Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 23 and 24.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.

In 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.

This is one of the great benedictions that we read in the end of various letters in the New Testament.

Just think about these words. May the God of peace himself. I could meditate just on that phrase.

Like so many of you who are listening right now are walking through some difficult things,

some trials, some turbulence, and you need the God of peace himself.

And he is the God of peace. So may he sanctify you completely.

What does that mean to sanctify us? Well, the verse goes on to say may your whole spirit

and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's quite a description of sanctification. So sanctification is this process and Paul's

already used this word in 1 Thessalonians to describe becoming holy, becoming more and more like

Jesus, becoming more and more whom God has created us to be and saved us to be saved from

sin, to walk in righteousness, to experience the life of Christ, life to the full abundance.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. Purge you of sin, draw you into holiness,

may your whole spirit and soul and body every part of you be kept blameless at the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ. That's been a major theme throughout 1 Thessalonians, the coming of Jesus.

And as we look forward to his coming, don't we all want to be blameless? Don't we want to be

walking in holiness? Don't we want to be like him earlier in 1 Thessalonians 5? We read the day

of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. It could be today. Jesus could come back today.

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