Preparing your heart for a move of the Holy Spirit
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments (Ezra 7:10 KJV)
Glory & Grace Daily devotional new year series this year is focused on what the Lord is laying in my heart for the coming months.
It is a year to prepare our hearts for the moving of the Spirit individually and as a family of God. This was introduced last week with the words of John the Baptist “prepare ye the way of the Lord.” In Ezra 7:10 above, we are told Ezra prepared his heart to engage in the things of the Lord.
The Spirit of the Lord is brooding in His people for a work to be done on earth. Just as John the Baptist told the people to prepare, we are to prepare for the Lord’s glory invading the world. Yes, we can prepare ourselves for spiritual things, just as athletes prepare their bodies for competition.
The state of our hearts determines our spiritual positioning and our responsiveness to the Spirit. Your heart right now is in a particular state before God. Your heart is the emotions you keep, what you believe, how willing you are to obey God, the thoughts that occupy your mind, etc. These are the things that will either facilitate or hinder the Holy Spirit. Prepare ye the way of the Lord in your life as we begin this year.
MEDITATE
Please reread Ezra 7:10 above. What is the sense of Ezra preparing his heart here?
APPLY THE WORD
Your heart determines what the Spirit can and cannot do in and through you. It matters whether you are accepting God’s Word, that is, believing or not. It matters if you are continually bitter and depressed. Yes, it matters if you are bold and courageous or fearful and cowardly. What manner of walk with the Spirit are you looking for? Prepare your heart for what you want.
PRAY
Ask the Spirit of the Lord to help you engage in the Word and fellowship of prayer for the molding of your heart.
Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you. (Leviticus 20:7–8, KJV)
As the Great I AM that I AM, God revealed Himself as the Lord who sanctifies His people in the Old Covenant—Jehovah Mekaddishkem. But this was only a shadow of something greater that was coming in the New Testament.
Jehovah Mekaddishkem is the English transliteration of the Hebrew words for “I am the Lord which sanctify you” ( “mekaddish” = sanctify, “kem” = you). Divine names and titles in the Old Testament often reveal an aspect of God in relation to His people.
There are three keywords that underlie the meaning of sanctification: “wash,” “consecrate,” and “separate.” Sanctification essentially means to make something holy. Sinlessness is a core aspect of holiness, but there is more to holiness than sinlessness. It is the very nature of God. However, when used in reference to us humans, it means to be cleaned from sin, set apart for God, and consecrated to Him.
In the passage above, God tells the people first to sanctify themselves and then reveals He is the One who sanctifies them. Thus, He gives us the two sides of sanctification—the God side and the human side. There’s something God does and something His people do for their sanctification.
This truth was only a shadow in the Old Testament. It is in Christ that we see God fully revealed as Jehovah Mekaddishkem to His people through the sanctifying work on the cross. In speaking to the Corinthians, Paul revealed,
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11, KJV)
This is Jehovah Mekaddishkem fulfilled in Christ: We were washed and sanctified. Note that these are in past tense, describing something God has already done. The day you received Christ, you received the bath of your life, a heavenly bath by the Spirit of God that removed every stain of sin through the precious blood of Christ. And as you continue to live on earth, the Spirit continues to sanctify you daily.
Following the sanctifying work He has already done in us, He commands us,
“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:” (1 Thessalonians 4:3, KJV)
Now that you are clean, washed, and sanctified, He tells us to put that sanctification to work outwardly. Paul explicit states it is what God wants—His will. He gives us a very specific example of sanctification here: abstain from sexual immorality. Few things defile us, like sexual impurity. But sanctification certainly includes more than abstaining from fornication or adultery. As above, it includes living a consecrated and separated life to God daily in the way we talk, act, think, feel, and handle our bodies.
He is Jehovah Mekaddishkem, the God who has Sanctified you in Christ and continues to sanctify you every day.
Meditate
Is our sanctification completed, ongoing, or both?
Apply the Word
This is the crucial part of this devotional. Until you receive the truth that God has already sanctified you by His Spirit, you will not be empowered to be sanctified practically. Put God’s sanctification power to work in your life daily by faith in the finished work of Christ.
Pray
Ask the Lord to help you in your daily walk of sanctification.
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