Heedfulness Or Hypocrasy In Ourselves?

"If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death" (1 John 5:16). If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other people are failing, and then we take our discernment and turn it into comments of ridicule and criticism, instead of turning it into intercession on their behalf. God reveals this truth about others to us not through the sharpness of our minds but through the direct penetration of His Spirit. If we are not attentive, we will be completely unaware of the source of the discernment God has given us, becoming critical of others and forgetting that God says, "... he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death." Be careful that you don't become a hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right with God before you worship Him yourself. One of the most subtle and illusive burdens God ever places on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning others. He gives is discernment so that we may accept the responsibility for those souls before Him and forn the mind of Christ about them (see Philippians 2:5). We should intercede in accordance with what God says He will give us, namely, "life for those who commit sin not leading to death." It is not that we are able to bring God into contact with our minds, but that we awaken ourselves to the point where God is able to convey His mind to us regading the people for whom we intercede. Can Jesus Christ see the agony of His soul in us? He can't unless we are so closely identified with Him that we have His view concerning the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ will be completely and overwhelmingly satisfied with us as intercessors. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Hell Experience

Radical Change

Holiness Or Hardness Toward God?

"He ... wondered that there was no intercessor..." (Isaiah 59:16). The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tells us that prayer is beneficial- that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer. Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means rising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say "But God, I just don't see how you are going to do this"? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don't worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people. Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic? Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work- work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Our Lord's Supurise Visit

"You also be ready..." (Luke 12:40). A Christian worker's greatest need is a readiness to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience has been. This battle is not against sin, difficulties, or circumstances, but against being absorbed in our service to Jesus Christ that we are not ready to face Jesus Himself at every turn. The greatest need is not facing our beliefs or doctrines, or even facing the question of whether or not we are of any use to Him, but the need is to face Him. Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord's surprise visits. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This sense of expectation will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious. In other words, we must stop using religion as if we were some kind of lofty lifestyle- we must be spiritually real. If you are avoiding the call of the religious thinking of today's world, and insted are "looking unto Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2), setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer. But when He suddenly appears in the work of the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he blocks your sight of Jesus Christ. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Isn't There Some Misunderstanding?

"'Let us go to Judea again.' The disciples said to Him, '... are You going there again?'" (John 11:7-8). Just because I don't understand what Jesus Christ says, I have no right to determine that He must be mistaken in what He says. That is a dangerous view, and it is never right to think that my obedience to God's directive will bring dishonor to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonor is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honor ahead of what He is plainly guiding me to do is never right, even though it may come from a real desire to prevent Him from being put to an open shame. I know when the instructions have come from God because of their quiet persistence. But when I begin to weigh the pros and cons, and doubt and debate enter into my mind, I am bringing in an element that is not of God. This will only result in my concluding that His instructions to me were not right. Many of us are faithful to our ideas about Jesus Christ, but how many of us are faithful to Jesus Himself? Faithfulness to Jesus means that I must step out even when and where I can't see anything (see Matthew 14:29). But faithfulness to my own ideas means that I first clear the way mentally. Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can't see the way ahead. Are you debating whether you should take a step of faith in Jesus, or whether you should wait until you can clearly see how to do what He as asked? Simply obey Him with unrestrained joy. When He tells you something and you begin to debate, it is because you have a misunderstanding of what honors Him and what doesn't. Are you faithful to Jesus, or faithful to your ideas about Him? Are you faithful to what He says, or are you trying to compromise His words with thoughts that never came from Him? "Whatever He says to you, do it" (John 2:5). [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Spiritual Vision Through Personal Character

"Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place..." (Revelation 4:1). A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, "Friend, come up even higher." There is also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but when you do, you only encounter other temptations and character traits. Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in temptation, and the effect is quite different. When the devil elevates you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve. Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple. You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to move. But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease. Compare this week in your spiritual life with the same week last year to see how God has called you to a higher level. We have all been brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light. Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven't turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where you are spiritually. Have you heard God says, "Come up higher." not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character? "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing...?" (Genesis 18:17). God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal it. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Spiritual Vision Through Personalo Purity

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Purity is not innocence- it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of our spiritual vision through personal purity. If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our character- it is "the pure in heart" who "see God." God makes us pure by an act of His sovereign grace, but we still have something that we must carefully watch. It is through our bodily life coming in contact with other people and other points of view that we tend to become tarnished. Not only must our "inner Sanctuary" be kept right with God, but also the "outer courts" must be brought into perfect harmony with the purity God gives us through His grace. Pur spiritual vision and understanding is immediately blurred when our "outer court" is stained. If we want to maintain personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean refusing to do or even think certain things. And some things that are acceptable for others will become unacceptable for us. A practical help in keeping in your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, "That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus!" [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Purity is not innocence- it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of our spiritual vision through personal purity. If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our character- it is "the pure in heart" who "see God." God makes us pure by an act of His sovereign grace, but we still have something that we must carefully watch. It is through our bodily life coming in contact with other people and other points of view that we tend to become tarnished. Not only must our "inner Sanctuary" be kept right with God, but also the "outer courts" must be brought into perfect harmony with the purity God gives us through His grace. Pur spiritual vision and understanding is immediately blurred when our "outer court" is stained. If we want to maintain personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean refusing to do or even think certain things. And some things that are acceptable for others will become unacceptable for us. A practical help in keeping in your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, "That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus!" [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Maintaning The Proper Relationship

"... the friend of the bridegroom..." (John 3:29). Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing people to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left with the thought- "what a fine person that man is!" That is not being a true "friend of the bridegroom"- I am increasing all the time; He is not. To maintain this friendship and faithfulness to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful to have the moral and vital relationship to Him above everything else, including obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey and our only task is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, seeing that nothing interferes with it. Only occasionally is it a matter of obedience. At those times when a crisis arises, we have to find out what God's will is. Yet most of our life is not spent in trying to be consciously obedient, but in maintaining this relationship- being the "friend of the bridegroom." Christian work can actually be a means of diverting a person's focus away from Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends "of the bridegroom," we may become amateur providence of God to someone else, working against Him while we use His weapons. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald chambers]

Decreasing For His Purpose

"He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). If you become a necessity to someone else's life, you are out of God's will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a "friend of the bridegroom" (3:29). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don't try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providence in someone's life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God's will and saying, "This person should not have to experience this difficulty." Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, "You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him." Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. "... the friend of the bridegroom... rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease" (3:29-30). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness- at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again. Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom's voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34). [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Am I Carnally Minded?

"Where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal...?" (1 Corinthians 3:3). The natural man, or unbeliever, knows nothing about carnality. The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh, which began at birth, are what produce carnality and the awareness of it. But Paul said, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). In other words, carnality will disappear. Are you quarrelsome and easily upset over small things? Do you think that no one who is a Christian is ever like that? Paul said they are, and he connected these attitudes with carnality. Is there a truth in the Bible that instantly awakens a spirit of malice or resentment in you? If so, that is proof that you are still carnal. If the process of sanctification is continuing in your life, there will be no trace of that kind of spirit remaining. If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He doesn't ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. But a child of darkness will say, "Oh, I can explain that." When the light shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it. If, however, you try to vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of darkness. What is the proof that carnality has gone? Never deceive yourself; when carnality is gone you will know it- it is the most real thing you can imagine. And God will see to it that you have a numer of opportunities to prove to yourself the miracle of His grace. The proof is in a very practical test. You will find yourself saying, "If this had happened before, I would have had the spirit of resentment!" And you will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

What God Wants and What I Want

What is the difference between what I want and what God desires for me to have? Let us think about these things. The things we cherish, the things we desire to have.... We cannot let go of our treasures. What God desires is our soul. God’s thoughts and our thoughts are completely different. Our souls are most precious to God. It is not the things that we hold onto that are precious. If by holding onto these things I am unable to enter into Heaven, then everything that you are holding onto will be taken away from you. Everything that you think that you must have, if by its possession you cannot be a child of God, then it will be taken away. We think that when things are taken from us that God has stolen something from us. God did not steal it. Your soul is most important but you are unable to let it go of what you desire. Parents want to hold onto their children. It may be your husband or wife. The material possessions that you desire. It is money. It is merit. We desire to be embraced by God while holding onto all these things, but while we hold onto to these things we cannot be embraced by God. You must let go of something, you must open you hands and rid yourself of it so that you can grab a hold of the things of the Father. Rather than hold onto to God, in one hand we hold onto what we want, and the other hand we hold out to God asking Him to give us more. You cannot do this. Stop being stubborn. Stop being selfish. Why do you believe in Jesus? Why do you come before Him in His place? Is it not to enter into Heaven? Then why can you not let go? Why are you not satisfied with God alone? There is nothing that you hold onto that you can take with you when you die. They put clothes on you when you die. They bury you in the clothes that you liked when you were alive. What are you going to take with you? What is it that you think that you can take with you that you are unable to let go? What are you unable to let go of? I almost died. I could not take my children or my husband with me. Everything that I cherished I could not take with me. Why are you unable to let go of it? God has provided for our family. He is the one to feed us and clothe us. We could do nothing without Him. When you surrender everything to God who will take responsibility for you, He will not let you starve. But we calculate. Tomorrow you need a certain amount of money the day after you need a certain amount. Yes, you have to pay rent, and have many bills that you must pay every month. But even those things do not always get taken care of according to your plan. Nothing happens the way I plan. I am not sure how well you are able to plan and have everything happen the way you plan, but not many things have happened the way I have planned in my life. Even today, one of my sons is in the middle of a work project, we thought that today was going to be the end of it, but it turns out it isn’t. It does not happen as we think and as we plan. We thought that this month or at latest next month, but again today another setback occurred. Things that pertain to laws do not work to our desires, they do the things that are to their standards and their calculations. We do our own calculations. We say that we are children of God, Jesus is our bridegroom, but we do things according to our calculations. Where is God in all that? Where is He? We abandon Jesus when things do not meet our requirements. When God does not answer our prayers we turn our backs to Him and sit in discontent. Then how do we respond? We ask Him to take care of us. We tell Him to come meet us as we have our backs turned to Him, and comfort us and give us all that we ask for. This is how we are right now. How long will you behave this way? Until when? If you are even the slightest bit happy, you lift you hands in praise and you are excited and sing “hallelujah.” And when you are unhappy, where is Jesus who you say is in your heart? Where is God? Though we say we have surrendered all to God the very next day we can’t control ourselves. Today I did not feel like speaking. No matter what I say your hearts do not change. You heads get bigger as you fill it with knowledge but if you do not live according to the Word, then what use is it to listen to it daily? The greatest blessing is to obey even one command. I really have nothing to say. I am unable. I feel that I am unable to live in the manner I preach. I think that because I do not live it, you are unable to change. I lose sleep over this. I am unable to share the message. In my mind I do not want to give the message, but because the Lord says to speak I speak only as a messenger. What use is it to have a head filled only with knowledge. What will happen if you think that you are a believer because of what you know and in your folly do not enter into Heaven? “God, what would you have me do?” “What must I do to have these souls stand before you?” “What must I do to have these truly stand before you in repentance and live according to your will?” “Father, what must I do?” No matter how much I pray there is no answer. If you have something to tell me that I am doing wrong then come and tell me. I must change for you to change. What is it that I am unable to let go of? Tell me what it is you know. At this rate you and I will not be able to go on. God’s thoughts and my thoughts are totally different. Father desires our souls. He desires us from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet. But our hearts have been sold to foolish things and we are unable to see God the Father. We are unable to let go of what is in our hands. We still do things in our stubbornness. We still desire to do things our way. It breaks my heart to see that you refuse to change what we teach you and the things that you already know. I am speechless. How much more is the heart of Jesus breaking, and how much more He is hurting. He came in the flesh, was beaten, died on the cross, yet we carry on in our own pleasure. How much do you consider the heart of God? You don’t come to church because your feelings are hurt. If you feel bad then you go to church for comfort. Where is Jesus Christ in that? I do not know God well. What little I do know breaks my heart. How much must the heart of Jesus be breaking, and how much must the heart of God be breaking when He looks upon us? But we think that we are special. We complain that God does not hear us. We complain that God does not understand us. We tell Him to wait upon us. What should He wait for? How long should He wait for you before you live according to His will? How long should He wait for you to love Him, serve Him and have you acknowledge Him and follow Him? How much material blessings will you need before you throw it all away? Why are you unable to throw away your idols? We are commanded to have not other gods before Him. There is no other God other than Him, but we serve all the other gods. We sing and confess that this body is not ours and belongs to God, but each of you are the owners of your own body. What are we to do? Really, what are we to do? The world is in a frenzy because it is the end of days. Rapture is coming. Will you be raptured believing in Jesus in this manner? If you are not raptured the persecution and suffering will be unbearable. How is it that you will survive in those days as a believer in Jesus when you are not able to do so now? Now is the time to be blessed when there is no suffering. Will you ask God to wait for you to turn to Him when the persecution begins, when it would be easier to believe now and be raptured before it all the unthinkable things happen? How will you enter into the kingdom of God if you are still here after the rapture if in this moment you are not able to overcome the hardships and trials you face today? What is it that you cannot let go of? What is it that you desire to still hod onto? What is it that you still consider yours? When my mother passed away she was able to take nothing with her. When I nearly tasted death twice, there was nothing that I could take with me. When God calls me and I stand before Him, I cannot tell Him that I will not go. No matter how much you try and resist, if God calls you tonight you will have to go. All that you hold precious will become someone else's. You may think that your body believe to you, but the moment God calls you your body returns to dust. What is precious? What is precious? Are you not here so that you will not go to Hell? If you are here to believe in Jesus Christ and to enter into Heaven, then you must obey God's commands and live according to His Word, but how will you enter into Heaven when you are not living according to His Word? There is no verse in scripture Bible that says you can live how you want and go to Heaven. No matter how I search there is no verse that says you can go to Heaven by doing what you want. There is no Bible verse that says you can enter into Heaven living in any manner that you please. It says that only those who do the will of God in obedience will enter into Heaven. What are we to do? I cannot go to Heaven according to my will. The only way to go to Heaven is to do the will of the Father. You must let go of one of the two. If you are holding onto both you will end up in Hell and suffer. You will not go to Heaven. What will you do? I have not been able to sleep these days. There is nothing I can do according to my will. Please, live the way God desires. God has given you His standard through His Word, but why do you interpret it in the manner that you want? You cannot enter into the Father's kingdom by interpreting the Word the way you want. You can only enter into Heaven when you meet God's requirements. You must meet all His requirements. We have it posted on our site, you cannot go with just 99%. Someone had written that even if you were to lack .01 percent you will not enter into Heaven. Is that person lying? We must pass the test. What is the test? It is obedience to the Word. You must truly believe in Jesus Christ. You do so with your lips. You sing praises. But your hearts are not sincere. You do not believe truly in your hearts. With your sinful lips you praise God, you lie, curse, you do it all. What about your heart? Please, stop living the way you want. To live how you want is the path to destruction. To do what you want is a curse. God's will, in His Word, His requirement is that we believe in Jesus as my Savior, but we do not. To do what you want is to not believe. It is written to obey is better than sacrifice, but how obedient are you? You do well with your offerings. You come to church and give your tithes, you attend worship, you serve others, but I have told you before that you do not have to do these things. You do not have to serve. If you do not want to give your tithes then don't. Do not give your tithes that you are not giving from the heart. Without your tithes the church will still continue and God will still do His work. Do not offer false worship. Offer up true worship. You do not have to have a beautiful voice. You can sing be off beat. But truly, truly serve God. Truly, truly obey. Now is the time to be blessed. Now is the time when suffering is less. Do not say that you will believe in Jesus if you are here after the rapture. How will you believe Him then when you cannot do so now. You do not believe now but will you believe then when you will be tortured. Revelations warns us that a time will come when we will not be able to buy or sell, but you lie and steal even now to sustain yourself. In that time it will be even more severe, then will you not deny Jesus so that you can live? We deny Jesus in this time of freedom, but to say that we will not deny Him during a time where there will be no freedom.... Follow Him now. Do not do it then, do it now. Do it when you can. Throw away your idols while you are able. When that time comes you will not be able to throw away your idols even if you want to. You will have to serve them. You will have to serve the devil so to extend your life or else die. While you are still able, awaken and believe in Jesus the right way. Truly believe in God the Father. If you are truly children of God, then listen to your parent. Listen to the Father. Is Jesus your bridegroom? Then listen to His voice. Do you truly believe that the Holy Spirit is guiding you? Listen to His voice and do not say "no." Say "amen" and obey. Then you will be embraced in the arms of the Father. This is God's will. What is your will? The things that you desire to attain. The things that you own. The things in your future. You tell God to wait a little bit longer. Later. Before I die. How nice it would be if you knew when you were going to die. No one knows. I am not sure why I think about this, but in my family we die early. That is why I thought I would die soon after I turned fifty. I think that I have lived a long time. I have lived 15 years longer than I thought I would. When I look back, though I am over sixty, time is not long. It is a short life. If in this short life you are having such difficult how will you endure eternity? We have no understanding of eternity and that is why people think that going to Hell will not be a problem. People question if it really is that bad. If this is what you think then go and see. If you think Hell is nice then go. If you want to go to Hell then stop going to church. Why suffer like this? At least enjoy yourself before you go. If you are here to truly go to Heaven as children of God, then live according to His will. Live a life that He will gladly accept. Live a life so that He will say to you "well done." You are my child. You are my slave. You are my bride. Should we not hear these words from Him? Then we will be embraced in the arms of the Father. This is to live according to the will of the Father. Which path will you choose? Which path? Decide. If you don't want this then go your way. You will not go to Heaven by walking the line between both. You will not go to Heaven because you come from a family of believers, because you have received grace, because you have experienced the Holy Spirit. You must believe until the end. You must obey until the end. You must listen to the voice of God correctly until the end. In the rapture only the ones who hear the trumpet call will go. If the rapture happened right now and the trumpets were sounding, but I do not hear it, then I will not go up. If by sitting at church, studying the Bible, or because you are a member of the church or you have attained the title of elder, deacon, or missionary or other title and by such you could enter into Heaven then I would acknowledge all of you and give you such titles. But you cannot go to Heaven with these titles. A church goer who has no title but lives in obedience to God will enter into Heaven. A pastor who does not obey the Word of God will not enter into Heaven because of His title. This is the problem. You like merit, authority, you like titles of pastor, elder, deacon. You are proud when you have attained these titles. You get upset when you are not called by your title. You will not go to Heaven because of these titles. If you could go with the title then all the churches would have to give everyone titles. If the titles were a ticket to Heaven, then all the churches would have to give everyone a title. But that becomes the strength in your shoulders, an idol, and because of it many people have not entered into the Father's kingdom. Truly believe in Jesus Christ. If you truly believe that the blood of Jesus has washed you from your sins and has turned you to repentance then you cannot live like this. You must truly repent. You must truly obey. There can be no idol before you. There can be nothing which you are unable to let go of. I am begging you. Please, let us follow Jesus and believe God the Father correctly. It is the same for me. I will not go to Heaven for preaching this message. I have only shared this as a messenger. If I do not live like this then I will not be able to enter into Heaven. Many preachers mistakenly believe that because they gave the message that they will go to Heaven. It is not so. If it is so, then why are many people being shown many pastors and their wives burning in Hell. If that is the ticket to Heaven then all of you go and be pastors. It is better to not be a pastor if you are going to be a stumbling block. God can raise up stones to preach His message. Do not let our souls be empty graves. Let your souls melt under God's grace. Please be like children. Please be humble. You cannot go to the Father's kingdom by your will. Only the Father's will. Only the Father's Word. Obedience unto God. It is impossible for us to know God. Because we do not know, it is easier to obey. We try to argue in our faith, but how can we ever know God completely. We do not know. We do not know His heart. We do not even know our spouse's heart, we do not know the heart of the one's we date, we do not know the heart of the children we have carried from our womb, then why is it that we think that we know God and act arrogantly about it? I do not understand. Because we do not know, obey. Please, obey. Please, have a gentle heart. Do not have a hard and rigid heart The Word cannot take root in a heart that is hard as stone. God's Word cannot take root in your mind if you are filled with your own thoughts. Unless you are broken you will not be able to see the Father. Clean heart, righteous heart, a poor heart. As it is written in Matthew 5. What are you taking with you? It says that you must let go of it all in order to see all that is. Unless you have faith as in Matthew 5 we will not be able to enter into the Father's kingdom. Do not think that you are special. Do not be proud. Do not say that you are special because you have received blessings, grace, or knowledge. It is blessed to not know but live in faith and obedience. Our Lord has said to Thomas that blessed are those who do not see yet believe. We live in a time of blessing. We have been given the Word and we know that The Lord has come. Do not turn this blessing into a curse. You should turn a curse into a blessing but you are turning your blessing into a curse. If you truly know Jesus Christ, then throw away all your wrong thoughts and receive the blessings that you all desire, and enter into God's kingdom which is my hope for you and the hope I pray you have for yourselves. I pray that will live a life of victory in the Word. Sermon by Pastor Joy Youngsook Lee Translation by Miguel Park

The Burning Heart

"Did not our heart burn within us...?" (Luke 24:32). We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart- a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart- unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus. Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be. Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is the something that God could condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don't allow it to have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay forever on the "mount of transfiguration," basking in the light of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9). But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost. We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides, The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides; But tasks in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Identified or Simply Interested?

"I have been crucified with Christ..." (Galatians 2:20). The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against my claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ ...." He did not say, "I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ," or, "I will really make an effort to follow Him"- but- "I have been identified with Him in His death." Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ. "... it is no longer I who live ...." My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed. "... and the life which I now live in the flesh," not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh- the life which others can see, "I live by faith in the Son of God...." This faith was not Paul's own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son of God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits- a faith that comes only from the Son of God. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Friendship With God

FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing...?" (Genesis 18:17). The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occassionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirm‍s that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God's will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once He does, you must stop immediately. The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, "Well, I don't know, maybe this is not God's will," then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be- "... that they may be one just as We are one..." (John 17:22). Think about the last thing you prayed about- were you devouted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? "For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him" (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. "Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Abraham's Life Of Faith

"He went out, not knowing where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). In the Old Testament, a person's relationship with God was seen by the degree of seperation in that person's life. This seperation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his seperation from his country and his family. When we think of seperation today, we do not mean to be literally seperated from those members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be seperated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26. Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason- a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world. The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagle's wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith- a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. "Abraham believed God..." (Romans 4:3). [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Will I Bring Myself Up To This Level

"... perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1). Therefore, having these promises...." I claim God's promises for my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows only the human perspective on them. God's perspective is that through His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For example, do I realize that my "body is the temple of the Holy Spirit," or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not "confer with flesh and blood," but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk. I must cleanse myself from all filthiness in my flesh and my spirit until both are in harmony with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I mentally rebellious and defiant? Am I allowing the mind of Christ to be formed in me? (see Philippians 2:5). Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived- a level of perfect submission to His Father's will- where I pay no attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the fear of God? Is God having His way with me, and are people beginning to see God in my life more and more? Be serious in your commitment to God and gladly leave everythingelse alone. Literally put God first in your life. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

The Servant's Primary Goal

"We make it our aim ... to be wll pleasing to Him" (2 Corinthians 5:9). We make it our aim...." It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only "to be well pleasing to Him." It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor. Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being "approved to God" (2 Timothy 2:15) may result in our rejection from further service for Him When you discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary to keep "looking unto Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2). Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest... I myself should become disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:27). I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound? [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

The Master will Judge

"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ..." (2 Corinthians 5:10). Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, "appear before the judgment seat of Christ." But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ's pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of the Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purpose of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, "Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there." If you don't, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling and praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light..." (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocracy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

The Discipline Of Dismay

"As they followed they were afraid" (Mark 10:32). At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. Bur now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar- "Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed" (10:32). There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple's heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set "like a flint" (Isaiah 50:7) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant. Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings sould experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don't know Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him. The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 50:10-11). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Yielding

"... you are that one's slaves whom you obey..." (Romans 6:16). The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him. If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become ensalved to the thing. (Remember what lust is- "I must have it now," whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely the Lord Jesus Christ. "... He has annointed Me... to proclaim liberty to the captives..." (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1). When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, "Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like," you will know you can't. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing,"He will break every fetter," while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person's life. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

God's Total Surrender To Us

"For God so loved the world that He gave..." (John 3:16). Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself. To say that we are called to preach holiness or sactification is to miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us. If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us- totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him. [from "My utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

I Am Worry-Free In Jesus

SF.2.1.13 Just like the hymn we sing, we have no worries when we are in Jesus. There is no reason to be worried or anxious. Though we sing the hymns and say that we have no worries, in our hearts we are filled with worry, anxiety, and sadness. Rather than sing the hymn with joy, we sing only to sing. In the past, we used to sing this hymn quite a bit, but today many do not because they think they have no worry or anxiety. But if you look at today's youth they have many worries, filled with anxiety and high rates of suicide, and many reasons for complaining and arguing. Then why do they not sing this hymn? Why? When we are in The Lord we truly have nothing to worry about. But rather than dwell with The Lord, they seek to only satisfy themselves, and have no need to sing this hymn. If I believe that God is with us, then truly we are to be without stress, worry and anxiety. But rather than be free of it, we hold onto it and also try to be with God, while we live our lives the way we want. Truly when we are in The Lord, we are to be of one mind on the inside with joy and celebration. My life needs to be one in thought. Last week our pastor spoke about being one. Being one with The Lord. Wen we live our lives as one in Jesus, we can truly live in joy, thanks, and in peace. Then as we live our lives are we truly without anything to worry about? No. God knows that we have things that we worry about. That is our limitation. The lyrics to the hymn, when I come before the cross, and lay down all my burdens. This is how we can walk with The Lord. Rather than walk this path, and rather than give him praise and worship, I am burdened by the worries and anxieties of my life today. Or I am purposed in my decision of how I will live for God rather than start the day asking Him to show me the life He wants me to live and listening for his voice, I plan what I will do, and ask Him to answer my prayers and allow my plans to succeed. We are not living a life that in to do His will, but we are living our lives according to our plans and this is why we have no real joy in The Lord. We say that we are joyful. What kind of joy? When our demands have been answered. Is this a lasting joy? It is not. If our children did what we wanted, got into a good university, attained a good job, and married a good girl, we say that we are filled with joy. It is only for a moment. It does not a last a few days. But when we remain in our Lord Jesus Christ, though we may have pain and suffering, and face difficult circumstances, when we live a life that is in union with The Lord, we receive the strength to live our lives in joy. The Lord is with us. God is with us. We receive the strength to live our lives with joy. We do not posses this joy. Are we free from any troubles when we are with The Lord? No. There are difficulties, there is the path of the cross, there is suffering, there is pain. It is a mistake to think that because you believe in Jesus that the will never be any trouble and you will only have good things happen in your life. In life, both believer and nonbelievers alike face the same circumstances. But it is how we face these situations as believers in The Lord. We are not free from pain and suffering. We are not free from trouble. Believers of Jesus also die in auto accidents. Believers of Jesus also get sick. Believers of Jesus also do not have all their plans succeed. Believers of Jesus also fall into debt and bankruptcy. Why? God is not a genie. We think that when we put or faith in Jesus, when we come to church, that gold will fall from the heavens. There are times when we pray and are healed and also times when we pray and are not healed. There are times when believers need to go to the hospital, get surgery and take medicine. There are also times to be healed by the power of God through prayer. There is a false belief that in The Lord you will have everything according to how you desire. We think that God must answer our prayers and we have made Him our slave. This is why are unable to taste the joy of being in The Lord. I can still hear my mother sing this hymn. In a time when the elderly sang off rhythm and also did not know the words. In those times we really had nothing to eat, and experienced extreme difficulties and when we sang that "When we are in The Lord, we have no worry" with joy and overcame those circumstances. Today Korea is a wealthy nation. In Korea today, there is not much joy. They are number one in suicide deaths. Back in the 50's when things were really bad, rather than kill themselves, people really wanted to live and survived to sustain life. But today, when there is an abundance, where there is no lack, where many people are not starving to death, people are saying that they cannot live. They do not sing these hymns today. Many people say that the hymns need to change because the times are changing. They say the lyrics need to change. They may be right, but inside of our hearts, though we may be singing and worshipping in church, we do so for our pleasure. Rather than sing for God to hear, we sing for our own pleasure. We feel good because we sang our hearts out and danced. It is not worship offered up to God, rather it is just a way to release our emotions and we feel good. Too often we are like this. Praise is prayer offered up to God from our hearts. Do you sing your praises as if they are prayers? Offering to God with all your heart, mind and strength that He may receive it. "I offer up myself to You Lord." "I give You my heart, please accept it." "Though my life is burdened and difficult, because Your Son Jesus is with me, I believe and in thanks sing this praise to You." Is this the attitude of your heart as you sing your praises to Him? At times when your voice is better you sing louder. At times because you know the song you sing louder. Of course, if you do not know the song or the words you naturally sing quieter. At times it is so that others may hear your voice Has there been a time that you sang that others may hear your voice? Though you may be off key, off tempo and may get the words wrong, are you singing to God with all your heart that He may accept your praise? What kind of praise are you giving to God? We sang that the words "walking with The Lord." We sang about walking with God. Are you truly walking with God? Holding on to the hand of Jesus the groom, and walking the path with Him. Are we truly walking hand in hand with The Lord in joy as new lovers who are in love? Or like those who are married and have lost their romance, feelings for each other, who refuse to look at each other and though they may be together for obligation, their faces are filled with anger. With this attitude, because of our poor behavior, are we not also the same way with Jesus who is to be our groom? When you repair the relationship with your spouse you can also repair your relationship with God. This is why I always emphasize the importance of the relationship with your spouse. If you have a difficult relationship with your earthly father, then you also have a difficult time calling God your Father. It is because we are using the same word. This is why we have a hard time understanding God the Father, and reconciling ourselves to Him. I have seen too much of this. How should you reconcile yourself to God? Do you truly want to be with The Lord, to be free from worry and anxiety and to sing hallelujah? What kind of life do you want to live? We sing that to walk with The Lord is a joyful path. Do you truly find joy in walking with The Lord. Do you? When we feel good we are filled with joy. When we feel like we have accomplished something. When we have prayed a bit today. When we have read the Bible and witnessed to one person, we say we feel good. But to walk with The Lord, in darkness or in joy, Jesus never leaves us. But after we have abandoned Jesus we say that He has abandoned us. We say that He is pushing us away. We are the ones to let go of the hand of God our Father. When children are walking holding the parent's hand but see something they want, what do they do? They let go of the hand and run after it. And when they look for their parent and do not see them, who begins to cry? The child does. They think that the parent has abandoned them. The child is the one who let go of the hand. They wanted to see something. This is how we behave towards God our Father. We are holding the hand of The Lord, but we let go of it, and tell Him to wait for us as we go and do what we want, see what we want to see, get what we desire, and run after what we want. Suddenly we notice that we do not see Jesus. Then we start to pray asking Him "where has He gone?" "Why have you abandoned me" we ask? "Why have you abandoned me Father?" Is this not how we are? We ask Him why did He not watch over us when things were difficult for us? Why did He not protect us when we were in trouble? Why did not embrace us when we were suffering? These are the things we say. But God has always been with us, at times carried us, and held our hand. He is with us. But we do not accept this in our hearts. In walking with The Lord, no matter what happens, I must never let go of His hand. The moment I let go of His hand I begin to do what I want. We are walking a very difficult path in our lives today. Everyday we are in a spiritual war. To believe in Jesus is not a life of peace. The devil prowls around like a lion seeking to devour us. How can we think that there will be peace in our lives. The devil does not leave believers alone. If you are truly a Christian the devil will not leave you alone. If you are truly living in The Lord then your daily life is in the midst of a war. You will think peace and come to ruin. The Bible says that we are soldiers of the cross. But we do not desire to live the life of a soldier of the cross. We think we have attained peace but peace will only be when we are in the arms of the Father. It will be in Heaven. There is no peace for those here on earth if you believe in Jesus. But we desire to live in peace. Then you cannot believe in Jesus Christ. If you do not believe in Jesus then the devil will bother you less. Why? Because you have become his food. You are his. If you believe in Jesus, he will not leave you be. Why? Because he must steal the sons of God. If we are living daily in a war then we must be awake. We must not fall asleep. There is no reason to say that we are doing well toady. We are surrounded on all sides. The devil is surrounding us to try and devour us. How then can we live in peace? Until the day of victory, we must fight until the end. There is no peace in places of war. We too are living in a war. But in the midst of a war, we are walking with The Lord, together, with Him in our hearts we can have no other worry. Though in war, because I believe that God is with me, I have joy. This is the life of a soldier who believes in Jesus Christ. We worry about death when we fight in the flesh, but the soldier of God, because we are in Him, we have no reason to fear death. But in the midst of war, we must take up our weapons and fight to live. Our weapons are prayer and the Word. How can we be victorious if we do not pray, read the Bible, apply it in our lives and live according to it? We cannot be victorious. It is a lost war. We think we will be victorious by praying 5 or 10 minutes and reading a few chapters of the Bible. Can you be victorious? The Bible teaches us to pray without ceasing. It says to give thanks in all circumstances. You must be a child of God who prays without ceasing. No matter what you circumstance is, knowing that Jesus the groom is with you, we must give thanks and continue forward. Without praying or reading the Bible when we face troubles we complain to God. We really need to live in God. Little children, when they are with their parents have no clue if the is a war going on or if they have nothing to eat. Why? As long we they are holding on to their parents hand, they know that they will be fed and put to bed. They trust that the parent will clothe them. But why do we not believe that God is with us? We have no worry or anxiety when we walk with The Lord but why do we not trust Him? Why do we not believe God? When we talk to each other you say you believe. But if you look at your life it is not as you say. You live without Jesus Christ. You live without God. You do not live according to the Holy Spirit. You do as you want. After having done as you pleased you call out to God and ask for forgiveness. Wen children are young you let things go. But as they get older do you let things slide? You rebuke them. Because they do not act as they should. Spiritually, we are to mature as well. In the flesh we naturally get older as time passes. We get older even though we do not want to. But spiritually, unless I grow in faith and in the Word I will not mature. You will remain as a child. That is why you cannot eat the spiritual food and you starve to death. Though we are to be like children in thought and behavior, but we must mature in the spirit. But we misunderstand this teaching and think that our faith does not need to grow. This is not so. All our thoughts must be entrusted to God, be innocent like children, and as children when told to do, then we are to do, and when are told not to do, then as obedient children we are to not do. But in faith, as we age in the flesh, our spirit must also mature and grow. There are many people who foolishly claim to have been born into the faith since being i their mother's womb, but have yet to grow in spirit since being that of a child. It is of no value how many generations of believers are in your family. Salvation is yours alone. Faith is yours alone. You must put forth your will to get to know God through the Word and prayer and by living in obedience. We live in a time when we do not know what will happen. Things are getting more severe. But may you live your life singing hallelujah in joy and celebration because of God who lives in you. Sermon by Pastor Joy Youngsook Lee Translation by Miguel Park

Total Surrender

"Peter began to say to Him, 'See, we have left all and followed You'" (Mark 10:28). Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this surrender is "for My sake and the gospel's" (10:29). It was not for the purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For example, "I'm going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy." Being delivered from sin and being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, "No, Lord, I don't want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your showcase so I can say, 'This is what God has done for me.'" Gaining heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender. Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself. Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse- "Yes, Lord, I heard You call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can't go any further" (see Luke 9:57-62). "Then," Jesus says, "you 'cannot be My disciple'" (see Luke 14:26-33). True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up,God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Obedience To The "Heavenly Vision"

"I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19). If we lose "the heavenly vision" God has given us, we alone are responsible- not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient to "the heavenly vision" is to give our utmost for His Highest- our best for His glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God's vision. But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our everyday life- sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public meetings. "Though it tarries, wait for it..." (Habakkuk 2:3). We cannot bring the vision to fulfillment through our own efforts, but must live under its inspiration until it fulfills itself. We try to be so practical that we forget the vision. At the very beginning we saw the vision but did not wait for it. We rushed off to do our practical work, and once the vision was fulfilled we could no longer even see it. Waiting for a vision that "tarries" is the test of our faithfulness to God. It is at the risk of our own soul's welfare that we get caught up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision. Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send you out through His storm, and don't go until He does. If you select your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an unproductive empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you will "bear much fruit" (John 15:8). It is essential that we live and "walk in the light" of God's vision for us (1 John 1:7). [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Being An Example Of His Message

"Preach the word!" (2 Timothy 4:2) We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message- "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God's purpose to make a person's life a holy example of God's message. There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is someone who has received the call of God and is determined to use all his energy to proclaim God's truth. God takes us beyond our own aspirations and ideas for our lives, and molds and shapes us for His purpose, just as He worked in the disciples' lives after Pentecost. The purpose of Pentecost was not to teach the disciples something, but to make them the incarnation of what they preached so that they would literally become God's message in the flesh. "... you shall be witnesses to Me..." (Acts 1:8). Allow God to have complete liberty in your life when you speak. Before God's message can liberate other people, His liberation must first be real in you. Gather your material carefully, and then allow God to "set your words on fire" for His glory. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Turning Back Or Walking With Jesus

"Do you also want to go away?" (John 6:67). What a penetrating question! Our Lord's words often hit home for us when He speaks in the simplest way. In spite of the fact that we know who Jesus is, He asks, "Do you also want to go away?" We must continually maintain an adventurous attitude toward Him, despite any potential personal risk. "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more" (6:66). They turned back from walking with Jesus; not into sin, but away from Him. Many people today are pouring their lives out and working for Jesus Christ, but are not really walking with Him. One thing God constantly requires of us is a oneness with Jesus Christ. After being set apart through sanctification, we should discipline our lives spiritually to maintain this intimate oneness. When God gives you a clear determination of His will for you, all your striving to maintain the relationship by some particular method is completely unnecessary. All that is required is to live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. Never try to live your life with God in any other way than His way. And His way means absolute devotion to Him. Showing no concern for the uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus. Peter saw in Jesus only someone who could minister salvation to him and to the world. But our Lord wants us to be fellow laborers with Him. In verse 70 Jesus lovingly reminded Peter that he was chosen to go with Him. And each of us must answer this qhestion for ourselves and no one else: "Do you also want to go away?" [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

The Surrendered Life

"I have been crucified with Christ..." (Galatians 2:20). To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not to only give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What out Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all our claims of even being worthy of God's consideration. Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ? We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sin of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them. If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

My Relationship With God

How do I stand in my relationship with God? In our own thoughts we think that our relationship with God is well. How is it that your relationship with God allows you to continue to be His child and a citizen of His kingdom? What allows you to think that you are able to go in the direction you are headed? Is it because of something that you have done? Is it because you have attained something? Is it because you have given God something? Is it because in your mind you have given everything up to God so that your relationship is right with God? Is your relationship established with God? We think that we are citizens of Heaven and believe without a doubt that we are going to heaven because we know God, we believe in Him, understand Him, obey, and walk to Him. Is your relationship with God truly what it should be that if this moment He called you, you would go to Heaven because you are in the right relationship with God? We are told that these are the Last Days. Everything is headed towards the end. There is not much time left. We are almost there. When The Lord was here He called that time the end, but even if we are told that today is the end we are numb to it. You think that there is no way it would happen in your time. Surely, you think that later in 10 years, 100 years later, after your death. Or you think that that is another 1000 or 2000 years left. We do not know. I have said this repeatedly, each of us will have an end. That is the day you die. It is possible that you do not taste death and be raptured when Jesus comes again. But right now, we are to answer the call and go to God, but unless our relationship is right with God we will not be able to go to Him. Unless my relationship is right with God, all that I do, going to church, singing praise songs, praying, serving, healing the sick, prophesying, witnessing and saving, it will all be for nothing. How are we to live our lives today? How should our heart and attitude be today as we live? In the church we speak about the heart of the servant. In my relationship to God as a servant we are dead without any right to speak. A slave only says "yes" to his master. "No" is not an option. If we are told to die then we die. Tough we speak of being slaves we do not truly understand the meaning of it. We say that God is the Master and we are His servants, but we act as master. Because we act as master our relationship with God is not right. If we truly consider God the Father as Master of our lives then we could not be living in the manner we do. We could not be proud. We are to lower our selves, humble ourselves and raise others up, but we dot not put others before us. The moment we see something wrong in another person, we consider ourselves better than them and we judge and persecute them. We say to God "I am a sinner, I have nothing to give, please forgive me," but we have difficulty forgiving our brothers and sisters and embracing them with love. This is how we are. We are good at judging. It is easy to see the actions of others. But we do not see our own. Then my relationship cannot be rightly established with God. We notice the faults of our neighbors. We see the condition of the hearts. But we do not see the rotten, dirty debris of our own heart. We think we are better than the other person. There is nothing better about us than them. Unless I know this I can never rightly establish my relationship with God. Why? Because we think we are better than God. Many people blame God and say that He is without forgiveness because of the wars He allowed in the Old Testament and the crippling and suffering He allows today They say that God is at fault for their unbelief. We think that we are full of love. We think that because we are filled with love that we are going to save others and we go forth to do our own will. No matter how much love we may have we will never have more love than God. We do not understand God and His will to call those to His purpose and many times we interfere with God's work. We think that we need to help. We do this too often. When God does tell us to help that person, then because we do not feel like doing so, we do not. Because we are not happy. When God commands us to help someone no matter what the cost and we do not, then we are committing the sin of disobedience. Yet we pray to God to give us grace and to bless us. Look around you. You think if you help that person that the individual will believe in Jesus. If you help them they will start coming to church. With your help they will be fine. But God is concerned about you. God wants you to leave them alone, in their suffering, that they may find Jesus and salvation. This is why God has allowed them to be where they are. By trying to pull them out of their suffering we have become a stumbling block in their path to find Jesus. Examine yourself and see how many times you have done this. Yet we think well of ourselves. We think we love more than God does. We do not. How do we think that our relationship with God is in good standing when we do not understand His will? How can we establish the right relationship with God? No matter how better you may think you are, from up high we are all the same. People are not even visible from the heavens. Though some are taller than others, from high up you can see no difference. You are not as good as you think you are. Stop living in a false reality. If you truly want to establish a right relationship with God then you have to live according the Word and do what it says in obedience. The things He commands us to do bother us. It bothers our hearts, our ears and our eyes. We wish that we did not see. We think if that the person were not in our lives it would help our walk of faith. That is not true. That person is there to help you with your faith. If you get rid of that person then God will put someone who is of greater difficulty in your life. This is what I have experienced. It will be the same for you. If you try to escape difficulty in the world you may be able to, but when you try to escape from God you will fall into greater difficulty because God desires that you surrender yourself to Him and truly come to know Jesus Christ. Then you can truly know God. Then you can surrender and repent of all your sins in order to be embraced by the arms of the Father. Do not do anything foolish because you think that you are good. Do not clean up something that bothers you. If you try to remove something that God left alone then you will fall into a deeper trap. We sang a hymn singing of hope and meeting one day in heaven. This is God's message to us. We are being told that 2013 is a very dangerous time. In America it is even more so. There is no time for you to fight amongst yourselves over trivial matters. If you do not pray for this country it will soon collapse. Do not think that you will live if this country fails. Because you live here, if this country fails then so will you. You are Korean. It is dangerous in Korea. If Korea fails then so will you. Do not think that because you were born here that you have no relation to Korea. That is not true. Your root is from Korea. I immigrated here early when Korea was unknown. You do not understand the discrimination that we went through. We were not even acknowledged when we gave our Korean passports to the embassies. Because Korea is prospering we are being accepted. What does this mean? If my country crumbles then we are a nation without a country. We say we are citizens of Heaven. If Heaven disappears where will you go? There are only two places to go in eternity. If you don't like the country you live in you can go to one of many countries. But in eternity there is only Heaven and Hell. If you fail to get into Heaven then you will go to Hell. There is no middle place. Only two destinations. If you are not rightly established with God then how will you be a citizen of Heaven? How will you enter into Heaven and be embraced by the arms of the Father? If want want to hear the Father tell you that you have done a good job and have Him invite you into His arms, what must you do? Unless you recognize God as who He is, if you do not believe in Jesus Christ, you do not repent of your sins, and you do not live the life of faith, then Heaven will not be yours. Is there someone you hate? Unless you forgive them you will not go to Heaven. You may think God will let a little bit slide by, but He will not. Unless you have been redeemed by the blood you cannot go to Heaven. How can Heaven be your when you hate, judge, and refuse to forgive? We sang that God is One. Do you really give the One true God all the glory and praise? We sing that He is our Father, Master, Groom, and that He is the Spirit which guides us this very day. But do we truly, truly, truly accept Him as your Father and your Savior? God is only worthy of receiving glory. We must give Him glory. The glory that God receives from all of Creation must come from man first, but man fails to do so. All of the Creation, the stones, the winds, waters, all of the beautiful things are praising the Father. But the worship that God desires to receive from man, rather than praising God judge each other, runs from God, says that God is dead, He does not exist. But they say that they believe that there is a god who created the universe. How can they believe in a god that created the universe but then not believe in God? Why do they act foolishly? In your hearts you say you are a Christian and come to church and worship, but examine your heart and see do you truly believe God who is God or do you believe in your idea of a god? The one who has created the world is God. It is no other god. This God tells us that He loves us. He asks us to meet Him face to face. God desires to meet us. He desires that we come to Him as His slave. He desires that we come to Him as His child. He desires that we come to meet Him as His bride. He sent us the Holy Spirit to reveal this to us. That same Holy Spirit is still attempting to show us about God and Jesus Christ by working in our hearts, and through the 66 books of the Bible. But we do not open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. We only open as much as we desire. When I want to leave through that door it must be completely open to do so. If you desire to leave you can do so by opening just enough for you to get out. But when you try to get into Heaven can you do so by just opening the door a little? It is a place you cannot enter so. Though Heaven is place where the door does not close, it is not a place where anyone can enter as many people have shared. Only when The Lord gives you permission, only when you have passed the test then can you enter in the gates of Heaven. The door of your heart must be completely open. You must accept Him as your Savior. You must accept The Lord as your Father. When the Holy Spirit leads you, you are to say "amen" and accept in obedience though you do not understand what you are being given. Then you can establish the right relationship between you and God. If you truly want to establish the right relationship with God then you need to read the Bible properly. Do not read it according to your system, your interpretation, to your liking, reading only what you want. If God is truly the loving Father do not cause others to sin through your own works. Do not hate. The Bible teaches us to consider others better than ourselves, but how better do you consider others than yourself? We say we did but we do not really consider others better. We think that we are better. I am better than that person. You are not. I am not as well. You must love others with the love of God. You must repent before God and forgive them. You have no right to judge and condemn others. God did not give us the authority to do so. Yet we hate people. We say we cannot stand the sight of someone. When God sees us you and I are are not worthy of grace. We are sinners. Though you may say you are a sinner, inside your heart you do not acknowledge that you are. You think that this degree of sin is acceptable. You think others should strive to be like you. That is wrong. We must forgive others. We must truly forgive them. Especially in families, the most difficult one to forgive is the spouse. We overlook the problem and move on. In God's eye that is not forgiveness. Between parent and children. There must be forgiveness between parent and children. If you truly do not forgive then God will not forgive you. This must be established in your life so that you can go and forgive others as well. It is foolish to say you forgive others but not your children, parents, and spouses. Do not behave this way. You can avoid people. Though you say you have forgiven them you have not truly done so. Your family you must see daily so you cannot just overlook the problem, there must be true love and forgiveness. Then your relationship with God can be right. May your relationship with God truly be established rightly in the Word so that when you enter into Heaven, God will tell you "well done" and welcome you into His arms. Sermon by Pastor Joy Youngsook Lee Translation by Miguel Park

The Source of Abundant Joy

"In all these things we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37). Paul was speaking here of the things that might seem likely to separate a saint from the love of God. But the remarkable thing is that nothing can come between the love of God and a saint. The things Paul mentioned in this passage can and do disrupt the close fellowship of our soul with God and separate our natural life from Him. But none of them is able to come between the love of God and the soul of a saint on the spiritual level. The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. Paul said this is the reason that "in all these things we are more than conquerers." We are super-victors with a joy that comes from experiencing the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us. Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let's apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against-tribulation, suffering, and persecution-are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. "We are more than conquerers through Him" "in all these things"; not in spite of them, but because of it. Paul said, "I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation" (2 Corinthians 7:4). The undiminished radiance, which is the result of abundant joy, is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can change. And the experiences of life, whether they are everyday events or terrifying ones, are powerless to "separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39). [From "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers]

Takin The Next Step

"... in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distress" (2 Corinthians 6:4). When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life, and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty to Him. It takes much more of grace of God, and a much greater awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to preach the gospel. Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by bringing the next step down into flesh-and blood reality and by working it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open the the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ in John 13:1-17. [From "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers]

Is This True Of Me?

"None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself..." (Acts 20:24). It is easier to serve or work for God without a vision and without a call, because then you are not bothered by what He requires. Common sense, covered with a layer of Christian emotion, becomes your guide. You may be more prosperous and successful from the world's perspective, and will have more leisure time, if you never acknowledge the call of God. But once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God asks of you will always be there to prod you on to do His will. You will no longer be able to work for Him on the basis of common sense. What do I count in my life as "dear to myself"? If I have not been seized by Jesus Christ and have not surrendered my life to Him, I will consider the time I decide to give God and my own ideas of service as dear. I will also consider my own life as "dear to myself." But Paul said he considered his life dear so that he might fulfill the ministry he had received, and he refused to use his energy on anything else. This verse shows an almost noble annoyance by Paul at being asked to consider himself. He was absolutely indifferent to any consideration other than that of fulfilling the ministry he had received. Our ordinary and reasonable service to God may actually compete against our total surrender to Him. Our reasonable work is based on the following argument which we say to ourselves, "Remember how useful you are here, and think how much value you would be in that particular type of work." That attitude chooses our own judgment, instead of Jesus Christ, to be our guide as to where we should go and where we could be used the most. Never consider whether or not you are of use- but always consider that "you are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are His. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Have You Felt The Pain Inflicted By The Lord?

"He said to him the third time, '... do you love Me?'" (John 21:17). Have you ever felt the pain, inflicted by the Lord, at the very center of your being, deep down in the most sensitive area of your life? The devil never inflicts pain there, and neither can sin nor human emotions. Nothing can cut through to that part of our being but the Word of God. "Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, 'Do you love Me?'" Yet he was awakened to the fact that at the center of his personal life he was devoted to Jesus. And then he began to see what Jesus' patient questioning meant. There was not the slightest bit of doubt left in Peter's mind; he could never be deceived again. And there was no need for an impassioned response; no need for immediate action or an emotional display. It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord, and with amazement he simply said, "Lord, You know all things...." Peter began to see how very much he did love Jesus, and there was no need to say, "Look at this or that as proof of my love." Peter was begining to discover within himself just how much he really did love the Lord. He discovered that his eyes were so fixed on Jesus Christ that he saw no one else in heaven above or on the earth below. But he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord were asked. The Lord's questions always reveal the true me to myself. Oh, the wonder of the patient directness and skill of Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord never asks questions until the perfect time. Rarely, but probably once in each of our lives, He will back us into a corner where He will hurt us with His piercing questions. Then we will realize that we do love Him far more deeply than our words can ever say. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

The Piercing Question

"Do you love Me?" (John 21:17). Peter's response to this piercing question is considerably different from the bold defiance he exhibited only a few days before when he declared, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" (Matthew 26:25 also see verses 33-34). Our natural individuality, or our natural self, boldly speaks out and declares its feelings. But the true love within inner spiritual self can be discovered only by experiencing the hurt of this question of Jesus Christ. Peter loved Jesus in the way any natural man loves a good person. Yet that is nothing but emotional love. It may reach deeply into our natural self, but it never penetrates to the spirit of a person. True love never simply declares itself. Jesus said, "Whoever confesses Me before men [that is, confess his love by everything he does, not merely by his words], him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God" (Luke 12:8). Unless we are experiencing the hurt of facing every deception about ourselves, we have hindered the work of the Word of God in our lives. The Word of God inflicts hurs on us more than sin ever could, because sin dulls our senses. But this qiestion of the Lord intensifies our sensitivities to the point that this hurt produced by Jesus is the most exquisite pain conceivable. It hurts not only on the natural level, but also on the deeper spiritual level. "For the Word of God is living and powerful..., piercing even to the division of soul and spirit..."- to the point that no deception can remain (Hebrews 4:12). When the Lord asks us this question, it is impossible to think and respond properly, because when the Lord speaks directly to us, the pain is too intense. It causes such a tremendous hurt that any part of our life which may be out of line with His will can feel the pain. There is never any mistaking the pain of the Lord's Word by His children, but the moment that pain is felt is the very moment at which God reveals His truths to us. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]