the one that we wanted to please the most provided enormous influence over us. The fear of not living up to the expectations of the one that we held in the highest place in our lives impacted our lives. The fear of losing closeness with the one we desired to be closest to kept a rein on our lives. It was this paternal fear that held us in line when the world was trying to pull us out of line and it is this awesome and reverent fear of Almighty God that defines us and keeps us in line with His eternal plans for our lives.

But so much more has been provided for us by Our Heavenly Father. He has provided for our every need in preparing us for our eternal lives with Him. Through His mercy and His perfect love, He gave us His Son as our Redeemer so that we could be worthy to spend eternity with Him. To those of us that humbled ourselves before His Son, He set aside a path of sanctification. He provided His Holy Spirit to make us aware of our sinful nature and call us to repentance. To this day, His Holy Spirit guides us and gives us rest in our souls as He leads us to our journey’s end in Our Heavenly Father’s eternal kingdom.

Let us submit in reverent fear to the Son of Almighty God, Jesus Christ. Let us seek to live every day in awe of who He is. Let us seek His Holy Spirit in directing every moment in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we exalt Your name as the name that holds the highest place in our lives and we exalt the name of Your Son, Jesus, who shed His blood for our sins. We thank You that we can live in the shadow of His love, His protection and His provision. We seek to deepen our relationship with Your Son. We pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to understand who He is so that we may live our lives in reverent awe of Him. We ask all these things in the name of Our Refiner and Purifier, Jesus Christ.

Walking with Jesus in the Journey to Sanctification

Matthew 25:21
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to join Our Master as He walks along side us in our journey toward sanctification. We can be certain that we will encounter the following along the way:
1) Jesus will set our hearts to burning for Him as He opens the scriptures to us, just as he did for the two disciples when He joined them as they were walking on the road to Emmaus.
2) The Holy Spirit will reveal to us who we are without Jesus in our lives.
3) The Holy Spirit will convict us of the darkness in our lives and urge us to be obedient in changing our ways and helping others to change their ways.
4) Satan will attack us intensely all along the way as we grow in Christ.

We can be just as certain that the victory is ours if we rely on the One who died for our sins. We will enter into the joy of Our Master for all eternity.

Can you even imagine the joy that Jesus holds? He is the essence of everything good. He is the absence of anything evil. He is perfect in every measure. This is all ours when we stand before Him one day to take our place as His eternal servants.

Let us enter into the joy of the Master. As He dwells within us, may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to redeem us from our sins and that You provided Your Holy Spirit to guide us along our path of preparation for receiving our place in heaven for all eternity. We pray that Your countenance will shine up us. We pray that Your grace will be with us always. We pray that You will protect us from harm and evil. We pray that You will protect us from the evil one and all of His temptations. We pray that You will raise us up to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May we stand before You one day and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We ask all these things in the name of the Joy of the World, Jesus Christ.

Seeking and Obeying the Counsel of the Holy Spirit

2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

God sets the vision for our lives and puts everything in place for us to fulfill the plan. He provides His Holy Spirit to stand by us, to guide us and to instruct us in the person, the grace and the righteousness that is Jesus Christ. There is absolutely nothing in this world that can stop us from meeting the plans that Almighty God has set aside for us.

We must, however, take all the small steps needed to move from one place to the next higher place that God has planned for us. We must be obedient to the urgings of the Holy Spirit as we overcome the callings of our flesh. We must allow the Holy Spirit to move us from a knowledge of Our Savior into a meaningful relationship with Him.

Along the way, Satan will challenge each and every step. And once we really start making progress, Satan will turn his evil on those around us, especially those close to us. Built up by our faith and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, we will overcome. As we surrender to the whispers of Our Helper, our tiny steps of obedience will take us to our special calling and allow us to live godly lives through the One who has called us.

Let us make the Lord, Jesus Christ, first in our lives. Let us learn to seek His counsel in all things. May the voice of His Holy Spirit drown out all the noise that the world sends to keep us from our manifest destiny in Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to complete Your good work in our lives. Thank You for the faith that You provide us through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We pray that You will help us to build a relationship with Your Son and His Holy Spirit who has been sent to be Our Helper. Help us to become tuned in to every tiny whisper from the Holy Spirit that reminds us of Your promises and guides us in faith on our journey of sanctification. We ask all these things in the name of the Anointed One, Jesus Christ.

Judged and Forgiven in Advance by Our Savior

1 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

For each of us that have been washed clean of our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ, the keys to the kingdom of God will be given. Our sins will have been judged and forgiven in advance by Our Savior. Our sins will no longer stain us in the eyes of Almighty God. We will appear in the likeness of Jesus Christ before Our Father in heaven. We will be worthy to become heirs to the kingdom of Almighty God for all eternity.

Yet Our Just and Holy Father requires that all sin must be punished. So those of us that have received the grace of salvation will experience rebuking for our sins in this lifetime. The Holy Spirit will reveal to us the past and current sins in our lives. We will be required to ask forgiveness for our sins and turn away from them. Until we completely surrender to Jesus, we will suffer trials and tribulations in accordance with our iniquities. Our suffering will serve as both the measured punishment required for our sins and the enlightenment needed to facilitate our reliance on Our Savior. Our suffering will continue until every element of our self reliance is slain at the Cross.

For every man and every woman that does not accept the offer of salvation, their time of judgement will also come. It will be at the Throne of God. Sadly, they will have no defense for their sins. They will be deemed unacceptable to enter in to the eternal home of Almighty God. There will be no comfort for those that come before the Lord on their final day still covered in the filth of their sins. They will face endless torment.

Let us rejoice in the knowledge that our salvation separates us from our sins and their required eternal damnation. Let us completely surrender ourselves to the sanctification process that the Lord has set aside for us on this earth. Let us prepare ourselves to hear the sweet words “well done good and faithful servant” when we stand before Our Heavenly Father at His Throne.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your loving kindness, Your mercy and Your grace in our lives. We thank You for opening our eyes so that we may see the sin in our lives that separates us from You. We thank You for preparing our hearts so that we could receive Your Son, Jesus, as Our Savior. We pray that You mold our hearts, Lord, so that we fully surrender to Your Son each and every day of our lives. Prepare us, Lord, to stand before You in the image of Your Son. We ask all these things in the name of the precious Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Developing an Intimate Relationship with Almighty God

John 14:9
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?” He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, “Show us the Father”?

Philip had seen Jesus with His eyes, but he had not fully discovered Him with his heart. We must be aware of the importance of truly seeking a relationship with Almighty God. He is our loving Father. He is eager for us to approach Him as Our Father in heaven. While He is pleased when we study His Word and we sit at the feet of His teachers to learn about Him, He desires for us to have so much more. He longs for us to seek intimacy with Him and He provides the way for us to do so through His salvation plan.

The greatest treasure of all time is ours. The treasure of knowing Almighty God will satisfy our hearts forever. It is ours for the taking. Magnificent gifts of grace and anointing are awaiting us. All we have to do is step beyond being satisfied with head knowledge about our treasure and into the world of a discovery of the heart.

Our Heavenly Father reserved a place in heaven for all who believe in His Son and surrender to Him to rule and reign in their lives, but that was not all that He did. Almighty God also opened up access to His throne when His Son died on the Cross. He gave us access to His Kingdom even while we are on earth.

Let us seek the Holy Spirit to inspire us to be driven by our hunger for a deep personal relationship with Almighty God through His beloved Son. Let us strive to go past head knowledge of the Father and His eternal promises. Let us enter into an intimate relationship with Him and His Son as we walk our paths of sanctification here on this earth.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son as the gateway to Your kingdom. Open our eyes, Lord, that we may not only seek our salvation through Your Son, but that we may also seek the fullness of His presence in our lives. We pray that the Holy Spirit take us beyond the knowledge of Your Son to the high places where we experience an intimate relationship with Him daily. Help us, Father, deepen our relationship withYour Son so that we may know You according to the fullness of heart that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of Your Living Testimony, Jesus Christ.

God’s Promise to Perfect His Strength in Our Weakness

Matthew 22:37
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

To love God with all of our heart, soul and mind requires that all of our physical strength and all of our intellect and understanding be fully engaged in turning all of our affections toward our heavenly Father. May we always be mindful that God provided His Son to die for our sins because we can not measure up to this command from Almighty God. We simply do not have the capacity, except through Christ in us, to love God to the extent that our love consumes our whole heart, soul and mind.

We should also be mindful that God is completely aware of our weakness. He provides His Holy Spirit to dwell within us to guide us along our path of sanctification. The Holy Spirit will not rest when we depart from making God the love above all loves in our lives. The Holy Spirit will not accept us living with one foot in God’s kingdom and one foot in the world. It is all or nothing with the Holy Spirit. The good news is that the Holy Spirit’s job is to follow through on God’s promise to perfect His strength in our weakness.

Let us, who have no virtue or value without the work of salvation in our lives, allow ourselves to be overtaken by the overwhelming love of Christ in our lives. Let us become vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness.

Let us, who fall far short of loving Our Lord with all of our hearts, all of our souls and all of our minds, surrender to the urgings of the Holy Spirit. Let us be consumed by His pentecostal fire.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the mercy and the endless grace that You provide to each of us. We bless the name of Jesus who allows us to fulfill the law that we cannot fulfill on our own. Help us, Lord, to be keenly aware of the urgings of the Holy Spirit. Help us to humbly accept the corrections that the Holy Spirit is asking us to make in our lives. We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will take us to the high places that can only be reached when our hearts are fully consumed by Your love. We ask all these things in the name of the Exalted One, Jesus Christ.

Making Jesus Christ the Ruling King of Our Lives

Romans 6:6
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Our corrupt nature, called the old man, is crucified with Jesus Christ by the grace granted from the Cross. Accepting the crucified Christ as Our Savior allows us to accept the crucifixion of our old selves. As Christ submitted totally to the Father, we also submit totally to the Father through the power of the new spirit of Jesus Christ that lives within us.

The power of evil within us was nailed to the Cross by the sacrifice of Our Savior so that the damning power of that evil might be subdued, weakened and put under restraint. But we must recognize that the old man continues to exist in a weakened and dying state, struggling to stay alive within us. So it is important that we develop an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as our ruling King. In doing so, we will shut down any place for the old man to rule. We will see the old man completely destroyed, abolished and done away with. Our bondage to sin will be done away with forever.

Let us claim our freedom from sin. Let us take firm hold of our victory over the callings of the old man. Let us rejoice in knowing that our union with our crucified Savior ensures that one day we will see the complete and total death of our old selves. Let us celebrate our daily walk of sanctification with the Holy Spirit as our guide.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the Precious Lamb, Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed for our sins. We accept our co-crucifixion with Jesus. We stand before You to ask for the Holy Spirit to strengthen us as our old man tries to pull us back into sin. We pray that the Holy Spirit will urge us to keep our eyes on the Cross and not on the world. May it all be for the glory of the Precious Lamb. We ask all these things in the name of the One who suffered so much for us, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As if Christ Himself is Speaking to Us

Luke 24:32
They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Two men walking on the road to Emmaus were met by Jesus, who accompanied them on the journey and joined them in their discussions about the recent events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. They did not recognize Him, but marveled in His knowledge of the events. Later Jesus revealed Himself to the men, resulting in their realization of how stirring that His words had been earlier.

The Scriptures can be a sealed book. The very identity of Jesus Christ and His salvation message can be hidden from us. The power and the truth are unveiled only through Jesus Christ. With Christ as Our Savior, we receive the words in Scripture as if Christ Himself is speaking them to us.

To aid us in our study of the Bible, we are joined in each reading by the Holy Spirit who directs us to focus on Jesus. The Holy Spirit whispers gentle urgings into our hearts as He reveals the truths and promises given to us through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit directs us to abide in Christ so that we may follow the path of salvation and sanctification that the Word of God provides us. If we are obedient in following the urgings of the Holy Spirit our hearts will burn with a fervent love for Our Savior and we will live in the fullness of His presence.

Let us surrender ourselves to the consuming fire of the Holy Spirit. Let our hearts burn within us with the knowledge of Our Risen Savior. Let our lives reflect the burning passion of Our King and our burning passion for Our King.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us the Living Word, Your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank You for inspiring the writers of the Bible who made the Living Word readily available to us for reading and study. We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit joins us as we seek to make Your Word the fire that fuels our love for Your Son. As the Word comes to us with evidence, power and sweetness, may our hearts burn with eagerness to be transformed by our relationship with Our Lord. We pray that our fire be so strong and so bright that others will be drawn to surrender their lives to Our Savior King. We ask all these things in the name of the eternal flame, Jesus Christ.

The Perfecting Process of Sanctification

2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

When we accept Jesus into our lives, we are sure to find that we are in bondage to one or more things that are of the world and not entirely pleasing to God. Once we receive the Holy Spirit, we will be lead into a process of shedding those things that the Lord deems unworthy. We will discover that we will not be able to change all things in our lives instantly, nor completely. Through faith, however, we will be able to confidently begin the process of shedding our fleshly bonds one at a time as the Holy Spirit convicts and strengthens us.

We can be certain that the work of sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is wholly the work of the Holy Spirit and not a work that we will pursue on our own. We can be just as certain that for the Holy Spirit to work in us that we will need to surrender to the perfecting process. It will be particularly important that we position ourselves through prayer and the study of God’s Holy Word onto a path of faith that allows us to live soberly, righteously and holy until the end of our days.

If we are steadfast in pursuing and surrendering to a path of sanctification, we will be benefactors of the strength of Jesus Christ and the assistance of His Holy Spirit. We will be enabled to perform acts of holiness and religious duty in fear of God. It will not be because of a fear of hell and damnation, but will be because of a reverential love and affection for Our Heavenly Father and a deep and complete trust in Him.

Let us bring holiness to completion in our lives. Let us surrender to the work of sanctification that only the Holy Spirit can provide. Let us rejoice in knowing that this is all made possible through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for providing Your wisdom so that we may understand Your ways and learn to live in awesome reverence of who You are. We pray that You will open our eyes so that we can see all the ways in our lives that displease You. Convict us of our sinful nature. Prepare a path for us to walk in the process of sanctification aided by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Lord, may we learn to lean on the Holy Spirit so that we may live soberly, righteously and holy. By Your grace, Father, and by the strength of Christ and the assistance of the Holy Spirit may we be delivered from our sinful lives. May the world know us by the fullness of Jesus Christ within us. We ask all these things in the name of the One who gives us the desire and the power to do what pleases You, Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Open Our Hearts to the Word of God

Exodus 20:19
Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.”

The Jewish people were not accustomed to going directly to God. They only approached God through their high priest mediators. They were quite comfortable in allowing Moses to declare to them what God had spoken to him. They committed to doing whatever Moses revealed to them. They were certain that they would be consumed by fire if they were to be in direct communication with the living God.

What an awesome privilege that we have to be able to go directly to the throne room of Almighty God. What an unspeakable blessing that we have been provided by Our Mediator, Jesus Christ, who opened the doors of heaven for us.

Yet we often delight in and rely on the spoken and written words of men rather than digging into God’s Holy Word ourselves. We tend to look for our own Moses. We find that the words of men lean toward messages that are meant to comfort us and not to convict us. They also tend to require less work to digest.

By shying away from God’s Holy Word, we seek to avoid the discomfort that comes with having our weaknesses brought to light by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Even more so, we shy away from a personal relationship with Our Creator. Unlike the early Jewish people, we may not fear being consumed by fire, but we may fear having to let go of the things of this world. In doing so, we delay the sanctifying work that prepares us for a life of eternal comfort with Our Savior and we miss out on having an intimate relationship with Him here on earth.

Let us be more earnest in our reading of the Scriptures. Let us seek the Holy Spirit to open our minds to receive all that has been prepared for us in God’s Holy Word. Let us seek and experience the joys of an intimate relationship with Our Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for speaking to us through Your Holy Spirit and Your Holy Word. We rejoice in knowing that we can hear Your voice if we dig deeply into Your Word. We pray, Lord, that we will be set on fire by Your Holy Word. We ask, Father, that You strengthen us to close our ears to the messages of leniency that the world espouses and to open our hearts to Your Holy Word so that we may bring our lives into alignment with Your laws. We ask that the Holy Spirit teach us how to listen to You. May we seek and find an intimate relationship with You through Your Son. We pray all these things through Our Great Mediator, Jesus Christ.