Day 016

‘The Son of Man is going to be betrayed. He will be killed, but three days later He will rise from the dead.’ But they didn’t understand what He was saying, and they were afraid to ask Him what He meant. Mark 9:31-32 (The New Living Translation)

Consecration and Submission

The Church might be promised God’s victory, but that does not mean that we will not face trials and challenges and pain.

So many Christians think that Christian victory means the absence of struggle or opposition. That is just not the case. Instead, the promise of victory gives us the strength to face ANYTHING, to endure ALL THINGS and to conquer EVERYTHING because we know that the victory that we have is the victory that is assured us by God. The key to keeping this reality at the centre of our lives and ministries is the daily laying down of our own agendas to pick up and pursue God’s agenda – and that begins with consecration and with a laser-like focus on intentionality to live God’s way and to engage in ministry as God intends it.

Betrayal, disappointment, misunderstanding and attack were all part of the package for Christ. He endured these things because He knew that His father was with Him and because He was living in humble obedience and dependence upon God. His circumstances surrounded Him, but His identity and relationship with God grounded Him. That is why the things He faced did not change His view of God the Father. The same is true for us. Whatever we might face, it does not change the fact that God is with us, and that He has promised never to leave us. If we are to measure the success and effectiveness of what we do with our lives or in our communities simply based on the accolades and applause of people, then we are using a very limited and a very limiting yardstick.

Instead, remember that God’s purposes are being worked out through what you say and what you do and that the fundamental purpose of God in us is to fashion Christ-likeness in us. We allow the work of consecration to mould us as we submit first to God, His will and His way in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we kneel before Him, we can stand in the face of any trial. When we allow God’s call to be loudest, we can turn the volume down on the voices that will inevitably try to draw us away from God’s call. When we live in consecrated connection to the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are liberated from the evils and the dangers of comparison, envy and one-up-manship.

The wonderful promise of God is that no matter what opposition you are facing in the work that you are doing right now, God is with you and as surely as Jesus was raised from the dead, your work is resurrection work in a world of brokenness and need. The pathway to confident ministry is one that involves a bended knee and a submitted spirit.

For further thought –

What are the ways in which you are suffering and enduring right now in order to see God’s resurrection power brought into people’s lives through your own life and ministry? Take some time today to silently remember and be strengthened by the fact that God is with you. Thank Him for that in faith. Commit your ways to God, asking Him to enable you to live a purer, holy life for God’s glory and for your well-being.