I’ve been mulling over this statement by Henry Varley spoken to a very young D. L. Moody in the early part of the 19th century: “It remains to be seen what God will do with… the man who is fully consecrated to Him.”

Moody thought to himself, He said a man; he did not say a great man, nor a learned man, nor a smart man, but simply a man. I am a man, and it lies with the man himself whether he will or will not make that entire and full consecration. I will try my utmost to be that man.

It is estimated that no less than a 100 million people heard the Gospel from D. L. Moody’s lips.

I laid on my bed late Sunday night reading Ray Comfort’s book on the great preacher called Moody Gold and pondered the word “consecrated.” What does that mean? What does it mean to be fully consecrated to God?  Thinking this through I suddenly remembered that I had not met my daily evangelistic goal; I had completely forgotten about it! Oh well. Too late. I’m in bed. I read a few pages more on Moody as recounted by his best friend, R. A. Torrey:

“…God used D. L. Moody… because of his consuming passion for the salvation of the lost. Mr. Moody made the resolution, shortly after he himself was saved, that he would never let twenty-four hours pass over his head without speaking to at least one person about his soul. His was a very busy life, and sometimes he would forget his resolution until the last hour, and sometimes he would get out of bed, dress, go out and talk to someone about his soul in order that he might not let one day pass without having definitely told at least one of his fellow-mortals about his need and the Savior who could meet it.”

Moody had his own personal Everyday Club! I was amazed at his commitment! Still, I was pretty tired, though, just having finished an eleven hour day at my church. 

I snuggled in and read further through droopy eyes:

“Another night, Mr. Moody got home and had gone to bed before it occurred to him that he had not spoken to a soul that day about accepting Christ. “Well,” he said to himself, “it is no good getting up now; there will be nobody on the street at this hour of the night.” But he got up, dressed and went to the front door. It was pouring rain. “Oh,” he said, “there will be no one out in this pouring rain.” Just then he heard the patter of a man’s feet as he came down the street, holding an umbrella over his head. Then Mr. Moody darted out and rushed up to the man and said: “May I share the shelter of your umbrella?” “Certainly,” the man replied. Then Mr. Moody said: “Have you any shelter in the time of storm?” and preached Jesus to him.”

A still, small voice spoke to my heart, “You can go downtown where the bars are. There, you can fulfill your commitment.”

But my wife! I protested back from the coldness of my own black heart. What will she think if I suddenly leave the house at 11PM? That doesn’t seem practical. I laid there and thought and struggled and prayed and wrestled. I could get up now. God would want me to get up now. He’ll probably even meet me where I’m at and provide the perfect person for me to speak with about his soul….

I turned out the light, rolled over, and closed my eyes.

The next morning, I realized what it meant to be fully consecrated: sacrifice and inconvenience.

I renewed my commitment to share my faith everyday, no matter how impractical, and got my wife’s permission to leave the house late at night.

Alone.

*****

(Maybe you would like to recommit to your original goal or make a new one. The Everyday Club gives you the opportunity to hold yourself accountable to whatever evangelistic goal that you have set for yourself, providing that it’s an everyday goal. Your goal can be to hand out one tract a day, or a thousand; it’s up to you! (You can join the 80+ others who have already signed up by clicking here!)  If you’d like to post your totals for August, click here.