To accomplish God’s will for your life, you have to know what the will of God is. Remember, we are commanded to KNOW the will of God. So to help us make decisions that are in step with the will of God for our life, we’ve been looking at some things the Word of God says are definitely the will of God.

It is the will of God that all believers be sanctified.

1 Thessalonians 4:3a

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; …

Sanctification here means to be “set apart unto God,” in fellowship, led by the Holy Spirit, so you can be under His guidance, ready to serve Him in any way.

When you see the principle of sanctification in the Word of God, you have to look at the context to see exactly what it is talking about. When you become a believer, you are instantly and permanently declared sanctified, set apart to God because of your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:10

10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

1 Corinthians 1:2

2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

So we know, as believers, that we are permanently set aside, and made completely holy in Christ Jesus. The other issue in sanctification is really a question of living in that reality. Since we have this relationship with Jesus Christ, we should be acting a certain way. That’s the context of this verse in 1^st Thessalonians. Look what comes in the rest of the verse:

1 Thessalonians 4:3-4

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;

4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel (this means your body) in sanctification and honor,

This sanctification that is the will of God for our lives is a RESULT of understanding our sanctification from our relationship with Jesus Christ. We have seen that our body is now the temple, or permanent dwelling place, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since we know this spiritual reality, God’s will is for us to experience that reality in our lives. Since we know that Jesus lives inside us permanently, it should make us act in a different way!

When you understand the complete forgiveness of God, it’s easy to say, “I can go ahead and commit that sin, and I know that God will forgive me,” which He will. But when you realize that Jesus lives permanently inside you, and is going with you when you commit that sin, it gives you a whole different perspective! So you see, the sanctification that God wills for our life is based on an understanding of the real sanctification that God has provided for us.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.