Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth.... — 1 Peter 1:22a

There is a renewing, or a purification, of your soul, which is a process that will continue for your whole life on the earth.  It is a process of bringing your soul in line with God’s will and God’s ways.  When you were born again, your spirit was made righteous and holy, but your soul was not changed.  Now your soul, through the Word of Truth, will be sanctified or separated to God’s Word and separated or sanctified from the world.  Many times your soul will not want to do what the Word or the Truth says to do.  It does not want to bless those who curse you.  It does not want to pray for those who despise you.  It does not want to get up and pray in tongues at 5 a.m.  Your soul has been conditioned and trained to the things and ways of the world, and now will fight to hold on to these untruths.  But you are no longer a living soul, you are a life-giving spirit!  Your spirit should now take the lead in your life.  Sanctification will now only take place in the correct order:  spirit first – soul next – then body.  As you make a decision of your will to obey the Truth in spite of feelings and emotions, you will come into sanctification.  Let the Word be Lord in your life, not your soul.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. — Romans 8:14

As you begin to read and study the Word, you will start to discover God’s will and the truth for your life.  The Truth will teach you how to operate in your finances, health, relationships, work, ministry, and life itself.  But as you continue in the Truth, you will find that you start to run into situations and decisions that are not clearly specified in the Word.  What house do I buy?  What job do I take?  Whom do I marry?  For these types of decisions God gave you the Spirit of God, or the Spirit of Truth.  He was sent to you to lead you and guide you into all Truth, not only the truth in the written Word, but the truth in every decision you make.  The Word declares that we were born children of God, but were unstable, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14).  By obeying the Truth or the written Word, you will become separated to God’s will and ways so you can then be led by His Spirit in other decisions outside the Word.  You must learn to obey the written Word first!  Failure to do so will cause you to be led by the wrong voice in other decisions.  Let the Word of God sanctify and purify your soul by your decision to hear and obey the Word.  Start by praying, loving, tithing, forgiving–-then yield to His Spirit in every other area of your life.

But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. — 1 John 2:20

You have an unction, an anointing, the Spirit of Truth, who desires to lead you and guide you daily into all truth.  Notice: You know all things.  You can make the right decision every time.  You have the unction, the Spirit, an anointing, that is Truth and will lead you and guide you in the right direction, in the right decision always!  Are you becoming sanctified, separated to the written Word?  Now start to become sanctified to that still, small voice of God in you.  Some call it conscience, some call it a hunch, some call it a prompting, but it is the voice of the Spirit in you.  If you do not stay in the Word and pray in the Spirit, you will find yourself making the wrong decisions, the wrong choices, every time.  Why?  Because you will choose according to natural indications or inclinations.  Does it look good in the natural?  Then I’ll do it!  =  a soulish decision made on sight and feeling.  If you go that way, the soulish way, you will have to provide for that way and carry out that way without the power of God.  It will fail!  God is only responsible to back up His decision.  Spiritual decisions are made based on a "knowing" in you, and many times will make no sense in the natural.  Learn to be led by the inner voice, the little promptings, in the little things–-so you will be ready when a big decision needs to be made.

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; — 1 Thessalonians 5:23a

Once you are born again, the God of peace goes to work to sanctify you. Sanctify means to separate from and to separate to. At the new birth, we were separated from sin, from evil, from the curse; we were separated to righteousness, to good, and to God. God desires to sanctify you wholly–-your spirit, soul, and body. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 6:11 that you are sanctified! And again, in 1 Corinthians 1:2, "To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." Well, are we, or are we being sanctified? Which one is it? When you received Jesus as Lord and Savior, you were immediately sanctified. But that sanctification, that separation, only took place in the spirit, in the real you. Now, through His Word and His Spirit, His desire is to sanctify your soul and your body to the things of God. The only change that took place in the miracle of the new birth is in your spirit; your soul (mind, will, and emotions) and your body remained the same. Through the renewing of your mind to the Word of God, He will separate the whole you to God and to the things of God. This is when you will experience life, and life more abundantly. In Him you will see the power of God flow out of your life. He started a work in your spirit; now He desires to sanctify you wholly–-spirit, soul and body.