Sanctification II (Matthew 5:1-12)

If you committed to doing an action yesterday to improve your ability to seek and love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, did you follow through?

If you committed to doing an action yesterday to love your neighbor as yourself, did you follow through?

Write down how you have experienced God's love and goodness in your life. Be specific.

Read Matthew 5:1-12:

One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them.

"God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way."

Select 'Successful' when you are finished.

Read the following from Oswald Chambers:

"The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man - the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of ABSOLUTE FUTILITY - I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says - Blessed are you. That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works."

Are you ready to take the necessary steps to position yourself as a 'pauper in spirit' to enter the frontier of the Kingdom of God where Jesus works?

Steps 7-13 are statements we received while in intercessory prayer. While we all hear in part, our goal was to take what we received from The Lord, as best we could discern it, and use the Navitent structure to convert the statements we heard into a tool for sanctification and discipleship.

For Steps 7-13, read the statement and then prayerfully respond. When you are finished, select the 'Successful' response and proceed to the next Step.

Come to me expectant and empty of your own needs and desires. This is the inner position of humility which proclaims "not my way Lord, but your way and your timing."

Lord, I come to you expectant and empty of my own needs and desires. Not my way, Lord, but your way and your timing in all things.

Empty yourself of all expectations that are based on your lack of faith & belief--for they are many.

Lord, I empty myself of all expectations that are based on my lack of faith and belief.

Give me that which is not yours to possess-your attitude of doubt and unforgiveness.

Lord, I give you my attitude of doubt and unforgiveness.

Give me your brokenness that is not yours to possess, but mine to turn into deliverance for my good and yours.

Lord, I give you my brokenness, which isn't mine to possess. I give it to you to turn into deliverance, for your good and mine.

Give me your small dreams that do not fit with Christ who lives within you.

Lord, I give you all my small dreams, which don't fit with Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Give me your money and resources, for they come from me and must return to their source.

Lord Jesus, I give you all my money and resources, for they came from you, and must return to you.

Give me your hearts, for the one that is your heart--your loving Savior--who gave all for the right to ask you to give all you have to He who is deserving. It's got to go to someone, let it go to He who is worthy.

Lord, I give you my heart. You alone are worthy to receive all that I am and all that I have.

Pray this prayer: "Lord, show me what sanctification means for me."

Write down any revelation you receive.

Go to 'DOCUMENTS' to read Oswald Chambers on the process of sanctification.

It is important to read this each time you do this Navitent.

Select 'Successful' when you are finished.

What are you still holding onto that you now need to let go of?

Write down your answer.

Is there anything you would like to confess and/or repent of?

If so, you can do so out loud or in the space provided.

What is one action you can commit to doing today that will improve your ability to seek and love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength?

What is one action you can commit to doing today to love your neighbor as yourself?

Oswald Chambers defines sanctification as: "...being made one with Jesus. Sanctification is not something Jesus Christ puts into me: it is Himself in me" (1 Corinthians 1:30). He states:

'Sanctification means the impartation of the Holy qualities of Jesus Christ. It is His patience, His love, His holiness, His faith, His purity, His godliness, that is manifested in and through every sanctified soul. Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that was manifested in Him, and He manifests it in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation. Imitation is on a different line. In Jesus Christ is the perfection of everything, and the mystery of sanctification is that all the perfections of Jesus are at my disposal, and slowly and surely I begin to live a life of ineffable order and sanity and holiness: "Kept by the power of God."

How aware of God's patience, love, holiness, faith and purity are you at this moment?

How effective were these steps in positioning you as a 'pauper in spirit'?

(Optional) What does is look like to hear the 'stern demands' Jesus places on us as His disciples (and to receive the glory and honor that only He can offer)?

For a modern day look, click on 'VIDEO' above and watch the short scene from the movie 'Twelve O'Clock High'.