Sentence Sermons (Christian Inspiration) #22 --- Consecration

Consecration of one’s living purposes to God’s holy will is the interior decoration of the soul

---Edmund J. Kiefer, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., Oct. 8, 1933.

Consecrated service is the royal road to the Kingdom of Heaven.

---Edmund J. Kiefer, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., Oct. 31, 1937.

The consecrated day has divine inspiration for its sunshine.

---Edmund J. Kiefer, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., April 12, 1936.

The humblest work, consecrated to God’s service, achieves distinction.

---Edmund J. Kiefer, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., June 7, 1936.

A consecrated day is better than an aimless life.

---Edmund J. Kiefer, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., Feb. 19, 1933.

To consecrate a day to Providence is to insure it against personal futility.

---Edmund J. Kiefer, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., July 4, 1937.

A sure test of your consecration is your willingness to do whatever God wants done. It shows how much we have on the altar; it shows how much we have the mind of Christ.

---Billy Sunday,, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va., Feb. 4, 1919.

True consecration admits of no reservations.

---Earl Riney, Church Management, Cleveland, Ohio, September 1945.

Heights of consecration may follow depths of conviction.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Aberdeen Herald, Aberdeen, Wash., April 23, 1903.

God’s call consecrates us, but our service seals the consecration.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Aberdeen Herald, Aberdeen, Wash., Oct. 16, 1905.

Christian consecration is simply concentration on Christ.

---Elijah Powell Brown, The Daily Gazette, Stillwater, Okla., Jan. 2, 1902.

True love is the secret of full consecration.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Duluth Evening Herald, Duluth, Minn., Dec. 9, 1899.

Sincere consecration never produces self-complacency.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Duluth Evening Herald, Duluth, Minn., Aug. 23, 1902.

Complacency is often complacency mistaken for consecration.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Bohemia Nugget, Cottage Grove, Ore., Sept. 5, 1906.

Consecration is our answer to God’s call.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Fulton County News, McConnelsburg, Pa., April 17, 1902.

He cannot consecrate his gift who fears to have it consumed.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Duluth Evening Herald, Duluth, Minn., Nov. 1, 1902.

Some men shout their convictions so as to silence their conscience.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Fulton County News, McConnelsburg, Pa., Aug. 5, 1903.

God cannot use a conditional consecration.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Fulton County News, McConnelsburg, Pa., Jan. 6, 1904.

Real consecration is a quick cure for conceit.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Fulton County News, McConnelsburg, Pa., Feb. 1, 1905.

Lip service is vain without heart consecration.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Juniata Sentinel and Republican, Mifflintown, Pa., Oct. 26, 1898.

There is no consecration without preparation.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Mathews Journal, Mathews, Va., Nov. 30, 1905.

Preparation is the best prayer for consecration.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Omaha Daily Bee, Omaha, Neb., Oct. 9, 1904.

He cannot consecrate his gift who fears to have it consumed.

---Elijah Powell Brown, Polk County News, Columbia, N.C., Nov. 6, 1902.

Consecration is the principle that to do God’s will is above every other choice and pleasure. Consecration does not seek what is pleasant, and agreeable, or profitable, but what is right.

---William Goodell Frost, The Citizen, Berea, Ky., June 4, 1914.

Consecration is the key which unlocks the door to success in Christian living and work.

---Henry Tesnom, Aurora Daily Express, Aurora, Ill., Aug. 15, 1898.

The measure of your consecration is the degree of your preparation. Consecration is not giving up a little, but making much of one’s self.

---Henry F. Cope, Buffalo Courier, Buffalo, N.Y., Nov. 5, 1912.

Christian life must be a consecration of our all. If religion is anything, it must be everything, or it is nothing.

---Jay A. Ford, St. Louis Republic, St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 7, 1903.

The power with God that belongs to his children is obtained through prayer, faith and consecration.

---Edward L. Millican, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, Oct. 21, 1912.

A Christian is not to be sacred on Sunday and secular on Monday, but consecrated every day in private and public character.

---G.L. Morrill, Minneapolis Journal, Minneapolis, Minn., Aug. 10, 1901.

Consecration to Jesus Christ should be the distinguishing feature of every Christian.

---Oscar Jefferson Wade, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, Jan. 17, 1914.

The consecrated life bears evidence of its consecration.

---Oscar Jefferson Wade, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, March 14, 1914.

There is no real success other than consecration and dedication of man’s all to the service of the Lord. Care not what amount of wealth amassed or fame achieved, without a strong Christian character developed, life has been a signal failure and bitter regret will be perpetual.

---Jasper W. Dunn, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, Feb. 10, 1917.

Practical consecration embraces three things—being, doing, suffering. We must be willing to be, to do, and to suffer all that God requires. Let everyone ask himself the question: “What doth God require of thee?” and receive the divine answer: “Love more, walk humbly, and do justly.”

---Henry P. Bond, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, Nov. 25, 1916.

The Christian life implies entire consecration. Christian service is service to man, letting Christ’s principles sway life every day.

---A.B. Coffman, University Missourian, Columbia, Mo., April 17, 1916.

“Ye are the light of the world.” The light must not be buried under the bushel of worldliness nor hidden under the bed of indolence, but elevated on the beautiful candlestick of a holy consecrated life that men may see and glorify God in you.

---Charles J. Dickey, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, Feb. 26, 1912.

The consecrated life means that the good, noble purposes, resolutions, promises and God-given abilities of my life shall not lie dormant, but be so mingled with my thoughts and actions as to bring the world the healing balm of Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

---W.E. Dugan, Houston Daily Post, Houston, Texas, March 13, 1898.

Christian workers are ever ready to lend a hand to relieve suffering and distress regardless of the difficulties to be encountered. Christian work to be successful demands consecrated brains as well as consecrated hearts.

---William Sherlock Huggett, El Paso Daily Herald, El Paso, Texas, Nov. 1, 1897.

One of the first glories of religion is the consecration of the whole of life, doing helpful things with real sincerity and tact. The noblest service of friendship is to bring one into touch with the highest, even with God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is worth earnest prayer and thought and tactful patience. It certainly succeeds, and out of it will come the richest joys of life.

---Naphtalie Luccock, Lockport Daily Journal, Lockport, N.Y., May 25, 1898.

Consecration is necessary. Entire consecration embraces three things—being, doing and suffering. We must be willing to be, to do, and to suffer all that God requires. This embraces reputation, friends, property and time. It covers body, mind and soul. These are to be used when, where and as God requires; and only as He requires.

---Herman G. Porter, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, Dec. 20, 1913.

Consecration is not so much a matter of choice between things good and things bad, as a persevering adherence to the best against all things merely good or better.

---Hubert M. Smith, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, Jan. 4, 1919.

It is not what we have, but what we are and what we do with our possessions that counts. Consecrated life and gifts are marvelously multiplied by Almighty God.

---John Harmon Burma, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, Jan. 19, 1914.

Consecrate yourself by a sacred vow to the service of your Lord, and then by His heavenly grace live up to it.

---H.D. Jenkins, Houston Daily Post, Houston, Texas, Jan. 30, 1898.

The consistent life of any consecrated believer in Christ is a mighty means of righteousness.

---T.S. Knox, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, Aug. 28, 1911.

Let us glorify God by consecrating to Him every affection of our hearts and every work of our hands. Let us grow daily in the knowledge and love of our Savior, so that when we nightly pitch out tents we may be a day’s march nearer home.

---G. Arthur Fry, Gazette and Bulletin, Williamsport, Pa., May 8, 1929.

Life with its opportunities calls us. The world needs us, and our lives are only fulfilled as they are given to service. Life’s exhilaration lies in activity, and its true meaning is found only in usefulness. Life’s consecration is completed only in sacrifice.

---Floyd W. Tomkins, Evening Star, Washington, D.C., June 17, 1906.

Consecration means the giving to God for His use of all that we are and all that we possess. God wants leaders who are true to Him. Every man is a leader, and has someone who he can influence; but his leadership will not be successful unless he is absolutely loyal to God.

---Floyd W. Tomkins, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va., Feb. 21, 1915.

The world’s great need today is cultured, consecrated men and women who are willing to live unselfish lives, who are willing to make sacrifices in order that the burdens of their fellow men may not fall so heavy upon them. We have plenty today who can spin fine theories about ethics, and far too few who are willing to imitate the example of Christ in their daily lives. The man who lives only for himself, who struts through the world demanding rights and declaring his independence, will soon have no rights to demand and will soon have to confess his dependence upon all.

---George H. Bridgman, St. Paul Daily Globe, St. Paul, Minn., June 3, 1895.

Consecration is more than a son, an essay, or a sentiment. It is the difference between retaining your own will and surrendering it wholly to God. Consecration must be without reservation. If you do not consecrate your all, you do not consecrate at all. The root principle of consecration is self-surrender. Jesus said, “If any man would come after me let him deny himself.” If men will consecrate themselves there will be no trouble about their time and gifts.

---Herbert C. Hart, Norfolk Weekly News-Journal, Norfolk, Neb., Oct. 27, 1911.

The consecrated life is one given wholly to the greatest of objectives, the doing of the will of God.

---William T. Ellis, The Daily Argus, Mount Vernon, N.Y., Dec. 31, 1915.

Life does not attain its highest end until it is lived in fellowship with Him who is life’s beginning.

---William T. Ellis, The Daily Argus, Mount Vernon, N.Y., Dec. 31, 1915.

Without consecration there may be the form of godliness, but none of the power thereof.

---William T. Ellis, The Daily Argus, Mount Vernon, N.Y., Dec. 31, 1915.

Consecration is another way of spelling success. Until our abilities are made over to Christ, they can bring only failure.

---William T. Ellis, The Daily Argus, Mount Vernon, N.Y., Dec. 31, 1915.

Consecration does not take from our ability, but rather adds thereto. The consecrated person is all of himself, plus God.

---William T. Ellis, The Daily Argus, Mount Vernon, N.Y., Dec. 31, 1915.

The end of all a Christian’s efforts on earth is summed up by Paul in the sentence, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” This should be the Christian’s supreme ambition, the test of all his conduct, for the mind of Christ is the will of God.

---William T. Ellis, The Daily Argus, Mount Vernon, N.Y., Dec. 31, 1915.

True consecration includes the consecration of the last atom of energy. We are not consecrated fully as long as there is one member of our being, or on thought in our heart, that does not loyally serve Christ.

---William T. Ellis, The Daily Argus, Mount Vernon, N.Y., Feb. 5, 1916.

Consecration, on any plane, is a holy thing and to be reverently esteemed. Whatever and whoever is consecrated to a high and sacred use. The consecrated life is one given wholly to the greatest of objectives, the doing of the will of God. Consecration is another way of spelling success. Until our abilities are made over to Christ they can bring only failure. Consecration does not take from our ability, but rather adds thereto. The consecrated person is all of himself, plus God. The end of all a Christian’s efforts on earth is summed up by Paul in the sentence: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” This should be the Christian’s supreme ambition, the test of all his conduct. For the mind of Christ is the will of God.

---William T. Ellis, Binghamton Press, Binghamton, N.Y., Dec. 31, 1915.

The ablest are they whom God has enabled. There is no failure for consecration. And there can be no success short of consecration. With the spirit of humble consecration, all things are possible. Consecration is another way of spelling success. Until our abilities are made over to Christ they can bring only failure. Ability is never safe until it is consecrated to God. But when He is made king over a life its future is sure success.

---William T. Ellis, Binghamton Press, Binghamton, N.Y., July 5, 1918.

Prayer is a help in our lives, but we must not expect that it will free us from Satan’s temptations. It will give us grace to conquer those temptations, and if we trust in God He will deliver us by His mighty power, just as He delivered His chosen people long ago. But Satan is watching and waiting! What a wonderful thing is it that God fights for us! Sometimes He brings some miraculous force to defeat the foe; sometimes He confuses them so that they are divided among themselves; but most frequently He calls His own people to go forth and then He goes before them and assures the victory. We need not be afraid to do anything for God, nor need we be hindered in declaring His truth and righteousness, if only we pray to Him for wisdom and grace and trust Him to accomplish that which He sees to be best. Consecration is a necessary part of prayer and service. The Lord wants to use the whole of us, not part of us. If we keep anything back in our devotion or in our activity, we are not wholly His, and so He cannot do for us all that He would.

---Floyd W. Tomkins, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va., Feb. 28, 1915.

[Read Romans 12:1-2.] Since nothing short of entire consecration to God can produce genuine Christian living, it becomes our solemn duty to present our bodies to God, “a sacrifice which is not force, but voluntary, not intangible, but physical, not dead but living, not defective but holy, not hypocritical but acceptable to God, and not irrational but reasonable.” The body when surrendered becomes divinely transformed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The mental cleansing that comes with this spiritual transformation enables one to “prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” A life fashioned after the worldly model can never know these things for they are spiritually discerned only. Thus Christian living must have its rootage in a proper relationship to God. The miracle of transformation must be worked by the Holy Spirit in us by a complete surrender of ourselves to Him.

---B.E. Donehoo, Waycross Journal-Herald, Waycross, Ga., Sept. 19, 1936.

Partnership with God is an exalted privilege. Will God be a partner? Is it possible? Partnership comprehends mutual interest, mutual sympathy, mutual purposes. It means cooperation, devotement. God is committed to partnership with us, the obligation is, must be mutual. There is thought partnership—adjustment of mind to mind. God is always mindful of us. He has us in His mind. He thinks about us; He cannot help it; He cannot get us out of His mind. God is trying to get us to think His thoughts. God’s challenge to us is, “Think on these things;” “Be ye spiritually minded.” What is communion with God but union of minds? There is also life partnership. Early did God say, “It is not good for man to be alone.” To share my life with God should be a high privilege. What is consecration but the dedication of life? Consecration to God means oneness of spirit. “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” “We are laborers together with God.” No one can do his best work alone. God could not build His Kingdom alone. What is service but partnership? God works and I work; we work together—“one spirit.” This is indeed a lofty partnership with God.

---E. Ellsworth Reynolds, Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, Fla., Feb. 18, 1929.

Consecration is the voluntary surrender or self-offering of the heart, by the constraint of love to be the Lord’s. The literal translation of the old Hebrew word to consecrate is “to fill the hand.” It suggests the deepest truth in connection with sanctification, that Christ Himself must be the substance and supply of our new spiritual life and fills us with His own spiritual life and fills us with His own spirit and holiness. Even our consecration itself must look to Him for grace to make it faultless and acceptable. Even our will must be purified and kept single and supremely fixed on Him, by His continual grace. Our purity must be the imparting of His life, our peace, His peace within us, our love the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Our very faith, which receives all His grace, must be continually supplied from His own spirit. We bring to Him but an empty hand, clean and open, and He fills is. We are but a capacity and He is the supply. We give ourselves to Him fully, understanding that we do not pledge the strength or goodness required to meet our consecration, but that we take Him for all, and He takes us, fully recognizing the responsibility for which He assumes to make us all that He requires and keep us in all His perfect will as we let Him through the habit of a full surrender. What an exquisite rest this gives to the trusting heart and what an infinite grace on His part to meet us on such terms and bear for us so vast a responsibility. … The Lord is the Author and Finisher of our faith and the true attitude of the consecrated heart is that of a constant yielding and constant receiving. It is here that the gradual phase of sanctification comes in. Commencing with a complete separation from evil and dedication to God is not advances into all the fullness of Christ and grows up to the measure of the stature of perfect manhood in Him, until every part of our being and every part of our life is filled with God and becomes a channel to receive and a medium to reflect His grace and glory.

---A.B. Simpson, The Christian Alliance and Missionary Weekly, New York, N.Y., Feb. 21, 1890.

We believe that a life of entire consecration has peculiar charms for the noblest natures when it is rightly understood. A life of entire devotion to God possesses a charm which a halfhearted Christian life can never afford. There is something heroic, noble, fascinating, in a life of holy and divine enthusiasm and a wholehearted life for unselfish and heavenly aims, and just because it is at the very antipodes of the selfishness of the world, therefore, when the heart is touched by the Spirit of God, it will commend itself most fully even to those who are farthest from it. We are sure today there is in many a worldly heart a deep unsatisfied hunger, which only the love of Christ can completely fill. It is somewhat remarkable that the people of the world are the very ones that cherish the highest ideals of Christianity and hold Christian people to a severer test than they usually apply to themselves. The world expects a Christian to be true and consistent, as they certainly show by their severity of their criticism when they find their life so different. We believe they are far readier to accept this kind of Christianity than they are the miserable caricature of it which they find in so many who represent the religion of Christ to them in their inconsistent and miserable lives. We believe all that is necessary to touch many of these noble natures is an exhibition of the living loveliness of a true Christian life, and especially its living joy, which will make it real and certain to them that Jesus Christ has that to give which the world can never supply.

---A.B. Simpson, The Christian Alliance and Missionary Weekly, New York, N.Y., Jan. 23, 1891.

According to Paul, our gifts must be given "not grudgingly nor of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." True consecration must include the whole heart. It must be both inward and outward. It must include the soul, the heart, the strength, and the mind. Real consecration does not reserve a single room in the temple of God, which is our body, where He is not welcomed. Paul tells us that we must present our bodies a living sacrifice to Him Who will accept and honor and use them. Real consecration will go farther and compel us to devote to God our time, our talents, our influence and our money.

—Thomas F. Gallaher, San Antonio Daily Express, San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 5, 1910.

The making of our lives is the greatest thing for each of us. The best contribution a man can make to the world is a consecrated life. The test of service is the correct interpretation of life. "By their fruits ye shall know them." The ideal life is described in the sentence: "He went about doing good." You cannot improve that definition. One example is worth a thousand arguments. Service is what is needed–service and sacrifice.

—George W. Truett, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, Dec. 2, 1916.

Consecration and sacrifice go hand in hand in whatever our work in life may be, and many have been the failures in life for lack of these fundamental elements of success, whatever the undertaking. We must believe in our work sincerely and we must give ourselves unreservedly to it if we court success, which, I am sure, is obvious to all of us. To many the thought of sacrifice is abhorrent, and yet the world progresses, new ideas are established, new truths are discovered every day alone by the path of sacrifice. Consecration and sacrifice should be prompted by gratitude to God.

—A.G. Fitzgerald, Houston Post-Dispatch, Houston, Texas, May 7, 1928.

Consecration consists in a disposition of the heart, which renders us pliant in the hands of God, humble in the consciousness of our own weaknesses, but confident to the point of boldness in the goodness of our heavenly Father.

—Henrietta Heron, Christian Standard, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 5, 1938.

The consecration of purpose means the concentration of all forces upon the task in hand. The divided heart can never be the consecrated heart. The consecrated purpose means an expanding purpose. In other words, whoever fixes his heart and his powers upon the achievement of a worthy thing will find better results and higher heights to charm him as he moves forward.

—Mattie M. Boteler, Christian Standard, Cincinnati, Ohio, July 1, 1916.

No one can say what his abilities is, so long as it remains uninvested capital. Consecration means not just what he is, but also what he is capable of becoming. The consecration of seemingly small abilities has often surprised those who possessed them. The consecration of ability simply means placing our powers at the service of the Master.

—Mattie M. Boteler, Christian Standard, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 29, 1918.

Giving as a Christian duty is by no means to be restricted to money. It is really the giving of one's self a consecration of soul and body to the service of the Master.

—L.W. Moore, The Baptist Chronicle, Alexandria, La., May 17, 1900.

Consecration, when genuine, is a voluntary and definite dedication of one's self to God, without any reservations whatever. It involves what one is or has, or expected to be or to have. It is the dedication of one's whole self to God for sacrifice or service, as God determined.

—Roy S. Nicholson, The Wesleyan Methodist, Syracuse, N.Y., May 4, 1949.

Consecration to the Christ is but another term for concentration upon the philosophy of Christ as it is revealed in the gospel. If ordinary ideals are great enough to unfold men and women to their full, how much more is the supreme ideal and goal able to present ordinary individuals in ever-expanding stature. We can all find supreme opportunity in making Christ the center of our endeavors. His cause, His themes, His purposes and His methods have lost none of their dynamic power.

—John Edward Carver, Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah, March 9, 1931.

Christian consecration is unconditional surrender of every area of our being to God that we may do His will in all things.

—James DeForest Murch, Christian Standard, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 11, 1937.

Prayer means that the wire of faith and consecration all the way from earth to heaven must be up and thoroughly insulated by every good word and deed. Let the wire be buried under a dishonest act or overt sin and the message won't go through. Get everything off the wire and have it properly insulated by obedience to God's will and have the moment you pray your message is jumping off into the ears of God beyond the skies. The man who can pray is he who can lift up his hands and reach the arm of God in the other world.

—Sam P. Jones, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, April 17, 1894.

When men consecrate themselves to Christ, power comes to them to loose the bonds of their fellowmen, and where there is no such consecration, the world finds no such liberating service.

—William E. Gilroy, Alexandria Daily Town Talk, Alexandria, La., April 5, 1930.

The call to consecration is a call for life with all the talents and powers of a redeemed personality to be laid on the altar of service.

—C.W. Orrick, Houston Post-Dispatch, Houston, Texas, Sept. 14, 1931.

Voluntary consecration of all one is to the service of God is the best disposition one can make of life and the noblest possible act.

—W. James Robinson, The Western Messenger, Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 13, 1920.

Consecration does not consist in emotional reaction, but in obedience to God.

—J. Benjamin Lawrence, Baptist Record, Jackson, Miss., Nov. 8, 1934.

"Brethren, I count not myself to have attained the high calling of God in Christ, but I am pressing on toward that goal." (Philippians 3:13-14.) I think that we other Christians should have this same mind that was in Paul. God cannot want us to undervalue or depreciate the attainment we have made in the Christian life. If we keep our eyes on Christ we shall always have plenty of incentive to humility; but if we cannot find in ourselves legible marks of true Christlikeness, there must be something wrong. Paul knew, and it would have been dishonest of him to deny, that the grace of God in Christ had been richly fruitful in his life. In the Christian life, as in all life, the vision of the beyond, of the higher, is the prerequisite of progress. Christ says, "Come, follow me!" But He is always on ahead. Consecration is not an act, it is a process. The consecrated Christian is so given to his Lord's service that he doesn't let anything interfere with that service.

—J.E. Nunn, Amarillo Daily News, Amarillo, Texas, Dec. 25, 1937.

Yieldingness to Christ: Consecration, the surrender to Jesus Christ of the whole life, the whole nature and the enthronement of the will of God in our lives. That means the dethronement of self-will. The definite filling with the Holy Spirit: We have his spirit if we are his, but the filling of the spirit is an expression and a life. It begins with a definite appropriation of faith and it goes on with a continual appropriation by faith; and the blessing and power of Christian life lies in the filling with the spirit. If we really are done with self-will and have closed in with the will of God, then there is room for the spirit. And with the spirit's fullness comes every blessing.

—C.I. Scofield, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, Aug. 13, 1905.

Consecration is moral purpose. He who has one, has the other. He who loses one, loses the other. Without moral purpose, physical strength is weakened, intellectual strength loses its vigor, and spiritual strength is rendered impotent. On the other hand, when vows of consecration are kept in high honor throughout life, the Holy Spirit finds ways to take that life and use it against the enemy and who shall say what can't be done.

—H.K. Sheets, Wesleyan Young People's Journal, Syracuse, N.Y., March 1941.

You cannot bid others follow Christ unless you be following yourself. You cannot direct others in a road that you do not know. You cannot draw out Christian character from others save with the magnet of Christian character in yourself. You must consecrate yourself if you would consecrate others. We follow Christ when we live like Christ; we follow Him when we imitate Him. You cannot follow Christ and oppress the poor; you cannot follow Christ and cheat your neighbor.

—Hudson Stuck, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, Sept. 22, 1902.

Concentration is always one measure of consecration.

—John F. Anderson, Jr., Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, May 31, 1958.

Courage is never adequate until it includes consecration to a trust and commitment to a task.

—Louie D. Newton, The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 19, 1940.

We often insist on running just inside the fence of consecration so we can occasionally reach through and nibble the green grass of worldliness.

—Vernon Elmore, Baptist Standard, Dallas, Texas, Dec. 4, 1963.

Consecration is the work of a Christian, the presenting of self to God for service. It is one thing to have Jesus in the life and another thing to have Jesus control the life; one thing to have Jesus in the front and another thing to have Jesus in control of the boat as when in the storm they awake him and he calms the storm. Many Christians are leading a self-willed life. They want the Lord to save them, but not to save them too much, as the little girl who prayed the Lord to make her good, but not too good. We ought to consecrate ourselves because of God's mercies. Men are afraid to consecrate to God for fear he will force them to do some hard thing. As if a father would force some difficult and disagreeable work upon a child, because the child was willing to do the whole will of the parent. Consecration is a definite act and can never be separated. There are two elements in consecration–commitment and trust; the first is instantaneous and the second continuous. In consecration all is committed to him and always counted as committed. When once the act of consecration is performed, the bands taken off, then the life of real blessing begins. When all is given to God we find God ready to give all to us.

—J.R. Pratt, Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, March 10, 1900.

"Consecrate them by means of truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. I consecrate myself for their sakes now, that they may be consecrated in truth." (John 17:17-19.) To consecrate something is to set it aside, to set it aside for God's purpose. What Jesus is saying is, "Set these men aside, so that they may live in the truth and proclaim the truth. And as they continue to proclaim the truth, they are set aside for your glory, God. Therefore, bring them into holiness, bring them into a fulness of life with you as they proclaim the truth, as they live the truth, as they commit their lives more fully to you, Father." And so Jesus prays that they may be holy as the Father is holy, prays that they may come to the fulness of life with God by living out the truth.

—Sam G. Jacobs, Proclaim, Alexandria, La., Dec. 27, 1994.

The Christ touch upon our lives, that is what we want for the best and greatest service in God's Kingdom. I wonder how many of you have kept a quiet time alone with Christ today? I wonder how many of you have formed the habit of keeping a daily quiet hour, a quiet half hour, a quiet quarter of an hour, or even a quiet ten minutes alone with Jesus Christ? Friends, until we have formed that habit, I don't believe it is possible for us to know the blessing and the power of the Master's touch upon our lives. There are three essentials for communing with God: sincerity, concentration of mind and consecration of life. I can think of no time, when the soul so fully meets these conditions, as when we are alone with God. The quiet hour is not a time for morbid meditation, nor for careless and mechanical reading of the Bible, nor for offering thoughtless prayers: it is a time when you shall become acquainted with yourself. If we would give to God our best moments; if we would give to Him a fresh mind, a quiet spirit, and a receptive heart, then we must make the quiet hour a morning watch. We, too, must heed those classic words of advice which Ruskin gave to the students of Oxford: "Read your Bible. Make it the first morning business of your life to understand some of it clearly, and your daily business to obey it in all that you do understand." The keeping of the morning watch may mean less sleep, the forming of a new habit; it may mean self-denial and real sacrifice; but if it be God's will that we should seek Him first each day, He will give us grace and strength to pay the cost.

—Olive Russell, The Baptist Chronicle, Alexandria, La., Jan. 15, 1914.