Sanctification

s you will see in the Scripture verses I will list below - God's ultimate and highest aim for all of us is our sanctification in Him. God wants to make us more holy like Himself. He wants to transform us into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ. He wants to consecrate and set us apart unto Himself.

The wording in these verses is very intense. One of the verses will tell us that God wants to sanctify us completely in all three parts of our being - body, soul and spirit. Jesus Himself tells us that He wants us to be perfect just like His Father in heaven is perfect.

When you first look at these verses, you wonder how anyone could ever begin to achieve any real state of holiness in the cursed and fallen world we live in. With all of the lusts of our flesh and with all of the different temptations of this world, many Christians never even attempt to give God a chance to start this sanctification process in their life. They feel this bar is simply too high to even begin to strive for in this life.

The Bible tells us that all men and all women have sinned and have fallen way short of the glory of God. We are so far from the perfection that God is really wanting from each one of us, that we see no real way to be able to obtain it to any significant degree in this life. As a result, many Christians never ask or seek after God to get this sanctification process started in their life - and as a result, there is very little, if any true spiritual growth over the course of most of their lives.

However, if you will study the specific wording in some of these verses, God the Father is showing you very clearly how this sanctification process can start to occur in this life. You don't have to wait until you get to heaven to get this sanctification process started with Him.

One of the first verses I will list below is telling us that we get three specific things as a result of Jesus dying on the cross for all of our sins. We get redemption, righteousness and sanctification.

Most Christians know about the first two - redemption and righteousness - but they either forget or do not pick up on the third thing that we all have available to us - and that is our sanctification in the Lord!

This sanctification is a progressive process. It is not something that occurs instantaneously at our conversions. It is a progressive work done by the Holy Spirit over the course of our entire life.

The apostle Paul tells us that we have to "work out" our salvation with fear and trembling. He is telling us that there are things that have to be worked out - and I believe one of those things is our sanctification in the Lord - the process where God the Father begins to set us apart unto Himself and to transform us into becoming more holy instruments of righteousness for His use.

The different Bible dictionaries and commentaries define the word "sanctification" as follows:

The state of growing in divine grace
To set apart for holy purposes
The process of being made holy resulting in a changed lifestyle for the believer

Noted Bible scholar Jack Hayford, in his excellent book titled: " Hayford's Bible Handbook," defines sanctification as follows:

"The work of God's grace by which the believer is separated from sin and becomes dedicated to God's righteousness. Accomplished by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, sanctification results in holiness, or purification from the guilt and power of sin. Sanctification is instantaneous before God through Christ and progressive before man through obedience to the Holy Spirit and the Word."

To those of you who have never really sought after the Lord to release this kind of supernatural work in your life - study these verses very, very carefully. God is giving you an incredible spiritual secret that can dramatically change the quality of your life down here on this earth.

As I said at the top of this article, you don't have to wait until you get to heaven to have God start this sanctification and transformation process in your life. It can literally start right where you are at right now if you are willing to fully surrender your entire life over to the Lord and then ask Him to begin to start this sanctification process in your life.

Before I go to the actual Scripture verses on all of this, consider one last thing. Even though this sanctification process appears to be a major leap to be able to make in the Lord - realize that God will start you off with small baby steps to get this process worked into your life. Rome was not built overnight - and neither will your sanctification in the Lord.

Many in our society have no drawing towards the spiritual things of God. Their only goal in this life is to get as much of the material things in this life as they possibly can, not really caring who they hurt and run over in the process.

Many think that trying to become more holy in the Lord is "corny." Many of these types of Christians have been labeled as being "not cool" and "goody two shoes" by their peers, by their classmates or by some of their fellow workers in the workplace. Many of our teenagers are made fun of in their schools if they don't join the crowds in abusing alcohol, doing drugs or engaging in pre-marital sex.

The ways of our God are not the ways of this world! This is why God tells us that we will become His enemies if we ever become too friendly with the things and ways of this world. This is why God is calling and separating us unto Himself in this sanctification process that He wants to start with each and everyone of us.

To become more holy and more righteous in the Lord may not be cool with the rest of the world, but it is definitely cool with the Lord. And when everything is all finally said and done, and we have finally departed from this life and have to face God for our own personal judgments - the only thing that will really matter is what God thinks - not what the world thinks. We will all be judged by how God views things, not how the world or other people view things.

I'll leave you with one last thought before going into the actual Scripture verses on this topic:

If you really watch and study people - what is the one thing that most people are really searching for and seeking after these days?

Why is it that so many people are tempted into entering a life of drugs or alcohol abuse? Why are so many people committing adultery behind their spouse's back? Why are so many business-minded people chasing after their one and only all-personal god - the almighty dollar? Why are so many people engaging with other alternative forms of spirituality, such as delving into the occult and the many facets of the New Age movement?

If you really bottom-line all of the seeking that is occurring in these areas - they are all looking for one thing - and that one thing is an incredible sense of well-being. They are all looking for that "high" that will make them "feel good."

To those who are seeking after the almighty dollar - they are looking for that high that will give them a sense of approval and a sense of accomplishment. They are looking for all the material things that this money can buy them - thinking that all of these material things will make them feel good on the inside and completely fill the emptiness and void that is on the inside of each one of them.

To those chasing after drugs, alcohol or illicit sexual encounters - they are looking for immediate gratification of physical, mental or sexual pleasures. They want to feel good right now, and they will do anything they can to try and get that next high.

However, as we all know, all of the free sex, drugs and alcohol, and all of the money in this world, and all of the material things this money can buy us, will never buy us that true state of inner happiness - that true state of well-being that we are all really searching for.

All of the material things that we can buy in this life will only keep us high for a very short period of time. Then once that high starts to wear off, we have to find something else we can buy - thinking that the next purchase will make us feel good for a longer period of time. And then it happens again. The high starts to wane, and we are once more looking for that next material thing, that next great adventure that will make us feel good about ourselves.

Many people are constantly chasing the wind, but never really being able to reach it or grab a hold of it - thus always continuing to fall short of being able to reach that elusive state of well-being that will give them the love, joy and peace they are really searching after.

Even many Christians are missing the mark on all of this. Too many Christians have become more attached to the things of this world rather than to God and the things that He wants us to get involved in. As a result, there are many Christians who are no more happy and no more fulfilled with their lives than many nonbelievers are.

Once you become saved and born again by accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior - this is just the beginning. Now God wants to start to build you up in Him and all of His ways for your life.

The first thing that God will want you to do is to be willing to enter into a full surrender with Him of you and your entire life, so that He can then set you on the path that He will want you to follow so that you can accomplish His perfect will for your life. The next thing God will want from you is that you attempt to establish a one-on-one, intimate, personal relationship with Him.

However, this will now lead us into the next big step. Many Christians have done both of these things, but they still feel there is something missing in their lives.

They are following God's perfect will for their lives, they know how to be led by the Holy Spirit on a daily basis to accomplish what needs to be accomplished, they have established very good personal relationships with the Lord - but yet there still seems to be something missing in their lives and they can't seem put their finger on it.

Where is that feeling of well-being that I should be having more of?
Where is that love, joy and peace of mind I should be having more of?
Why is it that at times I'm no more happier and no more fulfilled than many nonbelievers are?

I personally believe that the missing ingredient in many believer's life is this sanctification process. This sanctification process is a deeper work in the Lord - and many have not entered into it either because they have never been shown how to properly enter into it, or they really do not want to go this far with the Lord.

Once you enter into this sanctification process with the Lord, it can be a bit painful at times, since God will be working with you to expose and prune out all of the negative qualities that He will not want have operating in your personality.

I'll be doing additional articles in the Sanctification Section of our site, giving you all of the verses that will give you the specifics on what it is you should be seeking after in order to be able to work with the Lord in this sanctification process. As you will see in the some of the verses listed below, it is the Holy Spirit who will really be the One to sanctify you and help you to become more holy in the eyes of the Lord.

However, you will still have to do your part in all of this. As I said in another article in this section titled: " Mindset: Being Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind," you will have to be the one to attempt to "put on" the positive qualities that God will want to instill in your personality and "put away" all of the negative qualities that He will not want operating in your personality.

You will have to really work in partnership and cooperation with the Holy Spirit in order to be able to get God to move you into this deeper realm of making you to become more holy. But for those of you who are willing to let the Lord take this next extra step with you - you will find and obtain what everyone is really searching after and cannot find these days - an incredible sense of well-being that all of the money, material possessions, drugs, alcohol and sex will never be able to bring you in this life.

This incredible sense of well-being can only be found in the process of allowing God to work His very nature into your own personality, thereby making you to become more holy. A perfect example of this is the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. These 9 fruits are His fruits, not ours - such as love, joy, peace, self-control, kindness, etc.

This means that God will start to transmit and impart His love, His peace and His kindness into our personalities. And once this kind of sanctification process starts to occur, this is when you will really be able to start to feel and experience the sense of well-being that God initially created us to have in Him.

It is only when the very life of God Himself, through the Holy Spirit, starts to enter into your mind, your soul, and your spirit will you feel that high that everyone is really looking for these days. And the only way that you can get the very life of God to start to enter into your mind, soul and spirit is by entering into this sanctification process with the Lord. There is no other way. There are no shortcuts to this process. I really believe this is one of the main missing ingredients in many believer's walks with the Lord.

Now I'll go to the actual Scripture verses showing you that God really does want to start this sanctification process with each and everyone of us. I'll then end this article giving you a simple 4 step process to get God to move you into this sanctification process if you are not afraid of it and are willing to work with Him on it.

1. We Are Now Sanctified in Christ Jesus

In the above definition from Jack Hayford on sanctification, you will note that he says that sanctification is "instantaneous before God through Christ" but that it is "progressive before man through obedience to the Holy Spirit and the Word."

As you will see in the first two Scripture verses I will list below, these verses are telling us that we are now "sanctified in Christ Jesus" and that we now receive sanctification, along with redemption and righteousness, through the blood that Jesus has personally shed for all of us on the cross. This is what Mr. Hayford means by the first part of this definition in that our sanctification is instantaneous before God through Christ.

However, as you will see in several verses I will list in the second caption below, this sanctification is also progressive in nature as far as we are individually concerned. This means we have to go through a progressive process through the Holy Spirit and the Word in order to become more sanctified in the Lord.

What I believe the Lord is trying to tell us in these first two verses is that we have already received His sanctification, like we have already received His redemption and righteousness as a result of being saved and born again. Here are the two verses:

"To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord ..." (1 Corinthians 1:2)
"But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption ..." (1 Corinthians 1:30)

To think that God the Father has given us a full redemption and a full pardon for all of our sins - and then to add to this package the process of being able to be sanctified through the power of His Holy Spirit to become the saints that He wants us to become in Him - is enough to knock you right off the couch if you really stop and think what is in these three words:

Redemption, Righteousness and Sanctification!

And to think that all of this is coming direct from the one and only Almighty God of the entire universe if we are willing to accept His free gift of eternal salvation through His Son Jesus and His sacrificial death on the cross.

It really doesn't get any better than this that God and Jesus would go to this type of extreme length to bring us back to Themselves - and then allow us to become partakers in this sanctification process where God the Father can then start to mold, shape and transform us into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ.

2. Sanctification is a Progressive Process

Now here are the two verses that will show us that becoming sanctified in the Lord is a progressive process. The two keys words in both of these verses are "being sanctified."

If we were all instantaneously sanctified at the moment of our conversions with Jesus, then the Bible would not be using these two words of "being sanctified." The word "being" is telling us that this is a progressive and ongoing process.

"For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren ..." (Hebrews 2:11)
"For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14)

Again, with God the Father being willing to open up this sanctification process to each born-again believer - this is really an incredible privilege and the highest of all honors that we can receive from the Lord.

3. God is Calling All of Us to Sanctification

As you will see in the next set of verses, God is calling all of us to this sanctification in Him. These verses are all very direct and straight to the point. The first verse I will list below is telling us that God wants to sanctify us "completely" in all three parts of our being - body, soul and spirit!

When God uses the word "completely" - He is using a maximum intense kind of word. He wants to take us all the way in this realm if we are willing to yield to it and work with Him during the process.

If you really study the wording in all of these verses, you can really feel the importance that God is placing on this sanctification process - and that this is something that He wants all of His children to become a part of, not just a few of His select saints.

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
"... but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." (1 Peter 1:15)
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God ... For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness." (1 Thessalonians 4:3,7)
"Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Corinthians 7:1)
"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work." (2 Timothy 2:20)
"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
"I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness ... What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life." (Romans 6:19-22)

When you first read the way these verses are worded, it is very easy to become dismayed and distraught. If you are really honest with yourself, you can really feel and sense how far of a gap there is between where you are at right now with the Lord in your present level of spiritual development and how far God would really like to take you in this realm.

Many Christians, when they first read these kinds of verses, realize they are simply too far away from this type of holiness in their present state of spiritual development and they thus throw in the towel - never even attempting to give God a chance, through the Holy Spirit, to start this sanctification process through them in this life.

This will now lead us into the next section. These next set of verses will tell you exactly how God can get this sanctification process started in your life right in the middle of wherever your present level of spiritual development may be in Him - no matter how bad you think it may be.

4. Sanctification is Done By the Word and the Holy Spirit

Study these next set of verses very, very carefully. Trying to achieve the state of holiness that God the Father would like to bring us up into is completely impossible if we try to do it through our own flesh and through our own efforts.

Many Christians are trying to achieve this state of holiness without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit helping them out. You can easily spot those who are being properly sanctified through the Holy Spirit and those who are not.

The ones who are trying to achieve this sanctification out of their own efforts and out of their own flesh not do not appear to be genuine. Their acts of holiness do not appear to be coming from the heart. You get the sense they are just trying to put on a show. There just seems to be something fake and plastic about them and the way they operate. Even most nonbelievers can see right through them. There is a sense of false piety about them that does not seem to ring true.

However, with the person who is being properly sanctified by the Holy Spirit, you can really tell there is something different about this type of person. This person does not flaunt his piety, goodness or holiness. They are very humble about it. Everything they do comes from the heart and everything appears to be done very naturally. There is no pretentiousness or sense of false piety in their actions or attitudes.

This sense of real holiness they are projecting through their personalities literally has a drawing power to it. You find yourself gravitating to these types of people. You can almost sense or see a radiance or glow about them. The love of God just radiates from their countenance. You are very comfortable in being in their presence and talking with them. You can see that their holiness is genuine and that it really is coming from the heart of God Himself.

This is why these next set of verses are so specific on how this sanctification process is done in the Lord. Bottom line - sanctification in the Lord is done by the power of the Holy Spirit operating through the knowledge that the Word will give you. In other words - it is the Word and the Spirit working together that will cause this sanctification process to begin and occur in your life.

It really is the Holy Spirit that will be the One to cause this type of transformation to occur in your personality. However, the Holy Spirit will not work without the Word. Why? Because the Word of God will give you the knowledge that you will need in order to be really able to work with the Holy Spirit in this process. You have to know exactly what it is that God wants to change about you before the Holy Spirit will move to cause some of these changes to start to take place in your personality.

Example - you have to learn from the Bible what some of the specific qualities are that God will want to impart into your personality. A good example of this are the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible will tell you exactly what these nine fruits are. Then once you know exactly what they are - then you can start to work with the Holy Spirit to get more of these fruits manifested and imparted into your personality. But if you don't learn exactly what these specific fruits are to begin with by reading about them from the Bible - then the Holy Spirit will have nothing to work with and He thus may not do much with you in this realm.

All Christians have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of them. The Holy Spirit is only too anxious to get the ball rolling with you in every area of your life where you may need His help on - especially in the area of being sanctified in the Lord. However, many Christians have not spent much time in the Word and they are thus lacking the "working knowledge" they will need to work with the Holy Spirit in this deeper realm. As a result, there is very little, if any true spiritual growth over the course of most of their lives.

As you can tell by the way these verses are worded, this sanctification realm is for the real seekers. The real seekers will be diving into God and His Word to find out exactly what it is God wants to do with them, and then will only be too anxious to work with the Holy Spirit during this process - having no fear of doing it, and being willing to fully submit to the Lord with how He wants to handle all of it.

These verses in particular are giving you the "key" that will open this door of sanctification to come into your life and change it forever.

" ... because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth ... " (2 Thessalonians 2:13)
"And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11)
"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18)
" ... elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace be multiplied." (1 Peter 1:2)
"For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13)
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:25)
"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever ... " (1 Peter 1:22)

Notice in the last verse it says that your soul can become purified by "obeying the truth through the Spirit." You can only get God's truth in you if you read His Word. Learn the truth by studying the Word, and then combine this with walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, and then your soul can become purified.

The verse right above it says that Jesus can cleanse and sanctify His church, which are the individual body of believers, by the "washing of water by the word." In other words, you can be washed clean by His Word if you are willing to soak into the Scripture verses like you would soak in a bath or shower water to clean off. The Word of God has that kind of power in it!

The truth from God can set you free in many areas of your life - but you first have to learn what those truths are before they can start to work to set you free. And the only way to find the spiritual truths that will change the quality of your life and help set you free is by reading and studying from the Bible. There is no other way!

The first 5 verses specifically tell us it is by the Holy Spirit Himself that this sanctification process is done in your life. Put all of these verses together, and God the Father is telling you exactly how this sanctification process can be done in this life - and that is by the power of the Holy Spirit operating through the knowledge that the Word will give you.

In other words, it's the Word and the Holy Spirit working together in a believer, who is actively seeking after God and His Word, that will get God to release the Holy Spirit to start this transformation and sanctification process within your mind, body, soul and spirit.

Conclusion

Though all of the above may seem like a tall order in the type of world we live in today - it really isn't. I have personally seen God do a sanctifying work in several people I know, and the results and changes in these people's personality have been dramatic and powerful. They are no longer the people I used to know. They are now true saints in every sense of the word.

The Holy Spirit is powerful and He is God Almighty Himself. Once You see Him really get a hold of a believer, and then start this sanctifying work in them to make them to become more holy and Christ-like in their souls and personalities - it is truly is an incredible sight to behold! In my opinion, this is even more miraculous than watching Him heal someone of a physical ailment or a disease.

To those of you who would like to tread into this type of deeper waters with the Lord, but are somewhat fearful of what He may do with you - the one thing that I can personally tell you is that you can completely trust God the Father to begin this work in you. He knows you better than you can ever know yourself. Since God is totally and completely perfect in His very nature and in His personality - then this means He will know how to perfectly handle you with this sanctification process.

I'll end this article with a very simple 4 step process that will lead you into this sanctification realm if you decide you want to give God a full and solid green light to start this process within you. However, what I can't give you is exactly what God will be personally doing with each and everyone of you once this sanctification process starts up.

Everyone is operating at different levels of spiritual development with the Lord. Some people have more baggage to clean up than others. Some people will be more resistant to the Holy Spirit wanting to remove certain negative qualities than others will. Some will progress at a faster rate of speed than others will because they will be more honest with the Lord and will be more open to receiving revelation on exactly what it is God wants to put in them and exactly what it is He wants to take out of them.

This sanctification is a process. It is not something that will done overnight. You can trust God to perfectly handle the time frame in which He wants to operate in. He will not overwhelm you. He will give you plenty of reasonable time to work with the Holy Spirit once the Holy Spirit starts to impart revelation and knowledge to you on exactly what it is He wants to come after.

For those of you who would really like to get serious with the Lord on getting this sanctification process started in your life - here is a very simple 4 step process that will get you in if you decide you want to take the plunge.

1. Decide If You Really Want It

The first thing you will need to do is to make a personal decision as to whether or not you really want to enter into this sanctification realm with the Lord. Many Christians really do not want God to do any type of sanctifying work in their lives. The reason for this is that they know He will be coming after some of their vices and character flaws, and they are simply not willing to give up some of these vices or attempt to try and work with Him to change certain parts of their personalities.

So the first thing you will have to do is to make a personal decision as to whether or not you really want the Lord to begin this type of deeper work in your life. This is not something that you can go halfway with Him on. This is an all-or-nothing decision. You're either going to go all the way with the Lord once He begins to do it with you or you are not. You cannot straddle the fence post with Him on this. If you do, then the Holy Spirit is not going to move with full force to help get you cleaned up and sanctified to the degree that God would really like to get you to in this life.

Once the Lord starts to move into certain areas of your life and personality - then you are going to have to be willing to fully work with Him on it or nothing is going to get accomplished. He has to have your full consent on all of this. God really respects your free will and He will not run against it.

If you decide you want to give the Lord a full and solid green light to begin this deeper work in your life after really thinking and chewing on the ramifications on what this type of deeper progressive work will entail - then you will now be ready for step 2.

2. Ask God the Father to Begin the Sanctification Process

To get God to start to move you into this sanctification realm will only require one thing - and that one thing is that you go before the Lord in serious and heartfelt prayer, and ask Him to start this sanctification process in your life through the power of the Holy Spirit. It really is that simple.

The Bible says to ask - and then you will receive. The Bible also says you have not because you ask not. In other words, all you simply have to do is ask God in prayer to start this sanctification process and tell Him that you will now be willing to work with both Him and the Holy Spirit once it starts.

Once you put this initial request on His altar, I would keep reminding the Lord to keep this sanctification process going for the rest of your life at least once or twice a year for the rest of your life.

By reminding God to keep this sanctification process going for the rest of your life - you are showing Him that you mean serious business with Him, and that you want the Holy Spirit to keep working with you in this realm as long as you are walking and breathing in this physical body. The show never stops with the Lord. He will take you as far as you will want to go with Him in this realm.

For those of you who would like a good sample prayer to go before God the Father to get Him to start this sanctification process in your life, here is a very good sample prayer you can use:

"Father,

In the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, I now approach Your throne with a very special request. Your Word tells me that You want to completely sanctify me through the special workings of the Holy Spirit. Your Word tells me that You want to shape, mold and transform me into the express image of Your Son Jesus Christ. Father, I now want to work in cooperation and in partnership with both You and the Holy Spirit to begin this deeper sanctifying work in my life.

Father, I now ask that You begin to completely sanctify me in both my body, my soul and my spirit. I now give You a full and solid green light to begin this sanctification process in my life. Father, I now ask that You hold nothing back once You begin this sanctifying work in me and my life. I will now be willing to work with both You and the Holy Spirit in any area of my life and in any area of my personality that You feel needs to be cleaned up, sanctified and made more holy.

Father, I now have full faith and belief that You will honor this request and will begin this sanctification process in my life in the way, manner and timing You deem most appropriate at the level of spiritual development that I am currently operating at with You.

Thank You Father.
Thank You Jesus.
Thank You Holy Spirit."

This would be the basic gist of wording this type of prayer for those of you who may have a hard time in wording some of your specific prayers to the Lord. If you can truly approach God with this type of prayer, and you are really meaning it from your mind and from your heart - then God will hear you loud and clear, and He will then begin to start this sanctification process in your life right where you are standing at the moment this request is put before Him.

3. Study the Word For the Knowledge That You Will Need

If you are willing to give God a full and solid green light in which to start this sanctification process in your life - then there are now two things you must be willing to do on your end to get this sanctification process moving into full gear. You will not be a passive robot in all of this - expecting God to do all of the work for you. He will need you to do your part in all of this. This will now lead us into the last two parts that will complete what you will need to know in order to be able to work in cooperation with the Lord on all of this.

Your first part will be to study the Word on some type of regular and frequent basis. As some of the above Scripture verses have stated - it is the combination of the Holy Spirit working with the Word and the knowledge that the Word will give you that will cause this sanctification process to move into high gear in your life.

As I stated at the top of this article, you have to have the actual knowledge on exactly what it is God wants to change about you. And the only way you can get this knowledge is by reading and studying from the Bible.

Study and pull from the Bible exactly what it is that God wants to impart into your personality and exactly what it is He wants to take out of your personality that is not pleasing to Him - and then the Holy Spirit will start to move into those specific areas to help get you cleaned up and sanctified.

It's the Word and the Spirit working in conjunction with one another that will take you on this road to holiness in the Lord. However, you're part is to get into the Word. The Holy Spirit cannot do this part for you. Many Christians do not spend much time in the Bible - and this is one of the main reasons why there is not much spiritual growth occurring in their lives.

The Holy Spirit will personally guide you in this life as to how often and how frequently you will need to read from the Bible. You don't want to get into legalism and ritualism with how often and how much time you will spend in the Word. God Himself will personally guide you in all of this. Just realize that God will be wanting you to spend kind of regular quality time during the course of your life in reading from His Word, and trying to understand and assimilate what you are reading as best you can.

The subsequent articles that we will have listed in the Sanctification Section of our site will be giving you many of the appropriate Scripture verses pertaining to your sanctification - and exactly what it is God wants to impart into your personality and exactly what it is He wants to take out of your personality.

4. Work in Cooperation With the Holy Spirit During This Process

The last and final part to really being able to get this sanctification process started in your life is your willingness and eagerness to work very closely with the Holy Spirit once He starts to move in on you and let you know exactly what it is He wants to do. Here are a few examples of what you may expect from Him.

The apostle Paul says that God wants to sanctify you completely - body, soul and spirit. Don't be surprised if one of the things that the Holy Spirit will move in on is any particular vices you may have that could be harming your physical body. Good examples of this would be smoking cigarettes, smoking pot, abusing alcohol and overeating on the wrong kinds of foods.

Many Christians are addicted to smoking cigarettes. I've seen God move in on quite a few of them on this particular vice. Some of them have been successful in kicking the habit, and others have not. The power of the Holy Spirit is there to help break this addiction, but the person has to really want to have this vice removed from them before God will move in to break this addiction off of them.

Some people really do not want to give this up for the Lord. When that happens, God will respect your free will on the matter and back off. However, I have seen Him come back in waves on that person, and every so often He keeps coming back and knocking on their doors, letting them know once more that He would really like to have this addiction removed from their lifestyle.

The same goes for those Christians who still like to smoke their pot. I've discovered there is some slack with the Lord on the cigarette thing - but there is much less slack with Him on the pot issue! Every Christian who I have known that has smoked pot, and then really came into a full surrender with the Lord, have all had the pot taken out of their lives very quickly.

Bottom line - God will be letting you know very early on which of these vices He would like to have removed from your personality and lifestyle. His power is there to help break these addictions off of your back - but you will have to be the one to make this personal decision for yourself as to whether or not you will work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to take these addictions out of your life for good.

I've seen God break many of these types of addictions off of people and they did not have to go through any type of physical withdrawal during the weaning off process. God, through the power of the Holy Spirit operating on the inside of you, has the full power to be able to set you completely free from any vices or addictions you may have. There is nothing that the power of God cannot totally defeat and conquer if you are willing to allow God to work with you in these areas.

Other areas of your life that God may want to move in on are some of your attitudes. If you are holding any unforgiveness towards others for things they may have done to you in your past - expect God to move in very strongly to try and get you to forgive these people and to let all of the wrongs they may have ever done to you into His hands. Vengeance and payback belong to the Lord - not to you or anyone else! God will be righting all the wrongs ever done to you in this life. Your job is to forgive all of those who have ever hurt or wronged you and get on with the rest of your life.

If you are operating in a judgmental, critical, controlling or manipulating spirit - expect the Lord to deal very heavily with you on these issues. These kinds of attitudes and behaviors are poisonous and toxic to all of those who come in contact with them. They are all unacceptable in God's eyes, and the Holy Spirit will be moving very strongly on you with conviction and insight to tackle these kinds of attitudes and behaviors.

Bottom line - God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, will be letting you know very clearly what good, positive and godly qualities He will want to try and "put on" into your personality, and what negative qualities and vices He will want to try and "put away." Once all of this knowledge and information has been given to you by the Lord - then it will be up to you as to whether or not you will want to work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to get all of this accomplished.

If you are willing to work with the Lord in the specific areas that He will target - then the Holy Spirit will start to do the miraculous and supernatural work of removing all of the bad things that He will not want operating in your personality and life, and then impart all of the positive and godly things that He will want have operating in your personality and life. And once this starts to happen, God the Father will then start to transmit and impart part of His very nature and personality right up into your mind, soul and spirit.

God's love, joy, peace, patience, boldness, goodness, gentleness and kindness will all start to move up and mesh into your personality - increasing your ability to be able to walk, live and operate in these saintly and godly qualities.

When this starts to happen, you will have officially entered into a true progressive sanctified state - where the very life of God Himself will now be flowing through you and out of you so that you can reach others with His message of eternal salvation and His message on how to properly live this life the way He wants His people to live it.

The Bible tells us that God wants us to become fishers of men for Him. You can become a much better fisherman, representative and ambassador for the Lord if you are willing to allow Him to lead you into this sanctification process. Nothing will draw others to the Lord more than a Spirit-filled, anointed, and truly sanctified saint who has the fruits and qualities of the Holy Spirit operating through his or her personality.

This sanctification process is available to every single born-again believer. However, it is up to each and every Christian to make this personal decision for themselves. This is something that the Lord will not force on anyone due to the individual cooperation that is needed from each person to really get this process started.

I'll leave you with one last thought on all of this. True holiness is God's ultimate and highest aim for all of us. Getting saved and born again is just the beginning. Once you are saved, God expects you to spiritually grow and mature in your personal walk with Him.

After studying the Bible from cover to cover - I believe one of the main secrets that is jumping out loud and clear is that God and Jesus are calling us unto Themselves to become a partaker of Their own divine holiness. They are calling us out to become separate from the world and the corrupt ways of this world.

As a result of Jesus personally dying on the cross for each and everyone of us - we now have direct access to the throne of God the Father Himself. As a result of this direct access we now have with God the Father, we not only get to pray and communicate directly with Him - but we also get an open invitation to become partakers of this sanctification process where He can start to work, mold, change and transform us into the express image of His one and only Son Jesus Christ.

God is holy - and He is calling each and everyone of us into His very holiness. God Himself can start to transmit and impart, through the Holy Spirit, some of His very own attributes and personality qualities right up into the middle of our own souls and personalities if we are willing to enter into this sanctification process with Him.

To those of you who would really like to try and achieve any true sainthood in this life with the Lord - this progressive sanctification process is what will lead you in. This path and journey to holiness in the Lord is there for all who are willing to step into it and are not afraid to work with the Holy Spirit in the directions that He will want to take them in.

To those of you who are willing to take this dive into these deeper waters with the Lord - I guarantee you will find the most incredible state of well-being that you will never find in any of the material things or pursuits of this world.

Michael Bradley Click here for reprint information

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Scripture taken from New King James Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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Copyright © 2005-2008 by Michael Bradley.

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