We should consecrate people, affairs, and objects, but the last thing we should consecrate is ourselves. We have to consecrate ourselves to God. We should say, "God, I consecrate myself to You to do Your will." Brothers and sisters, we do not know what lies ahead of us. But we know that God has a will for every one of us. It may not be blessings, and it may not be sufferings. But we have to consecrate ourselves to His will. We should be willing to accept His will, whether it comes with blessing or suffering. Many people are willing to be used by God; they are filled with the Spirit and live the overcoming life continuously because they have consecrated themselves to the Lord.

What kind of consecration is this? It is a consecration in which we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. The Bible never speaks of the consecration of the heart; it only speaks of the consecration of the body. No one who has consecrated himself can leave his body unconsecrated. We have consecrated our whole being to the Lord. Henceforth, our mouth is not our own. Our ears are not our own, and our eyes, hands, feet, and even bodies are not our own. From now on we are merely the Lord's managers. From now on our feet are the Lord's, and we cannot use them for ourselves any longer. When a young man died, his old father charged the pallbearers to be very careful, because that body had served as the Lord's temple for twenty years. However, we should not wait until we have died for our bodies to be consecrated to the Lord. Today the Holy Spirit is already living in us. First Corinthians 6:19 says, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" One hymn says, "Let my hands perform His bidding;/Let my feet run in His ways./...All for Jesus! All for Jesus!/Let my lips speak forth His praise" (Hymns, #444). This is the meaning of consecration. This is what it means to consecrate our body. No one should say that his body is his own. Every single day of our life is for the Lord, and our whole body is for the Lord; we are merely His managers.

Once in another country, someone was passing the offering plate on a Sunday morning. When the plate came to a thirteen-year-old girl, she repeatedly asked that the plate be lowered. When the plate was lowered to the ground, she stepped onto the plate. She had no money, and therefore, she decided to offer herself up.

Today we should not only consecrate people, affairs, and objects to the Lord but also consecrate ourselves to Him. Every Lord's Day when we put the money into the offering box, we should put ourselves into it as well. When we hold ourselves back, God does not want our money. God will not have "ours" unless He first has "us." God must have us first before He will have ours. There are many people who will consecrate themselves to the Lord, and the Lord will not necessarily ask them to be preachers. He may want some to be good businessmen. Every corner in this world needs light, and we cannot choose our own work. We should say to the Lord, "From now on I resolve to do Your will."