Consecration: Setting Yourself Apart

They had crossed the Jordan. The miracle was behind them. The promised land was beneath their feet for the first time. You would think the next thing on the agenda would be war. Strategy. Moving forward. Taking the land.

But God had something else in mind first. Before one battle was fought. Before one city was taken. Before one step further into the inheritance God had promised them, He told Joshua to stop. Circumcise the men.

Throughout the entire wilderness journey, the men born in the wilderness had not been circumcised. Forty years of traveling, of manna, of miracles, of the presence of God moving with them in cloud and fire. And yet this covenant sign had been neglected.

God knew. He was never ignorant of it. But He allowed them to live freely through that season. Now the season had changed.

They were no longer wandering. They were about to possess. And before they could take what God had promised, God required something of them first. Set yourselves apart. Consecrate yourselves. Deal with what has been left undealt with.

So Joshua obeyed. The men were circumcised. They stayed in the camp and healed. And it was in that same place, at Gilgal, that the manna finally stopped. For the first time they ate from the fruit of the land. And they kept the Passover feast in Canaan, in the land of promise.

A new season demanded a new consecration.

Consecration is not a popular word today. But it is a necessary one.

It simply means to set something apart for a specific and holy purpose. To take what was ordinary and dedicate it entirely to God. To draw a line and say everything on this side belongs to Him.

If you go through the pages of scripture you will find a pattern. Every time God was about to do something significant among His people, He called them to prepare themselves first. Set yourself apart. Get ready. Something is coming and you need to be positioned to receive it.

This is not about condemnation. It is not God pointing a finger at your failures and holding back His blessing until you perform well enough.

It is a Father saying I want to take you somewhere new. And I have looked at your life and I can see there are things you are still carrying that do not belong in this next chapter.

Consecration is letting go.

It is forgoing things that used to give you pleasure. Habits that used to satisfy you. Patterns that you have held onto for comfort or familiarity. Not because they are all necessarily dramatic sins but because God is asking you to release them in exchange for what He wants to do in your life.

In exchange for His purpose concerning you.

There is a word in 2 Timothy 2:21 that has stayed with me.

“If anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.”

There are many vessels in a house. But not all of them are used for the same purpose. The ones set apart for special use are the ones that have been prepared, cleaned, consecrated.

What kind of vessel do you want to be? God is not asking for perfection. He is asking for surrender. He is asking you to take this moment seriously. To stop. Before the next battle. Before the next step forward. Before you charge into what is ahead.

Consecrate yourself. Let His Word speak to the areas of your life that need to be surrendered. Let go of what He is asking you to release. Rededicate yourself to His purpose. Recommit to what He has called you to do and who He has called you to be.

The promised land was right there in front of Israel. But God required consecration before the conquest.

Your next level may be closer than you think. But God may be asking you to deal with something first.

“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” - Joshua 3:5

Set yourself apart. God is about to do something new.

— Redeemed Family