January 8

Read: Ezekiel 36:25-27

And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost… purifying their hearts by faith (Acts 15:8-9).

A Statement Of Faith

God has put into our hearts a hunger for himself. This yearning is never satisfied by a halfway religion. Real joy comes only when we make a complete surrender of ourselves to God. But the Bible teaches that we may have genuine satisfaction when we thus surrender. Earnest seekers after God testify that they have found their hearts’ desire. Many Christian groups have formulated statements of this truth.

In the Book of Discipline of the Free Methodist church we read: “Entire sanctification is that work of the Holy Spirit, subsequent to regeneration, by which the fully consecrated believer, upon exercise of faith in the atoning blood of Christ, is cleansed in that moment from all inward sin and empowered for service. The resulting relationship is attested by the witness of the Holy Spirit and is maintained by obedience and faith. Entire sanctification enables the believer to love God with all his heart, soul, strength and mind, and his neighbor as himself, and prepares him for greater growth in grace” (Par. 33).

Holiness people everywhere gladly join with the Free Methodists in this proclamation of faith from their hymnal, Hymns of the Living Faith:

Ye who know your sins forgiven, And are happy in the Lord, Have you read the precious promise,

Which is left upon record? I will sprinkle you with water, I will cleanse you from all sin, Sanctify and make you holy, I will dwell and reign within.

— Walker H. Talcott