THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION HIS GLORY REIGNS B. Childress Jan 4, 2008 When we consecrate our lives for God's use, to go anywhere and do anything He wants us to do, we pray this kind of prayer. In a prayer of consecration and dedication we pray, "If it be Thy will." "And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him...And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." Luke 22:39-42 In the Garden of Gethsemane Christ prayed the prayer of submission, consecration, and dedication "...if thou be willing...nevertheless not my will..." He wanted to do what the Father wanted Him to do. It was not a prayer of petition. It was not a prayer to get something or to change something. When it comes to changing things or getting something from God, however, we do not pray, "If it be thy will," because we already have God's Word concerning it. We know it is His will that our needs be met. "Praying always with all (manner of) prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;" Ephesians 6:18. If we pray at all times in the Spirit, we will soon realize that the Holy Spirit will take us through various seasons in our prayer lives; and there are different types of prayers for those seasons. But prayers of consecration and commitment, "hands off" prayers because they result in giving ourselves to God (in the prayer of consecration) and giving our situations to God (in the prayer of commitment), are prayed in and out of any season. THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION Consecration involves complete, voluntary, surrender to the Lord. In a prayer of consecration, you are saying to Him: "Here I am God, I give myself to You. Unto You, O Lord, do I bring my entire life. I lay it on Your altar. Do what You want to do with me. Speak through me today. Touch people through me today. Place me in a position to meet all divine appointments today. Make a difference in my world through me today. You have everything about me available to You for You to utilize according to Your plans and purposes." When we consecrate something, we set it apart for God's use. Therefore, when we consecrate our lives, we turn our backs on our fleshly desires, worldly values, carnal thinking, undisciplined living, bad habits, and on everything else that does not agree with God's Word. We intentionally put distance between ourselves and ungodly things so that we are prepared and available for God to use us. E.M. Bounds defines consecration as the "voluntary set dedication of oneself to God, and offering definitely made, and made without any reservation whatsoever. It is the setting apart of all we are, all we have, and all we expect to have or be, to God first of all. Consecration is not easy, but it is worth the discipline and the sacrifice. When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we should be conscious of giving Him everything that we are, but we should also know that we are giving Him everything that we are not. God shows Himself strong and often most effective in our weaknesses, so we do not need to feel that we must hide them from Him. He knows everything about us and loves us unconditionally, so hold nothing back from Him, not even your weaknesses. Let go of everything as an offering to your Lord and you will be amazed at how free you will feel. Consecrating or dedicating your life to God is not something to be taken lightly. The prayer of consecration is a serious prayer and when it comes from a serious heart, there are serious results. God goes to work: we all have weaknesses in our lives; so when we consecrate ourselves, God begins to deal with those things. What we give to God belongs to God, and if He is going to use us, He will need to do a work on the inside of us - and we have to let Him do it. Consecration is a process and it takes time. The prayer of consecration is simply an invitation for God to change, rearrange, and purify us. When God prepares us for His use, He often starts by cleansing us of the things that do not honor Him, such as improper thought patterns or bad attitudes or habits. There are many ways God choses to deal with us, for example:
God desires that we have friends and position in our work, community, and church, but He does not want us to depend on them too much. He will remove things we cannot keep in balance. Everything in this world can be shaken and changed in a moment of time, only God never changes. He wants us to depend first and foremost on Him. If you pray the prayer of consecration, you can expect the fire of God to come and cleanse you and your life. The process of consecration is not usually comfortable or easy, but it is always good and the results are amazing. FULL CONSECRATION Christians become dangerous to the enemy when they start living consecrated lives that are fully dedicated and sold- out to God. This kind of devotion means we give God everything; we cannot hold anything back. When we consecrate ourselves, everything about us becomes fair game for God to deal with. If we really are serious about being set apart for God's use, we must ask ourselves if there are any areas of our lives in which we are holding out on God - are we willing to give up some things while desiring to hold on to others? Full consecration is saying and meaning with all your heart, "I give myself entirely to You, Lord." We must allow God to make the choices about what is really good for us and what is not - our job is to trust Him completely. God's primary goal in our lives is to make us like Jesus. Romans 8:29 says that He wants us, "... to be conformed to the image of His Son," which means that He wants us to continue to become more like Jesus in our thoughts, in our words, in the way we treat other people, in our personal lives, and in our action - and it will not happen overnight. It requires a process of consecration and it means that our soulish, carnal, fleshly tendencies have to be eliminated. Romans 12:1 reads, "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 (make a decisive dedication - to give ourselves to God)." God has given us a free will, and the only way we will ever belong to Him is to give ourselves freely to Him. He will never force us to love Him or serve Him. He will lead us, guide us, and prompt us, but He will always leave the decision to surrender up to us. God created human beings, not robots, and He will not try to program us to behave a certain way because He has given us the freedom to make our own choices - and He wants us to choose Him. He wants us to lay our lives willingly on the altar every day and say, "God, Your will be done, and not mine." That is one of the most powerful prayers we can pray when we really mean it. In your thoughts, you may intend to surrender at some later time, but remember that good intentions do not equal obedience and obedience is what God requires. PRESENT YOUR MEMBERS TO GOD Paul exhort us in Romans 12:1 to "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable..." If we really dedicate our bodies to God, we cannot lie on the couch all day, eat donuts, and watch soap operas and think we are living consecrated lives: we need to get up in the morning, get out our Bibles, spend time with God, and dedicate ourselves to Him. When we see our bodies as gifts to the Lord and instruments that He wants to use, we will not abuse them. We must remember that we represent God, not the world. In order to obey Romans 12:1, we will also need to choose to give the Lord our "members and faculties." In other words, we offer Him our minds, abilities, and emotions. We should not let the devil use our minds as the human mind is his favorite battle ground and he will fire thoughts at us all day long. Most of the time, they will be sly, subtle, and deceptive thoughts so that we find them easy to believe. He will lie and accuse and tell us anything he can think of to steal our joy, rob our peace, and make us feel rotten and unworthy. He also fills our minds with ungodly thoughts about other people (one way to combat the devil when he sends you wrong thoughts about someone is to pray for that person immediately). While we cannot stop him from sending thoughts our way, we can resist, rebuke, and fight back. Attacking God's people is a way of life for the devil, so prayer also needs to be a way of life for us. When we fill our thoughts with right things, the wrong ones have no room to enter. When we consecrate our "members and faculties" to the Lord, we also give Him our abilities, our skills, and our talents. Many people use their abilities at work, which means that their professional lives - their integrity on the job, their time management, their stewardship of company resources, and the way they treat their coworkers should bring Him honor. We need to see ourselves as working for God, instead of working for a boss. We need to go to work every day with the determination to do everything right, with excellence. People whose lives are consecrated to the Lord know that He is always watching, they are aware that they are living their lives in His presence and they want to please Him with their thoughts and their actions. They want to live in the light, before God and to obey Colossians 3:23,24 which says, "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ." DOING EVERYTHING UNTO THE LORD...with all of your heart is one mark of a consecrated life. It is one way to say, "God, I belong to You." First Corinthians 6:19,20 says, "...know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." So then honor God and bring glory to Him in your body. We have been bought with a price - the Blood of Jesus Christ. God purchased us for Himself, we do not belong to ourselves, and if our lives are consecrated to God, we have deliberately laid down any rights we thought we had. We are here on earth to please God and not other people - we are here to serve Him and to carry out His purposes on earth. Hence, our attitude should be, "God, I am not going to live to please myself, I am going to please You, believing that if I live for You and Your good pleasure, You will take care of me and my happiness." When we give ourselves to Jesus, He gives us favor. Things begin to happen that amaze us and brings us great enjoyment. Consecration brings blessing. It is an honor to give your life to the Lord; you do not do it to get blessed, but blessings do follow. Setting your life apart for God's use bring Him joy, and He, in turn will take care of you and help you enjoy your life. HIS TIMING Let's not rush God by trying to "help" Him as He works in our lives. Striving in the flesh will only wear you out. Even when our hearts are dedicated to God, we have to submit to His timing as He continues to purify us so that we can serve Him most effectively. We may not understand His timing and we may even grow frustrated or impatient with it, but we must fix our eyes on the prize. The Bible says we inherit through faith and patience (Hebrews 6:12). We honor God when we consecrate our lives to Him, and in order to do that fully, we have to allow Him to take us through the process of consecration on the timetable of His choosing. The prayer of consecration is not to be prayed lightly - without sincerity or without conviction. But when you pray it with sincerity, you will never be disappointed with the results. Sources: Prevailing Prayer to Peace, by Kenneth E. Hagin, Copyright 1985, RHEMA Bible Church. The Power of Simple Prayer, by Joyce Meyer, Copyright 2007, Hachette Book Group, USA. |
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