ARE YOU LIVING A SANCTIFIED LIFE?

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication” (1 Thessalonians 4:3)

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To be sanctified means to be set apart for a special use. It means to be dedicated solely for a particular function. However, in the context of the above text, it means to be separated wholly for God’s use. It means to surrender the use of your bodies to God and no one else. The scripture says: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Roman 12:1)

God is interested in your entire being. He wants you to dedicate your whole life unto him. You must understand that you’re a tripartite being. In other words, you’re a spirit, possessing a soul and living in a body. This is confirmed in 1 Thessalonians 5:23: “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”

The implication of that scripture is this: With your spirit, you relate with the spiritual world. With your soul, you connect with the intellectual world and with your body, you relate with the material world. But God wants to have all of these three parts to be dedicated unto his use. He actually owns all; you are just a steward. And you must be conscious how you use all the parts of your body.

Interestingly, the devil is also interested in your life; he also want to use it to perpetuate his agenda on the earth. In fact, demons cannot effectively function on the earth without having a medium of expression. Most of the times, they prefer human vessel to carry out their activities. That’s why God demands that you should be sanctified (set apart) unto him so that the devil will have no space to occupy in your life.

One compartment of your life you must guard jealously is your soul. Your soul houses your mind which is the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of your life. That’s where your emotions, thoughts and rationalities operate from. As a matter of fact, your soul is the gateway between your spirit and the body; it determines a lot of what happens to your life. Once your soul is healthy, you will live a clean life.

Here is what Jesus said: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man” (Matthew 15:19, 20). This implies that, if you want to live a sanctified life, you must first learn to guard the gates to your soul. Solomon gives a timely instruction on this: “Above everything else guard your heart, because from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23).

To guard your heart from defilement, you must guard the gates to your heart. The two principal gates to your heart are your eyes and ears. It means you must be careful what you watch and listen to. If you keep watching, reading and listening to pornographic materials, your mind cannot but be defiled.

What kind of vessel do you want to be? God will only use a sanctified vessel. The scripture says: “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are his. And, Let everyone that is named after Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim. 2:19-21)

Dear friends, you can transform yourself into a sanctified vessel today. Paul gave a simple step for achieving this: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).

Finally, God is still looking for those who will make a reckless abandonment of their lives to him. You can be one today! Enjoy a fruitful walk with Jesus!

Written by:

Gideon Akanbi, PhD

International Director

Godly Brains Ministry