Title

It Merits Sanctification

Scripture
Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
(Joshua 3:5)
Devotional
There will always be events in life that require preparation. From sporting events to speeches, and from marriages to funerals, the wise will prepare themselves for them. When God calls us to a task, the first and foremost preparation is sanctification. To sanctify ourselves is to prepare ourselves spiritually. That is, we are to be in communion with God. We are to be before Him seeking His will for the endeavor before us. When we sanctify ourselves we can go with confidence, knowing that we have done all that we can do. There are situations that should automatically trigger the need to sanctify ourselves: worship, receiving and giving instruction, confrontation, meetings, and events. If the task requires that we dress up, study up or fess up, then we are to sanctify up. We are never to enter into life-changing situations apathetically or casually. We are to go physically, emotionally and above all spiritually sanctified, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
Text For The Day
Joshua 3:5: Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
Thought For The Day
“The words holiness and sanctification are not prominent in much of Protestant theology. We have tended to speak of justification without a commensurate emphasis on sanctification. ... Holiness means that one belongs wholly to God. This is also the meaning of sanctification, being set apart as God’s own possession. When this begins internally, with the heart, the transformation becomes something that affects the total person.” Myron S. Augsburger in The Christ-Shaped Conscience, Christianity Today.
Questions To Ponder
 
Morning Study Guide
Defining:  “Assistant”: (Sharat “to minister, serve, officiate”). This word is a common term in Hebrew usage and is found just under 100 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. The first time it is used in the Hebrew Bible is in the story of Joseph, as he becomes the slave of Potiphar.
 
Referencing: “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also,” Romans 16:1-2.
 
Applying: If God calls you to be second, learn to be second and content until God calls you to the lead.