ICS Daily Devotions
Consecrating Our Lives
Have you been in a situation when you do not know the will of God? Then you should pray the prayer of consecration. It is praying for the will of God for your life and for submitting yourself to God’s will. It is a prayer that you can pray again and again.
Matthew 26:36-45 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
Jesus was not praying or believing to receive anything. He was about to become the sin sacrifice for the world, and He was praying to the Father to see if there was any alternative. He didn’t know, and thus He was praying “If” it be possible. Jesus prayed three times, and three times he submitted to the will of God for His life.
The Garden of Gethsemane was merely a culmination of a life of consecration. Jesus lived a consecrated life! Every day and every step of Jesus’ ministry, He was submitting to the will of the Father, although it was challenging and agonizing for Him during the moment in Gethsemane.
How are we to apply this prayer in our lives? First, we need to establish the basics.
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Rom 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not conform to this world but be transform by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
As we seek the will of God in our lives, we need to build on the foundation that God loves us and has a good, acceptable and perfect plan for our lives. Understanding that God loves us and has a will for each one of our lives helps us to live by faith in all that He has planned out for us.
Sometimes you will have to make choices with nothing out in front of you. You cannot see behind the corner nor will you know how things will turn out. Remember, Jesus agonized in prayer concerning the will of God. If I purpose to accomplish God’s will, then I will have to say, “Not my will Lord, But thine be done.” It is a surrender of our lives to God and to allow His will to be done in our lives.
Sermon: Prayer of Consecration
