Concentrating on Consecration

I have just had a whirlwind of a week. Have you had one of those? I looked at the calendar and could not believe that today was Sunday. It seems like Sunday was just yesterday. This time last Sunday I was boarding a flight after a 3-hour layover in Philadelphia. My weekend was spent serving and teaching a wonderful group of women in Sagertown, Pennsylvania.

The focus of our weekend was getting up close and personal with God. Frightening thought I have to admit, getting up close and personal with God. We spent our time learning how to be a reflection of God in our everyday lives. The Lord and I spend months preparing. In the final days of preparation He took me to an expected place, the book of Joshua chapter 3 verse 5, ” Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.” He would not allow me to dismiss the scripture. As I prayed and He pursued, I realized He was stepping on my toes, bringing me up close and personal with Him.

I routinely ask God to do amazing things among me each day, to wow with His presence and power. I want to be a part of the work He is doing around me but sometimes I fail, let me correct that, many times I fail. Then I wonder, “Why did I miss the amazing?” I know that He and His Father are always working so if I missed something, I want to know why. The Lord used this scripture in Joshua to help me understand why I was missing the amazing.

The Lord, through Joshua, was getting ready to finally lead His people to the Promised Land. He commanded Joshua to tell everyone to “consecrate themselves.” In other words, prepare yourselves because I am going to do something incredible and I don’t want you to miss it.

I knew exactly what He was telling me: turn off that show. I won’t say which show but I will say He made it clear I was to stop watching a certain show that I knew I should not be watching. Turning it off has been easier than I thought. I love that God equips us to what He asks us to do. (2 Timothy 2:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”) Now, I pray at night asking God to prepare for me tomorrow as I sleep. Now, I am watching for the amazing!

How about you? Are you preparing for the amazing each night, consecrating yourself, setting yourself apart from the world? I must say if every Christian would do this, we would be wowed by God until we are speechless. I want to challenge you: Ask God what you need to do to consecrate yourself for the amazing things He has planned for you. If you ask, He will tell.