Consecrate Your Hands: God's Hand Stretched Out Toward You

Introduction

Each finger holds 1,650 nerve endings, and the whole hand 17,000. Gilles starts from this detail to set out a conviction: God wanted us to feel creation in all its detail, to know how to give and to receive. Our hands are not an accessory. They can do a great deal of harm, just look at the news, or they can stay useless, kept in our pockets. They can also pass on the love of God.

The message follows a simple logo: a heart, a hand coming down from heaven and a human hand stretched out. God's hand bends down toward you. Your hand rises toward him, then reaches out to others. And between the two there is "a but": God's hand is stretched out, yet you still have to take hold of it.

Gilles ends with a call to stand up and consecrate your hands to the kingdom of God.

Outline of the Message

1. Hands Connected to the Heart

The Greek word for "hand," cheir, appears 171 times in the New Testament, according to Gilles. "It is one of the channels the Lord uses for you and wants you to use as well."
God has no physical body, "he is spirit and life." But if he made us in his image, it is because he has things to say and to pass on through his hands.
The hand is linked to the heart, the root of everything, the "nerve center" of God's will: what decides, passes on, feels and wants to give.
The same is true for us. Our motives, our thoughts and sometimes our wounds come from the heart, which is why we need to examine it in order to be healed. Our love also overflows from the heart.

2. God's Hand Stretched Out Toward You

To save. "For I, Yahweh your God, take hold of your right hand, saying to you: Don't be afraid, I will help you" (Isaiah 41:13). "It is a promise. Learn it by heart if you have to, so that it is rooted in you."
To protect. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God" (1 Peter 5:6). Gilles stresses the word humbly: this is not a protection to claim. "I have nothing to claim. I just want to benefit from your protection."
To guide. "Even there your hand will lead me" (Psalm 139:10).
To stay faithful. "Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands" (Isaiah 49:16). Something engraved does not wear off: God did not use this word lightly.
To heal and to cleanse. Not only the body, but also our inner need for purity. "Being moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, 'I want to. Be made clean'" (Mark 1:41).
To guarantee eternal life. "I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28).
To bless. Jesus laid his hands on the children and blessed them (Mark 10:16). Gilles puts this point last because it is the most all-encompassing: all of God's power, love and affection over weak people who need to grow.
How many times have we been protected without realizing it? God has sometimes "reached his hand down to put an obstacle in front of something bad that was about to happen to you."

3. "Come, Touch": The Hands of the Cross

It was by his hands that Jesus showed Thomas his crucifixion (John 20:27). "The doubter. Aren't we all?"
Thomas was not blind, and the scars must have been very visible. So why tell him to touch? Because touching a scar shakes up your thinking far more than seeing it from a meter away.
"Maybe he is telling you: Come, touch me. I suffered for you." These are the hands of the Almighty God who came to take your sin in order to set you free, restore you and reconcile you with himself.
The question put to each of us: would we have the presence of mind, every day, to come and touch the sacrifice of Jesus?
"You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing" (Psalm 145:16). "Those are God's hands stretched out toward you."

4. Your Hands Raised Toward God

Worship. "I desire therefore that the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands" (1 Timothy 2:8). Raising your hands is a way of expressing with your body the will to give yourself to God, body, soul and spirit. Doing it together shows that we are connected to the God of heaven.
Giving yourself. Bringing to God everything we have, everything we are, everything we do. We often talk about unloading our worries. Gilles adds our "little pieces of glory" and our successes: "let us lay them down before God so that he takes them and makes them bear fruit."
Expressing our needs. "Lord, I need you! And he hears." When you express your needs for others, your own may become less crucial: "Let us start by praying for others."
A habit to take up in the morning: raise your hands to God and expect him to come, touch you, lift you up and meet your needs during the day, by faith.

5. Your Hands Stretched Out to Others

Why lower raised hands? Why not stay in ecstasy? Because you cannot: it is too tiring. Even Moses needed help to keep his hands raised during the battle (Exodus 17:11-12).
We have to lower our hands and get down to earth, to be active. It is not only spiritual, it is physical too. If Jesus made the paralytic stand up, it is because the mouth was not the only thing at work: the hands were too.
Gilles mentions the five love languages: words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service and physical touch. Each of us is more sensitive to one of them, and our mission is to look for ways to love better.
He himself loves human warmth, shaking a hand, giving "hugs." "The warmth of a fist bump to say hello will never replace a hand." A hand placed on a shoulder carries a warmth and a power that heals.
This is not about becoming intimate: everyone has their own sensitivity and limits, and they must be respected. But let us not be governed by the fear of germs: "if need be, hand sanitizer does the job." Jesus touched in order to heal, and our contacts can push back coldness.

6. Taking God's Hand in Order to Serve

"There is a but." God's hand is stretched out, and we have to take hold of it. Our hands are raised so that God can fill them. All of this is worth very little if it is not done in God, with God.
Take God's hand every morning to know how to walk: "Holy Spirit, pass on to me what your heart has planned."
Gilles thanks those who commit to cleaning the church, two people each week, and to the other ministries: those who take God's hand set out on the road.
"Whatever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).
And to sweep away hesitation: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might" (Ecclesiastes 9:10). "It couldn't be clearer."

7. To Love More Is to Accept Suffering

Gilles confides that for a long time he struggled to reconcile two things: doing good and suffering. "Why suffer if I am doing good?"
In recent weeks, on his scooter, thinking of nothing, he heard the Lord say inside him: "If you want to live more love, you will suffer more." A total upheaval of his thinking.
He admits he has been "quite a grumbler" in recent months. The Lord told him: "If you have something to say to me, if you are not happy, come to me and don't say anything to people." He asks forgiveness for what he sowed badly in that area. We can pour out our hearts before God, in the way of the Psalms, rather than spilling our bitterness onto others.
At the annual Open Doors meeting, he heard witnesses of persecution: 400 million Christians exposed, according to the figures quoted, including thousands of deaths. A pastor from Sudan was the only survivor of his church.
These Christians do not ask for the persecution to stop, because it bears fruit. They say: "We are not afraid of being in the pit. [...] We just want the free Church to hold us with a rope through prayer." Holding a rope hurts, it wears you down, it may even make you bleed. Let us pray for Sudan, for Nigeria, for whole villages razed to the ground.
Jesus came with his hands to show God: "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). "Your body is the means of expression of God's heart, passed on by his hand and by your hand that holds it."
A warning to finish: "The hand of our God is on all those who seek him, for good, but his power and his wrath are against all those who forsake him" (Ezra 8:22). "Never forsake God's hand. If you let go, it's not a big deal, go and take it back. [...] Hold on to it, whatever the cost."

Key Takeaways

God's hand is stretched out toward you: to save, protect, guide, heal, guarantee eternal life and bless. You are engraved on his hands.
The pierced hands of Jesus invite you to "touch" his sacrifice every day: he suffered for you.
Your hands raised to God express your worship, the gift of yourself, successes included, and your needs, starting with those of others.
We also have to lower our hands in order to serve. Love is passed on through concrete acts, including a respectful touch that warms and heals.
To love more means to suffer more. Hold God's hand whatever the cost, and hold the rope of prayer for your persecuted brothers and sisters.

Personal Application

Did you take the time this morning to take hold of God's hand and ask him what his heart has planned for your day?
When you raise your hands to God, do you bring him only your worries, or also your successes and your little pieces of glory?
For whom could you pray before praying for yourself, especially among persecuted Christians?
What task does your hand find to do in your church or around you, that you are still putting off?
Who do you go to when you feel like grumbling: God, or the people around you?

Verses Quoted

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the Bible so often speak of the hand of God?

God has no physical body, he is spirit and life. But he made us in his image and he has things to pass on through his hands. The preacher points out that the Greek word for "hand" appears 171 times in the New Testament: God's hand is stretched out to save, protect, guide, heal, guarantee eternal life and bless.

What does it mean to raise your hands to God?

For Gilles, raised hands have three dimensions: worship (1 Timothy 2:8), the gift of yourself, where you lay before God not only your worries but also your successes, and the expression of our needs, starting by praying for others. It is the body that expresses the will to give yourself to God, body, soul and spirit.

What does it mean to "hold the rope" for persecuted Christians?

At the annual Open Doors meeting, witnesses explained that they were not asking for the persecution to stop. They are not afraid of being in the pit, they ask that the free Church hold them with a rope through prayer. Holding that rope hurts and wears you down: praying for your brothers and sisters costs something, but it is what they ask for.