What is the primary mission of the devil? To deceive. From the very beginning he came and told a lie to Eve, which Adam bought into. From the very beginning he came and told a lie to Eve, which Adam bought.That if they ate, they would be like God.
Rev. 20:3 says this speaking of the devil, "and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer"
John 8:44 says “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
Thus the devil is a deceiver who has no truth in him, and seeks to keep us away from the truth. So what is it that sanctifies us?
John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. God’s truth is what will set us free from lies and false realities that will hurt us.What really transforms our life is the truth. Romans 12 also says be transformed by the renewing of your minds. We are to replace the lies of the world and Satan that are in our heart, with the truth of God.
Prov. 4:23 says "Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life."
The heart basically directs us, but we can direct the heart. We are told to watch over our hearts. We are to hide the word of God deep within our heart.
Sanctification is thus fundamentally replacing the lies in our hearts with truth. A lie is unreal. For example, if we believe the lie that we can run through doors, then if we live according to such a lie, what would we do? We'd hurt ourselves by running into the door.
Truth however is ultimate reality. Those living in sin are those living according to a lie, against reality. If we know how to replace the lies in a person's heart, with truth, we have the key to sanctification.
What lies are in your heart? Beneath every struggle is a lie. Root out the lie, and believe deeply the truth. In no way at all is this easy, but we all have to go begin this process. Thus work the truth of God from your head to your heart.
I found myself particularly convicted when reading through John 15:5 today. Popular verse that we're probably familiar with, yet it was as if it was "new" when I read it today.
John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
God has been showing me more and more how futile it is to try to bear fruit and grow on my own. I want to bear fruit so much....yet I can do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing......
Do you understand your responsibility to remain in the vine? Are you continuously dependent upon it? Thus allowing it to bring life into you? A life that is pulsating with the power of Christ will be changed not only externally, but internally. Don't try to bear fruit by sheer will power, remain in him, connected to Jesus through faith.
There's a lie within my heart that believes deep down that I can do it on my own. God's truth has been slowly rooting out that lie. Replace this lie with truth, and believe the truth more and more. This lie continues to burden me, and i'm pretty tired of it.
I'm reading through John Stott's Baptism and Fullness. I wanted to share some of his insights from his chapter on the fruit of the spirit.
"If I were a farmer wanting to harvest a crop of oats, I would have to sow oats. It would be ludicrous to sow barley or wheat instead. The same principle applies to human behavior. If the Holy Spirit is to produce good fruit in our lives, then we have to sow good seed.
The old proverb puts it well:
Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit and you reap a character;
Sow a character and you reap a destiny.
We cannot alter this. As Paul puts it, "God is not mocked." Yet, some Christians are surprised that they are not reaping the fruit of the spirit when they spend a great deal of their time sowing to their flesh. Do they suppose they can cheat or fool God, and bend his laws to their conscience?
The "sowing" the apostle Paul appears to be referring to is the whole pattern of our thoughts and habits, our lifestyle, life direction and life discipline. It includes the company we keep, the friendships we cultivate, the literature we read, the films we watch....everything that engrosses our interests, absorbs our energy, and dominates our mind.
For by these things we are sowing, sowing, sowing, all the time, and according to what and where we sow, thus shall we reap."
Oh how true this is! How much I pray for growth, yet mock God by rebelling against his system of growth. I find myself so impatient to grow, yet subconsciously unwilling or too lazy to do anything about it. I need to discipline myself to ensure that the conditions for growth by the holy spirit are right.
Thus, my function in sanctification is to eat, to exercise, and to breath spiritual things. While remembering that the energy and will to do it, the air I breath, the food I eat, are given to me by total grace. Sadly I often fail to appropriate these gifts and yet am unsatisfied by my growth. Who am I to try to bend God's ways to mine.
