Blog : How God Sanctifies Us

How God Sanctifies Us

3/24/2006 3:08 pm

Last Read:
3/26/2006 5:42 am

I am no better than anyone else, even though I don't participate in a lot of the sins I used to participate in. The Lord has done some stuff in my life! I used to swear, have sex outside of marriage, gamble, listen to rock music, dance, watch bad television shows and bad movies, play video games, dress provocatively, smoke, drink alcohol, do drugs, plus some other things that I won't even mention here. And I did these things when I was a Christian! I didn't know how not to do these things! I didn't want to do them; I just didn't know how to stop! I was like Paul in Romans 7.

Did my doing these things make me not a Christian? NO! Did God condemn me for doing them? NO! Did other Christians condemn me for doing them? YES! Instead of reaching out to me and showing me how to allow God to take these things out of my life, other Christians just looked down their noses at me and kicked me down even further than I was already! How Christian was that? NOT VERY! Do you think God was any less pleased with me for what I was doing than He was with the people who were kicking me? NO! Sin is sin!

Do you want to know how I stopped doing all the things I was doing wrong? It was really easy after God showed me what to do. He showed me about grace. He told me that He loves me unconditionally. He told me that He did not condemn me, that there was nothing I could do or say that would make Him stop loving me. He told me that it was others and Satan who were condemning me. He told me to just stop trying to do things right and just concentrate on getting to know Him, and to spend time with Him. So, I did. I read my Bible all the time, I spent time talking with Him and worshiped Him. I learned to love and trust Him. I stopped trying to change myself and decided to let Him do the changing when He was ready. And you know what? It worked! All the things that I was so ashamed of doing before but was unable to stop doing just started melting away. One after another of them just stopped being part of my life.

The Lord was so very patient with me. He didn't make me stop all of them at once. He showed my very gently which one He was ready to work on at any given time. I would acknowledge that it was a sin and gave Him permission to take it away and He took it! Sometimes it took awhile, but He took it! Praise Him! I look at the things I used to do and realize just how far the Lord has brought me. He is truly an awesome God.

Do I feel like I am better than anyone else is because I don't do a lot of the things I used to do anymore? NO! I am a testimony to God's handiwork, nothing more. And I know that if I take my eyes off of Him for a moment, I could be back to doing any one or all of the things I used to do again very quickly! I know I am helpless to remain pure without the power of the Holy Spirit keeping me. So, I don't look down upon anyone else if they mess up.

The people I have a problem with are the ones who sin and don't admit that what they are doing is sin. I never did that. I always admitted to myself, to others and to God that I was sinning. I discovered that God can work with someone who admits that what they are doing is wrong. He can't and won't work with a proud person, though. "He opposes the proud."

So, if you find yourself stuck in sins that you hate but can't seem to pull yourself out of, don't worry! Do the things the Lord showed me to do and you will be set free! Remember, "He whom the Lord sets free is free indeed!"

Well, that is all I have to say about that, as Forest Gump would say!

appreciate

10002 posts

3/25/2006 8:27 am

Amen Praise God Jean...I can only be a testimony too of God's patient work of dealing with me and sanctifying me...amen indeed to an ongoing process...He will do so with the things in my life...and the beaut of it is He does it step by step as we look to Him and learn of Him...we are not overwhelmed with guilt...we are convicted to change by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives...He affirms, He loves and cares...and will keep maturing us to be more Christlike...
thanks sis. for sharing...there is so much to speak of God's amazing grace indeed...'thank you Lord...YOU ARE THE POTTER I AM THE CLAY'

Man can make many plans...BUT it is the Lord who will direct his paths....

Rebekka

3/25/2006 11:46 am

Thank you!

Elizabeth

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