By TIMOTHY L. MELTON
Pastor of Cherokee Pentecostal Church
(Transcribed by Myra Colgate)
Read 1 Peter 3:15, Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT)
Sanctification is a process. How does one do that? We each must set aside our own thoughts on the matter and allow Him to begin to show and teach us. We also must learn how to set aside our own thoughts on the matter and allow Him to begin to show and teach us. We also must learn how to set aside our deeds and habits and push away some things that have held each person back.
Now, while I say this, I don’t know who, but pictures are popping through somebody’s mind, not because I know what it is, but because the Holy Spirit knows what He’s doing. He’s showing him a picture of what needs to go by the wayside, so He can replace it with something special.
I’ve said this, taught us, and these facts are true. Whatever a person gives God, He multiplies it and then gives it right back. So, if a person gives Him their habits, how many know He’d give them a brand-new habit? If we give Him our deeds, He will give us a brand-new thing. If a person gives to Him one’s sin, He will give that person His grace.
We come to the place where we realize the Holy Ghost is working on us. As a kid, we used to sing the song ‘He’s still working on me.” Now I’m very thankful that He’s never quit. I’ve still got some work to do, but I’m turning into something amazing.
Somebody said, “That’s pride, pastor” and that person is right. I’m so full of pride in what God’s doing, that I can’t stand it. I give Him all the glory, all the honor. In fact, I realize that where I am, the Lord has brought me, and what I have, the Lord gave me, and what I am, the Lord has made me, and what I know, the Lord has taught me, and where I am going, it is the Lord taking me.
What does that mean? That God is doing more than I could ever hope for or imagine. He is turning a broken me into a certain power for Him.
If we let Him do some work on the inside of us, He will turn our lives around. Amen. There are some things He will do for us, but there are some things He expects us to do for Him.
He’s not going to make anyone pray. He calls each one. I was painting the other day and was getting some of the sheetrock in the house done. I was doing some painting. My wife’s over there and she is shouting! I started talking about the colors and she started dancing. I was up on the ladder because we have twelve-foot ceilings in our big room and as I looked up, trying to get a paint cut in right. All at once I got interrupted by the Holy Ghost and I just heard Him in my spirit. He was saying, “it is time to pray.”
I had to come down from the ladder, stow away my paintbrush, and take it off to the side so it didn’t dry off in the next half-hour. I had just finished my shouting time. My dogs thought I went crazy. My neighbors must have thought I was crazy too, but it doesn’t matter. I heard the Holy Ghost say, “Come on.”
I’ve set aside a place in my heart for Him. When I hear Him call, I come running! Because I want to be sanctified. Many of us know He has set us apart. When I’m asleep at night, He is thinking about me, and each one of us too!
In Zephaniah 3:17, The Bible says, ‘He’s singing over each of us with joyful songs.” We didn’t even know it before, but there’s a song being sung. He will bring it out through the heavens and it’s all about each person.
One should sing about Him in the daytime. Then, he will sing about each of us at night! His song is better than mine. He speaks a creative word and what He’s saying, it happens. Amen!
