I know that I am saved, but I have a further need.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1

I am a child of God. I can with confidence call God my Father. I know that Jesus Christ is my Saviour, and that He has pardoned my sins. I have been converted-that is, my heart and life have been changed by the Spirit of God. The fear of death and judgement and hell has been taken away. I love God and want to please Him. I hate sin, and want never to do evil any more. I pray and read my Bible, and love Christ’s people. I do a little work and give a little money to extend the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth, and very much wish that I could do more. I hope that my Savior will be with me when I come to die, acquit me in the day of judgment, and then receive me into Heaven to dwell with Him forever.

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:17

But although I have this assurance that I am a child of God, I also know, to my sorrow, that there are evils still existing in my heart and life which ought not to be there, and which I very much wish could be removed. For instance, there are in my soul the remains of pride, vanity, bad temper, malice, hatred, bitterness, revengefulness, ambition, lust, sloth, love of the pleasures and riches of the world, selfishness, want of thorough truthfulness, envy, etc.

(Honestly select from this list the particular evil, or evils, which you have reason to believe exist within your heart, with which you have to battle, and which every now and then overcome and lead you into actual sin. Look at that particular sin, or sins, when discovered, until you feel and see their hatefulness, and until you detest and loathe them.)

• I find that these evil’s manifest themselves in my conversation, in the manner I discharge my family duties, in the way I conduct my business, and almost in every part of my daily life.
• I feel that they damage my example as a Christian, and very often those around me, because I feel when I do that I lay myself open to the charge, “Physician, heal thyself.” They also interfere greatly with my happiness, causing me much irritation and vexation of spirit, often leading me into actual sin, on account of which I am brought into condemnation, and have to seek forgiveness. But, most deplorable of all, I know that these evils grieve my Saviour, being contrary to His will concerning me, and in direct opposition to His Word.
• I am sure I hate these sins, and long to be delivered from them.

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.” I Thessalonians 4:3

From what I have read in the Bible, by what I have heard, and by the light God has given me by His Holy Spirit in my heart, I now see and believe that it is possible for me to be delivered from these inward and outward sins, and that I can be made holy in this life. I believe that I can, as the Scriptures say, be cleansed from all the filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, and enabled to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord.

I do not expect to be delivered from temptation, or from sorrow, or from suffering, or from the possibility of falling into sin in this world; but I do believe that God can work such a change in my appetites and dispositions, and give me such a measure of the power of His Holy Spirit as will enable me to live without committing sin. For now I see that the purpose for which Jesus Christ was born into this world, and for which He lived and died and rose again, was to destroy the works of the devil out of my heart and out of my life.

I believe that this blessing of holiness is offered to me in the Bible and urged upon my acceptance by the Holy Spirit, and that God is waiting to cleanse me from all impurity and make me clean. Even now, while I kneel before Him, He is saying to me, “Then will I sprinkle clear water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep my judgements, and do them.”

“Oh, joyful sound of Gospel grace,
Christ shall in me appear:
I, even I, shall see His face,
I shall be holy here.

My heart shall be His constant home,
I hear His Spirit’s cry;
Surely He saith, ‘I quickly come,’
He saith, who cannot die.”

“But if walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from ALL sin.” I John 1:7 Believing that God has promised to cleanse my heart and my life when I ask Him with all my heart to do so. I here and now choose to be holy, and I determine to seek this blessing, and to obtain it, cost me what it may. I plainly see that I shall not gain it without difficulty. But although I may have to give up some things that appear pleasant to me, and do things that I prefer not to do; and although I may have to battle with the enemy of my soul, who will not want me to be holy, and to struggle with my own heart of fearfulness and unbelief before I can enter into this promised land of holiness – still I feel sure that the treasure is worth any sacrifice or effort that I may be called upon to make.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1 Seeing that holiness means living without sin, and that God has commanded me to sanctify and make myself holy, which means that I must be a partner with Him in the great work of cleansing my heart and life, I do now fully resolve that I will do all that I can to purify myself. I therefore do here now thoughtfully and solemnly renounce everything that I have reason to believe to be contrary to the will and wishes of my Lord and Savior, and opposed to the real happiness and holiness of my fellow creatures.

1. I put away everything evil in the thoughts, feelings, and imaginations of my heart.
2. I give up all that appears to be evil, wasteful, or impure in my personal habits, whether in my eating, drinking, dressing, talking, or in any other particular.
3. I give up and abandon everything that is wrong in the way I conduct myself in my family, in my dealings with my wife or husband (if I am married), with my children or servants (if I have any), in my conduct towards my master or mistress (if I am employed), and the general conduct of my daily life.
4. Not only do I here renounce those things which I know to be evil, but those things which appear to be doubtful. I will abstain from doing, or allowing to be done, as far as I can, anything about the rightness or wrongness of which I have any serious doubt. I read in my Bible that “he that doubteth is damned”, which means condemned, and I will not be condemned by doing doubtful things.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ, liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 Not only do I, by God’s help, promise to cease from all evil, but I do freely consecrate myself here and now to the services of my Lord. I deliberately and cheerfully lay myself and whatever I possess at His feet, and beg Him to make what He can of so weak and unworthy an instrument as I am, and of such trifling treasures as I possess, for the promotion of His glory and the welfare of His creatures, both in this world and in the world to come. I give Him my body that it may henceforth, become His dwelling place: I give Him my hands, feet, eyes, ears, tongue, and everything connected with my body, together with all its appetites and powers, for Him to keep and employ as He sees fit. I give Him my mind with all the faculties of memory, judgement, imagination, conscience, and will that He may cleanse it and preserve it blameless to the day of His coming. I give Him my heart with all there is in it – its capacity for affection, hatred, hope, worship, fear, faith – in order that He may purify, occupy, and fill it with His love. I give Him my goods, and my promise to regard them as belonging to Him and His Kingdom, solemnly engaging to use them in such a way as I have reason to believe He will approve, and as He shall show me will be most productive of His glory and the benefit of my fellow men. In short, I give Him my life, and promise to regard myself henceforth as belonging as much to Him in the place where I now live as I expect I shall do when I come to live with Him in Heaven. I leave my position and condition entirely to His good pleasure. He can make me poor or rich, sick or well, the head or the foot, He can keep me on earth or take me to Heaven. I belong to Him.

“And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.” I Thessalonians 5:23-24 And now, O Lord, believing that Thou dost want me to be holy; that Jesus Christ, by His death, has purchased for me this deliverance from all evil, and that Thou hast promised to make me holy when I seek for the blessing with all my heart; and having the witness that I do at this moment renounce every evil way and present myself a living sacrifice according to Thy wish, I believe that Thou dost here and now accept my offering and purify my heart. As a stone which the builder takes and lays upon the foundation, so I this moment lay myself on the sure foundation which Jesus Christ has laid, even His own blessed broken body – a sacrifice which, by its infinite merits, covers all the sins of my past life and sanctifies the imperfect offering which I now make and, regardless of fears or feelings, I do now believe that Thou dost, for Christ’s sake, receive the offering that I make, and that the blood of Jesus Christ does this moment cleanse me from all inward and outward sin. Glory be to the Father, glory be to the Son, and glory be to the Holy Ghost! I am fully the Lord’s and He is mine.