Sanctified by the Truth!

John 17:17 (AMP)

¹⁷ Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.

The Lord uses His Word to change us into His likeness...to sanctify us. We are called to daily take up our cross and follow after Him. When we take up our cross, we open ourselves up to allow Him to lead us wherever He sees fit. This path of daily surrender will inevitably round the bend and bring us to face uncertainty and suffering. Why? Suffering, His Word tells us, will work many benefits in the life of the disciple if we are willing to stay the course and keep on following.  When we make the commitment to stay daily in His Word, He will equip us to handle whatever situations come our way. It is in the Word that we learn TRUTH. TRUTH equips us to rely on what our Lord says about us rather than what our feelings tell us. For example, when we think we are failures, God's TRUTH tell us, "We have been made more than conquers."(Romans 8:37) Or when we feel condemned for past sins, His Word tell us, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1) The more of His TRUTH we get into us, the more able we are to walk in that TRUTH and thus, live changed lives here on earth.
Oswald Chambers said this about sanctification:

The Spirit of God in the process of sanctification will strip me until I am nothing but "myself," that is the place of death. Am I willing to be "myself," and nothing more – no friends, no father, no brother, no self-interest – simply ready for death? That is the condition of sanctification. No wonder Jesus said: "I came not to send peace, but a sword." This is where the battle comes, and where so many of us faint. We refuse to be identified with the death of Jesus on this point. "But it is so stern," we say; "He cannot wish me to do that." Our Lord is stern; and He does wish us to do that.

The discipline of daily following is filled with benefits beyond measure. It is a privilege that one so Holy would be willing to invest in such a way in us! What value He has placed us that we should be called sons and daughters of God. Jesus goes on to say in John 17:18-19, "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth."
Thank you Jesus for being willing to go the cross so that I would have the opportunity to be made holy! Lord use your word daily to sanctify me and make me all you want me to be!