Sanctification..Craig Denison Ministries

 Sanctification

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

Trust is something we are not created to give away lightly. We value trust like we value our own lives, constantly scrutinizing others to see if they're worthy of our trust. But still we are made to do life with help. We are made to place our trust in that which will provide us with more life, joy, and peace. I pray that this week you and I will discover how trustworthy our heavenly Father is. I pray that we will willingly hand over control of our lives to a capable, loving, and near God. And I pray we will experience the abundant life that can only come through placing our trust in a God who gives up everything for relationship with us.

Scripture:“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” Psalm 37:5-6

Devotional:

Sanctification and holiness are words that used to strike terror into my heart. As a believer I have always tried to pursue holiness, and I always seem to fail. It seems like no matter what I do I can’t escape sin and can’t get past my own brokenness and mess. Even in seasons where I am experiencing freedom from some sins, there always seems to be something else I need to fix or get better at. I’ve felt like I was on this endless tightrope of spiritual development that I kept falling off of and of which I couldn’t seem to find the end.

While God’s heart is most definitely for our sanctification and holiness, his perspective is far different than what I just described. You see, God knows that sanctification doesn’t come about through our efforts. I can in no way sanctify myself because in and of myself I have no holiness. The truth God has for us today is simply this: sanctification comes about by true relationship with our heavenly Father alone. Holiness is the direct result of openly and continually encountering the nature of a perfect, loving, and available God.

If we are going to experience the fruit of righteousness, we must learn to trust God in his plan for our sanctification. We must learn to trust that in encountering him we will experience freedom from our sin and healing for the wounds that drive us to the things of the world.

Psalm 37:5-6 says, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” When we trust God to bring about our righteousness by simply committing our way to him and trusting in him, we engage in a process of sanctification founded on encounters with his loving grace.

Sanctification is not meant to be this heady process of turmoil and striving that we so often experience. While it may be difficult, it is designed to be filled with the continually forgiving and loving heart of our good Father. It is designed to be based on experiencing Jesus that we might become more like him.

Spend time today seeking the heart of your heavenly Father. Commit your ways to him and trust in him. Ask him to reveal his heart for your righteousness. Ask him to guide you into a process of sanctification marked by his grace, love, and nearness. Stop seeing the process of sanctification as a never-ending timeline and instead center it wholly around relationship with your heavenly Father. May you experience righteousness and holiness today as you encounter the perfect nature of Jesus. May your day be marked by peace as you commit your spiritual development to the hands of the Potter. And may you be transformed into the image of Jesus as you engage in the process of sanctification based on relationship with a good, near God.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the process of sanctification. Allow God’s heart as described in Scripture to stir up your desire to engage in relationship-based sanctification.

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” Psalm 37:5-6

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

2. In what ways have you been striving for your own righteousness and holiness rather than receiving it from God? In what ways have you been looking at sanctification as a timeline or tightrope rather than as a relationship with a good God?

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” Galatians 2:21

3. Take time to encounter the holiness of your loving Father. Open your heart and receive his presence. And in his presence commit to him the process of your sanctification. Allow peace and rest to fill your heart as the burden of striving for sanctification falls off in light of God’s glorious grace.

“But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” 1 Peter 1:15

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’” Isaiah 6:1-5

I pray that 2 Peter 1:2-4 will fill you with the courage to have grace and rest in the process of sanctification. May your life be marked by God’s forgiveness and grace.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Extended Reading: 1 Peter 1

Finding God in Creation..Betsy St. Amant Haddox

 Finding God in Creation (Romans 1:19-20)

By: Betsy St. Amant Haddox

Romans 1:19-20 (ESV) For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Autumn is my favorite time of year. The crisp leaves exchanging shades of green for shades of amber and crimson and gold. The cool mornings and evenings that demand your favorite hoodie and cozy socks. The big Harvest moons that rise at night and silently hovers over the horizon. For me, Fall is one season that consistently brings God glory.

Without a doubt, God speaks to us through His creation. There are allegories and metaphors under almost every rock! We see how lovely it is to let dead things go in the way the trees release their leaves with a final burst of color. We see the promise of resurrection in the way the leaves grow back in the Spring, along with flowering blooms and fragrant blossoms. We see the consistency of God’s unchanging nature in the steady rising and setting of the sun every morning and evening. And we see the guarantee of His Word in the rainbows that grace the sky in colorful arcs after a rain shower.

I think these are just a few of the things Paul might be referring to when he wrote this chapter in Romans 1. One only needs to look around this earth to see the beauty of the Lord, to receive testimony of His glory, and to prove not only His existence, but His care and provision over all living things.

Matthew 6:25-26 (ESV) Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

God didn’t just create it, He manages it. He sees and cares for all living things, including nature.

The carefully ordained structure and order of the Earth all point back to God. Every leaf, every sea creature, every changing season, and every bird of the air brings God glory. The way the human body heals and repairs itself, the way animals’ instincts keep them safe during a natural disaster, the way seeds are planted and grow to provide a bounty, the laws of gravity…we as frail humans can’t accomplish any of these wonders on our own. We can only see and marvel at the Lord for creating them, as He did us.

Paul points out in Romans 1 that no one can claim an excuse for not seeing what God has obviously put on Earth in so many wonderful, various ways—the glory of His majesty.

A Prayer to Love Our Enemies..Lynette Kittle

 A Prayer to Love Our Enemies

By Lynette Kittle

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” - Matthew 5:44

Have you ever been hated? If so, you’re in good company because Jesus was perfect, yet He had those who hated Him to the extent of wanting Him dead. More concern should be if the world loves us because it’s a sign we most likely aren’t living our lives for God. As John 15:19 explains, it’s better to be hated by the world than loved. “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

Most often, enemies come not by our choice, and usually, there isn’t anything we can do to change their attitude towards us. It’s birthed within their hearts and has to be extracted from the inside out. Sadly, it sometimes comes from within our own families who hate us because of our faith in Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:36).

In these situations, how do we forgive those who hate us, much less love them? Often, we say we forgive, yet we don’t feel it, and we certainly don’t feel love for them. So, what do we do in these circumstances? How do we get past unforgiving and loveless feelings?

It seems the call to love our enemies is misunderstood because the secular world has reduced love down to a feeling. But real love goes much deeper and often isn’t a warm, fuzzy feeling. Real love is expressed through actions, which really are louder than words. Genuine love bypasses emotions and chooses to pray, do good, give, and even sacrifice for those who hate us. So if void of forgiving and loving feelings, how do we love our enemies with actions? Following are four ways to begin.

1. Pray for our enemies. As Matthew 5:44 urges, loving our enemies begins with prayer.

2. Do good for our enemies. Good may just start by not talking badly about them to others, along with making no effort to harm them in return. Like Luke 6:27 encourages, “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” 

3. Give to our enemies. Although they may not want us to give to them, even so, our responsibility is only to give. If they refuse or discard what we offer, we’ve have fulfilled our part. Proverbs 25:21 urges, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.”

4. Sacrifice for our enemies. Being kind and generous to someone who hates us is living sacrificially, it’s risky knowing if we receive anything in return it most likely will be more rejection and disdain from them.

Yet Luke 6:35, encourages, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

 Send Your Spirit, Father to move upon my heart and motivate me to show loving kindness towards those who hate me. Like Jesus said on the cross, help me to say, too, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Thank you, Father, for the comfort of knowing blessing comes through being hated, insulted, and rejected by others for Your name sake (Luke 6:22). Also, for the promise that those who are hated for your name’s sake and stand firm in Your love will be saved in the end (Matthew 10:22).

Help me to follow Your example in praying, doing good, giving, and sacrificing for my enemies.
In Jesus’ name, Amen

WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE?..Dr. Jeff Schreve

 WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE?

Dr. Jeff Schreve

"And Jesus answered and said, 'Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine--where are they? Was no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?'"  Luke 17:17-18

In Luke 17, we read the story of the ten lepers. These ten guys had the dreaded, disfiguring disease that made a person unclean, unfit for society, and virtually subhuman. The tremendous physical toll inflicted by this incurable disease was only surpassed by the great emotional toll of feeling worthless, vile, and unlovable.

When these men saw Jesus, they cried out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" (Luke 17:13).  Jesus responded with compassion and a challenge, telling them to show themselves to the priests, an obvious reference to Leviticus 14 about the cleansing of a leper.  Luke 17:15 says, "As they were going, they were cleansed" (Luke 17:14).  Do you see that?  "AS THEY WERE GOING, they were cleansed." That's always the way it works with faith.  You have to believe God's Word enough to obey it.  When you take a step of faith, then you see God do miracles.

EXHILARATION

Can you imagine the overwhelming exhilaration these guys must have felt? Their leprosy was cleansed! The vile disease that had taken virtually everything from them was now gone! They could return to their families! They could return to society! They could really live again!

Nine of them scurried away to enjoy their great blessing.  But one turned back ... and he was a hated Samaritan.  This guy was also overcome with exhilaration at his cleansing, and he wanted to give thanks and praise to the One who made it possible. He couldn't dream of taking another step without glorifying God and expressing his sincere gratitude. And the Lord responded to his thanksgiving by bestowing on him a far greater gift, the gift of salvation.

Interestingly, Jesus was wondering aloud about the other guys. Where were they? Why was this "foreigner" alone in his thanks?

The question for our day is clear: why do so many experience the goodness of God and so few return with grateful thanksgiving?

THIS THANKSGIVING

Let me challenge you as I challenge myself to emulate the Samaritan in this story and give thanks, first and foremost. To be sure, thanksgiving can be a sacrifice.  Life can be cruel and hard. Circumstances can knock us down and leave us devastated. If we are not careful, we can easily become disillusioned, depressed, critical, cynical, and bitter.

This is the key to rising above the circumstances: focus on what you do have, not what you don't have. Rejoice in the Lord! Give thanks for the cross and the empty tomb! Give thanks for His unfailing love! I truly believe the greatest witnesses for Christ are those who have experienced the worst of life and yet have the best of attitudes, continuing to praise God no matter what.

Make this Thanksgiving a Thanksgiving to remember as you set aside time to glorify the King. He will be honored, and you will be blessed.

Love,

Pastor Jeff Schreve