What is Consecration in the Bible and Why Should You Consecrate Yourself to the Lord?
Are you a new believer looking for the way to follow the Lord in your Christian life? Consecration is the gate and this post will point you to the entrance.
Are you a lover of Jesus desiring to go deeper in your relationship with Him? A proper consecration is vital to your personal relationship with Christ and this post will foster it.
Are you a seeking believer looking to be useful in your service to your Master? Consecration is the prerequisite to any acceptable service to God and this post will help to prepare you.
Are you a Christian of many years and finding your Christian life becoming increasingly stagnant? A fresh consecration will renew you and this post can assist you…
The meaning of consecration according to the Bible
You might be asking, “What do you mean by “consecration”?
Consecration is to present ourselves to the Lord as a living sacrifice
God will not work with anyone or use anyone that has not first offered themselves to Him. He won’t overstep our will. For Him to do the work in us that He desires, we first need to offer ourselves to Him.
Romans 12:1 says,
I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.
“Presenting ourselves a living sacrifice to God” is our willing consecration to Him. It is not telling the Lord that we will do something for Him, but our willingly offering ourselves to Him so that He has the freedom to work in us.
In Life Lessons, Witness Lee points out,
When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we present ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice, unlike people in the Old Testament who offered dead sacrifices to the Lord. As a living sacrifice that has been presented, we are holy, that is, we have separated ourselves unto the Lord for His use, and we are well pleasing to God, satisfying His heart’s desire. (p. 124)
Consecration is our reasonable response to God’s redemption
How can God ask us to consecrate ourselves to Him?
He asks us to consecrate ourselves based on His purchase. God bought us. That is, He redeemed us out from under the law’s righteous demand with the priceless blood of His only Son, Jesus.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says,
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. So then glorify God in your body.
Since God has purchased us with this highest price, the blood of His Son, how can we not willingly offer our purchased life back to Him for His purpose?
When we see God’s purchase we need to respond by praying,
Dear Father, thank you for offering Your Son for me, for paying the highest price to redeem my lost soul. Thank you for judging Him on the cross in my place, so that I might be freed from Your righteous judgment on sin. I consecrate my purchased life to You for Your purpose.
But if God’s rightful ownership is not convincing enough, let’s consider another factor.
Consecration is our loving response to Christ’s constraining love
What could compel a self-seeking person to consecrate their all to Christ?
It is only the sight of Christ’s constraining love that can motivate even the most selfish of us to consecrate ourselves to Him.
For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.
God’s purchase alone may not be sufficient to release our heart to consecrate ourselves to Him. But when we see our Lord’s sacrificial love for us, it’s hard to resist.
Our Lord Jesus loved us so much that He willingly endured the pain and shame of the cross for us. It was His life given for our life. He died that we need not die for our sins.
May the Lord’s love constrain us—pressing on us from all sides until our will yields to His. May we see it, be constrained by it, and offer ourselves without reserve to our loving Lord Jesus.
When we are touched by Christ’s love we simply need to pray,
Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for me. I did nothing to deserve Your love. You loved me so much that You willingly suffered the death of the cross that I might enjoy the life of resurrection. Lord Jesus, I love You. I offer my all to You. Take me and possess me. Work in me according to Your good pleasure. Use me as You will.
Consecration is both a gate and a pathway
The Lord can’t freely work in us if we don’t consecrate ourselves to Him, if we don’t entrust our lives into His hands. He won’t take the reigns of our life if we haven’t given Him the right to do so.
First, we need to enter the gate of consecration once for all. We can only do this by making a thorough, detailed consecration of all that we are to the Lord–our life, future, education, career, marriage, family, time, money and anything else that He touches us to consecrate.
We should consecrate in prayer, giving the Lord the adequate time to make a genuine, detailed consecration of all that concerns us.
Then, we need to continue walking the way of consecration every day. We can practice consecrating each day beginning from first thing each morning. By renewing our consecration to the Lord, we invite Him to work in us, and gain more of us, with each experience in our daily life.
So have you entered the gate of consecration? And are you walking on the pathway of consecration?
If you’ve enjoyed this post I hope you would respond by praying personal prayers of consecration to the Lord both once for all and in a renewing way each day. Then take a moment to share the help you’ve received in a brief comment to this post.
References and Further Resources:
- This post was inspired by The Experience of Life, Chapter 3 and Practical Lessons on the Experience of Life, Chapter 3 and Life Lessons, Lesson 18. All of these titles by Witness Lee can be freely read online at Ministrybooks.org.
- In addition, you also enjoy reading this similar post on the Bibles for America blog.
- Here are a few hymns on consecration that will help you to experience the point of this post:
About Tom Smith
Hi. My name is Tom Smith. I'm the writer behind Holding to Truth in Love, and I love the Lord Jesus and His life-giving Word. Please feel free to send me an e-mail through the contact page if you have any questions. I hope you'd take a moment to subscribe to the Holding to Truth blog. Then you'll be sure not to miss a post. Thanks!
Thanks for this life changing article. Pls I want to know, is consecration sanctification?
Charles, Consecration and sanctification are not the same but are practically related. Sanctification is God’s operation, the process by which He makes us holy even as He is holy–both separated unto Him and saturated with the nature of His holiness. However, for God to carry out such a process with us requires our cooperation, our willingness. This cooperation is our consecration. It is our telling the Lord that we are His and that we give Him the freedom to do in us all that is in His heart. That is, we give Him the freedom to carry out His sanctifying work in our life. For this reason, we should not only make a once and for all consecration but a daily consecration, even a consecration in every situation of our life, affording Him the way to gain us in that area, whether in our education, family, marriage, employment, Christian life or service to Him.
This article was very helpful as I seek to consecrate myself. Thank you
Glad you found the post helpful. When we see the highest price our Lord paid for us and our constrained by His all-conquering love, we can’t help but respond to Him with our full consecration of all that we are and have to Him for His purpose. Thanks for sharing.
Yes I found it very helpful. Praise the Lord for His divine word. Oh Lord we do love You and thank You for making us holy. Gain us Lord, gain us through and by Your word amen.
Thank you brother Tom
Our cooperation affords the Lord the ground to work Himself more into us. Every day, we need to consecrate ourselves afresh as a living sacrifice for His satisfaction, enjoy Him and let Him operate in us according to His will. Thanks for your comment.
Tom,
Thank you again for your beautiful and articulate explanation of what can often be a difficult word (“consecration”) to fully realize. I am often moved by the words of the hymn “All the Way My Savior Leads Me,” especially the phrase “Can I doubt His tender mercy Who through life has been my Guide.” Thank you, Tom, for causing the words of that hymn to take on an even greater meaning tonight! Blessings!!!
Tom
Honestly, I got this article so accurate and when I most needed it. Thank you so much
I am so glad that you found this article when you most needed it. For a further appreciation of the proper Christian experience of consecration I would highly recommend the book “The Experience of Life” by Witness Lee . You can read the full text for free at ministrybooks.org. Thanks for sharing your appreciation in a comment.
The Lord bless you Pastor Smith. This sermon has really helped me. I pray the Lord continue to inspire you the more Amen.
May the Lord make the words of this post concerning consecration a reality in your life. When we see the price Christ paid to redeem us for God, His love in sacrificing Himself for us, we can’t help but acknowledge His rightful ownership and return our love for Him. How do we express this to our Lord? By our consecration. We realize that we can only offer ourselves as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1) that He can work in us and carry out His will through us. Here is a ministry excerpt from the book The Experience of Life by Witness Lee that further develops the meaning of consecration. You can read more from this title online at: ministrybooks.org. Thanks for your comment…and just to mention, I’m just a little servant of Christ.
Thank you for this post. I am a place in my life where I need to consecrate my life wholly to God. This helped me to make it happen.
Glad you found the post helpful. It is good to see that consecration is a part of our daily Christian life. Just as the Old Testament priests were required to offer the burnt offering (typifying Christ) morning and evening, we need to daily join ourselves to Christ as the unique One who is absolutely for God. As we join ourselves to Him in prayer, God can freely work in us all that is in His heart. Thanks for sharing your enjoyment.
Pastor Smith
Thank you for such a profound detailed information about CONSECRATION.I am so grateful to God through Holy Spirit Who directed me to your block.
I am in a journey, where I pray for the WILL OF MY HEAVENLY FATHER to be done in my life ;Praying to be changed into another as per His will.I am “seeking His Kingdom above else and to live righteously”for Him to restore the teachable Spirit in me.I have reached a stage in my life where I feel that I OWE GOD THIS LIFE , therefore I desire to see Him in every move I take, directed , lead by Him through the Spirit of Truth that comes from the Father, giving pure devotion to my Jesus Christ.
Whilst on this journey of prayer and fasting for His will be done, after my midday prayer today, I heard these words, “CONSISTENTLY CONSECRATING YOURSELF ALSO REDEDICATING YOURSELF TO GOD ALMIGHTY EVEN BEYOND THIS 40days Prayer and asting, AND YOUR SANCTIFICATION WILL BE REVEALED.” It was like I am hearing these powerful words for the first time. I got so jacked up, to search more meaning of them, beung helped by the Holy Spirit.
Since midday, I have been on different website until I came across your block.How wonderful is the God Almighty we serve, I have found rich well tabled information of both powerful WORDS. Glory Honour and Glory belong to God Almighty , for your faithfullness Pastor Smith when He instructed you to start this block, to nurture, develop and equip His people to be more matured in His Word , so that we can also nurture and equip those who cross our paths through services and ministries. May GOD ALMIGHTY THROUGH HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, LORD JESUS CHRIST AND HOLY SPIRIT , continuously bless you with His everlasting wisdom of HIS WORD that His flock mostly require UNTIL LORD JESUS CHRIST RETURNS FOR HIS FIRST CHURCH.AMEN
With Much Blessings
Busisiwe
Richards Bay
South Africa
It is good to realize that consecration is not first focused of working for God. It is primarily to allow Him to work Himself into us. Only through His inward working are we qualified to carry out God’s work. So consecration should be something we do every day. This is similar to the Israelites offering up the morning and evening burnt offering (a type of Christ as the one absolutely for God). When we realize that Christ is the only One that God is satisfied with, we sense our need to consecrate ourselves to Him, so that we may be one with Him, and filled with Him in all that we are and do. For more appreciation regarding consecration, you may enjoy reading a short booklet entitled Consecration by witness Lee. You can read it online for free at ministrybooks.org. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.
Praise God. Bro Tom you’ve made a modest attempt to draw our attention to one of the basic and most critical issues in our relationship with God. May God bless you for the write up.
Pls i’ll urge you to make us aware of the bible version you used and also crosscheck the scriptures references very well because i can notice that 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 you quoted has error in this place which read, “call died” but which should rather read “all died”.
Once again thank you for the attempt. May God be with you
Glad you enjoyed the post. I appreciate your pointing out the typo. I fixed it. May the pathway of consecration bring us more deeply into God’s purpose and afford Him the way to work in us to the fullest extent. Much grace to you.
This book has realy helped me to wake up from slumber. Thanks
Glad you enjoyed the post. May experience entering the gate of consecration and walking on the way of consecration to grow in Christ every day. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I’m 68 and appalled that this essential doctrine is either NOT taught or NOT emphasized in the church. I grew up in the Methodist Church was baptized and joined the Baptist Church, and to this day, the lack of consecration and the teaching of the Baptism and filling with the Holy Spirit for power to serve Christ has left the world with a carnal, worldly church no different than pagans!!!
Satan is delighted in how he has removed the power from the church. God has led my hungering, thirsty heart to a great saint of God, A. B. Simpson and his books. “A Deeper Christian Life” , “The Self Life, and The Christ Life.”
They are almost out of print, and some are in such tiny print as to be almost unreadable. This is why there are not many people like the saints of the 19th century and before, who really had union with God! I pray that I don’t die before making the surrender and consecration to my Jesus that He is so worthy of, and that the body of Christ is NOT told “I never knew You!” Thanks for your blessed article.
Glad you enjoyed the post. May the Lord constrain you by His love to take the step to consecrate your life wholly to Christ (2 Cor. 5:14-15). At the same time, make consecration a daily matter. Present yourself to Him each day (Rom. 12:1). As the priests on the Old Testament were directed to offer the burnt offering (Lev. 1:1-17; 6:9-13 – a type of Christ as the One absolutely for God) each morning and evening, so also we need to lay our hands on Christ through our prayer of fellowship each day and take Him as our real burnt offering, the consecrated One. We could never be wholly absolute for God, but Christ is our consecration. Take Him. Thanks for sharing your appreciation.
Thank you so much for this post. God bless you.
Glad you appreciated the post. Just remember that consecration is not just a gate we enter, but a path we walk. It is good to consecrate ourselves to the Lord every day, especially at the beginning and end of each new day, new week, new month and new year. By such a consecration we give the Lord the opportunity to work Himself into us so that we may be able to serve Him according to His desire (Rom. 12:1-2). Thanks for sharing.
Really helpful. Thanks a lot
Glad you found it helpful. Make consecration a daily part of your prayer to the Lord. This will render Him the cooperation He is seeking to grow in you and conform you more to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for expository information on consecration. The simple and direct approach makes a good reading. I have benefited from your exposition. God bless you.
Glad you enjoyed the word of consecration. It is a real blessing that we can make our consecration to the Lord fresh every day. Such a consecration opens the way for the Lord Jesus to grow in us and gain the ground He is seeking. He wants to work in us but He desires our cooperation through consecration. For a more detailed coverage of this topic, I recommend chapter 3 of The Experience of Life by Witness Lee. You can read the complete text for free at ministrybooks.org. Thanks for sharing your appreciation in a brief comment.
I heard this word being used by Jeremy Riddle in a worship set. He was talking about holiness. So since then I’ve been saying it in my prayers not really knowing what it meant. This post was really helpful. God bless you and your ministry sir!
Glad you enjoyed this post on consecration. We need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord every day so that He can work in us and grow in us and so that out of such an operation, He can make us useful vessels to fulfill His purpose. May your experience of the Lord in consecration bring you more fully into the eternal plan of God so that your life fulfills His purpose.
How do I live a life of consecration
To live a life of consecration, we need to come to the Lord in prayer to give Him the ground in our being. The Lord will not force His will upon us, He will wait for our willing cooperation. We need both a once for all consecration and a daily consecration. In the Old Testament, the priests offered to God the burnt offering both in the evening and the morning. The burnt offering typifies Christ as the One absolutely for God. When we consecrate, we are essentially laying our hands on Christ, identifying with Him as the unique One who is absolutely for God. Just go to the Lord in a sincere way and tell Him that you love Him and consecrate yourself to Him for His purpose. As you are touched, give Him all the areas of your life and invite Him in.
Thank you sir. I now know the difference between consecration and sanctification. God bless you.
Actually, the work of sanctification is quite broad, spanning from the Spirit’s brooding over us before we are saved (1 Pet. 1:2) until we are fully conformed to the image of Christ and glorified (Rom. 8:29-30). Our consecration is an aspect of our cooperation with the Spirit’s sanctifying work, affording Him the ground further His sanctifying work to bring us on to maturity. Thank you for your comment.
Thank you so much sir for this article.
You kept saying in the comments how the priest burning incense was a type of Christ can you explain that a bit more…
The Old Testament is a figurative portrait of our New Testament experience. The New Testament is the practical fulfillment of the Old Testament types and figures. By such a picture we can understand that our consecration is more than just a once for all action. As the Old Testament priests were required to offer the burnt offering (a sign of Christ as the one absolute for God), both morning and evening, so also we must offer God our fresh consecration each day. This is to say, that we realize that we cannot be absolute for God. but we give ourselves to Him afresh to allow Him the free course in our being to gain us and grow in us each day. As our Lord fully gave Himself to do the Father’s will (as the real burnt offering), even to the extent of dying for us, we would likewise give ourselves to Him, experiencing Him as the absolute One, so that He can do His will in us and through us. Thank you for your comment
Lord Jesus I consecrate myself to you today I love you Lord.
Amen. It is so helpful to consecrate ourselves anew to the Lord each day, starting first thing in the morning. By such a simple practice we invite the Lord to grow in us and bring us on to maturity in Christ. Thank you for the comment.
I posted a devotion about consecrating ourselves to God. A Pastor was quick to comment that we cannot consecrate ourselves only God can. I found several scriptures including some here to show we are called to consecrate ourselves. Any input?
Yes, in Romans 12:1 Paul says “I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, [which is] your reasonable service.” To present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God is a real experience of our consecrating ourselves to God, presenting our body for the Body of Christ (vv. 4-5)
Hi Tom, I am new in my journey of connecting with God and growing in my faith. I decided to research what “consecration” meant after hearing a lecture talk about the need to consecrate ourselves. I came upon this article and it was VERY helpful. The articles prior to this I read on consecration talked about consecration as something someone looking to serve the Lord full time like a nun would do. That led to me some questions like Are there are any prerequisites to consecration? Do you have to live your life differently after a consecration? I had a part of me feel a bit hesitation as I thought I might to give up my life as I know now to serve God full time (e.g. working full time in ministry, not being able to find a husband) but after reading your post I am understanding that is not the case necessarily, correct?
Bridget,
Sadly many associate consecration with some kind of work. However, consecration is firstly a matter of our experience of Christ as our inner life. He doesn’t barge in. He waits to be invited. Our consecration is our cooperation with Lord to give Him the ground to grow in us, to spread in all the parts of our life and being. It is a daily matter. We should consecrate to the Lord often, morning and evening and whenever He touches us to do so. Check out 2 Cor. 5:14-15. Our response to the love of Christ is that we live to Him. This is an expression of our consecration.