Consecration

     "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one (out of the power of evil).  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.  As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.  For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth."  John 17:14-19
  
        Both the words consecrate (or sanctify) in the Old Testament (Qadash) and sanctify in the New Testament (hagiazo) mean 'to place in a relation to God answering to His holiness'.  Neither word means merely “to set apart", but “to set apart for God”. 

       As you read through the Old Testament, God is forever telling His people to come out from among, to separate themselves, for the purpose of not being pulled into their evil practices.

       What if we all asked God:
What would You call me to separate myself from in this life that I am living? 
How would You have me make a strong stand for those in my sphere of influence (for instance, my kids, friends, small group, Bible study group, those I mentor, etc.) to be consecrated unto You and Your purposes for their lives?

Where would He say that I am of the world and not just in it?

Where would He say that I see sin and look upon it and my heart does not break like my Father’s heart breaks? 

If the instruction was given today to "...put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst" Ezekiel 9:4, would I get a mark?

Where are my thoughts or actions contrary to the Word of God and my heart does not grieve?

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;

                        Try me and know my anxious thoughts, 

And see if there be any hurtful way in me 

And lead me in the everlasting way.” .....

Psalm 139:23,24

....to be set apart for You answering to Your holiness. 

Set a Guard, O Lord, Over My Mouth

 “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;

   Keep watch over the door of my lips.

       Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,....” 

Psalm 141:3,4b             

          

              What a difference it is to ask the Lord to keep watch over the door of our lips, rather than to just be determined within ourselves to set a guard over our mouth.  How many times have we resolved, in our own strength, and failed to live by Ephesian 4:29, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear”?  

                Imagine if we truly invited our Lord to set a guard and to personally keep watch over the door of our lips and then truly believed that He answered that invitation. 

What would we then be convicted of and not be so comfortable with? 

What do we indulge our flesh with that we could not so easily do if we invited the conviction of the Holy Spirit… to guard and keep watch over what comes out of our lips AND what goes in? 

“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”                                                                                        1 Corinthians 10:31 
             all to the glory of God

“Do not incline my heart to any evil thing”                   

all…and…any   

         Lord, we ask that You set a guard and keep watch and fill us with the real knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we will walk in a manner worthy of You, to please you in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power, according to Your glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to You, Who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light,Col. 1:19-12 giving glory to You in all that we do. 

Move Forward

“Oh Lord, You are my God;

I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;

For You have worked wonders,

Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.” _{Isaiah 25:1}

Plans formed long ago, with My perfect faithfulness.

I AM.

May My name be exalted above all things of earth and heaven.

I AM God – alone.

And I will not give My glory to another.

Worked wonders………….plans formed long ago…………with perfect faithfulness.

Bow the knee to Me and to Me alone.

Do not bow (in weeping and fear) to the circumstances surrounding you.

Do not bow (in discouragement and fear) to the people around you.

Do not bow to fear.

I have not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and love and sound judgment.

Work out what has been entrusted unto you.

And do not bend the knee to any other.

Do not bend.

Do not let your hands fall limp.

Put your hand to the plow and

Move forward.

Face set, 
With a listening ear to hear My voice guiding you

On a mission of love, power, discipline

To give out to those around you.

To do good as you have opportunity.

I have chosen you to stand before Me, to minister to Me, and to be My minister.

Do not be negligent now.  _{2 Chron. 29:11}

You are My witness and My servant whom I have chosen,

 so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He.

   Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me.

 I, even I, am the Lord, and there is no savior besides Me.

 It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed,

so you are My witness, and I am God. 

Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand;

I act and who can reverse it?_{Isaiah 43:10-13}

I make a way….._{Isaiah 43:16}

In the World but Not of It

                     "I have given and delivered to them Your Word (message); and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world - do not belong to the world - [just] as I am not of the world.  I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil [one].  They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them- purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy - by the Truth.  Your Word is Truth."  John 17:14-17 Amplified

        We are to be IN the world but not OF it.  We need Godly walls/boundaries to know the difference between being in the world and impacting it, and crossing that boundary and being of the world and it impacting us- our thought life, actions, attitudes, ideas, and standards.  

       If we are in the world and its influence, and ‘eating of its delicacies’, more than in the Word and its washing, we are bound to be pulled into its practices and thought patterns without even being aware of it.  

“Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;

       Keep watch over the door of my lips.

Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,
To practice deeds of wickedness
with men who do iniquity
And do not let me eat of their delicacies.” 

Psalm 141:3,4

        As a result of not setting up boundaries, are we, as the body of Christ, tainted by the world?  Have you made a covenant with your eyes, to guard you as to what you watch, (Job 31:1) and asked God to put a guard over your mouth, to keep watch over the door of your lips?  

Be cleansed by the Word of Truth.