Consecration

These short devotional have been written by Rev Malcolm Duncan, Elim Minister of Kensington Temple in London. They were written in 2024 to help Elim Ministers and members spend time consecrating their lives to God.

Select a day : 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12   (Day 13 on Wed)

Christian ministry in a broken and hurting world is about much more than activity and projects.

It is about us. Who we are, what we have, what we do with our time, our money, our homes and our ambitions. Those of us who have the privilege of being financially supported in ministry can professionalize our vocations. We can end up feeling very entitled, and we can forget the joy of consecrated service.

Whilst giving of money, time and resource fits within the themes of stewardship, worship and obedience, it ultimately sits within the question of whether we are living out a consecrated life. We pastors should talk about money with our congregations and ministry teams, but how we use our own money is a very good indication of how seriously we take our relationship with God and our obedience to Him, and it is a litmus test of our own hearts and attitudes to consecration. The chances are, if you are reading this, that you may well have given up lucrative careers or a big salary because of your commitment to the purposes of God and serving the Kingdom.

Thank you for the sacrifice you make for the Kingdom of God – God sees it and He will reward and bless you for it. But be careful that you are not neglecting disciplines of consecration in your own life whilst calling others to be consecrated. Don't turn this into a job.

There is still a challenge to you and me in our attitude to money and giving. Do we view our money as ours, with us giving God a little back in various ways? Or do we view our money and resoruces as God's? There is a direct link between our commitment to consecration and our generosity. The great news for the Elim Movement is that God has all the finances that He needs to transform the nations we minister in. The bad news is that some of this money is in the bank accounts of our pastors, elders and deacons and that we are holding onto God's provision whilst asking others to give. We are allowing our consecration to take place in parallel with our resources, which means we have made our consecration shallow. If it doesn't impact our generosity, then it hasn't penetrated our hearts. Does our attitude to money represent our attitude to life? If so, what does that attitude say about our consecration?

Not only is the idea of generosity an important and challenging one personally, but it is also a challenge to our congregations, leadership teams and our Movement. I wonder how many of our churches begrudge their giving to the Movement. How committed are we to global mission, to our youth ministry, to releasing new leaders and raising up young people? Do our church leadership teams celebrate the capacity to be generous or begrudge it? How many ministers, leaders or churches have fallen into entitlement, which is a sure sign of an unconsecrated heart, whatever else we may claim.

For further thought –

Would your generosity lead to a consecrated heart or not? What can you do about that? What will you do about that?