How to Keep Sanctified

Leviticus 6:8-13, Isaiah 6:1-8, Matthew 3:11-12, Acts 2:1-4, Galatians 5:25

Dear God,

You are my Sanctifier.  But I have to be honest.  I have asked You to cleanse and fill me many times, only to leak out!  I remember reading from Samuel Logan Brengle who quoted John Wesley on keeping sanctified:  “Many people lose the blessing 2 or 3 times before they learn how to keep it!”

That was my experience, especially in my youth.  I don’t want to lose the experience of a pure heart.  I want to  maintain the blessing and continue to grow in Christian holiness.

The lesson of the burnt offering from the Law, teaches me how to keep sanctified.  In order to keep sanctified, I must keep my ashes emptied, keep my fire burning on the altar of my heart, keep my sacrifice on Your altar, and keep my garments clean.

I know that the cares of life, memories of personal failures, and past defeats would be ashes on the altar of my heart to choke out the holy life You are giving me.  Help me to sweep the hearth and keep the ashes emptied.

You ignited the fire from heaven on the altar of tabernacle.  The priests had to keep the fire burning that You had started.  You ignited a fire within me through Your sanctifying Spirit.  Help me to keep the fire of a clean heart burning on the altar of my soul.  Dennis Kinlaw wrote: “An ignited person with an ignited heart is the one baptized by the Spirit/s fire” (This Day with the Master, 2002,  March 14).

Then there is the matter of my keeping my sacrifice on Your altar.  Someone once told me that “The trouble with living sacrifices is that they tend to crawl off the altar.”  My best and my redeemed all is Yours from now and forever.  I pray that You find my sacrifice holy and pleasing.

You call me to a holy life, represented by clean garments.  Your priests were called to holiness.  Amidst the bloody, smoky environment of the tabernacle, You called them to inner and outer holiness.  Amidst the sinful environment of my family, my workplace, and my community, keep me clean.  I want Your gracious holiness to radiate through me in a humble, God-centered life.

I am only frustrated in the life of holiness when I try to measure and assess myself.  I want You to see me as holy.  I want the Witness of Your Holy Spirit that I please You.  I love You.  I need You.  I am utterly dependent upon You.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who pronounce me clean,
Amen.