A Week of Consecration
Hello everyone.
This is my invitation to you to join me in a week of consecration as we head towards Palm Sunday next week, and then on to Good Friday. It is a special time of year for the people of God.
To gain some understanding of this idea of (and invitation to) consecration week, please make sure you read this week's BLOG. It is foundational, and will help you enormously. This week of consecration begins on Monday. Below are daily steps I will be taking to prepare myself for Palm Sunday, and then for Easter the following week. In very simple terms consecration is about me very intentionally separating myself from the world, from competing distractions that would otherwise pull my focus away from God. It is also about me becoming aware of areas of my soul and body that need to be sanctified by God, not because He condemns me, He doesn’t. He wants me to experience more and more of His breathtaking eternal life. Again, please read the BLOG.
Sanctification is the only way transformation can ever take place in a believer. The only way. And transformation is about my ongoing growth to maturity where the nature of Jesus is fully formed in me. It all begins with consecration – about me preparing myself to come deeper, closer into God’s presence.
Join me on a journey of consecration this week, and ready to lift up holy hands in worship on Palm Sunday.
Ps Milton
Monday________________________________________________
meditate on scripture
Psalms 139:23-24 (NIV) "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
Reflect & Understand
This is King David's prayer to God. He was aware that there were hidden parts of his heart (soul) that harboured some kind of sinful desire, and he wanted them out of him. These were the remains of the lingering sin condition and nature that are the causes of sinful thoughts and actions. David realises this and wants them found and removed from him forever. This the beginning of the consecration process – really wanting these unsanctified places sanctified by God and unblocking anything that prevents the fullness of the life of Christ in me now.
Consecrate yourself
Pray David's prayer (Psalm 139:23-24) and yield to God whatever He reveals to you. He wants it out of you. Do you? This is an ongoing routine practice for those God is making holy.
Tuesday________________________________________________
meditate on scripture
Hebrews 10:38-39 (NIV) And, "But My righteous ones will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back." 39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved."
Reflect & Understand
Following on from yesterday we arrive at places where God shows us sins, or defilements of the sin nature that are still active, that still need to be addressed through sanctification. As God shows you what He wants to sanctify in you, don't shrink back - yield to Him who, alone, can sanctify you. Sometimes this is not easy, believe me, I know! But we persevere until the sanctification of that part of us is complete – and free from sin nature influence.
This can take some time as the soul and flesh fiercely resist. Here is where we use the faith God has given us. We persevere in faith, and do not listen to the protests of the carnal nature. It must decrease, and Christ in you must increase. In this way we do not shrink back from God's dealings, we press forward and are saved from the effects and curse of the sinful nature.
Consecrate yourself
Yield yourself to Jehovah M'Kaddesh (the God who sanctifies us) holding nothing back from Him. Respond to His merciful invitation to sanctify you.
Wednesday_____________________________________________
meditate on scripture
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV) May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
Reflect & Understand
Consecration is my sincere response to God's invitation to allow Him to sanctify me. Consecration is the honest response of my heart. It can never be a "religious" response that has no intention of changing. Such a waste of time! God can never respond to this kind of attitude. This is not humility. In fact, He resists it, because it is pride. However, He is so, so faithful and gracious to those who consecrate themselves in all sincerity. These are the only ones He sanctifies. There are times when we have sinned and grieved the Lord, thus spoiling the fellowship we have with Him. How sincerely do we want this fellowship restored?
Consecrate yourself
Pray this prayer of David
Psalms 51:1-7 (NIV) For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight; so You are right in Your verdict and justified when You judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; You taught me wisdom in that secret place. 7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."
Thursday_______________________________________________
meditate on scripture
Matthew 5:6 (NIV) "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
Exodus 20:3-5 (NIV) "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me,
Reflect & Understand
To "hunger and thirst" after someone is to want it very badly. To be desperate to have it. To worship it. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to be desperate for right relationship with God. To want that more than any replacement or counterfeit thing which is, actually, an idol. In your consecration approach this week ask God to reveal to you any other things you hunger and thirst after. Have these stolen your hunger and thirst for Him? Repent of these things. See them for what they are, allow God to sanctify those places in your soul that have convinced you they are necessary, that you need them. They are not necessary. They are deceptions and they are corrupting you.
Consecrate yourself
Destroy any idols. Smash them down and turn to the Lord with fresh passion. Keep going until there is no passion left for these competing things.
Pray David's prayer:
Psalms 51:10-12 (NIV) "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Friday__________________________________________________
meditate on scripture
Psalms 86:11-12 (NIV) “Teach me Your way, LORD, that I may rely on Your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name. 12 I will praise You, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever.
Reflect & Understand
A divided heart is not a consecrated heart! Consecration is a discipline that eliminates any dividedness of heart. Consecration brings me to total focus on God and all that He has for me. Can there be anything more important than this. This is does not mean that I should ignore all my other priorities, either. Of course not! It just means that my first priority has to be right. Jesus taught us this very thing when he said: Matthew 6:33 (NIV) “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” This is a valuable insight into consecration.
Consecrate yourself
Ask God to show you anything in you that is causing your heart to be divided, that is, not “perfect towards Him”. Is it with your use of time? Your use of energy and resources? Is it with your priorities? Is it with your money? If we are not consecrated, that is totally committed to pursuing holiness, God will never be first place in any of these things, because we have shrunk back from His sanctifying dealings with us. This is the number one reason so many believers do not tithe.
Remember tomorrow’s opportunity to have some space for reflection during the “Journey to Easter” held at ReChurch.
Click here for more details.
Saturday________________________________________________
Plan to attend the “Journey to Easter” at ReChurch today.
10.30am-12.30pm (women only) / 1:00-3:00pm (everyone invited)
meditate on scripture
Leviticus 20:7–8 (NIV) “You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. You shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you [Yahweh M’Kaddesh].”
Reflect & Understand
The Hebrew word “Kadesh” means “clean,” and it is closely related to “kadosh”, which means “holy.” To be holy is to be set apart or separated unto God. In this Leviticus passage God is reaching out to His people and telling us that because we are His, we must live worthily by being holy before Him. But neither the Law nor our own efforts can ever make us holy. By revealing Himself as Yahweh M’Kaddesh, God is saying He is the One who sanctifies us by setting us apart to Himself and making us clean, that is holy. Consider, however, that the Lord says, “You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy.” Though He sanctifies us, God makes it clear that He’s not going to do it independently of our cooperation. For sanctification to take place in our lives, we must submit to the process. We need to learn it and practice it. The Spirit of Holiness ultimately does the work of washing and renewing us, but we have a part to play. To consecrate ourselves is to give our lives wholly to the Father. The apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:4, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” When soldiers are given an assignment, they typically leave home to travel to their deployment, live on a military base in that new location, and leave the base only when permitted, because their lives are focused on their assignment.
Consecrate yourself
Read: 2 Corinthians 13:5-6 (NIV) “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.”
Pray: “Holy Spirit help me to honestly examine myself, help me to see where You want to sanctify me. Have Your way in me.”
A Promise!
The importance of being consecrated or pure in our relationship with God is emphasised in an incident in the book of Joshua. After forty years in the wilderness, the children of Israel were about to cross over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. They were then given a command and a promise: “Joshua told the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you’” (Joshua 3:5).
Sunday_________________________________________________
meditate on scripture
1 Timothy 2:8 (NIV) “Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.”
Reflect & Understand
Having invested faithfully and seriously in your personal consecration over the week, now look forward to worship today! Only those who have been sanctified have any confidence that their worship is acceptable to the Lord, and it is a potent thing. Consecration is about intentional drawing near to God – hungering after Him. And He responds. Reflect on James’ wisdom here. James 4:7-8 (NIV) Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” This about consecration! God responds to those who want to consecrate themselves and allow Him to sanctify them. And worship completely changes!
Consecrate yourself
Glance over the week, and trim your lamp (remember the five wise virgins who only needed a quick consecration to be ready for the bridegroom? See Matthew 25:1 and following verses. Get ready for worship this great Palm Sunday! Lift up holy hands confident that your worship is acceptable to the Lord today, and that He is preparing to come near to you!