God Is Working In You

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. – Philippians 1:6

Sanctification is one of the most important biblical words in existence, but we don’t hear much about it anymore. However, even though this word is not talked about nearly enough, it is so important that we understand what it means to be sanctified or we are going to be out of the will of God.

The word literally means to be set apart. But how does God set us apart? Well, that’s what we’re going to look at over the next couple of days– three ways God is working to accomplish our sanctification while we are still here on this earth. We’ll talk about the first one today and we’ll discuss the other two tomorrow.

First, God commences His work of sanctification in you. One of the greatest problems in our relationship with God is that we stay focused on what we want God to do for us, but God is focused on what He wants to do in us.

I will never forget hearing Charles Stanley talking to a group of young pastors, and this was back when I was a young pastor. He made a statement I will never forget, “Men, I know all of you want to build your church, but don’t ever forget this. God is more interested in building you than He is in building His church.”

God is far more interested in building you than He is in building your business, your finances, your house, and I can say as a pastor, even the church. The work of salvation that God commences in you begins the work of sanctification in you. May you never, ever forget that.

Dear Lord, thank you for the work of sanctification you are doing in me. I pray that that work would always be my first focus, rather than the work you’re doing around me or in my circumstances. In Jesus’ name, amen.