The last item the Lord requires is ourselves, including every aspect of our being. The Lord Jesus will claim every part of you. Have your ears been claimed by Him? If they have, you will not listen to anything other than Christ. Have your lips been claimed? If so, then they will be used differently. Has your whole being been claimed by the Lord Jesus? I doubt that very many have handed over their whole being to the Lord. Why are there still so many opinions, and why is there so little oneness and building in today's Christianity? It is due to the fact that very few are willing to hand themselves over to Christ.

Although you have heard many messages on consecration, you have probably not heard a message on handing yourself over to the Lord. Regarding consecration, we have been influenced by the Keswick Convention, which followed Mrs. Hannah Whitall Smith in emphasizing consecration as the key to everything. Do you want to be holy? Then you must consecrate yourself. Do you want to have your prayers answered and be victorious? Then you must consecrate yourself. But although we followed the Keswick teaching regarding consecration for years, we eventually discovered that it was not all that was needed for the life supply.

Consider what happened among us in 1948. Due to some confusion and turmoil, Brother Nee had to discontinue his ministry for a number of years. Some of us were burdened that his ministry be resumed, and we did our best to bring this about, but we could do nothing to help the matter. Before his ministry had been recovered, some of us had arranged to meet with him in his home for a time of fellowship. Although there were about thirty who wanted to attend that fellowship, Brother Nee would allow only me and two sisters to meet with him. He was not willing to sell his supply cheaply. Eventually, he allowed the others to sit in on the fellowship in a room adjoining his living room. The first morning no one said anything for a long period of time. Finally, unable to tolerate the silence any longer, I asked him to say a word about the confused situation of the churches in the provinces of Fukien and Kwangtung. In response, he poured himself out like Niagara Falls for more than an hour. His word was full of light, power, and impact. For at least six years he had not spoken a public word in that district, although a few had contact with him privately. Brother Nee's fellowship that day concerned the line of Jerusalem. (See the last chapter of Further Talks on the Church Life.) After he stopped speaking, no one said a word. Then one sister said, "Why don't we take Brother Nee's word and practice it?" With tears, everyone present said, "Amen! We want to practice it." Then Brother Nee replied, "If you intend to practice this way, you must hand over in writing yourself and everything you possess." My point in sharing this is that we need to hand ourselves over to the Lord. Perhaps you have consecrated yourself to Him, but have never handed yourself over to Him. Today Christ is claiming not only your money, cattle, and land, but also yourself.

By making the last payment, the payment of themselves, to Joseph, the people partook of the top portion. When you pay the first, second, and third price, you enjoy the first, second, and third portion. But when you pay the highest price, you enjoy the best portion. Eventually, we receive not only food for satisfaction, but also seed for reproduction. In order to get the food and the seed, we need to pay the full price. Before handing over ourselves, we must hand over everything else. After they gave everything to Joseph, the people could say, "Praise the Lord, we are released! We don't care for our money, cattle, land, or even ourselves. We just enjoy the rich supply." All that remained was the enjoyment. What a great blessing it is to give up everything for this enjoyment!