We Consecrate Ourselves with all we are and Have to God to Serve Him in the Body

In order for us to serve God, we need to consecrate to Him with our whole being; we need to consecrate all we are and have to God for His service, presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, which is our reasonable service. Amen!

It is reasonable for us as believers in Christ to serve God in the Body of Christ and as the Body of Christ, and it is the most reasonable and logical thing for us to be transformed and serve God with all that we are. This includes our money.

We need to bring out tithe to the house of God – not worrying what will happen to our money once we give it; we simply need to give one with the Lord, and He will open the windows of heaven to bless as He sees fit.

How wonderful it is to live one spirit with the Lord and give one with Him! Though it may hurt us, though the Lord may ask us inwardly and individually to give until we feel it, our giving will bring in God’s blessing.

His blessing is first that we are being delivered from the love of money.

Our treasure is where our heart is; whether we know this or not, and whether we agree with this or not, our heart is “stuck” to money – our heart is “nailed” to money, to riches, to wealth.

We may think that we don’t pursue such things outwardly, but unwittingly we serve mammon whenever we don’t turn to our spirit and live in spirit to serve God.

There are only two masters we can serve: God and mammon; yes, there is Satan, but in a practical way, Satan disguises himself as mammon, and he has a grip on us through money.

Whether we are poor or rich doesn’t matter; what matters is being enslaved by money, and thinking about everything in terms of how much will it cost us to do this, go there, and serve God in that. Oh, Lord Jesus!

If we only bring the tithe to the storehouse in the house of God, the church, He will pour out His blessing!

But if we hold it in our hand, if we don’t render God what is His, and if we don’t give as much as He in us tells us to, we hold on to mammon of unrighteousness, and we cannot serve God with a pure heart and conscience.

Many believers say that they love God and worship Him in spirit, and they go to church and attend the regular meetings of the church, but when it comes to the matter of giving, their heart is not willing to let go of money.

Especially if you have a family and the needs increase as the children grow, it is so tempting to just give the Lord a little less so that you set aside money for the future, make sure you care for the needs of the family, and not give so much.

May the Lord work in us all in a deeper way to release us from the hold of money on us, and may we give our heart to Him again and again until He becomes the treasure of our heart in a real and practical way!

It is our Reasonable Service to God in the Body to Consecrate ourselves to Him with all we Are and Have

In Rom. 12:1 Paul exhorts us, the believers in Christ, through the compassions of God to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, for this is our reasonable service.

This whole chapter speaks in a strong way concerning the matter of consecration, and our consecration is for our service to God in the Body.

Our consecration is not just in general; we consecrate to God in the Body and for the Body, for us to serve God in the Body.

We don’t serve in an individualistic way, though we are individual Christians; we serve by being in the Body, in coordination with the saints.

If we’re not in the Body, it will be difficult for us to understand what the will of God is; if we consecrate ourselves to God with all we are and have to serve Him in the Body, we will know what God’s will is.

Thank the Lord for giving us the grace to serve Him in this age; for us to serve God, we need to consecrate ourselves to Him with all we are and have.

We need to offer up everything and put everything in the Body, and we need to be coordinated with the saints.

We may work in the office or have another job, but we actually serve God; our most reasonable service to God in the Body is to consecrate ourselves to Him with all we are and have.

Many Christians think they serve God with their talent, their gift, but here we see that we need to offer up all we have and are to Him, including our money; furthermore, our service needs to be in the Body.

In the matter of serving God in a reasonable way, riches and money need to be touched by Him, because where our treasure is, that’s where our heart is also (Matt. 6:21).

Right now, our heart is where our treasure us, and where our heart is, there is our person also. Riches and money are like nails, nailing us down and keeping us stuck and unable to serve God.

As we enjoy the Lord and allow Him to shine in us and on us in the matter of our consecration to Him with all we are and have, we are being “unstuck” and the nails are being loosened up.

May the Lord have mercy on us and deliver each one of us from riches. May we be reasonable persons giving ourselves with all we are and have to God for His service in the Body.

May we listen to Paul’s exhortation in Rom. 12:1 to offer up our bodies for the Body of Christ.

When we do this, when we consecrate ourselves with all we are and have to God to serve Him in the Body, He will touch the matter of money and riches, and we will simply let go.

God has many kinds of compassions on us – He selected us, called us, saves us, and is bringing us into His life so that we may enjoy His riches and become His expression.

Through the many compassions of God, we are motivated to simply present our bodies to God for the fulfilment of His purpose.

As we live the church life, the life of the Body of Christ expressed practically in the local churches, our entire being is needed.

Our body needs to be presented as a living sacrifice, our soul needs to be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2), and our spirit needs to be burning as we serve the Lord (Rom. 12:11).

Our reasonable service to God is to consecrate ourselves to Him with all we are and have for the service of God in the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your great compassions on us; we enjoy Your compassions and are motivated to consecrate ourselves with all we are and have to You! Amen, Lord, we present our body as a living sacrifice to serve God in the Body of Christ. Thank You for the grace to serve You in this age. We offer up everything we are and have for Your service in the Body. Amen, Lord, we hold nothing back: we put it all on the altar, and our body is presented for Your service. Thank You, Lord, for offering us the opportunity to give ourselves to You to serve You in the Body with our burning spirit, our transformed soul, and our presented body for Your Body!

Being Delivered from Individualism by being Saved from Money to Serve God in the Body

One of the most practical things that happened in Acts 2 and 4 and which led to the one accord among the saints is the matter of the disciples selling their all and putting everything at the feet of the apostles.

As soon as the money goes out, there’s the one accord.

Yes, we do have to remain in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, the breaking of bread from house to house and prayers and fellowship; however, we also need to be delivered from money, otherwise, we can’t have the one accord.

When the disciples took care of the matter of money, the one accord followed, and God had a way to work in a marvelous way.

God had a way to save many people at once, and all those who were saved were delivered from riches and the love of money. They served God in the Body.

When we are delivered from money, when we’re delivered from loving riches and accumulating them for ourselves, we can serve God in the Body in a proper way, and He has a way to bless our service.

This is our reasonable service to God. But if we’re not dealt with and even terminated by God with respect to money, we can’t serve the Lord along with our fellow members of the Body.

If we still love money and want to serve God, our service will be a superficial one and will not be one that issues from the heart.

One of the greatest obstacles to our consecration is the matter of riches, and one of the greatest enemies in the Body of Christ is individualism.

Actually, our being individualistic is an expression of our love for money, our not being delivered from money.

If we say that our money are ours, it will be difficult for us to be delivered from individualism, for the strongest manifestation of individualism is in the matter of money.

We need to realize that, as believers in Christ, we are not like the ones in the world, who are developing their individual personality, their individual career, their individual wealth, and their own things, to become someone they consider to be good in their own eyes.

We are here as members in the Body of Christ – we are not here as individualistic members but as members that depend on the Head and on the fellow members in the Body.

Our service to God is in the Body, our living as Christians is in dependence on the Lord and in coordination with the saints, and we really are organic members of the organic universal Body of Christ expressed in the local churches.

We may have a job and have to work for a living, but we still serve God full time, serving Him with all we have and are, for we consecrate ourselves with all we are and have to Him to serve Him in the Body.

Our living, our work, our service, and our testimony are all in the Body and for the Body; if we don’t settle the matter of money and are not delivered from individualism by being saved from the love of money, we cannot expect that we can serve God.

We may be exposed to money and have to deal with money in our daily living to take care of our needs and of the needs of our family, but we need to be saved from the love of money so that we may offer God a reasonable service by consecrating ourselves with all we are and have to Him.

This is to be a living sacrifice to Him in the church life, and this will be well-pleasing to Him.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we give ourselves to You with all we are and have for Your service in the Body and for the Body. We simply present ourselves to You, dear Lord, to serve You as members in the Body. Bring us into one accord with all the saints so that You may have a way to bless our service and increase us in number. Amen, Lord, may our service in the Body be in one accord! Save us from individualism and deliver us from the love of money. Save us from being held back and nailed down by the riches and the pursuit of wealth and money. Amen, Lord Jesus, You are our goal, our reward, and our center, and we want to serve You in the Body and for the building up of the Body in the local churches today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 2, ch. 58, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 3, entitled, Material Offerings and Full-time Service.
  Further reading on the matter of consecration is, How do I consecrate myself to the Lord? (via Bibles for America blog).
• Hymns on this topic:
  – My spirit, soul, and body, / Dear Lord, I give to Thee, / A consecrated offering, / Thine evermore to be. / My all is on the altar; / Lord, I am all Thine own; / Oh, may my faith ne’er falter! / Lord, keep me Thine alone. (Hymns #447)
  – Lord, anew we give our bodies; / May we be transformed to prove / All Thy will, to know Thy Body, / And therein to serve and move. (Hymns #913)
  – For the Church should be our service, / ’Tis the perfect will of God; / ’Tis the only way of working / Which the Lord’s apostles trod. / This will keep the Church’s oneness, / Saving us from every sect; / This will ever test our motives, / And our aim will thus correct. (Hymns #914)