Skip to main content

Be Still


Yesterday was my birthday. Another 365 days have gone by, all too quickly. I took this picture at about 8:30 in the morning. The frost was on the ground, and the air was brisk. I pray that my year ahead will be spent growing closer to the Lord and getting to know Him better. I want to be more Christ-like, but some days I forget. I am always learning. How gracious and forgiving our God is! May we all delve into the Word each day and learn more fully how to obey and please the Lord Jesus Christ.



My Utmost for His Highest
Friday, February 8, 2013
The Cost of Sanctification
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself . . .” (John 17:19). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.
Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, “Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can”? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us? — Oswald Chambers

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Walking with Christ

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” John 6: 66-67 What does it mean to walk with Christ? I asked this question today. To walk means to move, to go from one physical place to another. Unless you are walking on a treadmill and then you literally go nowhere! To walk with someone else you have to keep up with their pace, whether they walk slower or faster than you. To walk with Christ we need to watch Him and match our stride with His. Not lagging behind, yet also not walking too far ahead of Him either. I know I tend to run ahead to the future in my thoughts and not always listen to what the Lord tells me in the His Word, the Bible. Who are some people who walked with God? Abraham is one who comes to mind. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.” Genesis 17:1 Abraham walked so closely with God ...

Called, Chosen and Faithful

 “...and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” (Revelation 17:14b) The saints are called, chosen and faithful. It makes me think of Revelation chapter 19:11, where Christ is described as Faithful and True. Amazing to think that we will also share this attribute of being faithful to Him! We are called to follow Him and serve Him. Chosen, His Bride, who will be dressed in fine linen, robes of righteousness.  (Revelation 19:8)  “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.”  Revelation 22:3-4  Such encouraging words to meditate on! One day the curse of sin will be broken, and we shall serve at the throne of God and the Lamb.  We will see His beautiful face, the One whom we hid our faces from (Isaiah 53:3) We will see Him and...

England Trip -March 2022- (Part 1)

                 Grandma and I.  I last saw her four years ago, too long!          Moss covered trees along the road in Dartmoor                 Sheep on Dartmoor                                       My Grandpa, John Frederick Charles Harvey. At age 9 or 10.              Hound Tor (Dartmoor)              Abbotskerswell, Devon, England. Widecombe in the Moor. Sunny one minute..... Clouds the next.....                    My Mum and my Uncle.