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Scripture Reading: Luke 14:17
God has a need in the universe. God does not need man to give Him something, because with Him there is no lack. God needs only a group of people who would consecrate themselves as empty vessels to receive His riches.
Consecration is not a sacrifice or a loss but a gain and an enjoyment. Consecration does not mean that we agree to do something for God but that we agree to allow God to do something for us. Consecration means that we cease to work and instead allow God to work. Because we are filled with concepts related to the law, we think that we must do something for God, be zealous for God, or accumulate some merit before God. This thought does not come from God. This is the principle of the law, not the principle of grace. Everything that God gives to us is free. In the kingdom of God there are no commercial transactions; everything is freely given and freely received. However, in Satan’s kingdom everything is a commercial transaction; that is, something must be given in order for something to be received. God does not deal with us in this way. If God did not provide us with sunlight, for example, there is nothing that we could give Him in order to receive sunlight. Without God not one blade of grass or one flower would grow, no matter how much money we could give Him.
It offends God when we try to conduct a “business transaction” with Him. How much money is one breath of air or one drop of water worth? Some may say, “It is easy to determine the value of water because every month I pay a small water fee, and I also buy water for drinking and laundering.” It may seem as if we were buying water, but we are actually buying a service from the water company; the water itself has been freely given to us by God. If God did not provide us with water, there would be no amount of money that we could pay to a water company in order to obtain even a drop of water. Everything in creation has been freely given to us by God. Just as everything in creation is free, everything related to redemption is also free. Whatever has not been freely given to us by God is not grace. Consecration does not involve us giving something to God; it involves us stopping our work so that God can do His work. If we see this, it will be a great turning point in our experience.
Many of us work in different places and at different jobs. Do we have a sense of joy when we are at work? Do we have a sense of rest? If we are a consecrated person, we will surely be full of joy and rest. A brother testified that when he consecrated himself to the Lord in prayer, he was so happy that he wanted to jump. The more he prayed, the happier he became. He said that he felt a sense of joy throughout his body. It even seemed to him as if his feet were happy and smiling. After consecration God gives us boundless joy.
Psalm 42:5 says, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? / And why are you disquieted within me? / Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him / For the salvation of His countenance.” The psalmist exhorted his soul to hope in God, for he saw the salvation of God’s countenance. Verse 11 continues, “Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, / The salvation of my countenance and my God.” Joy is a manifestation of God’s salvation in our countenance. Do we express salvation in our countenance? Many people have a long face when they rise up in the morning, a face lacking in salvation. Such a face is not the face of a consecrated one.
One day a sister from a poor family was riding on a bus. As she thought about the Lord, she became so joyful that she could not sit still. The other passengers on the bus looked at her with curious eyes because they could not reconcile her obvious joy with her situation of poverty. The conductor even said sarcastically, “You look like you are going to receive an inheritance from a rich man who has died.” Instead of getting angry, the sister said, “Yes! My Lord died for me, and He has given to me a heavenly inheritance.” Because she knew the Lord, she expressed the Lord’s salvation in her countenance everywhere she went.
If we do not express salvation in our countenance, it means that we are not standing in the position of consecration. If we do not have joy and happiness in our daily life, we have not yet been brought into the Lord to enjoy His riches. Consecration is a great turning point in a believer’s life; it is also the turning point in our work. Every Christian should go through the gateway of consecration.
How should we consecrate ourselves? It is very simple. We need to bring our position, our work, our family, and our all to God, handing them over completely to Him through prayer. When we go before the Lord in this way and yield ourselves to Him, the Lord will bear the responsibility, not us. This is consecration.
The Lord has led me through such an experience of consecration. One morning I felt strongly that I had to pray. While I was praying, the Lord showed me that I needed to go through the gateway of consecration. Kneeling before the Lord, I confessed my sins and then handed over my ability and my speaking to Him. I also offered my wife to Him, saying, “Lord, You have given my wife to me; I hand her over to You.” I also offered my children, one by one, to Him, saying, “Lord, they are Your children; I hand them over to You. Furthermore, I hand over everything else that I have, including my furniture and my clothing to You.” We should hand ourselves over to the Lord in a detailed way.
If we are willing to have such a consecration before the Lord, we will enjoy all that He has. We must hand over everything we have, both within and without, to Him.
After going through the gateway of consecration, we need to stand in the position of consecration by faith. Consecration does not mean that the circumstances of our living will change. For example, our children and our spouses may still trouble us. In such situations, however, we need to stand in the position of consecration by faith. The devil seeks to frustrate man’s salvation in two ways. First, he hinders man from being saved, and second, he causes believers to be skeptical and full of doubt. Before a person is saved, the devil tries to prevent him from being saved, but after a person is saved, the devil tries to make him doubt his salvation. Likewise, before a believer consecrates himself, the devil tries to hinder him from consecrating himself to the Lord, but after a believer consecrates himself, the devil tries to make him doubt his consecration. This is the devil’s cunning scheme.
When a brother, who was a farmer, went to work in his field, he was reminded of his need to consecrate himself to the Lord. Therefore, he prayed, saying, “Lord, I consecrate everything to You.” Shortly thereafter, a question from the devil entered his mind, asking, “Have you truly consecrated yourself?” The farmer began to have some doubts, and he said to himself, “Just in case, I will consecrate myself again.” So he prayed, “Lord, I give everything to You. I give You my house, my field, and everything I have.” After he worked for a period of time, the same question again came to him: “Have you really consecrated yourself?” When he began to have some doubt, he realized the scheme of the devil. In response, he inserted a wooden stake into his field so that he would be able to point to the place of his consecration. He said to himself, “If the devil comes again, I will show him the evidence of my consecration.” After a short while, the devil again asked, “Have you truly consecrated yourself?” The farmer quickly responded, “Go away! I have consecrated myself to the Lord, and this stake is the place of my consecration.”
When we offer ourselves to God, He is pleased to accept us. We have no cause for doubt. When we place ourselves on the altar, our offering of ourselves is counted by God. We should have no uncertainty about our consecration or about the Lord’s acceptance of our consecration. There was once a brother who had nothing to give to the Lord. He was in poor health, and his situation showed no signs of improvement. When many of the brothers began to consecrate themselves to the Lord and were full of rejoicing, he was concerned that he had nothing to offer to the Lord. The only thing he could think of to offer to the Lord was his wife, who loved the Lord very much. Even though he was afraid that the Lord would call her for His work, he still offered her to the Lord, saying, “Lord, I have nothing to give You, but I offer my wife to You.” In his mind this consecration was merely a polite gesture to the Lord; he fully expected that the Lord would not accept his offering. Little did he know that the Lord truly wanted his wife to work for Him. When the brother learned of this, he was very disappointed. He later testified, saying, “I was merely trying to be polite to the Lord when I consecrated my wife to Him. Little did I know that He would not be polite in return.”
Once we consecrate ourselves, we are in the position of consecration. We must see that this position is crucial. Once we stand in such a position, we should not be afraid of anything. The devil is afraid of our consecration, and he is happy as long as we do not stand in the position of consecration. We need to say to the Lord, “You are the Lord; You should gain everything that I have.” This word will not only touch God’s heart but also scare the devil away.
A sister who was serving as a missionary was traveling on a boat that encountered some pirates on the sea. She prayed and received a word: “I belong to Jesus.” When the pirates came to her, she courageously said, “I belong to Jesus. You cannot harm me unless Jesus wants you to harm me.” This word scared them, and they were fearful of harming her. One of the pirates, however, noticed that she was wearing a watch, and he demanded that she give him the watch. She spoke to the pirate in a loud voice, saying, “I cannot give my watch to you. I cannot give my watch to a pirate. If you want it, you will have to use force to take it because I will not give it to you.” The pirate then forcefully took the watch. When the leader of the pirates heard about this incident, he returned the watch to her. At this point she spoke to the leader, saying, “Look at the dirty deck. Are you not concerned about sickness? You should clean the deck.” Because of her speaking, the pirates cleaned the deck. She did not suffer any harm, and she was able to grasp the opportunity to preach the gospel to them.
To stand in the place of consecration means to let the Lord be the Lord, allowing Him to control everything. After consecrating your child to the Lord, you should ask the child, “Whose child are you?” Surely he will say, “You are my father, and I am your child.” Then you have to say, “Formerly, you belonged to me, but you are no longer mine.” The child might say, “If I no longer belong to you, I still belong to my mother.” You have to tell him, “You no longer belong to your mother either. We have consecrated you to the Lord; now you belong to Him.” Then when your child makes a mistake, you will have the ground to show him the Lord’s interest in the matter, which will give the Lord the opportunity to work in your child’s situation. Many people rise up in the morning and pray to the Lord, saying, “Today I consecrate everything to You.” But when their children make a mistake, they quickly act as if their children belong to them, saying, “We are your parents. We told you not to do bad things. Since you did not listen to us, we are going to punish you.” Parents who act in this way chase the Lord away and give Him no opportunity to be the Lord.
We receive authority as soon as we pass through the gateway of consecration. In Exodus 32 God burned with anger against the children of Israel after they worshipped the golden calf. He wanted to consume them, and He said to Moses, “Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves” (v. 7). However, Moses responded, saying, “Why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” (v. 11). With his word Moses confirmed that this matter was God’s responsibility. Because Moses was an absolutely consecrated person, he properly turned over all responsibility related to this situation to God.
Few among us can say, “My prayers are for the Lord, not for myself.” Once there was a brother who had a long-standing health problem related to his stomach, and he often prayed earnestly about his illness. One day I asked him, “When you pray for your illness, is it for yourself or for the Lord?” Saints, have you consecrated yourselves? Are you for the Lord? Someone may say, “I have entrusted everything to the Lord.” But merely entrusting things to the Lord is not enough; you need to hand them over to Him. To say that you have entrusted yourself to the Lord is like depositing money in the bank for safekeeping but that can still be withdrawn at any time. You may have entrusted everything to the Lord, but the authority to use the things remains in your hands. You should turn all authority over to the Lord; only in this way can the Lord truly bear our responsibilities.
A sister who was working for the Lord in a certain locality lived by faith. One day she received a letter informing her that two classmates would be coming to visit on a certain day. She had no food, and she became quite anxious. She thought, “When my classmates come to visit and I have nothing to offer, they will say that my God is false. I cannot allow my guests to go away hungry.” She then prayed earnestly for this matter, and her faith was strengthened. She said, “Lord, if You are not concerned about being shamed, neither am I. You are the One who takes care of my living. If my classmates come to see me, and I have nothing for them, this is not my concern; it is Your concern.” At that very moment a brother came to visit her and gave her a small box that another person had entrusted to him for her. She opened the box and saw that there were bread, eggs, and other food items. The Lord truly bore her responsibility.
When the Lord and His disciples were in a boat crossing the sea, a great tempest arose. The disciples were afraid and anxious, so they woke up the Lord who was sleeping in the boat, saying, “Lord, save us; we are perishing!” (Matt. 8:25). Their anxiety showed that they were not standing in the position of consecration. If they were standing in the position of consecration, they might have said to the wind and waves, “Waves, beat higher! Wind, blow stronger! The Lord is here. Since He is sleeping at the rear of the boat, we will sleep in the front.” We have no need to fear anything when we are standing in the position of consecration.
We need to see that Jesus is Lord. We should have no fear; we need only to hand ourselves over to Him because He is Lord. We need to rejoice and be at peace daily by standing in the place of consecration. We should yield everything that we have to Him and let Him do everything for us. This will not put Him to shame; it will glorify Him. He desires mercy and not sacrifice (9:13). Mercy is what He gives to us, whereas sacrifice is what we give to Him. The Lord does not want us to give Him anything; His only desire is that we enjoy what He gives us. In Luke 14 the Lord spoke of a certain man who was making a great dinner and who sent his slave at the dinner hour to invite some to eat, saying, “Come, for all things are now ready” (v. 17). We should simply come. When we come, we will enter into His riches.
