“For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God…”
– 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6
As we survey the Scriptures, the sanctified mind cannot help but land on these words of the Apostle Paul, “For this is the will of God.” We may often ask ourselves, “What is God’s will for me?” Here it is plainly! God’s will for our lives is sanctification, the process of the believer progressively transformed by the Lord into His likeness.
In his first epistle, John the beloved wrote, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15). The Apostle left us with profound insight and provided confidence in prayer. The key to this confidence is God’s will. Praying in this way assures us that we have what we ask. Aside from salvation, is there any better promise this side of heaven?
If we pursue God’s will, our former lives will begin to fade. We will no longer involve ourselves often in those desires of our members, which are bringing God’s wrath (Colossians 3:5-7). As we put off the things of this world, let us set our minds on those things above. We have died, are born again, and our lives are hidden in Jesus. May we willingly fold into His beautiful image!
“Ask of me is the one condition God puts in the very advance and triumph of His cause.”
– E. M. Bounds
surrendered devotions 