CONSECRATION

While I was in Zambia I started working through The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds. He died in 1913, these are his manuscripts
on prayer (essentially there are 8 books). You want a challenging, thought provoking, convicting read? Work your way through his writings, but take your time. Maybe I’m just slow but I have to read each chapter 2-3 times just to begin to grasp some of it. One thing I like about him, he doesn’t pull any punches. Some of it may cause you to dig deeper elsewhere to be able to better understand what he is saying. That’s great.
I just finished the 1st book, The Essentials of Prayer. The section on prayer and consecration was very eye opening and convicting for me. The question I ask myself is “are you a man who prays, or are you a man of prayer?” There is a difference, a big difference. To be honest I only see myself as a man who prays. Consecration can not take place apart from prayer. Consecration is not a word you hear much of in teachings/preaching today. It is not a word I yet fully understand the meaning or depth.

E.M.B. definition: Consecration is the voluntary set dedication of one’s self to God, an offering definitely made, and made without any reservation whatever. It is the setting apart of all we are, all we have, and all we expect to have or be, to God first of all. It is not so much the giving of ourselves to the Church, or the mere engaging in some one line of Church work. Almighty God is in view and He is the end of all consecration. It is a separation of one’s self to God, a devotement of all that he is and has to a sacred use. Some things may be devoted to a special purpose, but it is not consecration in the true sense. Consecration has a sacred nature. It is devoted to holy ends. It is the voluntary putting of one’s self in God’s hands to be used sacredly, holily, with sanctifying ends in view.
Consecration is not so much the setting one’s self apart from sinful things and wicked ends, but rather it is the separation from worldly, secular and even legitimate things (emphasis mine) if they come in conflict with God’s plans, to holy uses. It is the devoting of all we have to God for His own specific use. It is a separation from things questionable, or even legitimate, when the choice is to be made between the things of this life and the claims of God.
Consecration being the intelligent, voluntary act of the believer, this act is the direct result of praying. No prayerless man ever conceives the idea of a full consecration. Prayerlessness and consecration have nothing whatever in common. A life of prayer naturally leads up to full consecration. It leads nowhere else. In fact, a life of prayer is satisfied with nothing else but an entire dedication of one’s self to God. Consecration recognizes fully God’s ownership to us. It cheerfully assents to the truth set forth by Paul:
“Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and spirit, which are God’s.”
Consecration is really the setting apart of one’s self to a life of prayer. It means not only to pray, but to pray habitually, and to pray more effectually. It is the consecrated man who accomplishes most by His praying. God must hear the man wholly given up to God. God cannot deny the requests of him who has renounced all claims to himself, and who has wholly dedicated himself to God and His service. This act of the consecrated man puts him “on praying ground and pleading terms” with God. It puts Him in reach of God in prayer. It places him where he can get hold of God, and where he can influence God to do things which He would not otherwise do. Consecration brings answers to prayer. God can depend upon consecrated men. God can afford to commit Himself in prayer to those who have fully committed themselves to God. He who gives all to God will get all from God. Having given all to God, he can claim all that God has for him.
There is much talk today of consecration, and many are termed consecrated people who know not the alphabet of it. Much modern consecration falls far below the Scripture standard. There is really no real consecration in it. Just as there is much praying without any real prayer in it, so there is much so-called consecration current, today, in the Church which has no real consecration in it. Much for consecration in the Church which receives the praise and plaudits of superficial, formal professors, but which is wide of the mark. There is much hurrying to and fro, here and there, much fuss and feathers, much going about and doing many things, and those who busy themselves after this fashion are called consecrated men and women. The central trouble with all this false consecration is that there is no prayer in it, nor is it in any sense the direct result of praying. People can do many excellent and commendable things in the Church and be utter strangers to a life of consecration, just as they can do many things and be prayerless.
—Complete Works of E. M. Bounds

This is only a few excerpts. In reading something as this, you need to pray over and through it as you go. You need to listen to what God may be saying to you as you read. It is a time for refection on oneself not on others. That is a real easy thing to type but can be very difficult to do. It is always easier to point out others faults that way you don’t have to look at your own. Conviction alone is not enough you have to take the next steps.
Consecration is what we are all supposed to strive for and something I don’t think we ever can fully attain here on earth. The Spirit that lives inside us will lead us to consecration if we are being obedient to His leading, spending time in prayer.