The Lack Of Consecration In Believers

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is an important lesson from a very popular book of the past. Enjoy!

Google commons

THE LACK OF CONSECRATION IN BELIEVERS 

There seems to be a lack of deep consecration to do God’s will among some Christians today. Recently, I was thinking about the difference between my experiences in Full Gospel circles fifty years ago and today. As I compared Full Gospel believers then and now, I realized there wasn’t nearly as much sickness among Spirit-filled Christians fifty years ago as there is today.

I remembered the great manifestations of the Holy Spirit we used to experience in our meetings. The move of the Holy Ghost was also much greater and in more consistent demonstration back then than it is today. As I was thinking about this, the Spirit of God said to my spirit, “Yes, and the consecration of My people was greater too.”

Let that soak in! Whether we choose to consecrate ourselves to obey God or choose not to obey God, it affects every other area of our lives as well!

I’m thoroughly convinced of the truth of what the Lord said to me. The consecration of believers was much deeper fifty years ago than it is today. Believers’ appreciation and reverence for the things of God and the move of the Holy Spirit was much deeper too. And as a result, God honored that depth of consecration and reverence by giving His people great manifestations of the Holy Ghost.

Google commons

Believers today need greater consecration and dedication to God. In the churches I pastored in the 1940s, we used to gather around the altar and pray at the end of nearly every service. We often sang the old hymn, “Is Your All on the Altar of Sacrifice Laid?” We don’t sing hymns like that much anymore, but many folks today need to heed the message of some of those old scriptural hymns.

It seems that many believers are willing to lay some things on the altar, but not all! But God’s plan for their lives is hindered and many of His blessings are withheld because they haven’t totally consecrated themselves to do God’s will instead of their own.

Ministers need to teach about consecration so people’s hearts will be stirred to surrender everything to God and to consecrate themselves wholly to follow God’s plan for their lives.

Consider your own consecration to the Lord. Consider whether or not you are able to say from your heart, “Lord, I’ll do whatever You ask me to do. I’ll go anywhere You want me to go. And I’ll stay where I am if You tell me to stay. No matter where You lead me, I’ll carry the good news of Jesus Christ to others.”

Google commons

You see, you need to be willing to do anything God wants you to do. You need to commit yourself to obey God and do His will every day for the rest of your life.

Since I was first born again at the age of sixteen, I’ve understood the importance of total consecration to the Lord. I’ve been a Christian more than half a century, and I’m still praying the same prayer of consecration I prayed more than fifty years ago. I’m still praying, “Lord, I’ll go where You want me to go. If You want me to go to Africa, I’ll go. If You want me to stay where I am, I’ll stay. I’ll do what You want me to do.”

Also, notice Jesus didn’t just pray this prayer one time. He prayed virtually the same prayer three times (Matt. 26:39,42,44).

You see, the prayer of consecration is not a one-time prayer, as is the prayer of faith. The prayer of consecration is a prayer you pray throughout your life. You will only be able to follow God’s plan for your life if you constantly maintain an attitude of consecration and surrender to the Lord’s will, whatever it might be.

Following God’s Plan For Your Life

by Kenneth E. Hagin

Google commons

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

To Obey God

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

This is from an unknown author.

NO HEBREW WORD FOR OBEY.

I was reading an article by Rabbi Daniel Lapin, and he said that there is no Hebrew word for “obey.”  I always just assumed the actual word ‘obey’ was in the Hebrew Bible….it’s translated in our English Bibles, and it’s definitely in most sermons that are preached.   I did some further research, and sure enough, there is no word in Hebrew for our English word ‘obey.’  The word translated obey in our Bibles is the Hebrew word “shema.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against obedience, and I’m definitely not advocating for disobedience.  I am one of those people that obedience just comes naturally to.

Just as there is no Hebrew word meaning “obey,” there also is no English word for shema.  While this Hebrew verb translates as “hear” it means much more than just hearing or listening. The King James Bible chose the verb ‘to hearken’ rather than hear. But now, nobody hearkens anymore, so the English translators of the Bible didn’t know what to do with this verb. So they translated it as ‘obey’.

But “obey” poses a problem…before we obey we usually go through a 3 part process.

1. We hear what God says

2. We evaluate the command based on our understanding

3. We make a choice to obey based on our evaluation.

It’s a Greek mindset to understand first, then obey.  But God doesn’t give us instructions in order that we might understand Him!  He gives His instructions to us that we might live life well…  Proverbs 10:17 “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life.”

There are 613 commandments in the Old Testament and 1050 commandments in the New Testament.  With so many “commandments” you would naturally assume that obedience is what God is requiring.  But He’s not looking for obedience from us the way we understand obedience.

Webster’s Dictionary defines obey as to do what someone tells you to do or what a rule, law, etc., says you must do.  Some synonyms are to submit, to keep, to comply, to be governed by, bow to, do one’s bidding, do what is expected, do as told, to take orders.  Lots of English synonyms for a word that’s not even in the Hebrew language.

IF NOT OBEDIENCE — WHAT IS GOD LOOKING FOR?

So, what does God require from us?  He’s looking for shema levot….for hearing hearts.  A hearing heart is a heart that is intent on… or committed to… doing whatever God commands… whatever He asks from us.  And most importantly a hearing heart is rooted in love (Deut 11:1; John 14:15; 1 John 5:3).

The first time “shema” appears in Scripture is in Genesis 3:8. “And they heard (shema) the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

Adam and Eve had just sinned and eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This scripture shows us God’s response to them in spite of their sin… in spite of them not following their hearing hearts and doing what God required of them. God came walking through His garden in the cool of the day.

The word walk is "halak;" it has the idea of moving or going as opposed to just sitting there.  The term “cool of the day” wasn’t just added as a poetic phrase, the word cool is the word "ruach" which is the word for spirit. 

Immediately following their disobedience they “heard”(shema) the Spirit of the Lord in the Garden ready to walk with them… eager to enjoy fellowshipping Spirit to spirit with them. They heard His Spirit come into the garden desiring to be with them like always.

To hear (shema) is hearing with understanding, attention, and with a response.  Response to what?  To come to Him and walk with His Spirit as usual.  Allowing the wind of His Spirit to blow over them and make things right.

Our translations then tell us that God said “where are you?”  Actually, in the Hebrew it is a Semitic idiomatic expression meaning “he is nowhere.”  God wasn’t asking a question; He wasn’t asking where Adam was.  He was crying out “Adam is nowhere in My heart.”

This is not a picture of an angry God who is looking for Adam so that he can punish his “disobedience”… this first look at sin for us is a picture of a caring Father so sad that His son left His heart.

Today let’s have hearing hearts, let’s respond to Him, walk with His Spirit, committed to doing whatever He asks.  Today let’s be hearers and doers.

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango