Psalm 50:5 “Gather to me my consecrated ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

To be consecrated means there has been in effect a slashing and burning of past indulgencies or attitudes, a reordering of priorities. Sometimes that does not come about willingly but often is birthed by crisis – having to choose between one thing and another, or surrendering your rights. Consecration forces you repeatedly to make a decision to move ahead with God’s agenda for you as opposed to the plans you have for yourself.

Since the relationship with the God you believe in is a growth experience, ever stretching you, it follows that at the outset the conviction you experience will be about small things but as you yield, the challenges become greater. The Holy Spirit will focus your attention on how you are handling issues you did not even imagine was of any concern to God. It may be the illness that is consuming you or your loved one and the demands that places on you, difficulties in your marriage or other relationship, the employer who constantly oppresses you, the tenant you would love to see disappear at the snap of your fingers, or the child that makes your heart bleed. Get the picture? You may have thought that these things are separate areas of your life having nothing to do with your faith, but they are not separate. God wants you to bring those issues to him and let him show you that he can purify your thoughts and attitudes about them in a way that will uplift you and bring glory to his name.  I am learning this daily.

What if God told you that instead of letting the problem irritate you, he wants you to reckon the illness as part of your identification with him, or to take the position of servant and deal with the other situations as if you were ministering to the Lord Jesus? Why? Because serving the Lord requires sacrifice, not of bulls and goats in our day but of self in the context of: “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:30).

“I am the Everlasting God and as I have sacrificed my Son to redeem my children, so I expect that my children respond to my love by their sacrificial living. That is the covenant. It will cost you something to serve me. I am the Eternal God and I am not blind or deaf or insensitive to your suffering. Count it all joy to be in obedience for I will yet glorify myself through your suffering. Think not that I will ever leave you or forsake you. I will always be with you to care and guide.”