May Your Spirit and Soul and Body Be Preserved Complete

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May Your Spirit  and Soul  and Body  Be Preserved Complete

We all need Paul’s blessing and prayer  for the whole Thessalonian congregation.     We are incapable  of preserving ourselves,  and  therefore,  must rely  on the Lord  to preserve us  throughout our journey  on earth.     Paul fervently prayed,

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Now may the God of peace  Himself  sanctify you entirely,  and  may your spirit  and soul  and body  be preserved  complete,  without blame  at the coming  of our Lord Jesus Christ.     Faithful  is He  who calls you,  and He also  will bring it to pass.

We look at our lives and groan.     Anybody and everybody can point a finger  at our sins.     But,  we need to be sanctified — we need  to be made free  from sin  and consecrated as holy  in God’s sight.     Can that ever be?

Yes!

See how Paul said,  “May the God of peace  Himself  sanctify you entirely.”     God,  and God alone,  can sanctify us.     Through faith  in Jesus Christ,  God makes us holy.     He has done all things  for us.     When Jesus suffered and died  for us, the Lord called us  to a life  of sanctification  and blamelessness.     It was a call  to live more and more  in righteousness.     That is why Paul said  in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5,

For this is the will  of God,  your sanctification;  that is,  that you abstain from sexual immorality;  that each of you know how  to possess his own vessel  in sanctification and honor,  not in lustful passion,  like the Gentiles who do not know God.

It is definitely God’s will  that we live  in sexual purity — that we daily grow  in living a life  that is set apart,  free from sin,  and honoring God  our Savior.      Each day we need  to become more  like Christ,  so that there will be  less and less  reason  for people  to point their fingers at us  and mock God  on account of our behavior.     In Philippians 2:15,  Paul shows us our goal,

That you may  prove yourselves  to be blameless and innocent,  children of God  above reproach  in the midst of a crooked  and perverse generation,  among whom  you appear as light   in the world.

Paul shows how we aren’t perfect yet,  but being sanctified  and God-pleasing  is our highest goal,  for Jesus’ sake.     How can anyone ever  be sanctified?     We are sinners — plain and simple.

It is God’s work.     1 Thessalonians 5:24 told us,  “Faithful is He who calls you,  and He also  will  bring it to pass.”     Our faithful God alone is able  to sanctify us  and make us holy  in His sight.     Jesus said  we would be sanctified  in His word.      In John 17:17,  Jesus said,  “Sanctify them  in the truth;  Thy word is truth.” 

That means we really,  truly need  to study God’s word  each and every day.     The more we study God’s word,  the more God is able  to lead us.     The more God leads us,  the more God can sanctify us  and then our  “spirit  and soul  and body  [will]  be preserved complete,  without blame  at the coming  of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When we stick close to God  and His word,  He makes us holy.     It’s good  to be without blame  in God’s eyes.     Then we say,  “Hallelujah!     Lord God,  thank You  for making me holy  in Jesus Christ.     Help me  to grow daily  in Your word,  that I may be  “preserved complete,  without blame  at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Love,
Margaret

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A Christian devotional to glorify the LORD of lords and God of gods

 

Pray for our country.

 

This is the day which the LORD has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

 

The word of the LORD is tried;
He is a shield  to all  who take refuge  in Him.
Psalm 18:30

 

Sing for joy in the LORD,  O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming  to the upright.
Psalm 33:1

How blessed are those  who dwell in Thy house!
They are ever praising Thee.
Psalm 84:4

 

Just as a father has compassion  on his children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
Psalm 103:13

 

Oh give thanks to the LORD,  for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Psalm 107:1

 

Glory in His holy name;
Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad.
Psalm 105:3

 

Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that
I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12

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