Shalom,

1 Thessalonians 5:23 says this:

23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. KJV

"Sanctify" here is the Greek word "hagiazo", which means: to make holy, to consecrate, to separate from the world and from evil, and separate unto God. We like to say it this way at The Spoken Word Church: We are sanctified immediately at the new birth when our previously dead human spirit is reborn (recreated) into a living human spirit in the image of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). THAT is spiritual sanctification. Our bodies WILL BE sanctified immediately at the time of the catching away of the church when they will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52)! That leaves our souls. Remember that the soul is made up of our mind, emotions and will. Soul sanctification happens progressively, day by day, as we make it our determined purpose to know HIM more (Philippians 3:10 AMP), renewing our minds with the Word of God (Romans 12:2). We have no part in the New Birth other than believing that we need a Savior and receiving Jesus Christ as that Savior. Holy Spirit does the rest! We play no part in obtaining a "resurrection body" after being born again. The soul, however, is another story all together! HE will NOT renew our minds, but He has already put into our hands everything necessary for US to do so! When we do our part, THEN, and ONLY then, will Holy Spirit, our personal Teacher, be able to make the Word of God real and personal to us. It is with this in mind that I want to share a portion of today's "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers:
When we pray to be sanctified, are we prepared to face the standard of these verses? We take the term sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared for what sanctification will cost? It will cost an intense narrowing of all our interests on earth, and an immense broadening of all our interests in God. Sanctification means intense concentration on God’s point of view. It means every power of body, soul and spirit chained and kept for God’s purpose only. Are we prepared for God to do in us all that He separated us for? And then after His work is done in us, are we prepared to separate ourselves to God even as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself.” The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s standpoint. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the disposition that ruled Him will rule us. Are we prepared for what that will cost? It will cost everything that is not of God in us.

AMEN! And why would we really want anything that is not of God hanging around in our lives? Now, before you begin to think that this means you will spend all your time in some prayer closet, isolated from the world, remember what Jesus prayed for His disciples, which includes US! John 17:14-16:

14 I have given and delivered to them Your word (message) and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world [do not belong to the world], just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world.

We SHOULD be, because we are constantly renewing our mind with the Word and staying filled with His Spirit, the wisest people that those we come in contact with have ever known! We should be turning heads with our peace, joy, love, wisdom, understanding and favor! We are IN the world for a divine purpose - reaching the lost! I would encourage everyone to watch The Visual Bible - Matthew, starring Bruce Machiano, to get a picture of how that looks! This portrayal of Jesus is the very best that I have ever seen. Jesus was always filled with joy! Yes, He wept, but joy is NOT an emotion, it is a force of the Spirit! When you get a picture of that, it will change how you present yourself to the world! We do NOT compromise the Word of God and the principles of God to "fit in" with the world. We show them a BETTER way! AMEN! Here is a great song of commitment, IF you are ready for this! "Oceans - Where Feet May Fail" by Hillsong United:

Shalom in Him!