Strengthening Our Foundations Through Consecration

Pr Josephine Lu

25-02-2018

The Lord reminds us that He will keep us in the eye of the storm.

Storms will come unexpectedly.

God is your refuge and protector.

But we can come to a place of despair and discouragement.

You struggle with the agony of going through suffering.

In this area of our soul, God wants to consecrate it--to set apart.

Psalm 63:1-8 New King James Version (NKJV)

Joy in the Fellowship of God

A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

63 O God, You are my God;

Early will I seek You;

My soul thirsts for You;

My flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land

Where there is no water.

2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips shall praise You.

4 Thus I will bless You while I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

6 When I remember You on my bed,

I meditate on You in the night watches.

7 Because You have been my help,

Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.

8 My soul follows close behind You;

Your right hand upholds me.

Do we have faith?

Psalm 132:1-5 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Eternal Dwelling of God in Zion

A Song of Ascents.

132 Lord, remember David

And all his afflictions;

2 How he swore to the Lord,

And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

3 “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house,

Or go up to the comfort of my bed;

4 I will not give sleep to my eyes

Or slumber to my eyelids,

5 Until I find a place for the Lord,

A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

David endured hardships but he was being replenished in his soul. Even his own son tried to dethrone him. He is human too.

The period of waiting could be the most trying times to see what God could do in our lives. Come before God and allow God to speak in the area of our soul. Come into His presence, else many of us will give in to the struggles of our soul.

Joshua 3:5New King James Version (NKJV)

5 And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

Joshua 6:16-20New King James Version (NKJV)

16 And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city! 17 Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18 And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19 But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.”

20 So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

Transgression is knowing that something is wrong, yet we do it.

It is not right in God's eyes.

We may try very hard to overcome it but we do it again and again.

That is iniquity.

Joshua 7 New King James Version (NKJV)

Defeat at Ai

7 But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi,[a] the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.

2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the country.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” 4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

6 Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! 8 O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

The Sin of Achan

10 So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. 13 Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.” 14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to families; and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households; and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. 15 Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 Then he brought his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

19 Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

20 And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”

22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. 23 And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. 24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

26 Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor[b] to this day.

One person's sin affected the whole community. One person's sin caused them to lose the battle.

We need to battle even for our own families.

If we are not even able to remove the giants in our own land, how are we able to remove the giants in our nation?

Consecrate ourselves and our souls to God.

Do not continue in the cycle of sin. We need to rise up as God's army. We are in a critical time.

Are we giving the enemy a foothold to steal, kill and destroy.

Isaiah 53:4-6 New King James Version (NKJV)

4 Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned, every one, to his own way;

And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

God wants to perfect us and to change us to battle for Him.

Galatians 2:20 New King James Version (NKJV)

20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

It is very easy to claim the word of God but we struggle to live by faith.

How we respond will determine if we grow or we remain where we are.

In the midst of our struggle, God sees our response: is it God/Christ in me, or the ugliness/anger coming out?

If we constantly continue to rebel, it is like a sin of witchcraft. We are still committing the sin of idolatory and witchcraft.

1 Samuel 15:23 New King James Version (NKJV)

23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,

And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

He also has rejected you from being king.”

Exodus 34:6-7New King James Version (NKJV)

6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

Look at our own generation. Strengthen the areas of our weaknesses and let God cleanse the sins of idolatory and witchcraft in Christ.

Psalm 51:5 New King James Version (NKJV)

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

We do not want to pass down what we had done to the next generation. If the iniquity is not dealt with, it will kill God's plan and vision and destiny for our lives. Unless we honestly ask God to check our lives and allow Him to cleanse us from within. The enemy is not fighting a fair battle. It will affect our next generation. Unless we rise up.

We have been called a royal priesthood and a holy nation to declare and fulfill His plans for us. War against the giants in our own souls.

Knowing the word is not just reading and not applying. To live a victorious life, we first need to come to a place of consecration.

We are battling for righteousness and justice. How do we do that when we still have gray areas?

Don't compromise.

Psalm 66:18 New King James Version (NKJV)

18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,

The Lord will not hear.

Psalm 51 New King James Version (NKJV)

A Prayer of Repentance

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51 Have mercy upon me, O God,

According to Your lovingkindness;

According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,

Blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,

And my sin is always before me.

4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,

And done this evil in Your sight—

That You may be found just when You speak,[a]

And blameless when You judge.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,

And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me hear joy and gladness,

That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

9 Hide Your face from my sins,

And blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners shall be converted to You.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

The God of my salvation,

And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart—

These, O God, You will not despise.

18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,

With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;

Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

God's word convicts us of our own ugliness. And that's a good place to be.

James 3:6 New International Version (NIV)

6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Our words can curse, defile and bring someone down.

God brings us to that place of shaking to wake us up of our slumber and that we return to God. Unless we come to that place of brokenness and surrender, we come to depend on God.

Are you struggling in the area of flesh or mind? Be broken, rather than be in rebellion. Allow God to shape us.

2 Chronicles 7:14 New King James Version (NKJV)

14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 17 As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’

19 “But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, 20 then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

21 “And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ 22 Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’”

1) Repent of our own sin.

2) Renounce the generational sin. Humble ourselves to seek help. Deal with it.

3) Apply the blood of Christ in our bloodlines. Do not allow strongholds and lies to deceive us. We need the word of God. Be grounded in the word.

4) Pray in the Spirit to come out of the mode of depression and failure.

5) Renounce all the iniquities, sins and transgressions. A public confession and declaration.

God's promises are yea and amen. He will anoint you. He will fulfill it. Don't let the enemy to deceive you.

A broken and a contrite heart He will not despise.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I ask You to forgive me for every sin, defilement, compromise and every works of the flesh in my life. Lord, I know that the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatory, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies. (Galatians 5:19-20) Teach me to live by the power of Your Spirit and to help me crucify the works of the flesh in my life.

Father, help me to understand that "those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." (Matthew 15:18-19) Turn my heart toward You, and keep my mouth pure.

Father, You tell us in Your Word that we can keep our lives pure "by living according to Your Word." Help us to make this commitment: "I seek You with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You." (Psalm 119:9-11)

Strengthen areas of my life where there are generational iniquities. I ask that these areas be cleansed by Your blood and deliver me from all evil spirits enticing me to sin in these areas. I renounce and cut them off my life in Jesus' Name.

I dedicate my life to You, spirit, soul and body. Lord, make me strong - a bold spiritual army for You. Lord, I want my life to be built upon the strong rock of Jesus Christ, for then when the flood of ungodliness sweeps in, I will be like the wise man who built his house on the rock: "And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock." (Matthew 7:25)

Thank You for the power of the Cross that I can stand in victory today. Thank You that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Thank You, for we are Your chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that we may declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light.

"Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God, once we had not received mercy, but now we have mercy." (1 Peter 2:9)

We give you praise in Jesus' Name!
Amen.