How to Be totally consecrated to the Lord?

Dear Counsellor,

The question and the burden of my heart is how can I, as a youth, be totally consecrated to the Lord? Thanks.

[From] U.S.

Dear youth,

It is a good thing as a youth to desire total consecration to the Lord. The word "consecrate" means to be set apart as sacred, to sanctify or to devote. As a youth, it is possible for you to consecrate your life to the Lord. This can be done by taking the following steps:

Ø    Ensure that you are born again. This is because the God who you want to consecrate your life to is holy (Habakkuk 1:13). To be born again, you must realize your sins, confess and forsake them. Realize your inability to help yourself. Call upon Jesus and accept His sacrifice on the cross for cleansing of your sins, and accept Him as your personal Lord and Saviour.

Ø    You should separate yourself from all sinful friends and their activities. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (2 Corinthians 6:17-18).

Ø   You should not yield any member of your body to sin anymore. "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God"   (Romans   6:13).   “I beseech  you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living   sacrifice,   holy,   acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove   what   is   that   good,    and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12: 1,2).

The evidence of a truly consecrated life shows in the way we live our lives, spend   our   time,   in   our   choices, interests and devotion to the Lord and His   work.   "For   the   love   of   Christ constraineth   us;   because   we   thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto  themselves,  but unto  him which died for them, and rose again".

Nevertheless,   do   not   abandon your educational career on the excuse that you want to totally consecrate your life to Christ. Work hard and come out excellently in your choice of profession.

Then you can use your skill and talent to serve God in full capacity.

Yours in Christ,

The Students Cousellor
Youth Life Vol. 12 No. 2.