Sanctified Heart

1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

The doctrine of sanctification was flush out in its current teaching by John Wesley and other circuit rider preachers in the 17th century. The teaching to live holy and blameless in Christ is a Pauline Epistle teaching given to us by the Apostle Paul in the first century, and in this scripture, Peter instructs us to be sanctified.  The idea that Christian should have a sanctified heart is not something that the earlier founders of Wesleyan conjectured from some new revelation given to them. It was a revival of God’s word, revealing to us the life that God desires all His children to live. The word sanctify shows up in scripture in many different contexts, but the root of the word is to make holy or to set apart. God desires that our heart be made holy and used for His glory. A sanctified heart does not mean that a person is perfect in their humanity, but their heart’s can be perfect before God in motives and intentions. The world will do everything to discount the life of a Christian who stands for truth and righteousness. As Christian we are to be ready to give an answer to the unbeliever, the hope of Christ that lives within us. Our witness for Christ should reflect the life of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer to live a life blameless before the world. A heart that is sanctified is not infallible to failure, but it will empower a Christian to overcome temptation and live right before God and those who are watching our walk with Christ.

The Will of God

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

 Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

What is the will of God? There are a lot of things in life we are not sure of God’s will. We make choices every day and those choices often lead us down a road that we regret or rejoice. Finding God’s will in every decision of life is not realistic. We often make our decision base on our state of mind, the information we have, or how we feel. We do know that a heart that desires God’s will follows the admonish of His word. It is His will to rejoice and praise Him for salvation, for the blood that He shed for our sins. It is also His will that we have a praying heart, keeping the communication channels always open to talk to Him. His will is done when in spite of what happens in life that we are to lift up our voices and give thanks, and lastly, it is the will of God that we be sanctified, set apart from the evil of this world, choosing good over evil. Made vessels unto holiness to be preserved blameless and holy at His coming. This is done, when we allow the Holy Spirit to have free access and control of our heart. “This is the will of God, even your sanctification”. We may not know what to do, but we can know to choose that which is good and acceptable to God.

Fervent Love

1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

We all fall short from perfection. God is able to keep us blameless from willful transgressions, but we are still human with shortcomings in our personality, judgements and habits. In this respect we will never be perfect. Satan seeks to divide the people of God by causing friction and discord among the believers. Peter had his share of conflicts. His own prejudices caused Paul to confront his misjudgment. We will face situations in our lives where we will not understand the actions of others. We can become frustrated and resentful. In times like these, it is imperative that we asked the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His perfect love. Fervent love that will cover the wrong doings of others. Let love reign, casting away all forms of bitterness and hatred.  

Abstain From Sin

1 Peter 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.

Accepting Christ into our lives and being forgiven of our sins does not mean that we will no longer be tempted to satisfy the desires of the flesh. Especially as new born babes in Christ, the flesh wars against the new spirit within us to yield to the temptation to gratify sinful human desires that God tells us to refrain. As we feed on the milk of God’s word, the Holy Spirit begins to strengthen our resolve and gives us the means to fight against the flesh. As we grow in God, His Spirit brings us to a place where we yield our bodies as a living sacrifice to God’s perfect will in our lives. As it was in the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit takes control of our lives and empowers us to live holy and blameless. We daily submit to the will of God because Satan will continue to tempt us through our humanity to doubt God’s love and will for our lives. “Did God say?”.  Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

Spotless and Blameless

1 Thess 5:23, 34 The very God of peace sanctify you wholly, I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless… Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

It is God’s desire to keep us spotless and blameless from the contamination of the world and sin. Paul’s prayer was that God would sanctify believers, set them apart to be vessel of honor and live holy in this world. The enticement for pleasure, power, prestige, and popularity are strong pulls placed on the fleshly desires of man. It requires a full submission to the whole will of God, and indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to maintain our vessel clean and spotless. The promise of God is to sanctify us by sending the Holy Spirit to purge our hearts not only from the sins we have committed against Him, but to purify our hearts in faith. To do this, we must totally submit our will to surrender our lives into His hands. Be willing to pray without ceasing, give thanks in all things, do as the Spirit leads, follow the commands of God, and abstain from that which would cause us to be influence for evil. For this is the will of God, even our sanctification.

He is Faithful

1 Thess 5:23,24 …your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless…Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it.

Standing before God without blame. Without guilt or fault seems like an impossibility considering our human frailties. We are so prone to give in to our human weakness and taking sides against ourselves does not come natural. God has called us to live a life that is without sin. It is a standard that seems to be unreachable considering the world we live in with all the bad influences we are surrounded with each day. How is this possible? Is it just something we strive for, or is it a life we can actually live? The scripture indicates that such a life is possible only when we submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit leads and empowers the believer to trust in God and guides them into truth. If we quench not the Spirit, He is faithful to keep us blameless, without spot or wrinkled. It is the blood of Christ that atones for our sin, but our will must stay submitting when the Spirit leads us. To refuse the Spirits, is to quench the Spirit. The Faithfulness of God will always be there, but we must believe that He is faithful.

Called Unto Holiness

1 Thess 5:23,24 “ 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. Faithful is He that calleth you; He also will do it.

Called unto holiness is more than just a song we sing in church. It is more than just a doctrine that is held by many churches that hold to the teachings of John Wesley. It is a Bible experience that every Christian can have. We strive daily to live in holiness, but God calls us not only to strive but to obtain the experience of being blameless before God. To be sanctify wholly is an experience of God’s grace by shedding in our hearts the Holy Spirit who purges out the carnal sinful nature. The whole of our body, soul and spirit can be made pure by the indwelling presence of God. This is the prayer that Paul gives to those who have come to Christ for salvation and forgiveness. He prayed to God that our hearts would be remain pure and holy until we see Christ face to face. The God who called us to holiness is faithful to answer prayer to anyone who is willing to let God sanctify them wholly.

To Know God

ohn 8:46 “Which of you convicteth Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me?”-

Knowing about God and believing that He exist does not mean that you know God and believing that He lives in your life. To know God, is to be convince that that He is the Vine and we who believe Him are part of the Vine. We bare the fruit from the Vine and believe that He is the One true God. To know God, is to put into the practice His teachings in our life. To go where He wants us to go, to be what He wants us to be. We no longer make choice what we want, but we desire what He wants. To know God, is to have a relationship with Jesus that causes us to look at people in a whole different way. We become less critical of others and more compassionate toward those we criticize. To know God, is to trust Him to make us into His image and live a life blameless and pleasing.

Garment of Salvation

Isa 61:10 “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God. For He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness” 

Born in sin we all bare the shame of our nakedness. Once innocent and blameless before God, sin enter the world through our 1st parents who caused us to lose our holy disposition. They hid from God, looking for cover for they were ashamed that they were without clothes. But, God in His great mercy, sent Jesus to shed His blood that we may be clothes in robe of righteousness. It is the righteousness of God, not of any merit that we have done that we can now stand boldly in the presence of God. Christ, our garment of salvation has covered us with His grace and mercy to live blameless and without shame before Him. This is something to rejoice about!.

Adopted By God

Eph. 1:4-5 “He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to be His own adopted children by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will”- 

The Creator and Maker of the universe and mankind desired from the beginning to have fellowship with His creation. His desire was for us to remain blameless and to have holy fellowship with Him. For true love to be reciprocated, man must be given a free will to return this love. His foreknowledge of man’s choice to reject Him to serve the creation above the creator put in motion a provision to redeem and reinstate mankind to a place of holy fellowship. Through the death of His Son Jesus Christ, we now have access through faith. Faith in Christ brings us back to God and we are now sons of God and children of the most Holy. Adopted and made heirs to His Kingdom. I’m so glad am a part of the family of God. His children forever I’am.