If you are a follower of Jesus you know that as soon as you give your life to Jesus nothing else in life goes wrong, right? Kidding! I wish, and I’m sure you do as well.

I think a very common misconception about the Christian faith is that after you encounter Jesus you will no longer encounter problems, when in fact it’s actually most of the time the opposite – which makes that first “bump” or first few bumps really defeating, if not the thing that makes us want to walk away from faith altogether.

My pastor, Preston Morrison, said this epic quote recently that stuck with me, “Before salvation the enemy does whatever he can to keep you from Jesus, and after salvation, the enemy does whatever he can to keep you from the Holy Spirit.” Yes, our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8) but I feel that sometimes we give the enemy credit for pain that is not from him.

Yes, some pain (maybe most) is an attack from the enemy, but did you know that some pain is actually self-induced/sin-induced and some is what I like to call “a holy pain” a process that God takes us through called sanctification. To be honest, it’s not much fun, in fact, it feels a lot like suffering, but it’s a holy suffering. Maybe you’re experiencing that right now – the cutting, the pruning, the sanctifying. It’s not easy, but it’s a vital part of our faith and is the stepping stone before us walking out the purpose he has for us. You can’t pour new wine into old wineskins (Luke 5:37-39) just like you can’t pour new purpose into old lifestyles.  

What is sanctification?

The root word of sanctification is the Latin word “sanctus”, which means "holy". The word sanctification comes from the Latin word sanctificāre, which is made up of sanctus and facere, meaning "to make.” 

So, in layman’s terms, sanctification is the process to be made holy.

We sing songs like, “God make us like you”, “make us holy”, but we don’t like what that process feels like, am I right? I’m right there with you.

I’m currently walking through a major cutting and pruning process so I’m the perfect person to encourage you in this because I’m not speaking from a place I don’t have first-hand knowledge of.

A little about my story, I am recently out of an over year long Christian relationship with a man that I thought I was going to marry (even looked at rings) and although at the time I thought this was the man God had for me – looking back I can see my hand of control weaved throughout the story, maybe you can relate?

BUT GOD. He’s so sovereign and He uses it all. As I prayed for direction in the middle of this relationship, God answered loud and clear as He does, and ended it, but the worst part (for me), He didn’t bring me automatic healing, clarity or my future husband, instead He brought me to a place of true dependency on him alone and that started with my sanctification process.

Things that I used to like, crave, and indulge in, I couldn’t even be around anymore they would make me cringe. I was stripped of every crutch, idol, sinful desire, and God started a spiritual cleanse in me that had nothing to do with what I could do or force but everything to do with His cutting and pruning of my soul.

“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”
John 15:2

I decided not to fight this process and allow God to make me holy. If an order to do His will, I need to be sanctified then God cut me, prune me, heal me, and remove anything that offends you. It’s not a fun prayer or process, but it’s necessary for the work He has started in you and the work He wants to complete.

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
Philippians 1:6

When I asked God what He wanted me to show you about the process of sanctification I got an unexpected picture that occurs in John 2:13-22 and maybe you know the story:

It was almost time for the Jewish Passover celebration and Jesus went into Jerusalem. When He was there He saw the people in the temple selling goods He watched as dealers were exchanging foreign money at the tables – so Jesus made a whip and chased them all out, flipping tables over and telling them to “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a den of thieves.”. I felt like God gave me this image of the sanctification process:

It looks a lot like Jesus flipping the tables in your soul. Maybe you have a table that has lust on it? Or control? Or fear? Or worry? Or anger? Jesus wants every single part of your heart, so if he sees areas where he is not on the throne, you better believe he is going to run through the temple of your heart and start flipping over the tables of the things you thought you needed but really don’t. And to take it a step further, your body, your heart, your mind will and emotions, are a temple of the Holy Spirit. He says again to you what He said in this story to them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house (your heart) into a den of thieves.”

He doesn’t do this because He’s a mean God, He does this because He knows the damage of counterfeits in the temple of a holy God. Just as in this story, He flips these tables because they were turning His father’s house into a “den of thieves” He’s protective of His father’s house and He’s protective of you.

Let him do the work in your heart, let him flip the tables, let him heal you and sanctify you. Yes, it’s going to hurt, yes, it’s not going to make sense in the moment, but if you lay still and allow the master surgeon to take over, I promise you on the other side of sanctification is purpose like you have never seen before.

- Kayla Nordlum