Common, Profane or Sacred

A name of God that I want to focus on is called, “Jehovah Mekadesh” which means “The Lord who Sanctifies.” In Leviticus 20:8, the Lord says, “ And ye shall keep my statutes and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you.” To be sanctified means to be set apart as unique or special. Taking a quick glimpse at the book of Leviticus, it is here where the holiness of God and how the children of Israel were to make sacrifices to God and keep their lives pure is discussed. There were duties in worshiping God they had to follow. It is also during this period of time where the nation was camped in Mount Sinai in between their exit from Egypt and their arrival to the Promised Land.  It was a time for resting, teaching, building and meeting with God face-to-face. My bible notes that redemption in Exodus was the foundation for cleansing worship and service in this book.

    One of the first things you should know is that God is in control! What he wants to happen, will happen. The same goes for what he doesn’t want to happen. Before the Israelites arrived in the Promised Land, there were things God wanted them to do and one of them included removing the people who were not living according to God. These people included the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and more. They were worshipping other gods, were materialistic, appealed to carnal desires and practiced very wicked things. God didn’t want the people of Israel to be surrounded by that and wanted to give them the Land free of the influence of wickedness. As a punishment to these people for this unholy living, God would allow them to be defeated and their land to be taken away.

    See, God doesn’t want you to buy into this world. He says the world will spew you out and I’m sure if you are person with your own testimonies and stories, you can agree to that. But if you stick with God, he will spew out the world. Please know that when you keep your eyes on God, in this world you will be the minority. The majority will be those who love worldliness which means they exclude God to be accepted by the world. They except what the culture says is okay.  They say, it’s okay to be gay. It’s okay to be drunk. It’s okay to worship objects and people. It’s okay to live the way we want to. These examples are apart of the very few of which the world says is okay and it is absolutely wrong. God says, if you have not set apart for me even though you are saved, you will not make it to your destiny. Don’t think just because you are saved, there is nothing else for you to do. You can be saved, but not sanctified.  Being saved means you will enter the Kingdom! Being sanctified means you will inherit the Kingdom! There is a difference! You can easily not make it to where it is God has for you if you don’t follow him. How can we try to compromise with God in order to be accepted by Him and the world? First of all, we can’t come to a Holy God and ask him change his righteous ways and try to negotiate with him because we want to also live by the world’s standards. That doesn’t make any sense. Like my pastor, Dr. Tony Evans said, that’s like asking water not to be wet. It is water’s nature to be wet, so you can’t expect water to be anything other than its nature. The same thing is true with God. It is not his nature to accept wrong from his children and make negotiations to please them because they want to do what they want to do. You can’t want to please God and the world at the same time. You must pick one. Most Christians who are saved basically tells God they accept him, but are not willing to set a apart for him and do not know it. Their living is on a whole other agenda that is not of God‘s. We can’t want him to bless us, but don’t want to live according to the way he says we should live. That’s not only selfish but wrong.

    So which way are you living? Are you living profane doing wicked, low down stuff in your life? Are you living commonly, just going day by day claiming that you know who Jesus and God is but your life isn’t portraying it? Or are you living sacredly as a unique individual of God standing on the word of God and living the way he says, trusting him, serving him, seeking him, acknowledging him, and obeying him? Please evaluate yourself and choose to live a sacred life. If you want to experience God, sanctification must take place. If you want his presence, it’s going to be on his terms because he is not following us, we are following him. God doesn’t want you to be common, he wants you to consecrate yourself.

    Looking at Leviticus 20: 7, God says, “ Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy, for I am the Lord your God.” In other words, GO TO GOD! He is not going to force you to make the decision to live holy, just like he won‘t force you to get saved. The scripture says, “sanctify yourself,” not “wait until I come to you in order to be sanctified.” When God sees you make that decision, he will sanctify you. If you consecrate yourself, it is the Lord that saves you! To consecrate yourself means to move from being common to being sacred. You make the move. Choose holiness and remove yourself from sin. God doesn’t expect you to be perfect because you will never be. Neither does he expect you to change on your own. If you are struggling with particular sins in your life, ask God for help to change and set out to change. Take responsibility. Most importantly, make sure you call it what God calls it. Don’t try to downplay and justify your sin by calling it just a mistake or a bad habit and being content with it. Jesus didn’t die for you because of a mistake or bad habit. He died for your sins. Praise Him and let him know how happy you are about it! Show him that you are grateful for what he did and are willing to live sacredly.

    In a nut shell, don’t put on dirty clothes over clean salvation. This means, don’t live profanely and commonly over the wonderful choice God is giving you the opportunity to live. Consecrate yourself. Be sanctified in spirit, soul and body. Be sanctified inside and out. Tell God you want to live in his presence and make that change! Just like God didn’t want the children of Israel to live by the Canaanites, the Amorites and the other groups values but wanted them to live by His value, the same goes for us today. Our God is the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he didn’t change. He doesn’t want us to live by the world’s values and standards but by His. The Lord will only sanctify you with the truth and His Word is the truth. Dive into the Word and learn! Last but not least, check out Hebrew 12:14. It says, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. There is benefit of being special! This scripture basically says, to those who consecrate themselves, you get to see the Lord! You will see Him work in your life and in your circumstances! Holiness is coupled with living in peace, and having a right relationship with God, leads to right relationships with fellow believers! Be apart of the minority and make the choice right now to live sacredly! Focus on God and not the people and the values of this world.  Glory be to God and Praise the name of the Lord!

God Bless You!


*Crystal M. Cherry
 

S.P.E.A.K. in Scripture

S: Seek- "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be added unto you." Matthew 6:33

P: Praise- "I will praise thee O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvelous works." Psalms 91

E: Exalt- "The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God and I will exalt him." Exodus 15:2

A: Acknowledge- "In all thy ways, acknowledge him; and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:6

K. Know- "...that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Colossians 1:10

What S.P.E.A.K. is about....

S.P.E.A.K. Ministries is dedicated to teach everyone about the wonderful love of God. While teaching is very important, it is also encouraged for everyone to be apart of and share in this ministry while standing on the Word of God and living accordingly to it. S.P.E.A.K is an acronym for the action words that are used to drive this ministry. What it essentially means is to Seek God, Praise God, Exalt God, Acknowledge God, and Know God. These are all very important in daily living. So let's not waste time. Please join me in seeking, praising, exalting, acknowledging, and knowing God. Teaching, ministering, helping and loving one another is key. As we unite as brothers and sisters in Christ, let's glorify His Kingdom together in obeying Him and living out what we are called to do. Tell your testimonies and sow into this teaching. With that being said, it’s time to turn down the noise and turn up His voice! It's time to SPEAK and tell everyone about the love of God and how we should be living!