Present Yourself to God

 Present Yourself to God

January 31, 2025

Yesterday we were considering Watchman Nee’s four steps to living the Normal Christian Life: Knowing, Reckoning, Presenting yourself, and Walking in the Spirit. Today we will explore the  third point, Presenting yourself to God.

Romans 6:12-13

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sinas instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Romans 6:16

16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, eitherof sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Romans 6:19

19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity andto lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

Romans 12:1- 2

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is yourspiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Of Watchman Nee’s four steps, this is the easiest one to understand. To Present yourself means just what it says. Give yourself, dedicate yourself, separate your self unto service to God. This is also called consecration, which is the process of becoming Holy. And being consecrated, or being holy, simple means to to separated unto God. So understanding the concept of presenting oneself is not hard, but doing it is an entirely different matter.

Nee emphasizes that the presenting yourself must follow the Knowing and Reckoning so that you know that your old man is dead and you consider your new man alive to God, so that what you are presenting is not your old man, but your new resurrected man. The old man is not capable to serving God, but the new man, by it’s very nature is designed to be used by God for HIs service. The other word used throughout these passages is “bond servant”, which is a servant who is wholly dedicated to lifetime service to his master because he loves him. This is the essence of what it means to present yourself to God for obedience, as a bond servant. As we consider our lives to be dead to sin and alive in Christ, we abide in Him, and acknowledge that our entire being belongs to Him, and we dedicate ourselves to serve Him.

Finally, we realize that we cannot serve the Lord in our own strength, but we have to rely on Him totally for his strength and guidance. The first part of this is abiding in the vine and the later part is walking in the Spirit which we will consider next time. So until then, consider what it means to present yourself to God and serve Him in every way. THis is the way to fulfill the purpose for which you were created.