Letting Go of self

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

1 Thessalonians 5:23

God desires us to let go of self, and be set apart as a people who are living a life of sanctification. There’s process where the Father wants to cultivate a new self set apart for His divine glory, and that process starts in the spirit, then the soul, and finally through the body. We are made with three separate parts spirit, soul, and body. Each of which work together towards complete sanctification. The work of sanctification comes in a very specific order as written by Paul, spirit, soul, and body. The shekinah glory of God desires to over flow from the spirit within us, to the soul, and finally until our body is filled with His glory so we may live from His overflow. We are created to operate out of divine overflow where His glory can shine from our innermost part through the covering of our flesh. God’s peace, His character, brings about that process. The work of sanctification is a gradual and quiet process by which God is cultivating and uprooting every unholy thing in our lives. He wants to take every part of us, deep and shallow to another level, He wants to see His nature come through us. God’s supernatural has to uproot and cultivate every ounce of us so that He is able to grow the supernatural in us. He desires to see our sanctification come to completion. We see that in the first section of this scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 .

First we have peace, which describes God’s character, and also the vehicle by which He sanctifies us. Below I have written out the greek for peace, which is eirene and it’s root word eirō. God’s peace works out our sanctification through quietness and seeking wholeness. A spirit of peace can not be operating within us unless there is wholeness where we are joined together with Him. His nature and character which is defined by this peace is what sanctifies us.

Peace = eierne = one, quietness, rest > eirō = wholeness, join together

Sanctify means to make us holy, regarding us as special, and to set us apart for His purposes. This is where in that still quiet place with God, His peace enters in and starts working in us towards change. Theres a thrilling quiet where He starts to work in our innermost parts. God’s desire is to bring this process of sanctification to completion. In the greek below you will see holotelés means complete and perfect. To fill out the meaning of the word, the root words are hólos which means whole/all parts present/entirely and télos which means end purpose. Our process of sanctification is meant to make us whole, bring our growth to completion, and it is his end purpose for us. We are made in the image of God, and in order to live that out, we are meant to walk out a life of sanctification so that when we reach our end here and come before God we come to completion on the other side of eternity. He desires us to have wholeness and unity with Him. We can see that His peace is what ties together that sanctification process bringing us into a wholeness.

Sanctify = hagiazó = make holy, consecrate > hāgios = regard as special, set apart, sacred

Completely = holotelés = complete, perfect > hólos = whole, all parts present, entirely >télos = end purpose

This is a divine wholeness that can not be reached without the whisper of the Holy Spirit consistently working in our lives, starting with our innermost spirit, then to the soul, and finally outwardly through the body, through our actions. We see this in the order of Pauls list of spirit, soul and body for sanctification. The spirit in each of us is our supernatural part which is what reaches out and speaks to the Holy Spirit and which is first touched by the words and promptings of the Holy Spirit. This is where sanctification first must start working. The spirit as seen below is our rational soul, the eternal portion. It is the breath of God within us which is the same portion of us which is resurrected from the dead when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. God breathes life back into our spirit when we choose to follow Christ. We are then able to house the Holy Spirit and this revives our line of communication with Him. Without the inner resurrection there is no inner communication with the Holy Spirit. In John 4:24 we can see how our spirit is able to connect with God. We can not worship God properly or rightly without our spirit; spirit must speak to Spirit.

Spirit = Pneuma = rational soul, immortal/eternal portion Hebrew = Rûach = breath of God

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.

John 4:24

Our soul is our individual self with all of the emotions and thoughts and actions. Our soul is what speaks God to the world around us. We express Him through our soul. It is that outward expression of Him through us which is where the soul operates. Luke 1:46-47 shows the different functions of the soul and spirit. There’s a difference, soul is magnifying the Lord and the spirit is rejoicing in God. Magnification can’t come without the joy, because your can’t magnify something that doesn’t exist. Her worship came from her spirit first, then expressed outwardly though her soul. The inner joy comes first from the spirit, and then magnified from that quiet inner place through the soul.

Soul = Psychē – vital breath of life, personhood, unique individual

And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

Luke 1:46-47

Body = Somā = physical body

Our physical body is the last part which is changed and set apart. Our physical actions are always determined by our innermost self. God reaches us first in our spirit when we become alive in Him, reborn spiritually when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior from that day on. God’s move in our life is in the innermost quiet, peaceful place, where His Holy Spirit resides. It is a gentle whisper coming in, ushering in His presence. His peace brings us into wholeness, because peace requires wholeness. As divine wholeness is cultivated in the quiet dark place, new creation is made (Gen 1:2). This is where our soul is changed, so it magnifies Him. His shekinah glory begins to saturate the spirit, soul, and body as we conform to the quiet & silent sanctification process within. It is in the inner stillness we can be made new. Sanctification is easily missed if we never settle in our spirit to commune with God. What we do outwardly should reflect the innermost part of us. We are set apart by God as His inheritance (Eph 1:18), which He has made for Himself through the work of His son, cultivating His people through the sanctification of spirit, soul and body of each believer.

…having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…

Ephesians 1:18

Sanctification is gradual, so that each piece of us is thoroughly cultivated, so that in this process, others may see God’s glory and desire to know Him more. In this way, rather than living soulish lives where we are living from and for our own emotion and direction, we live from His peace, wisdom, and guidance. We look towards our eternal destination where our sanctification comes to completion. Here we are finally made whole. Letting go of our soulish, emotional, and unfiltered thought lives and outward version of ourselves takes great humbling and active work before the Lord. He does not offer up any of the sanctification process with a free pass on effort and commitment on our part. God desires to co-labor with us in the process of change in our spirit, soul, and body. The Father will convict our hearts, transform our thoughts, and call us to action when we are willing to submit our heart and flesh to His will. He can change the most wretched of us to a vision of His glory and holiness when we choose to labor with Him in the mess. We have a loving Father who lays out the plans to let go of our emotionally driven patterns of thought and action. The only thing the Father requires in our sanctification journey, is our passion for Him, His heart, and commitment to submitting to His ways and not our own. When we step into the fulness of who He’s calling us to be, that’s where we see lasting change happen in our deepest parts, marching us to higher places mentally, physically, and emotionally. Having the mind of Christ should be an active, daily journey, for each of us. There we have the greatest impact and allow the shekinah glory of God through us. The Holy Spirit finally finds himself no longer quenched but a tangible, burning fire, working through us.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-24