By TIMOTHY L. MELTON
Pastor Cherokee Pentecostal Holiness Church
Read 1 Peter 3:15
They would also testify and go on to tell us what part God had been doing that week. They would tell us the most amazing things!
I remember hearing them say, “We were hungry, and we prayed, and God sent us groceries.” I also remember them saying, “We were cold and had no way to heat the house and somebody would show up at the house with some fuel oil and some wood (for the fireplace).” I also remember hearing, “At two o’clock in the morning, the baby had gotten sick, and the doctor wasn’t answering his phone. We would all pray, and God healed the baby. So, we are all still here today” …
They’d begin with the words, “We thank God that we are saved, sanctified, and full of the Holy Ghost.”
I realize those are wonderful words, but the Truth is, we ought to still be saying things like this, and the trouble is most folks leave out the middle part, and the last part. They’ll talk about the Holy Ghost, but they’ll leave out the sanctified part, and possibly, the filling of the Holy Ghost.
The reason, I believe, is because to be sanctified means to be set apart for God. It means one should no longer be thinking of their “own selfish self.” Whatever else we think, the “whatever we will” shouldn’t matter anymore. What this really means is, we are to be wholly set apart for God. In fact, if I were to look at the Word spoken more closely, it would be to help us each clean up our own business.
Before we get too “holy” on me and say, “He already did that!” I’ve got good news for us. He’s still working on me and you. And if anyone else is the one thinking that, maybe it was, “only in one’s mind.”
I’ve got good news for all of us. Tell each person “to sanctify the pride that’s been hidden on our inside too.”
Tell the person to sanctify this pride that’s on the inside of me and everyone else too. Maybe it wasn’t said out loud, that we’ve thought that, maybe it was in one’s own mind this was thought. The Truth of the matter is from the pulpit all the way to the back door, we’ve all got work to be done on ourselves.
Now, thank God, that He’s doing it! He, let me just go on and give us all some good news. Hallelujah! He is doing mighty work in all of us and that’s what I see. I see it in each of us.
I’m seeing it as our young people are starting to sing in the Praise Team, sharing in waving the banners, and laying hands on many people as they pray for them as well.
And, by the way, our young people in our teenage class told their Youth Pastors, “We want to go to the park down below and start laying hands on and praying for the strangers there.”
That’s the kind of thing God is doing! I want all of us to realize God is doing some big things! Thank you, Lord!” However, I don’t want to get left out. I don’t want to get to the end of my days and realize that God could have done more with me, only I wouldn’t have let Him. He even wants to take each one of us further than we’ve ever been. I don’t want to be the one stopping right here, when God is saying to each of us, “There’s so much more!”
Could we already have said in our thoughts to Him, “That’s enough?” Could this be the real problem? Ask Him, now, and see what He will answer.
Sanctification is a two-fold, definite work. It is for us, and it is for Him too. Can we see what He has done or what He may be planning to complete in us? Can we see what we are doing now? Can we see what hasn’t been quite finished yet? We could also answer with a “no” but, honestly, would we really want that as our answer? Are we fully understanding this yet?
