Do you want
Do you want to see the promises of God fulfilled in your life?
Do you want His presence, His power, His blessings?
This may be the first time you have ever heard this, but if you want the things noted above there is actually something that you have to do.
In order to see those things you have to consecrate yourself.
The truth is
You can believe Jesus is the Son of God and be saved. You can do that and never change a thing and you will still go to heaven. It’s a free gift! But in order to live the abundant life He has for you, you must change some things.
I recently read and shared this
Salvation is free, it’s discipleship that costs.
Some preacher, somewhere…
What does it cost? Everything. It requires the complete surrender of our life. That seems so scary, doesn’t it? But the truth is that we gain far more than we could ever let go of.
The only reason that I can preach about this is that I came to Jesus with a whole lot of need for consecration.
I came to Him a complete mess and He has spent 30 years cleaning me up. And while I have come a long way, He still has much to do in me.
I have seen Him move in my life…and then fallen into sin…and then had to get up and remove that thing from my life.
It’s a pattern
It’s a pattern with me, and it has been a pattern since the beginning of time. We see it with the Israelites so clearly. We can watch that happen throughout the book of Exodus. We see it throughout the book of Judges over and over again.
And if I’m honest with myself, I see it in my own life over and over again. And I know that if you’re honest with yourself – if you take a good long look in the mirror – you’ll see it in your own life too.
And if you’re questioning why you don’t see God move, hear me today – there’s nowhere else you need to look.
It’s not external of you
This is not condemnation, and it is not judgment. I am not trying to make you feel guilt or shame. This is simply truth.
The amazing thing about His truth is that it comes coupled with His grace. The grace that saves us and renews us and changes everything. So I’m not saying this for you to feel bad. I don’t want you to feel bad.
What I want is for you to feel motivated
What I want is for you to maybe even feel angry over what has been stolen from you.
Why?
Because the world has pushed something different than holiness down every one of our throats. But you get to choose and that’s an empowering thing.
You make the choice
Will you consecrate yourself? Will you choose holiness? Sounds like a distant thing right? It sounds like something we can’t attain. The incredible thing is that the Bible tells us we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
It says that He sanctified us when He saved us, and He sees us that way. So all we have to do to see it come to fruition in our life is take one step at a time. All we have to do is when God points out something that he wants removed from our life is to remove that one thing.
That’s it!
It is not difficult and it is not overwhelming. But when we ignore that one thing it becomes the weight of the world. He’s made it easy for us because we don’t have to do it in our own strength. It’s in his strength, through His grace, that we’re able to overcome sin.
Need some practical steps?
1) Read your Bible daily.
2) Pray and ask God to help you be more like Him.
3) If you don’t have a church community, reach out to me and I’ll help you find one you can trust.
4) Connect regularly with a friend who is farther along in their walk with Jesus.
John 10:10
Check out Libbie’s podcast on renewing the mind, and consecration for more on this topic.