Sanctification/Sanctify

Day 1
Sanctification/Sanctify
(definition from Vine's Concise Dictionary)
hagiasmos, "sanctification," is used of:
(a) separation to God, 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2
(b) the course of life befitting those so separated 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 4, 7; Romans 6:19, 22;
1 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 12:14

Sanctification is that relationship with God into which men enter by faith in Christ,
Acts 26:18 18to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.' ;
1 Corinthians 6:11 11Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.,
and to which their sole title is the death of Christ,
Ephesians 5:25, 26 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,;
Colossians 1:22 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach;
Hebrews 10:10, 29 10By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 29How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Hebrews 13:12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

Day 2

I know, there is a lot of scripture this week. Try and stick with me. Today, meditate on this passage from Romans. It says all that needs to be said about sanctification. We will spend the next couple of days focusing on this passage.
Romans 6:11-23
11Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
13and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
16Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
17But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
18and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
22But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Mercy Me: Sanctified


Day 3
Romans 6:11-23

Verses 11 to 15:
What does it mean to die to sin, be alive from the dead?

Verses 16- 20: Slavery. I believe that these few verses are very important, particularly to this day and age. If we follow society's rules of living, we should not have to be obedient to anyone or anything. Obedience is a bad word. Actually, in the verses here, we are shown that we all have to be obedient to something, even if it is to ourselves. Who or what is deciding your moral compass, is it you, is it society or is it God, Creator of the Universe? You are a slave to something, what is it?

Verses 21-23: What is the benefit of being a slave to righteousness, to being set apart to God? What do you need to have to be set free?

Day 4

God wants us to choose him. I have often wondered why God didn't just create us to worship him, it would certainly have made all of this a whole lot easier. God wants to be chosen by you, he wants you to freely worship him. God wants you to desire a relationship, he wants you to have passion for his love and promises.

This is the way I try and remember why God wants to be chosen. For those of you that are married or in a relationship with someone I am sure you will be able to relate. My husband and I have been married for 13 years. As time goes by we are more and more comfortable with each other. We have come to a point where sometimes we can go a while without acknowledging the other person and all that they do for us. I am going to be really honest here, so you will have to just bear with me. As a wife I have a need to be wanted by my husband. I want him to still look at me like he did the day we were married. I want him to want to love me the way I need to be loved. I don't want to tell him to love me, I don't want to tell him how to love me, I don't want to give him a to-do list of ways to love or show me love. I still want to feel chosen by my husband.

I believe God is the same way. He has brought us into relationship (reconciled) with him through the Blood of Christ. He pours out His love and blessings into our lives and waits for us to acknowledge him. I think he patiently waits for us to respond to his love by us loving others. He wants to be chosen, to be made a priority in our lives. The great thing about God is, he isn't quite as stubborn as me and he has given us his Word, His desires for our relationship with him. There isn't any mind reading here. Just pick up the Word, be in relationship, and actively respond to everything that He has given you.

John 17: 13-21
The Disciples in the World
13"But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
14"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15"I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
16"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
18"As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
19"For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
20"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;
21that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.


Day 5
"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. "~John 17:17

You and I have been set apart (sanctified) to God because of our faith in Christ. You have been chosen and have chosen God. You have decided to be in slavery to righteousness. You are covered by grace.

Heavenly Father~ I humbly write this devotional this week. I feel inadequate. Your Word amazes me, more beautiful and promised filled then any word I could write. Thank you Lord for the freedom you have given me in my life. Lord, Thank you for reminding me of the need to nurture our relationship. Forgive me for complacency. Forgive me for not being an active participant in the love you have for me. Lord, I desire the Love you have for me. May my life, my thoughts, my actions (and inaction's) be honoring to You and all believers that call on the Name of Jesus. ~In Your Precious Name.