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Acceptable Consecration

Present yourself unto God, as those that are alive from the dead" (Rom. 6:13).

The growth and consolidation of one's spiritual life is predicated upon clear knowledge of the dual facts of Romans 6:11 - dead unto sin; alive unto God. This must come first: Know! "Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things" (2 Tim. 2:7).  hungry-heart-10-16

"Many have taken the word present' to imply consecration (which it does), without looking carefully into its content. It is not the consecration of our old man' with its instincts and resources, his natural wisdom, strength and other gifts, to the Lord Jesus for Him to use. This will be clear at once from the little clause as alive from the dead' (Rom. 6:13).

"For what is to be consecrated is not what belongs to the old creation. The presenting' spoken of is the outcome of my knowing my old man to have been crucified (Rom. 6:6), and my reckoning myself alive unto God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11). Knowing, reckoning, presenting ourselves to Him: that is the divine order."

"It is one thing to renounce or to drop off certain old things, and quite another to be occupied with new things. Nuns renounce the world, but they are not engrossed in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. It must be not only forgetting the things that are behind, but also reaching out unto the things that are before.

"It is what I give myself to that colors me and imparts character to me, not the fact of having abandoned other things. People often dwell unduly on what they have renounced, and are too indifferent to that which they should press toward, forgetting that it is the latter that will form them (2 Cor. 3:18)."

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:2).

Revelation of Christ in Us

For the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. (Matthew 15:6 ESV)

This revelation of Christ in us, when it is a true, real, living revelation, not only leads to and makes for stability and assurance and confidence, wonder and freshness and Life, but it leads to loneliness, and I should be false to you if I did not say so, and indicate what that means; because the majority even of Christians are still hide-bound by tradition. They are still all of that other kind: what they have received they have received through men or from a man; they have taken on an already completed, rounded-off system of truth and teaching called Christianity. They have entered into it and taken it up, and they cannot see beyond it. You do not question their sincerity, nor do you doubt their earnestness, but there is that about all they have which is so second-hand. It is something which has existed through the Christian centuries, developed by this one and that one, shaped, formed and phrased by different teachers. It has become the evangel, evangelical Christianity in all its set terms, phraseology and forms. They do not see beyond it. And when one moves out of that realm into a personal, direct knowledge of the Lord through what we often term an open heaven but not, mark you, through a new or different revelation of Christ that is something apart from the Scriptures into that experience, where we can say, "It pleased God to reveal His Son in me, and with me it is so real that sometimes I wonder if anyone has such a knowledge, such an experience"; when we move that way, we move into a lonely realm. The majority cannot follow, cannot go with us, and cannot understand.

It does seem to me that there was something of that about Paul, that even other apostles were not able to grasp or apprehend Paul. He seemed to be very much one by himself. Yet here too we see the wonderful grace of God.... It does seem that even Paul, surrounded though he was by all the other apostles, had to go a lonely way, because this revelation was to him something so personal. It does mean that: understand that; and probably some of you do understand it in your experience. It will put you very largely into a lonely position, so far as the majority of other Christians are concerned, if you are going this way.

Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. § Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. § Whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord. § I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. § Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business? § Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.

Brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. § We desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. § Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

Rom. 12:11;  Eccles. 9:10;  Col. 3:23,24;  Eph. 6:8;  John 9:4;  Luke 2:49;  John 2:17;  2 Peter 1:10;  Heb. 6:11,12;  1 Cor. 9:24

Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. § Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.”

Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere … like the garden of the Lord … Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan … But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. § [God] delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked … The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations. § Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Matt. 6:13;  Prov. 28:26;  James 1:13,14;  2 Cor. 6:17;  Gen. 13:10,11;  Gen. 13:13;  2 Peter 2:7,9;  Rom. 14:4

The Pre-Existent Christ

The Time Is Short