Sanctification means setting apart. Sanctification means holiness. They are the same word.
God is holy; that is His existential nature. We cannot even begin to approach God's holiness in and of ourselves. We simply derive the holiness of Jesus through His gift of grace. But as it concerns OUR holiness, our existential nature, that holiness is simply achieved by ONE THING: to be ALONE WITH GOD.
Jesus said we are to pray in secret. That means setting ourselves apart with God to be ALONE with Him. Don't bring your pastor into the prayer closet with you. Don't bring your church into the prayer closet with you. Don't bring your family or your friends into the prayer closet with you. Set yourself apart and be totally alone with God in the secret place, just yourself and Him, with nobody else and nothing else. Cut all ties with the world and just allow yourself to become untethered from the cares of this life and all thoughts of self and allow your focus to move completely into God's presence and away from everything else.
The Bible says to love not the world. It says to present your bodies a living sacrifice. It says to be not conformed to this world but renew your mind in Christ Jesus. It says to cast your cares upon Him. It says to wait upon the Lord.
Wait for what? For how long? It doesn't give God any time limit. The implication is that you seek His face until you find Him. However long that takes. Regardless of whether it seems to take a long time or if it takes you away from other things. That is the whole point: you are supposed to be set apart from all other things and unto God. Then when your mind and your strength are renewed, THEN you will be properly equipped to face the world and to overcome it.
Jesus said "in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."
This overcoming has already been accomplished; your job is to place yourself into the stream of Jesus's overcoming Spirit.
This is death to self and living to God. It is said that everybody dies alone. You go to God alone. It is a solitary journey. And He meets you only when you leave everything behind to seek Him.
