In last month’s issue, we discussed the importance of praying the prayer of consecration in order to find and follow God’s highest will for our lives. In this issue, I want to examine the prayer of consecration in a more personal context.

One major goal we should have as believers is to become like Jesus in our personal character and conduct. “…As He is, so are we in this world” (1John 4:17b). “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:6).

The older we get in the Lord, the more we should act, think, speak, and behave like Jesus. The apostle Paul admonished, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1), and we are encouraged in Ephesians 5:1 to “…be imitators of God as dear children.”

Paul gave us all an excellent ambition for our spiritual lives when he stated, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

The personal prayer of consecration helps us begin this journey to become like the Son! The prayer of personal consecration is a prayer that opens our lives to be examined by the standard of God’s Word. It raises the bar of conduct and allows the Lord the opportunity to help us grow and change into His image and likeness in how we live life!

Our best witness is not just our words, but our lifestyle that shows others what we really believe! Remember that Jesus said, “Let your light so shine among men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). And the prayer of personal consecration will set us on the road toward personal change that will glorify God!

This personal prayer of consecration is found in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” It is stated another way by David in Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”

With this prayer, we give God permission to speak to us, and to deal with us and show areas that need His loving hand of guidance and change. Remember that God is a perfect gentleman, and He will not force Himself or His purposes on us. He respects the human will He gave us and will not push Himself on us.

He encouraged His old covenant people to make the right choices so that He could bless them in Deuteronomy 30:19, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.”

The same idea of God urging us to make the right choices for His highest blessing is found in the New Testament under the new covenant in James 4:8, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

“One major goal we should have as believers is to become like Jesus in our personal character and conduct.”

God works in us only when we give Him the permission to do so. He gives us life, and we become the stewards of the time, abilities and talents He gives us.

In all four gospels, Jesus mentions our need to submit ourselves willingly to Him, so that He can fully reveal His character in us. In Matthew 16: 24 He says, “…If anyone desires to come after Me, let Him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” He states again in Luke 14:27, “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” And in John 12:24-25, He again mentions, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

And He mentions our need to willingly yield to Him once again in Mark 8:34 (Phillips Translation), “If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all rights to himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”

Taking up our cross, denying ourselves, and following Him are Jesus’ ways of stating to us that we must willingly choose His ways over ours. A cross is a place where flesh dies, a place where our will and the will of God meet. Our personal cross is a place of decision to allow Him to change an area of our lives that we have always lived a certain way, that may be against His highest and best for us. In taking up our cross, we are allowing Him to “meddle in our affairs.”

A.S. Ways translation of Romans 12:1 goes well with this thought of personal consecration, “I appeal to you then, by all the compassions of God, O my brothers – bring your lives and set them by the altar, as a sacrifice, a living one, a hallowed one, acceptable to God.”

Our journey of personal holiness to the Lord begins when we choose to pray this prayer of consecration and allow the Lord to prod us toward change. There are so many areas of life that we just can’t see clearly without His help and guidance. Psalm 90:8 in the Amplified Bible reads, “Our iniquities, our secret heart and its sins which we would so like to conceal even from ourselves, You have set in the revealing light of Your countenance.”

Many years ago, during a time of personal discontentment with myself, I began to pray this prayer in Psalm 139:23-24 over and over again. Initially, not much happened. I could not see that God was doing anything differently in me, or that He was showing me anything new about myself. But it was not long until I began to see things about my life that I had never seen before.

God began to show me areas of my life where self-centeredness ruled, where I would not allow Him to speak, and where my “old man” had left a residue that still ruled an area of life.

The Lord began to speak to me about my perfectionistic ways and how they affected my family and those close to me. He showed me that perfectionism is rooted in self, and that the more I put others first, the more I must be willing to yield to their wishes instead of my own. This had a direct effect on my marriage and on how I began to relate to my children. It began to change how I related to those I worked with on a daily basis.

“Our journey of personal holiness to the Lord begins when we choose to pray this prayer of consecration and allow the Lord to prod us toward change.”

He began to speak to me about my tendencies toward being a “workaholic,” in that I just could not take a break without feeling worthless. My value of myself was not rooted in Christ; it was rooted in my accomplishments! And as I continued to ask the Lord to show me where I needed to change, He continued to reveal areas of my life that I had never opened up to Him. He continues to reveal Himself to me as I pray this wonderful prayer. The closer I get to Him, the more I see how unlike Him I am. Looking back over the years, I am so different than I was, but still so far from what He wants to be in me. But I see the changes he has made, and that’s exciting.

I want to encourage you to begin to pray this prayer in Psalm 139:23-24 for yourself on a regular basis. Begin the process of allowing God to mold your life as a potter molds clay. Years from now, you’ll look back and you’ll see what He has done in you, and others will be affected as your light shines brighter! I want to leave you with this quote from Romans 12:1 (Amplified):

“I appeal to you therefore brethren, and beg of you in view of all the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies – presenting all your members and faculties – as a living sacrifice, holy, devoted, consecrated, and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable – rational, intelligent service and spiritual worship.”

So, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”