Why Pray when you can Worry?

Consecration is about having the obstacles removed that keep God from bestowing God’s full blessings. While the devotional for today say this purging is something we do and describes it as being entirely abandoned to God, that is not entirely true. Our willingness is part of His saving work. Many times I have said to Him, “Lord Jesus, I am totally unable to be all that I should be; You are the Savior — save me from this…” whatever it is where I keep trying but fall short.

The Bible says this:

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21)

Yet what cleanses us from that which is dishonorable? Is it not this:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

To become clean, consecrated, abandoned to the will of God in that entire surrender of the whole being to God—spirit, soul, and body placed under His absolute control, for Him to do with what He pleases, the only way is through keeping short accounts. This involves recognizing my sin and agreeing with God about it. It does not involve “try harder” but confession and repentance.

Repentance isn’t mere acknowledgment. It is responding to the Holy Spirit in such a way that the sin is replaced with righteousness. That is His work. I cannot remove my sin without the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes this means a number of tests to determine if it is still my desire to keep on doing it. This is like the young missionary who said, “The trouble with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar.” My old nature is dead/separated from God and I need to consider that to be true.

The other thing to consider is that much of sin is the result of believing a lie. Instead of trusting what God says, life’s circumstances often open our ears to that old Liar who whispers, “God does not really want the best for you…” and we fall for it, take matters into our own hands, and sin.

Consecration is having that “Thy will be done” attitude that no matter what, and then resting in the trust that He does love me and even in tough situations, His will is the most blessed thing that can happen, no matter the circumstances.

In discussions with other Christians, some actually say they are afraid to totally trust the will of God. At that, they are obviously not hearing His Word but the words of the enemy who does not want any of us to understand that God’s perfect will means loving-kindnesses, tender mercies, and unspeakable blessings — even if it also means hard times. Think of Jesus: His greatest suffering produced the greatest blessing God could give us.

Yet in the tough times, that whisper from my enemy produces anxiety. He uses hard times to suggest to me that God is not loving because He is messing with my comfort, my Eden. I need to remember how that old snake tells preposterous and bald-faced lies to keep me from trusting in the love of God and His unfailing promises.

PRAY: Satan uses dreams (nightmares), adverse circumstances, nasty people, even my imagination, to get me to think wrongly about You, Lord. Forgive my foolishness of listening to the lies instead of “storing your Word in my heart” and letting it be “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” — and I pray for those who continually worry because they have forgotten that You love them and that the Liar uses that to keep them from praying.