REMAINING SANCTIFIED

READ: 1 TIMOTHY 4:1-4

“And he answering said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).
There are three simple things you can do to remain sanctified.
The first is to love your husband as much as he loves you. Jesus Christ is your heavenly husband who loves you with all that he is. He expects you to reciprocate that love. According to John 15:13, he loved you to a point of laying down his life on the cross. You should also love him to the point of being prepared to die for him. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1). One way is presenting your body as a living sacrifice. To illustrate what is meant by a living sacrifice, we have to recall our past, when we still visited witchdoctors to solve our problems. They would ask us to bring goat in order to appease the gods. The witchdoctor is free to do with the goat as he pleases. When you become a living sacrifice to Jesus, you are telling him that he can do with you whatever he pleases, even unto death. Are you committed to Jesus?
The second thing you have to do to remain sanctified, is to love yourself. You have been set apart for your husband and you are his favourite. Those who indulge in foods which are detrimental to their bodies do not love themselves. God expects you to take care of your body, because it is his temple, not yours (1 Corinthians 6:15-20). Ask yourself: ‘Would I watch sinful programmes, read defiling books or utter nasty remarks if Jesus were by my side?’ To take care of your soul, you must meditate on God’s Word, not on impure thoughts. Also guard your spirit, taking care to avoid demonic influences and doctrines (1 Timothy 4:1-4).
Lastly, to remain sanctified, love your neighbours as God loves them (1 John 3:16). To do this you must be a zealous soul winner and be ready even to lay down your life to save their souls. Are you willing to do what it takes to remain sanctified?

MEMORIZE: ROMANS 12:1 –I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

AGREE WITH YOUR PARTNER

READ: AMOS 3:1-3

If you have met the right spouse and have received confirmation from the Lord that he has meant for you to be together, you still have to work out certain important issues before you go to the altar.
“Can two walk together except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3.
Even though you are both born again and attend bible-believing churches, you have to agree on certain vital doctrines in Scripture. Holiness is a telling example. If your spouse says it is not possible to live holy, or if he or she does not believe in absolute holiness, do not proceed to get married. It means that, even though he or she may not kill or steal, that person is capable of infidelity. If your partner hasn’t committed to total holiness, and you decide to go ahead, you shouldn’t come weeping to your pastor later is that person is about to chase you out of your matrimonial home, or tell him you want a divorce because your partner is sleeping around with any available member of the opposite sex.
There must also be a meeting of the minds concerning divine healing. You have to agree on your family doctor. Will it be Jesus only; Jesus and a medical doctor; or Jesus, a medical doctor and an herbalist? If there is no agreement on this issue, it could cause problems later. For instance, when a couple seeks fertility treatment and the doctor says there is no problem, one of the partners may want to consult an herbalist, which is contrary to Scripture. This could cause a rift between man and woman.
It would also be nice to agree on the baptism with the Holy Spirit. This will help the partners to overcome any gap in knowledge that may exist between them. If the wife therefore wakes up in the morning and begins to pray in tongues, her husband will not rush to phone an ambulance, thinking she has gone crazy.
These issues might appear trivial, but you will be surprised how these seemingly insignificant issues can break up families, more so than the so-called big issues. Pray and do what the Lord will have you do, and you will be blessed.      

MEMORIZE: AMOS 3:3 –Can two walk together except they be agreed? 

SHOW ME YOUR GLORY

READ: HEBREWS 11:24-27

It is wonderful to be in God’s presence and stays long enough will reflect God’s glory. Exodus 34:29-30 says that Moses’ face was radiant even after he had left God’s immediate presence. God is looking to shine his glory upon us. We will never be the same from that moment on: we will cease to be ordinary.
More Christians need to see God’s glory so that their lives can cease to be ordinary. It is possible that your close friends and relatives have refused to give their lives to Christ because they cannot see anything spectacular about your life. They have not seen God’s glory on you.
The moment you see the glory of God, everything else becomes immaterial. When you come in contact with genuine gold, you will lose interest in silver or copper. When you have seen God clothed in his glorious light, the best dresses the earth has to offer suddenly become as filthy rags. When you see what God is preparing for you to enjoy for the rest of eternity, you will gladly forsake worldly pleasures just to gain heaven. In our reading, Moses, who was being raised as a prince in Egypt, saw the invisible and was therefore prepared to discard the treasures and luxuries of Egypt, choosing rather to suffer affliction with God’s people just to enter heaven.
Paul was one person who saw God’s glory several times. What he saw in his several visits to the kingdom of heaven was so glorious that he was willing to pay any price that he might eventually be part of God’s eternal glory. (Philippians 3:7). Are you still struggling with certain things of life? Does the world still have a pull on you? You need to see God’s glory. Like Moses, ask him today to show you his glory. It will put an end to any fleshly lust in your life.  

MEMORIZE: 2 CORINTHIANS 3:18 –But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.