PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
2 Corinthians 5:18–21
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
CONSIDER THIS
Over the decades, one of my favorite experiences as a pastor has been seeing people come to faith in Jesus. For we who have known what it is to be reconciled to God through Jesus, gratitude fills our hearts daily. When someone else experiences that same welcome from Jesus and responds, it is cause for great rejoicing in the body of Christ.
According to 2 Corinthians 5:19, in Christ, God has done something for the world. God has reconciled people to himself. In other words, God has made a way for a broken relationship to be made whole, through the death of Jesus on the cross (Col. 1:20). In this great act of reconciliation, God has made a way for anyone—literally, anyone—to come into union with him.
God is a reconciler.
Coming into union with God in Christ is reconciliation in its most essential form. Any reconciliation we may do on earth that does not find its source and strength in God’s greater, reconciling work of the heart to himself is destined to struggle and fall short.
God knows that if he can get a heart relating to him again, experiencing his presence, love, forgiveness, acceptance, and truth, the possibilities of reconciliation between that person and others are endless. We who have been reconciled to God begin to want others to be reconciled to God. We want others to experience the freedom that we have experienced. It is the natural flow of the story.
And that is why sharing the good news of reconciliation is our ministry. Just as one who is forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:47), so, too, we who have experienced God closing the gap between us and him want to help close that gap for others.
Every Spirit-filled and Spirit-formed follower of Jesus who carries his heart in the world is an agent of reconciliation between God and people. As God has forgiven us, we can forgive others (Col. 3:13). As God has accepted us, we can accept others (Rom. 15:7).
Someone moving as an emotionally and relationally healthy person in the world, embodying a life reconciled to God and committed to reconciliation between people, is a powerful witness. Few homes or businesses see that kind of character evidenced in a person on a daily, weekly, or even yearly basis.
It is Christ shining through our eyes and actions who is doing the reconciling.
In union with Jesus, as one to whom the message of reconciliation has been committed, begin to see yourself as an agent of reconciliation today. Instead of seeing evangelism as converting someone to a set of beliefs, see your primary work as helping a person become reconciled to the God who is pursuing them. Loving someone well, with Christlike love (1 Cor. 13), opens the door to all manner of reconciliation.
God has made a way for you and me to be in relationship with him. And that relationship is the best thing that ever happened to us.
Now we have a chance to both participate in seeing others reconciled to God and to celebrate with those who have responded to the reconciliation God offers. We could run our prayer life with prayers for reconciliation between God and people for decades. God brings hearts to himself in surprising ways when his people pray. I have many people that I am praying for to be reconciled to God. I know the burdens that will be lifted off of their hearts when they are.
As Christ’s ambassador, Jesus is making his appeal through you to others. He is calling them to be reconciled to God. Pray, step out the door, set your heart to love others with the love of Christ, and look for anyone he sends you.
THE PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I am in you and you are in me. First, I want to have the path of my heart clear between us. If there is any area in which I am holding back, show me so I can give it to you and receive your reconciling love and forgiveness. Second, I want to be a reconciler, a true peacemaker (Matt. 5:9) in my sphere of relationships. Show me the way. In Christ Jesus, I pray, amen.
THE QUESTIONS
Do you feel like there is a clear and open relational path between you and the Father? If so, talk about your relationship with God at this time in your life. If not, how could you consecrate yourself to God to a new degree and open up the path?
For the Awakening,
Dan Wilt
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2 Responses
Reconciliation begins in us when we are drawn into union with Christ through the call of the Gospel, receiving Jesus through repentance, faith, and baptism into his name. As an ambassador of God’s grace, I seek not only to see non-believers brought to faith in Christ, but also the reconciliation of the splintered, visible Church. God alone knows those who are truly His, committed to Truth, but that should not prevent us from attempting to restore the visible unity that is currently lacking across the landscape of Christianity. I pray that God would raise up a legion of like-minded believers through whom He will use to restore “The unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”. (Ephesians 4:3) Our testimony is hampered otherwise.
Called to be Reconciled and Rejoicing in the Lord
Human beings are made in the image of God, but our rebellion, pleasure-seeking, and domination by self-focused desire has separated us from the presence and character of God to the point that we have become a faded, cracked, and contorted copy of a photograph of God. We have abandoned the continual cultivation of heart-connection with God for lesser pursuits that entangle and entrap us in self-deceptive pleasures and in tormenting thoughts.
In your finer and nobler moments, notice the remnants of God’s image (His still small voice) stirring in your heart and calling you to return to, surrender to, and daily live in obedience to His presence. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, God has made a way for you to leave your prison of guilt and shame behind and be reconciled to ongoing loving intimacy with Him.
The burnt embers of the image of God in you can become “Christ in you, the hope of glory,”–God’s eternal flame in your heart. Shift your pursuit of pleasure to the pursuit of Christ’s presence. Exchange your domination by desires (the dominion of darkness) for the kingdom of God, the full and complete dominion of the risen Jesus within and through your heart. Be reconciled to God and demonstrate that reconciliation in what you say, think, and do. Be a living demonstration to other people that they, too, can be joyously reconciled to God.