With God at Dawn

Serve God with a Willing Mind, September 6

Consecration Requires Decisions

Know thou the God of thy father, and serve him, with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. 1 Chronicles 28:9. WGD 251.1

In order for us to reach this high ideal, that which causes the soul to stumble must be sacrificed. It is through the will that sin retains its hold upon us. The surrender of the will is represented as plucking out the eye or cutting off the hand. Often it seems to us that to surrender the will to God is to consent to go through life maimed or crippled. But it is better, says Christ, for self to be maimed, wounded, crippled, if thus you may enter into life. That which you look upon as disaster is the door to highest benefit.... WGD 251.2

Only through the surrender of our will to God is it possible for Him to impart life to us. Only by receiving His life through self-surrender is it possible, said Jesus, for these hidden sins, which I have pointed out, to be overcome.... If you cling to self, refusing to yield your will to God, you are choosing death. To sin, wherever found, God is a consuming fire. If you choose sin, and refuse to separate from it, the presence of God, which consumes sin, must consume you.—Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 61. WGD 251.3

You need to drink daily at the fountain of truth, that you may understand the secret of pleasure and joy in the Lord. But you must remember that your will is the spring of all your actions.... There is no such thing as following Christ unless you ... determine to obey God. It is not your feelings, your emotions, that make you a child of God, but the doing of God’s will. A life of usefulness is before you, if your will becomes God’s will.—Testimonies for the Church 5:515. WGD 251.4