Sanctified in Christ by Our Challenges

1 Corinthians 1:2

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

When Paul addressed the Corinthians, he emphasized their sanctification through Jesus Christ.  He confirmed that they would be among all the saints in heaven who had also called on the name of Our Lord as their Savior.

Our Heavenly Father's hand never leaves us as He prepares us to be His saints.  The supernatural power of the Holy Spirit is always at work in our lives.  God also brings commonplace people and commonplace events into our lives to teach us, to encourage us and to confirm the plans that He has for us.  He may at times use extraordinary people and extremely uncommon events when He needs to drive a message home.

But it is generally the day-to-day encounters with the commonplace people and events that He puts in place to challenge us.  The challengers are there to test us on an ongoing basis.  Through the aid of the Holy Spirit, we come through the challenges built-up in our character and strengthened in our will to follow God's plans for our lives.

By the grace of God, we are all called to be heirs to His kingdom.  It is His will that none shall perish, that all will come to repentance.  He puts a God-size hole in all of our hearts that can only be filled by His Son.  It is according to His perfect plan that He provides His Son as Our Redeemer.  It is for His good pleasure and for His glory that He provides His Holy Spirit to prepare us to be His saints.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect plan to have us join You in heaven for all eternity.  We bless the name of Jesus for His shed blood that washes us clean and makes it possible for us to enter into Your presence.  We pray, Lord, that You will release many teachers, encouragers and confirmers into our lives.  We ask for ears to hear them and the wisdom to follow their counsel.  We pray that we may also become teachers, encouragers and confirmers in the lives of others on their journeys to sainthood.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Holy and Awesome Lord, Jesus Christ.