santifacation – Meghan E White

stormy ocean with big wave

“I’m scared Lord,” I whispered as I fell asleep.

I had a vivid dream that night. I was standing on the shore of a stormy sea. The water was choppy with big waves and wind. The sky was filled with gray clouds. Jesus stood next to me. He stepped out to the stormy sea, and I took a step with Him. We walked through the storm together on top of the waves. Jesus was by my side the whole time.

In my dream Jesus did not calm the storm, and He did not part the waters. Jesus took me through the storm. I woke up with a sense of peace and comfort. Jesus spoke to me in a dream without saying a word. He was going to get me through my storm, and He did.

Jesus will get you through your storm.

Sometimes God will calm the storm. Sometimes God will part the sea. And sometimes God will calm you, and walk you through the storm.

I prefer “calm the storm”, not “walk through the storm”. But God knows what is best for each of us, and He is always concerned with our heart and our faith. He sees the entire story, we only see the storm, and we want it to stop.

When we walk through the storms in life with Jesus our faith grows. We learn to trust Him and follow Him. If we go ahead of Him and take our eyes off of Jesus, we will begin to sink. There is good news. Jesus is a rescuer. Peter learned this lesson.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:25-31, NIV

As soon as Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and saw the wind he was scared and began to sink. Wind is scary. Big waves and storms are powerful forces. They cause a lot of damage. But Jesus is bigger.

Jesus rescued Peter without hesitation. He knew that Peter was doubting. We all have doubts at times. Is God really going to help me? Can He? The answer is yes.

Peter walking on water is a miracle. Just imagine what miracles God can do in your storm. Our faith grows in hard times. You and I can walk on water with Jesus, not on our own.

The key to getting through the storm is to follow Jesus. We must keep our eyes on Him. The moment we look at the wind we will begin to sink.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:2a, NIV

God can fix any problem with a snap of His fingers. When He does not immediately calm our storms, He is doing something much deeper in each of us. We are being refined to be more like Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. This is never easy, but Jesus will help us.

Storms are opportunities for our faith to grow. We are not alone in the storms. Jesus will help us to make it to the other side. Trust Him and keep your eyes fixed on Him. And when you start to sink, cry out to Jesus. He will rescue you.

Love you all,

Meghan

Father God,

Thank you for always hearing our prayers and cries for help. Thank you for Jesus our Savior. Thank you for making a way through the storms. For all those in storms right now, give them peace, comfort, and provision. You will make a way through. Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. He is everything.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Photo by Kammeran Gonzalez-Keola on Pexels.com

As a young adult I was idealistic. I naively believed I was doing just fine as a Christian. I was saved from Hell, free from the grip of sin, and I had Jesus. I knew God loved me and I loved Him. That’s all I needed. Life was good. Cue the record scratch…..

My perfect world started to fray. I was being confronted with thoughts about my past.

God showed me a house, much like this adorable tin house. Perfect, with flower boxes and charming green shutters. Beautiful on the outside. He took me on a tour inside the pretty little house. It looked pristine as we walked through each room. But something caught my eye. The hall closet was bulging. I opened the door and a whole bunch of stuff spilled out. Dusty boxes and old coats fell to the floor.

God, what is all of this?

It’s all the stuff we are going to clear out and get rid of. It’s the old habits and patterns that you have kept. They need to go.

Wait a minute Lord. I am doing just fine. I’ve got Jesus and that’s all I need. Let’s put all of this back. We can deal with it another time.

God opened the boxes and gently placed items on the floor. They weren’t pretty all lined up. I saw anger, hurt, and fear.

Here’s the reality, God loves us too much to let us stay as we are. Getting saved is only the beginning. Praise God for saving us from death, and sin, and Hell. Salvation is one hundred percent worth daily praises to Jesus and our Heavenly Father.

After we are saved, a whole new journey begins with Jesus Christ.

God’s purpose is to make us like Jesus.

The fancy Christian word for this journey is sanctification. It sounds so intimidating. All it means is being set apart for God’s purposes. Sanctification comes from the Greek word hagiasmos, meaning holiness or separation.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

John 17:16-17, NIV

Jesus prayed those words. Once we are in Christ, we are separated from the world just like Him. Jesus was without sin, and we are not. Though we are saved from sin because of Jesus’ precious blood, we can still sin. The difference now is we do not want to sin, and we have conviction of our sin. We are on a holiness journey in this sanctification process.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

Romans 8:29, NASB

God’s plan from the beginning was to conform us into the image of His son, Jesus. Our example of how to live and how to be in this world is Jesus. He was and is perfect. Though we will never arrive at perfection on this side of eternity, God will not allow us to stay as we were before we met Christ. Holiness is the goal through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18, NASB

The Holy Spirit is driving us on God’s path to holiness. The exciting part is we get a little more freedom each time we go through those closets hidden with our bad habits. The attic might be filled to the brim with pain and hurt, but God will sit with you as each box is opened, and clear things out to make you and I more and more like Christ.

Don’t you want to be like Jesus? There is no one like Him. Jesus is the Savior to the world. And God loves us so much that He wants us to be more like His precious Son. And that is good news! Think of the best person you know. They are flawed, and sinful, and will let you down. Jesus is perfect, loving, and will never let you down. God is making each Believer into the image of Jesus. That’s incredible.

So yes, let’s surrender to this whole sanctification process. It is not easy to deal with our stuff, and issues, sin, and all of our ugliness. But God, who is merciful and loving will not let us stay like that. We are set apart for God’s purposes. Amen

Is there a closet that needs cleaned out in your life? Maybe you have a garage full of pain and heartache that you have refused to open up to the Father. Today, make a choice to surrender it all to Him. God will lovingly help you clean out those dark spaces.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20, NIV

Love you all,

Meghan

If you need prayer leave your request on my contact page.

P.S. The perfect tin dollhouse was my mother-in-law’s when she was a little girl. I now have it along with all the tiny furniture and people. I may have set it up a time or two.

Sources

https://biblehub.com/greek/38.htm

Tag: santifacation

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