by lighthouse | Sep 30, 2020 | Fasting & Prayers, News & Announcements
100% His!
Scriptures For Meditation: Gen 22:1-3; Prov 3:9; Acts 5:1-11
Over the past two days of our fasting and prayers, God has been speaking to us about consecration. We are going to take this a bit further today, by meditating on one of the practical consequences of consecration.
We have looked at the “spiritual” aspects of the act of consecration — Making ourselves separated unto God, eschewing sin and striving to live holy lives as we dedicate our lives to Him.
However, consecration goes beyond who we are and what we do; consecration is also manifest in our attitude to what we have; what we do with what we have, or how we steward what we have.
When we consecrate ourselves to God, we are saying that He owns us; we are declaring ourselves to be His absolute possession, God’s own property. And this not just our physical selves, but also our substance and possessions as well!
Abraham was fully consecrated unto God!
In our main scripture reading for today, we see this exemplified by Abraham, in his response to a demand by God, for what was the most valuable thing to him.
As we read in our text:
Gen 22:1 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
Gen 22:2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
Gen 22:3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.
If God called to you as He did to Abraham and ask you to give up your most prized possession to Him, what would your response be? How quickly would you respond? How far would you go?
Abraham was instant in his response and was total in his commitment.
Nothing meant more to him, than to obey and to please God. Nothing was too valuable to him that he could not fully give to God.
Friend, what is that one thing or indeed those things that you have held on dearly to, that you are not fully yielding up to God? What are those “non-negotiable” things in our lives, those areas that we have not fully given God full access to, or things that we may not have fully yielded up to Him to possess?
Let’s think about this today and respond as the Holy Spirit will prompt us to. Is there anything in your life that you are unwittingly valuing higher than God? Are there things that have become like idols in your heart that you are dedicated to and worship more than you do God?
God is calling unto us today to examine our lives, and respond to the call of consecration. Let us today, rededicate not just ourselves, but also our substance, our time, our everything to Him.
As the song says,
Everything, everything,
Lord You are, everything to me
My Treasure, my priority,
Who can compare to you?
Great is the measure of Your royalty,
O Morning Star,
You truly are, EVERYTHING!
Is God truly “everything” to you?
Selah…
Pastor Wale Ola
PRAYER FOCUS
Ask God to show you areas of your life that may not be fully consecrated to Him.
Ask Him to show you the true state of your heart in relation to your earthly possessions that have possessed you or have taken time away from God that He is deserving of you.
Dedicate those areas and those things to Him, and ask Him to give you the grace to fully yield them up to Him.
Dedicate your job, career, gifting and talents, time, material possessions, even “your” ministry; your whole substance to Him — Make them all fully ready and 100% available for His use.
Amen.
by lighthouse | Sep 29, 2020 | Fasting & Prayers, News & Announcements
A Consecrated Life
Scriptures For Meditation—
Joshua 3:5 Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.
Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Eph 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
As the weather cools and the final quarter of the year looms, many of us begin to take stock. We reflect on where we have come from, contemplate where we are now and imagine where we would like to go. For some of us, this exercise brings us face to face with our disappointments, failures and seemingly unanswered prayers.
In pondering what may have happened this year, we may recognise the blockers to success we are still carrying around with us. Sin. Deliberate disregard for the revealed truth of God or failure to act as we know we ought to (James 4:17).
Repentance is necessary and should be practiced often as we continue on the journey of faith. However, beyond repentance (repeated turning away from sin), we should also seek consecration which is the higher calling.
Consecration is a decision to be set apart — To be deliberate in our pursuit and service to God.
A consecrated life is not spent looking for sins to avoid. Instead, it is yielded to God’s original plan for your life. It is recognising that we were created to worship Him and our lives are His to do with as He requires for the furtherance of His Kingdom.
Consecration seeks to draw near to God, so He can draw near to you (James 4:8).
When Joshua asked the people to purify themselves, it was because the Lord was going to “visit” them to do wonders. Today, this still holds true, we must be consecrated to manifest God’s Holy power in our lives daily, as He has residence in our bodies and is always with us.
In the story recorded in Joshua, the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant of God and as soon as they stepped in the River Jordan, it dried up so the people could pass. Do you know you are a priest (1Peter 2:9) carrying the Holy Spirit within you?
Your consecration produces the same results they got!
Imagine being able to part the seas of depression, lack, sickness, loss etc. so that those whom the Lord has assigned to you (and yourself) can cross over?
What a joy to perform the good works He planned in advance for us to do! (Eph 2:10)
Over the next two days and beyond, let us bring our lives into consecration unto the Lord. There is still time to finish 2020 strong. For when we purify ourselves, indeed, He will do wonders amongst us!
Shalom,
Sade Abiodun
Prayer Focus
Let us thank God for the chance to re-focus and consecrate our lives today
Pray for a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit, for He alone can help us sustain a consecrated life
Let’s release every disappointment of the past, fear and negative emotion concerning 2020. Each day is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Pray for a fresh vision even for the last quarter of the year, that we may indeed perform the good works God has prepared in advance for us to do
As we consecrate ourselves, let us call for the power of God to manifest in our lives and make a way, not just for us for those all around us.
Prayer & Fasting Corporate Prayers
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