God's Alls: God is All-Powerful and All-Wise

Romans 11:34-36 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 35Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 36For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Quick Review: God is Infinite, and He is the All-Good God
Yesterday we began consider how it is that God is infinite in terms of His being, and how from that nature we understand Him to be the All-Good God.  Psalm 145:9 tells us: "Jehovah is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all His works...thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."(KJV)  We are considering God mainly from the text of Romans 11:33-36.  In that text we see God's All Goodness (Romans 11:33).  Today we want to consider to other main "Alls" of God: namely God as being "All-powerful" and "All-wise".

God is All-Powerful (omni-potent)
Since God is infinite, and since He is infinitely good, then it follows that He would have to possess the power to accomplish His good intentions. In Romans 11:33, we discover that His "judgments" are unsearchable and His "ways" are unfathomable. The term "way" speaks of the activites of God, and His judgments of course speaks of the Sovereign ability He has to carry them out. For God to be infinitely good and yet not to be infinitely powerful would make Him no better than a creature.

Biblical Christianity asserts that God is both infinitely good and powerful. To be the Creator of all things, God must be all powerful. In the realm of redemption, the cross is the chiefest example of God's omnipotence, demonstrating the love of infinite God and the power of the Son, God in human flesh, to destroy the devil's works and bridge the infinite chasm between all who by grace through faith believe and God. (Colossians 2:13-14; John 3:8) Then of course God is omnipotent due to the fact that He and The Son will bring about the end of history, with the Holy Spirit regulating such history to its appropriate end in the return and reign of Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:20-28) This is alluded to in Romans 11:34-35, which requires God to be omnipotent in order to excercise His judgments and ways.

God is all-wise (omni-sapience). In Romans 11:25-33 we see reference to God's All-Goodness (omni-benevolence); in Romans 11:33 we also see reference to His All-powerfulness (omni-potence); but now we turn to Romans 11:34-36, where we see God's All-wisdom (omni-sapience). Omni-sapience comes from two Latin words: Omni meaning "all" and Sapiens meaning "wise".  Perhaps you have heard of the scientific name for human beings being that of Homo-sapiens-sapiens.  We are beings who a distinguished from all other creatures as possessing some measure of wisdom, understanding.  As human beings created in the image of God, any wisdom we have is from God, who is the source of all knowledge and wisdom. (Genesis 1:26-28; Proverbs 2:2)

Unlike man, God is Wise in and of Himself, without need of any outside counsel in directing the course of history, redemption and deternity.  The All-Wisdom of God is what directs His All-Good intentions and utilizes the All-powerfulness (omnipotence) to accomplish those intentions to their appropriate ends. Included in the wisdom of God are some other "alls": His omniscience or "all-knowingness", as well as His "all-presence" or "omnipresence".

Seeing God's All-Goodness, Power and Wisdom at work in redemption
Romans 11:36 states - "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. The Triune God's work in redemption is an example of the Trinitarian structure of Romans 11:36. The Father planned salvation by His All-Good, All-powerful, All-wise intentions. The Son, by his assuming full humanity, accomplished salvation by the shedding of blood, while still sharing in His full Deity with the Father.  God's Goodness, Strength and Wisdom is the source of salvation to those who by grace through faith believe. Then of course the Spirit in the Wisdom, Goodness and strength He shares with the Father and the Son, applies salvation to all whom He calls, convicts and believes.

God's All Goodness

Romans 11:33 "Oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways."

What do we mean when we say God is Infinite
When we speak of God being infinite, by what do we mean? It is a humbling thing to think of such a lofty idea, yet the scriptures bid us to consider the fact that the Triune God is infinite, while everything else is finite.  The word "finite" comes from the Latin finis meaning "having limits or an end".  Whenever you attach that Latin prefix "in" onto the front of that word, you have the meaning "without limits, without end".

When we speak of God being infinite, we are referring to how He fills all parts and wholes in the universe and outside of it, as well as everypart and whole of past, present and future.  Psalm 147:5 tells us: "Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite." Ephesians 1:23, from the original text, describes how Christ in His Divine nature "fully fills the full limit of all things in all things." 

A far more able mind and theologian by the name of Dr. Charles Hodge defines God's infinite nature in Volume One of His Systematic Theology: "As He is not more in one place than in another, but is everywhere equally present, so He does not exist during one period of duration more than another."  Some passages which speak of God being infinite or eternal are: 1 Kings 8:29; Psalm 90:2, Psalm 102:25-27; Isaiah 57:5, 64:6, 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8; Hebrews 13:8; Revelation 1:4

The Alls of God
With those descriptions, we can speak of God, being without limit nor end.  He is infinite.  Since God is infinite, all of His qualities, His characteristics are without limit.  To help the reader capture what were trying to communicate in this blog, I simply refer to God's qualities that point back to His inifinite nature as being "The Alls of God".   The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the current doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention, states in its article on God: "God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things past, present and future, including the free decisions of His free creatures."

The Alls of God according to scripture
In a moment you will see why I am referring to the infinite attributes of God as the "Alls of God".  For today's blog I want to give you the scriptures which speak about the first major "All" of God: God's All Goodness (i.e omni-benevolence).  I pray you will find this study to be a boon to your Christian life, since all of us can always have a bigger view of God.

God is All-Good (Omni-Benevolent) When we begin to think about God as infinite, we need to have an all-encompasing description that ties together who He is.  The Bible seems to indicate that God's Goodness as infinite goodness is what fundamentally describes both His character and actions.  I gain this from God's discussion with Moses on Sinai in Exodus 33:17-18, wherein He causes all of His goodness to pass before Moses.  Stephen Charnock in Volume 2 of His work: "The Existence and Attributes of God", pages 210-11, states: "God is originally good, which leads us to acknowledge His infinite goodness, followed by Him being perfectly good and thus Him being immuteably good."

Moses had requested for God to show him His glory.  God in turn did that, revealing His "backparts", a Hebrew idiom no doubt referring to giving Moses a glimpse of the glory through the medium of the Pre-incarnate Christ of biblical revelation.  Psalm 145:9 tells us: "Jehovah is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all His works...thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."(KJV) 

In Romans 11:25-33, God's All-Goodness or "omni-benevolence" is the launching point for consideration of God's infinite ability and purpose to orchestrate history, redemption and eternity.  It is God being the All-Good God that motivates Him to be redemptive toward fallen humanity.

Tomorrow we will consider further "Alls" of God, namely God being "All-powerful" (i.e omnipotent) and "All-Wise" (i.e omnisapient).

Consecration in the Christian life

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

Today's blog closes out the series we have been doing on consecration.  We have been drawing much of our understanding from Numbers 5-7 and other passages.  Consecration is when I decide to concentrate every area of my life upon the Lord.  As Oswald Chambers and other Christian writers have pointed out - consecration is "my part" in the post-conversion Christian walk, whereas sanctification is "God's part". (Philippians 2:12-13).  As much as consecration is a resolve of the redeemed human will, it cannot begin without the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit supplying the background and basis.

In our study we have identified the following truths concerning consecration:
1. Consecration of the heart
2. Consecration of marriages
3. Consecration of one's life
4. Consecrated church

Today I want to simply list select passages that both topically and explicitly reveal the New Testament's emphasis on consecration for the Christian.  For the sake of the reader I will underline words or phrases that are conveying this idea.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

Matthew 6:20-21 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Romans 12:1-2 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. 18“And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty."

Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

1 Peter 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence

All of these texts occur in contexts where conversion has taken place, God's sanctifying work has begun and the believer is being urged to have his desires match God's desires.  Consecration is the chief fruit in the will of the saint who is experiencing the progressive, sanctifying work of God's Holy Spirit.  I would bid every child of God and myself to resolve ourselves daily unto consecration and pray for the sweet Spirit of God to continue on His work of sanctification. 

Picturing A Consecrated Church

Numbers 7:1 Now on the day that Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed it and consecrated it with all its furnishings and the altar and all its utensils; he anointed them and consecrated them also.

So far this week we have considered the topic of consecration.  Consecration is when I decide to concentrate every area of my life on God.  That means I may choose to abstain from some things in order to draw closer to Him.  As we have labored to show, consecration works in cooperation with the Spirit's work of sanctification which He is working forth, constantly and progressively in our hearts. (Philippians 2:12-13; 2 Peter 1:4-11)

As we consider the importance of consecration from the pattern set forth by it in Numbers 5-7, we can note the following areas:

1. Consecration of our hearts (Numbers 5)
2. Consecration of marriages (Numbers 5)
3. Consecration of one's entire life (Numbers 6)

Today as we look at Numbers 7, we see the activity of consecration as it pertains to entire nation.  We could easily apply this point to be that of corporate consecration: when an entire church, nation, or Christ driven group consecrates itself to the Lord. 

How does a church retain its level of unity and peace with one another
Years ago the late Dr. W.A Criswell, pastor of First Baptist Dallas for over fifty years, was asked a question regarding the incredible unity witnessed among his hundreds of staff members, Deacons and other church leaders.  Dr. Criswell noted that his church had an agreement that centered around being right with God. I summarize his answer:

"We here have followed this principle, that if I'm right with God, and your right with God then we will be right with one another.  However if we find ourselves in disagreement and discord, then we wait, pause, and pray, getting our hearts in tune with God once again.  Once we have done that, we then can walk together, thus moving forward as a church."  Through Dr. Criswell's comments runs this theme of consecration. 

Why consecration is worth it
Numbers 7 was recalling those tender days when the tabernacle had just been finished.  Exodus 40 records this same timeframe.  What an amazing year it must had been, to go from bondage in Egypt to worship of God at the mountain.  The very structure He so ordained to be his house was completed.  We know from the parallel passage in Exodus 40 and Leviticus 8 that the Shekinah glory of God fell and filled that place.  Now the priests and the whole nation were being called unto consecration.  Consecration of their gifts, animals and lives. 

Why such effort? Why such expense? You read through the 89 verses of Numbers 7, and see rituals and offerings.  Its not until the very end you see the point of corporate consecration in Numbers 7:89 - "Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him."

The Church together ought to aim for corporate consecration
When you look at how the early church in Acts 2:41-47, they had "continually devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching" (Acts 2:42) Furthermore, all of those who had believed together had "everything in common". (Acts 2:44)  Nothing is more beautiful than when a church has consecrated itself among its membership to love Jesus Christ together. 

When the members of the New Testament church have consecrated their hearts, marriages and lives the corporate act of consecration follows.  Christ is building His church, and desires her to be in experience whom she already is by position: a temple of the Holy Spirit, the Bride of Christ.  When a church has corporately resolved to consecrate itself to the Lord, revival results and lives are changed.  May we aim to be what God wants us to be in Jesus Christ!

Consecrating one's entire life

Numbers 6:2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD"

For the past couple of days we have been looking at the subject of Christian consecration.  We have noted that consecration is when I by God's grace in sanctification, working in my heart, choose to cooperate and concentrate every area of my life on God.  So far we have noted how consecration functions like ripples in a pond:

1. Consecration of the heart Numbers 5:1-10
2. Consecration of your marriage Numbers 5:11-31

Today we continue on, moving to an even wider reaching vision of consecration - consecration of one's entire life.

Nazarites - people whose entire life was about consecration
The Hebrew root for the word Nazarite (Nazir) means "consecrated, devoted, dedicated."  According to the "Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament", page 1340, the word Nazir had to do with "keeping away oneself from something."  Negatively it speaks of separation, positively it referred to the placing of a crown on top of one's head - an object designating the special office of the wearer.

In the history of the redemption we find four, and possibly a fifth man who took the Nazirite vow of dedication spelled out here in Numbers 6.  Clearly the Nazarite is a visual picture of the concept of consecration.  The words "dedicate", or "separation" occur no less than 14 times in Numbers 6.  Among other things, the Nazarite (male or female) had to abstain from "wine and strong drink" (Numbers 6:3) or even anything produced from the grapes. No razor is to be near his hair (6:5), nor is he to touch a dead body (6:6) nor is he to defile himself even in mourning for his family when they die by touching them (6:7).  

Three men that were life-time Nazarites for sure were Samson (Judges 13:5); Samuel (1 Samuel 1:11) and John the Baptist (Luke 1:15).  Gathering from their practices and foods that they abstained from, we can reasonably connect them to the prescriptions laid down here in Numbers 6.  The Apostle Paul in Acts 18:18 appears to have "taken a vow" which ended when he cut his hair.  Thus Paul illustrates a man who took a short-term Nazarite vow. 

The fifth possible man in the Bible who may have been a Nazarite was James, the author of the N.T book bearing his name.  In reading the first Church Historian Eusebius in his "Ecclesiastical Church History", Book 2, Chapter 23, reference is made from an eyewitness of James' life.  The witness was named Hesigeppus (Hes-i-gep-pus), who tells us of James having long hair, being a Nazarite and being a man of great piety.  In fact, he was known to have had knees like a camel for his long season of intercessory prayer.  James was martyred, being thrown from the pinnacle of the temple for refusing to renounce Christ.  Even while the mobs were stoning him (he didn't die after that high fall!), he prayed, in likeness to Jesus, that their sin be not held against them. 

Why consecration of one's life truly brings glory to God
When you look at the lives of some of those who were Nazarites, you begin to understand why consecration of one's life can truly demonstrate a devoted heart to the Lord.  Imagine a Samuel, whose resolve to proclaim God's Word in a day where the word of the Lord was scarce led to the anointing of not one, but two men who would occupy the throne of Israel. (1 Samuel 3:1)  The Bible tells us that not one word of Samuel fell to the ground (1 Samuel 3:19).

Or how about John the Baptist, of whom Jesus said was the greatest man born of women. (Luke 7:28)  He was the prophetic forerunner to the Messiah.  His consecration to God was a desire given to him by the Holy Spirit, who uniquely filled him from the womb, and who stated he was to be a Nazarite in vow. (Luke 1:15)  His undying commitment to his mission to exalt the Savior, even to the point where he utters the words: "he must increase, but I must decrease". (John 3:30) 

And if we take the testimony of history to be true (from not only the writings of Eusebius, the father of church history, but Josephus, the father of Jewish history so to speak), then we know that James was a man passionate about Christ and His word.  It was this James who was Jesus' half-brother in the flesh.  It was this same James who led the early church in Acts 15 and who authored the Book of James. 

To consecrate one's entire life is far from a cold, sterile activity.  Every Christian is called to give up all they have to follow Jesus Christ through the death of self in preference to the Master. (Luke 9:23-24)  Consecration is truly the chief expression of a true disciple willing to cooperate with God in the growth of their faith-walk with Jesus Christ. 

Consecrating your marriage

Numbers 5:12 & 16 - (12) “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him" (16) ‘Then the priest shall bring her near and have her stand before the LORD,"

Why consecration works from the heart out to the behavior, rather than being another form of behavior modification
Yesterday we noted that consecration is a grace-motivated desire to concentrate every area of life on God.  As we noted from Oswald Chambers discussion on the issue, it is where the Christian is making his interests to match God's interests.  Before we move onto the realm of consecrating one's relationships and marriages, the emphasis upon consecration of the heart cannot be over emphasized. 

Consecration can be mistakingly taken to be nothing more than some type of behaviorial modification.  Often people in a church service or atmosphere charged with the presence of God will rashly make promises to God to change or remove habits without first dealing with the heart that produces those behaviors.  In their minds, they vow to stop doing certain behaviors and adopt better ones.  Granted, there may be genuineness involved, whatever name we call it (rededication, recommitment).  However more often than not, some rededications are aimed only at behavior modification.  Unless we are beginning with God's sanctifiying work already operative in the heart, our rededication and recommitments will lead to legalism and failure.  Let me explain. 

Sanctification is a two-sided coin - a "me and God" thing. In sanctification we have God working in us His perfect and pleasing will while at the same time we are opening ourselves in response to His work by "working out our salvation with fear and trembling". (Philippians 2:12-13)  

True consecration begins with an acknowledgement of a transforming work of grace in the heart leading to a conforming of attitudes and behaviors that concentrate on the Lord.  The biblical word "consecration" is a more helpful word than mere "rededication", since the heart and behaviors, and not the behaviors by themselves, defines the aim of consecration.  

Consecrating our marriages
In the remainder of Numbers 5, God is laying down prescriptions for dealing with allegations of unfaithful spouses.  Three times the accused wife is told to present herself before the Lord.  A water mixture called "The water of bitterness" is given to the woman to determine whether her denial of infidelity is legitimate or not.  If she ends up being infertile, then she was unfaithful, whereas if she is still able to have children, then she was clearly faithful. 

The phrase that captures my attention here is the phrase: "before the Lord". (Numbers 5:16, 18, 30)  The woman, her husband, the priests involved in discerning the allegations and the people were all reminded that marriage was covenant made before God - and that God see all things! (Hebrews 4:12-14) 

Time and time again the Bible reminds us that our marriages are pictures of what the Lord desires to have with his people in terms of oneness, closeness and loving trust. (Ephesians 5:25-27)  To consecrate our marriages means for husbands and wives, with consecrated hearts, to make that marriage's interests to match God's. Hebrews 13:4 plainly states - "marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge." 

Benefits and suggestions for consecrating your marriage 
First and foremost, regard everything you and your spouse does as being in the presence of the Lord.  The older Christians used a Latin phrase to describe the Christian life lived before God: coram dei (in the presence of God).  Approaching everything from your T.V watching to what you both do seperately to even marital intimacy as being pleasing to God will greatly affect how you view your marriage.
Seeing marriage as not only having to do with finances or physical things, but as supremely interconnected as a covenant with one another before God captures its true meaning. (Genesis 2:23-25)

Practically making the effort to be more faithful in church attendance, or instituting praying with your spouse or even writing simple little notes letting them know you're praying for them are ways to consecrate marriages.  By consecrating marriages, you are being more proactive in managing the health of your relationship, rather than reactive.  Proactiveness to marriage reinforces positive, Godly edifying values that ensure protection against the temptations and forces waged against marriage in today's world.  Reactive marriages try to overcompensate through desperate measures to correct behavior, without addressing the hearts that led to the behaviors. 

The fruit to be born in consecrating marriage is that of stronger, God honoring marriages that can withstand the storms that attempt to drown the passion and commitment needed in 21st century marriages. 

The Importance of Consecration

Numbers 7:1 Now on the day that Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed it and consecrated it with all its furnishings and the altar and all its utensils; he anointed them and consecrated them also.

Defining consecration
Today we begin a new blog series on a subject of extreme importance in the Christian life - consecration.  Oswald Chambers in his landmark devotional classic: "My Utmost for His Highest" writes the following definition of consecration: "Consecration is our part, sanctification is God's part.  Consecration is when we have deliberately determined to be interested in that which only God is interested." 

Admittedly we don't hear much today about the word nor the subject.  Whenever I see the word "consecration", it reminds me of another English word with a similar sound: "concentration".  As Chambers points out, consecration is an act of the Christian's will resolving to make God's interests their own.  This of course can only occur in proportion to the Holy Spirit's ongoing work of sanctification, whereby He is working forth and imparting to us the affections, desires and life of Christ. Thus concecration is the "human side" of the cooperation we daily have with God's Holy Spirit following conversion.  In consecration, I simply aim to have greater concentration on Jesus Christ.

The Pattern of consecration in the Bible
As God was calling the nation of Israel to be a God centered congregation (Numbers 1-4) composed of Godly servants (Numbers 3-4), God prescribed an ever increasing pattern of consecration (Numbers 5-7).  The Law of God sets forth the patterns of Godly living, requiring and pointing God's people to reliance upon Grace to have power for Godly living.  

Like a series of ripples in a pond, Numbers 5-7 gives us a series of ever-increasing concentric circles of consecration that we aim to explore over the next several blogs.  This pattern, spelled out in the Old Testament, is repeated in a fuller way in the New Testament.  The pattern requires the grace of God working in the human heart to both desire it and carry it out.  The pattern we will be looking at this week involves consecration of the following:

1. Consecration of the Heart (Numbers 5:1-10)
2. Consecration of your marriage (Numbers 5:11-31)
3. Consecration of your life (Numbers 6)
4. Consecration as a Church (Numbers 7)

The Ever increasing nature of consecration in the faith-walk
Consecration of the heart. Numbers 5:1-10; 1 Peter 3:15
The Apostle Peter writes these words in 1 Peter 3:15 - "but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence."   That underlined word, which we could also translate "consecrate, set apart", has virtually the identicle meaning as the Hebrew word underlined above in Numbers 7:1.  To "set apart, dedicate, consecrate" as refer to the same thing.  The New Testament reinforces the grace-motivate pattern of consecration outlined in passages such as Numbers 5-7.  The place to begin is with your heart.

The heart in the Hebrew Old Testament scriptures was the causal, emotional control tower of the person.  The camp of Israel in a physical way was to picture the interior of the person: with God at the center in the human spirit - as so pictured by the tabernacle.  On the outer perimeter of the tabernacle was encamped the Levites, who stood between God and the people.  We could say that the conscience, that part of the soul which interracts most with the heart/human spirit, is what reminds the people of God's law and condemns us when we have done wrong.  The remainder of the people camped around the Levites pictures for us the remainder of my soulish realm - mind, emotions and will, as I live out the Godly life through my human body. 

When God was telling these people to send away the lepers and diseased from the camp, He was not being mean nor unreasonable.  A reading of Leviticus 13-15 explains how leprosy and infectious diseases needed to be quarantined, to both protect the people and to reinforce the danger of the infection of sin in their hearts.  Consecration has me separate from something keeping me from fellowship with God, in order to draw closer to God. 

In Numbers 5:5-10 we see instructions on restoring stolen or damaged property.  The people needed to treat one another with love, since their regard for one another revealed how they regarded the Lord.  Jesus even comments in passages such as Matthew 26:40 and Acts 9:4 that "whatever is done to the least of these little ones, so have you done unto me."   If we begin consecrating our hearts, we will be ready to consecrate our emotions, thoughts and attitudes towards how we treat people and respond to situations. 

In tomorrow's blog we will take a look at another area of consecration that leads out logically from the heart - namely consecration of our relationships and marriages.