Friday, May 31, 2013

Put God First

"Jesus did not commit Himself to them... for He knew what was in man" (John 2:24-25).


Put Trust in God First. Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God's grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter, because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be- absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God.

Put God's Will First. "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God" (Hebrews 10:9).

A Person's obedience is to do what he sees to be a need- our Lord's obedience was to the will of His Father. The rallying cry today is, "We must go to work! The heathen are dying without God. We must go and tell them about Him." But we must first make sure that God's "needs" and His will in us personally are being met. Jesus said, "... tarry... until you are endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). The purpose of our Christian training is to get us into the right relationship to the "needs" of God and His will. Once God's "needs" in us have been met, He will open the way for us to accomplish His will, meeting His "needs" elsewhere.

Put God's Son First. "Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me" (Matthew 18:5).

God came as a baby, giving and entrusting Himself to me. He expects my personal life to be a "Bethlehem." Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transformed by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God's ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]


Thursday, May 30, 2013

Hearing the Voice of God and Obeying

SF.4.5.2013
Hearing the voice of God and obeying.

1 Samuel 3:8-18

This is a passage that we are all familiar with.
This is the first time that Samuel hears from the Lord.
When he was first called, he thought it was Eli calling him, for he never heard the voice of God previously.
After Eli realized it was the Lord calling Samuel he told Samuel to ask the Lord to speak and to listen to Him.
How much are we intent on hearing the voice of God, being sensitive to His voice, are we seeking to talk with Him and to follow what He is saying to us?
We say that we are talking with God.
We say we hear His voice.
There are those who do, but do you hear Him and do what He is telling you?
When the Lord speaks to you about the things in your heart are you choosing to do what you want and not doing things you do not want and saying you did not hear from Him?
Because it is not speaking as if someone were in front of us, if you say you heard from God or did not hear from Him, I cannot confirm or disagree with you.
It is only between you and God.
But there are many things that you think is the voice of God because of the desires of your heart.
Because you want something you say that God has granted it for you and you stubbornly go forth doing what you want.
There are also times when God has been clear to you, but because you think you will lose something, suffer, and because you do not want to do it, you say that you did not hear from God concerning the matter.
Where do you stand?
Are you on both sides?
When God speaks clearly to you, do you obey?
In my walk with God, usually my answers are not the ones I want to receive.
I do not normally get answers of blessings or things that God is going to do for me.
He will tell me to give someone something.
He will tell me to love someone.
He will tell me to forgive someone.
He will tell me to teach someone according to the Word.
He does not tell me to do what I want.
He does not tell me that I all I do is right.
These things are things I rarely have heard.
Where do we stand?
Do you choose only to hear what you want?
If you are a student and you pray to get into a good college and you do, then those who did pray and did not go to a good college, do they not hear God’s voice?
People who do not have a high position in work, do they not hear God’s voice?
If you do not have your requirements met then do you say that you did not hear God’s voice?
What path are you going?
The first time Samuel hear God speak, he was told that the house of Eli was disobedient to God and because Eli did not teach his children according to God’s commands they will be punished.
What about you?
You say you believe in Jesus, you come to church, you serve, you tithe, you witness.
But where is your heart as you do these things as you seek the blessings of God upon you?
Surely, God blesses us.
His blessings are indescribable.
But it is not the blessings that we are thinking about.
The blessings we want are for here on this earth.
We want it today.
For me it would be to be healthy, have no physical pain, there are other things that I want for myself and my children.
If these things happened we would describe it as having a successful ministry.
If someone is pastoring a large church we say that they have succeeded.
If someone is pastoring a small church we say that they have not achieved success.
Where are our standards?
It is those who are in church that go out and say these things.
We attend a small church so we are not successful.
We attend a large church so we are successful.
Let us say that the church is successful, it is not because of my attendance that makes it so.
But if we attend a large church and sit there for worship we think that we are a part of the success, that we have made it happen and so are blessed.
If we attend a small church we think it is our fault that nothing seems to happen, that we are unable to receive God’s love, we have failed to be blessed by God and we become weak.
Where do you stand?
When God speaks to you, you must truly see what it is that He is saying and hold onto it.
The more I come to know the Lord the more I do not understand Him.
I used to think in the past that I knew much about God.
I thought I knew more than anyone else.
I had a lot of knowledge.
But after meeting Him, and knowing Him and drawing closer to Him, I have said it before, He is impossible to know, and the more I read and study, the more I do not understand.
Honestly, there are many things in the Bible that I do not understand.
There are times I do not understand why God is giving me a certain passage in Scripture.
I have attained much knowledge of the Word.
But that is not what I am speaking of.
In the past, it was hard for me to find someone who knew more about the Bible than I.
But now, I have a hard time saying that I know a lot.
Why?
Because every time and situation is different when God uses His Word to explain what is happening.
When I am filled with the spirit, or when I am not.
When I am in sin, or not in sin.
The Word God uses to speak to me is different every time.
Though it is the same Bible verse it is revealed differently.
We think that with that which we know that we know the whole Bible, but I can only say that there is more I do not know.
This passage today, we have read it many times before and know it well.
We know it to be the time where Samuel first meets God.
Each of you has a time when you first met God.
The first time you loved God.
The first time you met Him.
The time you started to have a relationship with God.
But how much have you held onto that and come to this point in your life?
It is difficult to restore your relationship if you forget your first love.
When you date your love is hot but after you get married and time passes why do you divorce?
It is because you forgot your first love.
If you forget your first love, then at least you should live by faith and honor each other and live as husband and wives, but after the fire dies down, and we no longer have feelings we abandon them.
We betray the other but blame the other for betraying us.
Are you like this?
Those of you who are married, do you think that you have problems because of you or do you think it is your spouses fault?
We all point the finger at the other.
I used to live this way.
But when God spoke to me He let me know that it is not so.
Of course there are times that the other person is at fault.
I am not always 100 percent at fault.
But we see ourselves as 100 percent correct.
We blame the other 100 percent.
This is why we do not change.
It is because we do not know what we are doing wrong.
We think that the wrong we do is acceptable to that degree because we live here on earth.
We say “Can a person who believes in Jesus be perfect. We are only humans. There is no one who can live like the pastor preaches.” This is how we respond.
Then why did God give us His Word?
Why did He give us His Word unless we are to be different from the world?
If the world is wrong, then we are to believe Jesus the right way, and with the right faith, we are to go and change the world.
But rather than be different we live as part of the world because of the fear of being different and even though the world is headed to dark valleys and death we have no desire to change.
We think it is granted to be a part of the world for if we are not we cannot have a good job, advance in position or play with our friends.
It is foolishness.
God is sounding the warning trumpet to you as He did to Eli.
What will you do?
We see that God spoke to Eli.
Eli already knew and rather than trying to correct his children he only told them of the wrong that they did.
When you know you are in sin but do not change then God will bring His judgement upon you and that is what we see as his entire family was killed.
What will you do?
Do not raise your children according to your emotions.
Raise them according to the Word.
Rather than raise them according to the Word we raise our children by our emotions.
If we feel bad we scold our children.
If we feel good, no matter what bad they do we accept it and make excuses for their behavior and say that much is alright and blame the world for their behavior.
You say that you did the same things when you were younger.
You say it is alright for them to do it as well.
This is the way a parent approves in sending the child down the wrong path.
God does not do that in the Bible.
He tells us to teach our children.
He tells us to bind His Words to our arms and our foreheads and place them at the entry of our homes and teach our children His Word.
But parents today do not teach their children.
We think that if our children bring home good grades that our children are the best.
Then are those who do not study well are bad children?
As long as you have good grades it does not matter that the rest of your life is a mess and that is why the world is deteriorating.
Children who get good grades think that they are better than others.
Character and good grades are different.
I am not telling you not to study or do well in school.
Should you as parents and children, live your life in a manner that brings judgment on your house like Eli, or should you live your life according to the Gospel, to let it take root in your family and allow the glory of God to shine through you, and fulfill your purpose for which God sent you so that you will be commended by the Father when you stand before Him in the final day of judgement?
What path will you choose?
When I talk to you you say that you will.
You say you will obey.
But when I observe you there is no change.
Why do you write that you will but do not change your actions to follow?
God does not look only at what you have write down but He looks to see if you are doing what you say you will do.
You say you are committed but why do you not follow through with action?
Some do not make it a week, others two weeks.
If you have made a promise with me then you are to keep that promise but you do not.
Some of you do not do it for months.
You do all the things that you want to do.
Why do you not keep your promises.
Listen clearly to God’s voice.
Samuel from the time He heard God’s voice to the day he died, was a man of prayer, obedient to God, and lived according to His Word.
As the time of the prophets came to an end and foolishly raised kings in their stead, they no longer wanted to hear from God, but wanted to be ruled by a king and to this day Israel has had problems.
Should this country fall because of you?
Or should you be the reason that this country rises once again as a good country and once again lead other nations?
Should you make this country the nation it once was or will you be the reason, for your sins, that this country will fall far from where it once stood?
What will you do?
You are all citizens here.
You are told to pray for the place where you live.
Do you believe that this responsibility is in your hands?
At times I also forget.
Through one man Adam, sin was born into this world.
Through Jesus we have been given a path to life.
We know this but none of us think that we are like Adam.
We say that we did not commit those sins.
How many times are we like Adam and Eve in our everyday lives?
Wives who control their husbands and cause them to sin.
Husbands who do not lead their families as they should, that is even worse.
Men, husbands, you must be awake and lead your families the right way.
Wives have given a position of service.
You are too scared to speak up. You are tired of arguing. Time passes.
You think that eventually it will get better.
Your entire family will fall apart.
We women are more of a problem.
If we do not stand right in faith then our families will fall apart.
You say that you are not married, but you will soon be married and soon have children and have a family.
Unless your heart is changed in Jesus, unless you stand right in the Word, you plainly see where that family is headed.
You say that you will be good when you are married.
You will be good to your husband.
If you are not right now you will not be later.
You have not changed your heart.
Men are the same.
You say you do not have a family yet.
You will change when you have a wife.
Unless you live a disciplined life right now, unless you learn to live right according to the Word, do you think that later you will?
No you will not.
Truly you will not.
How was Samuel given life?
Hannah was unable to have a child.
He was born as a child of prayer and given to God.
He was not raised under his parents.
He was raised in God’s house under Eli.
He did not receive his parent’s love.
Do you think that the children of Eli would have treated Samuel well, when they did what they did with the things of God?
Would you?
You are in line to be the next priest but now there is this little child, what would you do?
He lived as a man of prayer giving his allegiance to God.
To live like Samuel and his faith.
What about you?
Do you blame you circumstance, your problems, your excuses, for why you are not living right before God?
We are all the same.
You say that he is different because he was raise in the temple.
The children of pastors have incredible hardships.
That is why I did not want to be a pastor.
I ran away because I did not want to marry a pastor.
I did not hate Jesus or hate God, but the ones who claimed to believe made life unbearable.
But in the end God called me to this place, and now I am so grateful and enjoy it so much.
There is much to give thanks for.
Individually as we live in faith, the words we speak, can hurt so many people, and scar them.
There was a testimony of a pastor’s child who hated the church so much that she ran away and became an anti-Christ.
Because of the people who had scarred them as children.
Because of the hypocrisy in the church where children can do wrong but the pastor’s children are not allowed to make mistakes.
They were judged.
I too experienced this.
If I was playing with other children and they would do something wrong the parents would come and blame me.
They would say that a pastor’s daughter should not behave that way.
I would say I did nothing wrong that it was their child, but they would say that they are only regular church goers, but that I am a pastor’s daughter and I was held to a different standard.
Do you behave this way?
There are many pastor’s children who are out in the world being shaken and rebelling.
They may have their own faults but have we also participated in making them fall away.
If we are true believers who hear His voice and follow Him, do you truly hear His voice and follow?
That is why I ran away to never be a wife of a pastor nor be pastor.
It was not because I did not want to be a wife of a pastor or be a pastor but I did not ever want to hear those things from those people at church.
I thought that I would die if I were ever in that position.
That is why I said I would never go.
But in the end God has put me here.
As pastor’s children, my children today may have it hard but it is much easier than when I was growing up.
I do not know if outside of the church they are facing persecution, but in the past they would say things to your face.
Our doors were always open.
Those scars are indescribable.
The Bible does not explain it but there probably is a reason why Eli’s children behaved that way.
But they stole from God, taking that which was given to God first for themselves.
Are we not doing the same today?
We demand to receive first.
We demand that God bless us first.
Then we will do God’s work after.
I will go and serve at the church, I will love others, I will have a heart of compassion, and for your sake I will believe in you.
Are you not believing in Him for His sake?
Are you not here just for the sake of coming out?
Are you not saying that it is your offering that allows this church to function and without it this church would not be?
Are you truly listening to the voice of God and following Him?
Are you living up to the purpose you have been called to?
When I hear God speak to me, He tells me to do for the good of his kingdom and His people that they may move as one body.
These are the requests He makes of me.
As I do His work I am blessed in return.
The more obedient I am the more He blesses me.
When I have little but God tells me to give to someone who is in much more need then He is always faithful and restores what I am lacking.
Do not think that after hearing this that you can just give away and expect God to give you more.
That is not the way.
When you do something expecting a return you will not be given.
But if you do it out of a humble and obedient heart, and do as He desires of you, He will not let you go hungry, and He will guide you everyday, as today.
What path will you choose?
I counsel many who say if only they hear His voice they will obey, but when they start hearing His voice there are not many who follow.
When the Lord asks will He find any with faith in the end it is an anguish that I feel.
There are very few who truly obey.
Truly not many obey.
Do not be found in that place.
Please go to the place of obedience.
There a too few who will enter into Heaven.
There are many who worship Jesus well with their lips.
But truly, truly, they do not believe in God the Father.
They see Him as valuable in a sense of being able to gain profit, to receive blessings, to receive health.
They see Him as a being who answers prayers.
Do you believe God to be a magical genie?
If that is how you believe God to be, then throw all those thoughts away immediately.
Go back to the beginning.
Like Samuel when he first heard God’s voice.
Forget all the times you have heard His voice.
Today, now seek the presence of the Lord and today, like Samuel, give your allegiance to Him until the end.
Do not be foolish.
Without going back to the truth, without returning back to our first love, and if we stay clothed in our filth and sin, how will we enter into Heaven when we can only do so if we are spotless?
If you are dressed in dirty clothes you will not enter into Heaven.
You cannot enter into Heaven with what you know about Jesus.
You must truly believe in God’s Word.
The Word of God must become yours.
The Words are for you.
It is not for someone who you think is disobedient, or for your spouse, or your children, your neighbor.
Do not do this.
The entirety of the Word is for me.
It has been given to me.
When we hear a sermon we think that the message if for that person.
This is a sermon for my mother-in-law.
Mother-in-laws think this is a sermon for my daughter-in-law, for our sons.
Let us not be this way.
Do these words pierce your heart?
Then change your ways so that it will no longer do so.
I need to change today.
I need to repent before God.
I need to hear God’s voice and humble myself before His presence.
It does not matter if the person next to me has heard His voice that has no bearing on my life.
A couple that shares the bed do not hear the voice of God because of the other.
Only the one who chooses to listen can hear His voice.
In the end the trumpets will sound.
It says only those who hear the trumpet sound will be raptured.
If you do not hear it you will not be able to go.
You cannot go because you hold onto someone who is going.
If I am not a believer but my husband is, and if I held onto him the moment he is raptured and I was also carried up that would be nice.
But nowhere in the Bible does it say that you will go to Heaven because someone close to you is a good believer.
Only the one who hears His voice.
The one who hears the sound will go.
If you act as though you believe.
It is possible that you can act like a good believer and fool people.
But God sees your heart to see if you truly believe or do not.
Do you truly believe, hear His voice and follow.
When Samuel heard the voice of God it was a time when hearing His voice was not usual.
Why did Samuel hear His voice and not Eli?
Are you not in a position like that of a priest?
But if you are in that position and are not able to hear His voice, then what use is it?
Eli heard the curse on his house through the child Samuel.
Would this not be a big problem if this was your home?
We must each be awake to God’s voice, His Word.
I must repent of my sins.
I must listen keenly for His gentle voice and be obedient children of God.
No one can do this for you.
Individually each must go forth to God.
I can preach to you.
But I cannot take you with me.
One Jesus Christ can lead you and take you.
But if you are not obedient to His voice He cannot take you.
No matter how many times He may call if you do not obey...
Unless you live in faith the right way you cannot go.
Your first love.
Have forgotten?
Restore your relationship.
Do you not hear God’s voice?
Repent.
Are you cold and hot in your thoughts?
Repent.
Be keen to the gentle voice of God, restore your relationship with Him, your first love, and live as eternal citizens of God’s kingdom, as His children, and as His bride as you follow Him.


Sermon by Pastor Joy Y.S. Lee
Translation by Miguel Park

"Yes - But...!"

"Lord, I will follow You, but..." (Luke 9:61).


Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, "Yes, but- suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about...?" Or we say, "Yes, I will obey God if what He asks me doesn't go against my common sense, but don't ask me to step into the dark."

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be time when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold onto or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ's statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis- only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Untroubled Relationship

"In that day you will ask in My name... for the Father Himself loves you..." (John 16:26-27).


"In that day you will ask in My name...," that is, in My nature. Not- "You will use My name as some magic word," but- "You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me." "That day" is not a day in the next life, but a day meant for here and now. "... for the Father Himself loves you..."- the Father's love is evidence that our union with Jesus is complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that our lives will be free from external difficulties and uncertainties, but that just as He knew the Father's heart and mind, we too can be lifted by Him into heavenly places through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that He can reveal the teachings of God to us.

"... whatever you ask the Father in My name..." (16:23). "That day" is the day of peace and an untroubled relationship between God and His saint. Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship- "... that they may be one just as We are one..." (John 17:22).

"... He will give you" (John 16:23). Jesus said that because of His name God will recognize and respond to our prayers. What a great challenge and invitation- to pray in His name! Through the resurrection and ascension power of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit He has sent, we can be lifted into such a relationship. Once in that wonderful position, having been placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in Jesus' name- in His nature. This is a gift granted to us through the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said, "... whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you." The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested and proved by His own statement.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Unquestioned Revelation

UNQUESTIONED REVELATION


"In that day you will ask Me nothing" (John 16:23).


When is "that day"? It is when the ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. "In that day" you will be one with the Father just as Jesus is, and He said, "In that day you will ask Me nothing." Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things. Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone- you don't seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why aren't you?

"In that day" there may be any number of things still hidden to your understanding, but they will not come between your heart and God. "In that day you will ask Me nothing"- you will not need to ask, because you will be certain that God will reveal things in accordance with His will. The faith and peace of John 14:1 has become the real attitude of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature- that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. "In that day you will ask Me nothing."


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Monday, May 27, 2013

The Life to Know Him

THE LIFE TO KNOW HIM


"...tarry into the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49).


The disciples had to tarry, staying in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as He was glorified, what happened? "Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear" (Acts 2:33). The statement in John 7:39-"...for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified"-does pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given; the Lord is glorified-our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness.

The Holy Spirit's influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Once our Lord was glorified in his ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth that He is here. The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord.

It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the new Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ-it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not make you think of time or eternity-it is one amazing glorious now. "This eternal life, that they may know You..." (John 17:3). Begin to know Him now, and never finish.


[From "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]



Sunday, May 26, 2013

Thinking Of Prayer As Jesus Taught

"Pray without ceasing..." (1 Thessalonians 5:17).


Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues "without ceasing"; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. "Pray without ceasing..."- maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.

Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, "... everyone who asks receives..." (Matthew 7:8). Yet we say, "But..., but...." God answers prayer in the best way- not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?

The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

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Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Good Or The Best?

"If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left" (Genesis 13:9).


As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you. These things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God make your choice for you. God sometimes allows you to get into place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider, if you were not living the life of faith. But if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and allow God to make your choice for you. This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice.

Whenever our right becomes the guidance factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.

Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, "... walk before Me..." (Genesis 17:1).


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Friday, May 24, 2013

The Delight Of Despair

"When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead" (Revelation 1:17).


It may be that, like the apostle John, you know Jesus Christ immediately. Yet when He suddenly appears to you with totally unfamiliar characteristics, the only thing you can do is fall "at His feet as dead." There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awesomeness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair. You experience this joy in hopelessness, realizing that if you are ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God.

"He laid His right hand on me..." (1:7). In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid up on you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, and the sense that "underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27), full of support, provision, comfort, and strength. And once His touch comes, nothing at all can throw you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory, the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, saying, "Do not be afraid" (Revelation 1:17). His tenderness is inexpressibly sweet. Do I know Him like that?

Take a look at some of the things that cause despair. There is despair which has no delight, no limits whatsoever, and no hope of anything brighter. But the delight of despair comes when "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells..." (Romans 7:18). I delight in knowing that there is something in me which must fall prostrate before God when He reveals Himself to me, and also in knowing that if I am ever to be raise up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I recognize the limits of what is humanly possible, allowing Him to do the impossible.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Our Careful Unbelief

"... do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on" (Matthew 6:25).


Jesus summed up commonsense carefulness in the life of a disciple as unbelief. If we have received the Spirit of God, He will squeeze right through our lives, as if to ask, "Now where do I come into this relationship, this vacation you have planned, or these new books you want to read?" And He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.

",,, do not worry about your life...." Don't take the pressure of your provision upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief; worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that worry us. Have you ever notice what Jesus said would choke the Word He puts in us? Is it the devil? No- "the cares of this world" (Matthew 13:22). It is always our little worries. We say, "I will not trust when I cannot see"- and that is where unbelief begins. The only cure for unbelief is obedience to the Spirit.

The greatest word of Jesus to His disciple is abandon.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The Explanation For Our Difficulties

"... that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us..." (John 17:21).


If you are going through a time of isolation, seemingly all alone, read John 17. It will explain exactly why you are where you are- because Jesus has prayed that you "may be one" with the Father as He is. Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or do you have some other goal for your life? Since you became a disciple, you cannot be as independent as you used to be.

God reveals in John 17 that His purpose is not just to answer our prayers, but that through prayers we might come to discern His mind. Yet there is one prayer which God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus- "... that they may be one just as We are one..." (17:22). Are we as close to Jesus Christ as that?

God is not concerned about our plans; He doesn't ask, "Do you want to go through this loss of a loved one, this difficulty, or this defeat?" No, He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, and nobler men and women, or they are making us more critical and fault-finding, and more insistent on our own ways. The things that happen either make us evil, or they make us more saintly, depending entirely on our relationship with God and its level of intimacy. If we will pray, regarding our own lives, "Your will be done" (Matthew 26:42), then we will be encouraged and comforted by John 17, knowing that our Father is working according to His own wisdom, accomplishing what is best. When we understand God's purpose, we will not become small-minded and cynical. Jesus prayed nothing less for us than absolute oneness with Himself, just as He was one with the Father. Some of us are far from this oneness; yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him- because Jesus prayed, "... that they all may be one...."


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Having God's "Unreasonable" Faith

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).


When we look at these words of Jesus, we immediately find them to be the most revolutionary that human ears have ever heard. "Seek first the kingdom of God...." Even the most spiritually-minded of us argue the exact opposite, saying, "But I must live; I must make a certain amount of money; I must be clothed; I must be fed." The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God but how we are going to take care of ourselves to live. Jesus reversed the order by telling us to get the right relationship with God first, maintaining it as the primary concern of our lives, and never to place our concern on taking care of the other things of life.

"... do not worry about your life..." (6:25). Our Lord pointed out that from His standpoint it is absolutely unreasonable for us to be anxious, worrying about how we will live. Jesus did not say that the person who takes no thought for anything in his life is blessed- no, that person is a fool. But Jesus did teach that His disciple must make his relationship with God the dominating focus of his life, and to be cautiously carefree about everything else in comparison to that. In essence, Jesus was saying, "Don't make food and drink the controlling factor of your life, but be focused absolutely on God." Some people are careless about what they eat and drink, and they suffer for it; they are careless about what they wear, having no business looking the way they do; they are careless with their earthly matters, and God holds them responsible. Jesus is saying that the greatest concern of life is to place our relationship with God first, and everything else is second.

It is one of the most difficult, yet critical, disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into absolute harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Monday, May 20, 2013

Taking Possession Of Our Own Soul

"By your patience possess your souls" (Luke 21:19).


When a person is born again, there is a period of time when he does not have the same vitality in his thinking or reasoning that he previously had. We must learn to express this new life within us, which comes by forming the mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:5). Luke 21:19 means that we take possession of our souls through patience. But many of us prefer to stay at the entrance to the Christian life, instead of going on to create and build our soul in accordance with the new life God
had placed within us. We fail because we are ignorant of the way God has made us, and we blame things on the devil that are actually the result of our own undisciplined natures. Just think what we could be when we are awakened to the truth!

There are certain things in life that we need not pray about- moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, nor in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we won't. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Sunday, May 19, 2013

"Out Of The Wreck I Rise"

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Romans 8:35).


God does not keep His child immune from trouble; He promises, "I will be with him in trouble..." (Psalm 92:15). It does not matter how real or intense the adversities may be; nothing can ever separate him from his relationship to God. "In all these things we are more than conquerors..." (Romans 8:37). Paul was not referring here to imaginary things, but to things that are dangerously real. And he said we are "super-victors" in the midst of them, not because none of them affects our essential relationship with God in Jesus Christ. I feel sorry for the Christian who doesn't have something in the circumstances of his life that he wishes were not there.

"Shall tribulation...?" Tribulation is never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be- whether exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness- it is not able to "separate us from the love of Christ." Never allow tribulations or the "cares of this world" to separate you from remembering that God loves you (Matthew 13:22).

"Shall... distress...?" Can God's love continue to hold fast, even when everyone and everything around us seems to be saying that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?

"Shall... famine...?" Can we not only believe in the love of God but also be"more than conquerors," even while we are being starved?

Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver, having deceived even Paul, or else some extraordinary thing happens to someone who holds onto the love of God when the odds are totally against him. Logic is silenced in the face of each of these things which come against him. Only one thing can account for it- the love of God in Christ Jesus. "Out of the wreck I rise" every time.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Friday, May 17, 2013

His Ascension And Our Access

"It came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:51).


We have no experiences in our lives that correspond to the events in our Lord's life after the transfiguration. From that moment forward His life was altogether substitutionary. Up to the time of transfiguration, He had exhibited the normal,

perfect life of a man. But from the transfiguration forward- Gethesemane, the Cross, the resurrection- everything is

unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to anyone, and by His ascension our Lord entered heaven, keeping the

door open for humanity.

The transfiguration was completed on the Mount of Ascension. If Jesus had gone to heaven directly from the Mount of transfiguration, He would have gone alone. He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the mountain to identify Himself with the fallen humanity.

The ascension is the complete fulfillment of the transfiguration. Our Lord returned to His original glory, but not simply as the Son of God- He returned to His father as the Son of Man as well. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God because of the ascension of the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ now has all the power at the throne of God. From His ascension forward He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers

Thursday, May 16, 2013

The Habit Of Recognizing God's Provision

"... you may be partakers of the divine nature..." (2 Peter 1:4).


We are made "partakers of the divine nature," receiving and sharing God's own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God's provision for us. We say, however, "Oh, I can't afford it." One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us off without a penny! We think it is a sign of true humility to say at the end of the day, "Well, I just barely got by today, but it was a severe struggle." And yet all of Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will reach to the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him. Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn't they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God's riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouth only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges- always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely and generous about our lives.

Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, "All my springs are in You" (Psalm 87:7). If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. "God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you... may have an abundance..." (2 Corinthians 9:8)- then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God's nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Habit Of Rising To The Occasion

"... that you may know what is the hope of His calling..." (Ephesians 1:18).


Remember that you have been saved so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in your body (see 2 Corinthians 4:10). Direct the total energy of your powers so that you may achieve everything your election as a child of God provides; rise every time to whatever occasion may come your way.

You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. You must "work our your own salvation" which God has worked in you already (Philippians 2:12). Are your speech, your thinking, and your emotions evidence that you are working it "out"? If you are still the same miserable, grouchy person, set on having your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.

God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly- "By my God I can leap over a wall" (Psalm 18:29). God will never shield you from the requirements of being His son or daughter. First Peter 4:12 says, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you...." Rise to the occasion- do what the trial demands of you. It does not matter how much it hurts as long as it gives God the opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in your body.

May God not find complaints in us anymore, but spiritual vitality- a readiness to face anything He brings our way. The only proper goal of life is that we manifest the Son of God; and when this occurs, all of our dictating of our demands to God disappears. Our Lord never dictated demands to His Father, and neither are we to make demands on God. We are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. Once we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine with which to feed and nourish others.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Matthew 28:1-20 The Resurrected Life

Matthew 28:1-20

The resurrected life.

Friday night we gathered and worshipped in remembrance of the death of Jesus.
Do you remember what I said was just as importance as His death?
It is that I too must accompany Jesus in that death.
That decision is important.
Many people think that to know that Jesus died for our sins is enough, but the Bible is clear, and all that Jesus taught us on the way to the cross is saying that we are to live a life like Him.
To tell us to carry our cross and follow Him, does not mean the little inconveniences we face in our daily lives, but like He said, He is laying down His life for us out of His love and He tells us to share this love.
He tells us to live our lives as if we have been crucified with Him.
Then we can partake in the resurrection of our Lord.
The requirement for resurrection is death.
Have you ever heard of anyone resurrecting without dying?
It would not be possible.
In order to say one is resurrected death must have happened.
Without death you cannot be resurrected.
If you want to be resurrected, to live a life of resurrection, to participate in the resurrection of Jesus, then what is the requirement?
You must first die.
Do you believe this?
What evidence is there that this is so in your life?
You can answer and say yes 100 percent, but if Jesus our judge says no, then it does not matter that I approve of you 100 percent.
We can live our lives here and make it seem like we are good in the eyes of others.
Is that not so?
At school you can pretend and act nice to your teachers, or to your bosses, or to the ones you love, your parents or anyone.
But if your heart is not right, you may fool people, but the most important thing is that God looks at our hearts and we tend to forget this.
Though I give you a score of 100, or 200 or 300 but if Jesus gives you a score of 0 is that not much more important?
Do you want to receive a good score from me or do you want to receive a good score from the Lord?
People are more concerned with how they appear to others.
It is possible to live your life in a manner in which you find favor from the pastor and are on his good side.
I am not talking about me but about people in general
But the truth is when you live your life of faith centered on God, then you will live a life that shows Him and people would commend you for it, but we fail to do this.
We do not understand how this is possible.
It is because we do not understand we live according to the standards of this world,
especially at our work, amongst our peers.
We are to show them what it means to believe in Jesus, but because we fear being rejected by others we participate in their way of life.
It may be a drink, or smoking, but whatever it is they justify it saying that everyone else is doing it and that there is nothing wrong with it.
They entice you saying that they will not tell anyone.
You do not think that you are sinning because others know what you have done though it is in secret from all the rest of the people around you.
Rather than living a different life there are too many times where we fall into their way of life.
Then are we living thinking that God who sees our heart is watching me and giving me a score?
We do not.
The heart is the most important.
There are many circumstances that arise in our daily lives.
There are things where the beginning is important and some things may be the end or the middle.
Some things we can take pleasure in the appearance but some things we take pleasure in the meaning of the work.
We can look at a building and say that it is beautiful, but without the structure holding up the building, soon it will not be able to stand.
Do we see the foundation and the structure upon which the building is built?
We do not.
It is that which is not seen that important but in man that is the heart.
Our heart and our thoughts must be rooted in God’s Word so that it may be revealed in the life that we live.
We wear nice clothes and people notice us.
But this is not what is important.
I must know that what God sees is my heart and that I am must be clean so that I can live a life that is clean.
A clean life in speech, action, and the path I walk.
Is the path I am going the path following the Lord?
Or is it the path following the world?
Are my actions that are the reflection of my Lord or is it a reflection of this world?
Are the words I speak glorifying to God and a fragrance of Jesus or is it useless words only to boast of myself?
It is my heart that is important.
But I am unable to be patient and expose my anger, frustration and everything out of me.
Afterwards I feel better for having vented, but then what?
Now that you have aired out everything you realize you have made a mistake and say you are sorry.
You think that resolves everything.
Can the aftermath of your sin be resolved just by saying sorry?
No it cannot.
We are mistaken to think this way in our life of faith.
You fail to realize that after what you did and simply saying sorry does not resolve the matter of your sin between you and God.
Because we do not acknowledge this we cannot change our behavior.
It is important to know that we are the ones causing others to sin because of our behavior and we must resolve that matter but what is also important is to see that we have fallen before God and I must repent.
But we do not think about this, so then when we sin again in the future, we think that we are forgiven easily again, according to our pleasure, and because we have not crucified ourselves with Christ we do not live a life of the resurrection.
To truly live a life of the resurrection you must first make the decision and turn from your life of sin.
It must come from your heart.
What is it then that you will live your life of faith centered around?
It does not matter what I tell you it is because if you refuse to accept it then the answer means nothing to you.
Meet Jesus for yourself and when you are led by the spirit and shown truths from the Word then do not ever let it go.
I am saying this to you because the Bible is teaching us to receive the answers from the Word.
I am not saying to live your life according to the standards of what you think the Bible means to you, but there is a standard which the Bible gives, and you must find this standard.
If I say I found something in Matthew, how you accept it is dependent on each of your faiths.
The amount of faith you have is dependent on how much you are willing to die to yourself, humble yourself and be filled with the Spirit and Jesus and to the degree you accept this is the degree of your faith.
If I lay down 10 percent of the world and accept 10 percent of Jesus then when I read the Bible I will only understand 10 percent of it.
If I am blessed and surrender 30 percent more, then I can understand 30 percent more of the Bible.
If I surrender 50 percent then I can understand 50 percent more.
If I am able to say that I have surrendered 100 percent then through the Holy Spirit I am able to understand 100 percent.
If I am at 30 percent but someone who is at 50 percent is sharing what they know of the Bible then who will win if there is a disagreement?
The 30 percent?
Why?
Because there is more that the 30 percent person does not know and because he does not understand he refuses to change his views.
The Bible cannot be understood by human knowledge.
But we study the Bible and use our knowledge to analyze and critique it to fit it into our lives.
That is why we are falling more into Liberal Theology, away from the Bible.
It is because we do not try to understand the Bible through Holy Spirit, but we try to understand the Bible through our own ideas and thoughts to fit our desires, because what we see does not make sense.
And trying to make sense of what we do not understand we have made up new teachings that are not 100 percent in the Spirit.
Rather than listen and accept the teachings of someone who understand the Word more than I, we accept the teachings of men who agree on what they decide is what the Bible says which is new and different from the Bible.
How do you read the Bible?
Do you read the Bible from the view of the world?
Then if you study all the writings of the scholars then you will know everything.
But if you think that is not all, and that daily you must surrender yourself before the cross, and kill your will so that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit then you will live a life of change.
This new life of change is to participate in the resurrection.
Without your resurrection you are only remembering the resurrection of Jesus and it has nothing to do with you, then what use is it?
People have a difficult time seeing someone else prosper.
But others are prospering.
Why?
Because they have put their faith in Jesus, they have died to their self and participated in the resurrection, and being filled with the Spirit and power of God’s grace they are living their lives.
But it is not happening to me.
But if we look at our personal history, I am the one who has gone to church since the womb and I am the one who witnessed to that person, but why is that person changed and I am not?
Rather than look at myself to see what is wrong with me, I would rather point a finger at them and say do not follow the Jesus they believe in.
People behave this way because they do not understand the reason for others growth.
People fail to understand that which does not fit into their way of thinking.
This is why they judge other people’s faith is wrong.
When they see that others have changed and are living a new life of the resurrection and seeing that they are not doing so, rather than look at themselves they refuse to accept the other person.
What is to become of your relationship with the Lord?
You are to stand right in your relationship with the Lord but people are more concerned about their relationship with others.
If I tell our church members to only do what I teach and do not go outside of the boundaries that I set and to not do things that I do not approve of then who am I making you a copy of?
I am making you like me.
Then whose life are you living?
I am telling you to live your lives like me.
Then what happens to you?
God has called each of you according to His purpose and through each of you He is training you up in His own way.
Each of you has a different purpose.
Do each of you all have the same calling?
Do you all do the same work?
You are all different.
As men, women, husbands, wives, father, mother, parent, child, each has a calling that God is preparing them for, through training.
But in the mind of someone who does not understand everyone is to be the same.
They bind them which make them live a life of faith that is a lie.
Then who takes care of the head, the hands, the feet, the body, the inside.
What is important, that which we do not see or that which we see?
We think the outside is more important than the things that are unseen in the inside.
The face, though important to take care of to show others, but to live a healthy life the insides must be healthy so that one can live healthy.
Everyone must do their part as we prepare to eat, when we go play sports, in all that we do so that as a team we can accomplish our goal, and so that we can enjoy our time together when we play sports and enjoy our time together as we share a meal.
But if all have the same job, one job, will the church function properly?
It will not.
From the time God created this earth to this day, in all everything that has happened to this point, and if you walk with the Lord, then you have been given a position, in your family, at work, amongst your friends, when you do the work that the Lord has given you, it is not you who must be revealed but the one who has called you, Jesus must be revealed through your life.
In order for Jesus to be evident in your life you must die.
Then He can live through you.
When you live a life of death to yourself, then through the life of resurrection, everyone you meet can be life that reveals Jesus.
This is the life of a Christian.
This is the life of one who has participated in the resurrection.
Without this life, without true change, how can you prove that you have any relationship with the resurrected Lord?
Our Lord tells us to live holy lives and commands us to be the light and salt and fulfill our purpose.
Paul after living this life tells us that it is a life that is fragrant of Jesus.
He tells us to live our lives like him as he follows Jesus.
If this is not evident in our lives, then can we say that we are worthy of being called Christians?
We say we believe in Jesus but it is a faith that is only in our heads.
That head knowledge has no value in our life.
When it becomes real in our lives then it is no longer only knowledge, but it is a life of obedience to the call of the Word that knocks on our hearts.
This is the life of faith.
For those of us who are first generations here did the knowledge we had of America the same when we arrived here?
The life I thought I would live here is now different.
The knowledge I tried to apply here was different.
It is more difficult.
But we think because we know it in our heads that we are doing it.
But trying to apply that which we know into real life is difficult.
What is the first thing we needed to do here?
We needed to know the language.
We needed to learn the culture.
Then to live our lives as a Christian, the language of Christianity, the culture of faith is what we must adapt to so that we can live a life of resurrection.
Without this, how can we say that we are living a born again life that will give us entry into Heaven?
Who will vouch for your life?
There are large churches where tens of thousands gather.
If they all vote and say something is right does it make it right?
No it does not.
All the world right now is saying that we all worship the same God but on different paths.
They all agree and vote on it.
Is that right?
If the Bible says it is not, then according to the Bible’s truth, their vote is wrong.
If all 7 billion people on this planet vote yes, but out Lord says no then it is no.
Whose standard must you meet to either enter in to eternal life or eternal punishment?
It is not according to your standards of what you think is satisfactory.
Unless you pass the judgment of the who shed His blood and sits in the seat of judgment, then you will not pass.
Unless you live a life that is of resurrection, then when you are raised from the dead it is not life but eternal fire which awaits you.
The proper Christian life is one that has died on the cross.
The resurrected life in Jesus is one that proves that there has been death in me.
Then this Easter weekend of 2013, if you had made the decision to turn your life over to Jesus on the night of His death to also die, then today you are to resurrect and live a new life of change starting from today.
This is the life you must live daily to have victory.
When you live this life, though it is the path of life it is also the path of suffering.
Do not forget this.
It is possible that you will be persecuted as you walk this new life.
When our Lord promises to bless us, we think that He speaks of this earth, but it not to be blessed here, though we work hard here in service to receive the blessing in Heaven which will last forever.
This is the true blessing.
To walk this blessed path, I will be persecuted as our Lord was persecuted.
It may start from my family.
It may start within myself and I may stumble at times.
This is the path of the cross.
But this is the path of victory.
Our Lord has already won.
If I only hold onto my Lord and follow then I too may live a life of victory and live a life that leads to the presence of His glory.
The life of resurrection is one of perseverance, that allows me to continuously live this life of change.
This is the life you must live so that God can use you for His will.
In order for you to live this life God will daily train you up.
In order for you to live this life God will provide you the blessings that you require so that you can be the fragrance of Christ.
This is the life of participating in the resurrection.
This is the life of praise and worship.
As you live this life may you be pleasing to the Lord and reveal the glory of God.


Sermon by Pastor Howard Park
Translation by Miguel Park

The Habit Of Enjoying Adversity

"... that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:10).


We have to develop godly habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not just a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved so that "the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." And it is adversity that makes us exhibit His life in our mortal flesh. Is my life exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or just the basic irritation of "myself" that I would have apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy adversity is the acute sense of eagerness of allowing the life of the Son of God to evidence itself in me. No matter how difficult something may be, I must say, "Lord, I am delighted to obey You in this." Instantly, the Son of God will move to the forefront of my life, and will manifest in my body that which glorifies Him.

You must not debate. The moment you obey the light of God, His Son shines through you in that very adversity; but if you debate with God, you grieve His Spirit (see Ephesians 4:30). You must keep yourself in the proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in you, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is. Discovering the new way of manifesting the Son of God should make our heart beat with renewed excitement. It is one thing to choose adversity, and quite another to enter into adversity through the orchestrating of our circumstances by God's sovereignty. And if God puts you into adversity, He is adquately sufficient to "supply all your need" (Philippians 4:19).

Keep your soul properly conditioned to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on your memories of past experience, but let the Word of God always be living and active in you.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Monday, May 13, 2013

The Habit Of Keeping A Clear Conscience

"... strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men" (Acts 24:16).


God's commands to us are actually given to the life of His Son in us. Consequently, to our human nature in which

God's Son has been formed (see Galatians 4:19), His commands are difficult. But they become divinely easy once we obey.

Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself to the highest standard I know, and then continually reminds me of what that standard demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward God or toward what we regard as the highest standard. This explains why conscience is different in different people. If I am in the habit of continually holding God's standard in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to God's perfect law and indicate what I should do. The question is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I can live without any offense toward anyone. I should be living in such perfect harmony with God's Son that the spirit of my mind is being renewed through every circumstance of life, and that I may be able to quickly "prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2; also see Ephesians 4:23).

God always instructs us down to the last detail. Is my ear sensitive enough to hear even the softest whisper of the Spirit, so that I know what I should do? "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God..." (Ephesians 4:30). He does not speak with a voice like thunder- His voice is so gentle that it is easy for us to ignore. And the only thing that keeps our conscience sensitive to Him is the habit of being open to God on the inside. When you begin to debate, stop immediately. Don't ask, "Why can't I do this?" You are on the wrong track. Thereis no debating possible once your conscience speaks. Whatever it is- drop it, and see that you keep your inner vision clear.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]


Sunday, May 12, 2013

The Habit Of Having No Habits

"If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful..." (2 Peter 1:8).


When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it. These are times when we are aware of becoming virtuous and godly, but this awareness should only be a stage we quickly pass through as we grow spiritually. If we stop at this stage, we will develop a sense of spiritual pride. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous expression‍ of our lives that we are no longer aware of them. Our spiritual life continually causes us to focus our attention inwardly for the determined purpose of self-examination, because each of us has some qualities we have not yet added to our lives.

Your god may be your little Christian habit- the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We say, "I can't do that right now; this is my time alone with God." No, this is your time alone with your habit. There is a quality that is still lacking in you. Identify your shortcoming and then look for a opportunities to work into your life that missing quality.

Love means that there is no visible habits-that your habits are so immersed in the Lord that you practice them without realizing it. If you are consciously aware of your own holiness, you place limitations on yourself from doing certain things-things God is not restricting you from at all. This means there is a missing quality that needs to be added to your life. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there someplace where you are not at home with God? Then allow God to work through whatever that particular circumstance may be until you increase in Him, adding His qualities. Your life will then become the simple life of a child.


[From "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers]

Saturday, May 11, 2013

"Love One Another"

"... add to your... brotherly kindness love" (2 Peter 1:5,7).


Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don't know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26). Initially, when "the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 5:5), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.

The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, "... love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). He is saying, "I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you." This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable- it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.

"The Lord... is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish..." (2 Peter 3:9). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God's divine love will remain and grow in me unless it us nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Friday, May 10, 2013

Take The Initiative

"... add to your faith virtue..." (2 Peter 1:5).


Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves- God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must "work out" our "own salvation" which God has worked in us (Philippians 2:12). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning- to instruct yourself in the way you must go.

Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative- stop hesitating- take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, "I will write that letter," or "I will pay that debt"; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.

We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Reaching Beyong Our Grasp

"Where there is no revelation [or prophetic vision], the people cast off restraint..." (Proverbs 29:18).


There is a difference between holding onto a principle and having a vision. A principle does not come from moral inspiration, but a vision does. People who are totally consumed with idealistic principles rarely do anything. A person's own idea of God and His attributes may actually be used to justify and rationalize his deliberate neglect of his duty. Jonah tried to excuse his disobedience by saying to God, "... I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relent from doing harm" (Jonah 4:2). I too may have the right idea of God and His attributes, but that may be the very reason why I do not do my duty. But wherever there is vision, there is also a life of honesty and integrity, because the vision gives me the moral incentive.

Our own idealistic principles may actually lull us into ruin. Examine yourself spiritually to see if you have vision, or only principles.

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's heaven for?

"Where there is no revelation [or prophetic vision]..." Once we lose sight of God, we begin to be reckless. We cast off certain restraints from activities we know are wrong. We set prayer aside as well and cease having God's vision in the little things of life. We simply begin to act on our own initiative. If we are eating only out of our own hand, and doing things solely on our own initiative with expecting God to come in, we are on a downward path. We have lost the vision. Is our attitude today an attitude that flows from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done before? Is there a freshness and a vitality in our spiritual outlook?


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The Faith To Persevere

"Because you have kept My command to persevere..." (Revelation 3:10). Perseverance means more than endurance- more than simply holding on until the end. A saint's life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, "I can't take any more." Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God's hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And then though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life- throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God. God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet- places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ's life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, "This is eternal life, that they may know You..." (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance- a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Building For Eternity

"Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it,,," (Luke 14:28). Our Lord was not referring here to a cost which we have to count, but to a cost which He has already counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, the unfathomable agony He experienced in Gethsemane, and the assault upon Him at Calvary- the central point upon which all of time and eternity turn. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. In the final analysis, people are not going to laugh at Him and say, "This man began to build and was not able to finish" (14:30). The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion- those who have love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious. All that we build will be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work. [from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]

Monday, May 6, 2013

To Be Crucified With Jesus

Matthew 27:11-54 Crucifixion week. Jesus came to earth for us, to be nailed to the cross to die and be buried. We offer this worship in remembrance of what He did for us. Shall I describe today’s worship as important or special? It is to be both, but as we live our lives here on earth are we walking in our faith because we desire to receive something from it or because we desire something that we are unable to acquire on our own? As we remember the suffering that Jesus endured and as we offer this worship in remembrance of that fact may we look upon ourselves and examine my relationship with Jesus so that it may be the right relationship of faith? During the prayer the pastor prayed that we have all come out wearing black to remember the death of Jesus. What does the color black represent? It represents death. Whose death does it represent? We wear it to represent the death of Jesus but the truth is, as we see in all the Bible, unless I also participate in death by dying along with Him, then my faith is in vain. In order to not have faith that is in vain, you must have true faith, but what kind of faith is that? The black clothes that I wear today are not a symbol of the death of Jesus but it must represent my death then my relationship with Jesus will stand right with Him. In truth that is the whole sermon. This is the conclusion. Unless I too crucify myself on the cross as did Jesus, there is no reason to remember His death, because my life of faith is invalid. We read the entire passage from Matthew 27:15-54. Everything has been explained. What else is there to say when everything has been explained and we know all these things? But as I have said the conclusion of the matter is that tonight the black clothes that you wear in remembrance of the death of Jesus, must also represent that you too have also died with Him so that your relationship will be right with Him. What is the result? Unless you are willing to die do not assume you are following Jesus. You do not believe. The wife of Pilate, many people who followed Him, those who were crucified with Him were are witnesses of Jesus. As we were in prayer today I asked myself why is it that Jesus needed to be crucified between two criminals? They could have crucified Jesus alone or had Him off to one side, but why in the middle of the two criminals? It is to represent the dying for of sinners. I must confess that I am a sinner and look to the cross of our Lord in order to have a connection to Him. Without this, it is useless to cry to God. Jesus died on the cross to forgive the sin of the sinners. The Bible records that it is Adam’s original sin through which our spirit’s were severed from God, but reconciled through Jesus for which He came. He came amongst sinners. He came, but as we look at Luke, we see that there are two types if sinners. One who confesses that Jesus is Lord and one who does not believe in Him. We are sinners who believe in Jesus and His kingdom and that is why we come out here to worship Him today. We are the same as the people in the world. No matter how much we try to show a difference we are the same. The only difference is when we come before they do not confess their sins and those of us who believe admit to our sins. That is the difference. When we confess our death on the cross with Jesus, then our lives must change. Our lives must be different from that of the people of this world in purpose and direction. Our purpose in making money is different. Whether in pursuing health, attaining a position, whatever it may be in this world our purpose for attaining these things are different. This is why the life of a Christian is different. The purpose is different but what about the method? It is in the way that Jesus Christ teaches us to live which is to be the method of achieving our purpose. The way of the world does not concern themselves with the method as long as they achieve their goal, but Christians are to concern themselves with the manner in which we fulfill our purpose. According to which standard? The standard of the Bible? The standard and manner in which Jesus Christ shows us. This is the way we are to live our lives as Christians. I went a little off track. I wanted to share with you about insurance. Each of you have your own thoughts about insurance. Why do we have insurance? Simply it is so that we do not suffer a loss. Whether it is auto, home, or life insurance. There are many types of insurance. Recently I came to understand that not everything in covered. We have always called the insurance company when things were broken and they always fixed it. But our washing machine was broken so when we called them they refused to fix it. The reason was that they told us that we had overused the machine in a manner for which it was not intended and that they would not fix it for us until we gave them a receipt for a new machine showing them it was no longer the old machine. Does this make sense? It was a machine that we had used for over 10 years and there is no way to prevent it from breaking down, but saying that we had overworked the machine was reason for them to not pay for a new one or fix it. They refused to answer any call pertaining to this machine. So now when I watch the ads or insurance I understand that there are details and conditions that follow every situation. In car insurance there are various types of coverages and prices. I want to emphasize that what I am wanting you to understand is that just because you have insurance does not mean that you are covered. In business we make decisions based on the person and make deals. But because you had nothing in writing you may be taken advantage of. There is no proof. You have nothing signed. You had trusted someone who you should not have put your trust into and you have been taken advantage of. You purchased insurance and now you want to use but you do not know the conditions to which you are able to do so. You cannot use the insurance because the conditions are not met. Then what use is it to have that insurance? It is useless. I want to relate this to our faith. As a Christian I have insurance in our faith in Jesus. What kind of insurance? Insurance of Heaven. I have insurance of Heaven because I believe in Jesus. I say that I have gone to church since my mother’s womb, and am a pastor, elder, deacon in the church. But though you say you have insurance how can you use it? Not only do you have to meet the conditions of it but you also have to sign it. Like being baptized and confessing your faith you have to sign your name on it to make it binding. Is that it? You also have to make payments for it or else you insurance will be cancelled. Faith is the same. Unless I live my life according to the Word making payments in obedience in all situations then my Heavenly insurance will be cancelled. An unpaid bill cancels your contract. Unless like Paul I die daily in my life of faith, if there is no sweat in honoring my allegiance to God, my faith becomes invalid. Though I know that Jesus came to this earth to die for me but I must accept that this has been done for me so that I may make the the payment of that belief with my life. Without this there is no victory in faith. It does not matter that you know a famous insurance agent, meaning a good pastor who gives great sermons about Jesus, because unless you pay with your own life your contract is invalid. No matter how big the church may be, or how much power the preacher may have, unless I live a life of victory and pay with my life the deal is off. When we get to Heaven the Lord will tell us, as did Paul tell us that a race must be run by the rules and there is only one winner. A competitor that has competed outside of the rules is disqualified. Our Lord says though we may call to Him Lord, Lord, no matter what you may have done for Him, unless you have done it according to His Bible, then everything that you have done no matter how great and powerful will not be credited to you. You will be disqualified. Can you then enter into Heaven? You cannot. It is no use to bring a contract that is invalid because you will not be paid. There is nothing for you to receive. The cross of Jesus Christ, His death, it must be made yours through a life that is lived by faith so that you can thus change. But we think that in our present state we are good enough. We ask “what have we done wrong?” We are stuck here and this is why we do not change. We are stuck in our attitude of good enough which is the reason why we are unable to live a life of power in Jesus Christ. We do not change. There is none who is good before God. Whether the pastor or the young child we are all sinners. But why is it that you think that you are not a sinner? This is where the problem is. We all point the finger and blame someone else. But what do even the people of this world say? When you point the finger look at how many are pointing back at you. One is aimed at the other person but three are aimed at you. We refuse to look at ourselves. Everyone says to look at yourself first. But we keep blaming others. “It is your fault” we say. It is not. When we are able to see our sins then we no longer look at the faults of others. Why do I hate that person? It is because deep inside my heart I have hate that has grown. It is not because that person has done anything, it is because hate has grown in my heart and that hate is now directed to that person. If the heart of Jesus grows within me, then because I have His heart I am able to live His life. But do we not fail to live like this? The life of the flesh and the life of the spirit is in war against each other daily. There is never a moment when it is easy. You may have just had a spiritual experience and had visions of Heaven and Hell, and the moment you are done praying and say “amen” you open your eyes and see the person you dislike the most, then what use it is that you just had a great spiritual experience when your heart is now filled with hate? The moment you close the door to your heart the spiritual blessing you just had means nothing. Will you go to Heaven? You will go to Hell. Why? You were shown all good things so that you would humble yourself before God, but instead you close the door to your heart because of the person in front of you whom you hate. You choose to live the life of a sinner. But you use the excuse that it is their fault that you hate them. If we say that we are participating in the crucifixion of Jesus then I am the one who must die. I must change. Before I look at the faults of others I must look at myself first and see my faults and be able to embrace others with the love of Jesus. This must come from me so that I can make the payments of the Heavenly insurance daily. I must live this life so that when there is a trouble, I can call my agent in Heaven, and say that everyday I have made payments through the life I lived in the situations where I was called to do so and lived a life of death, and today I have this problem, and I am asking you to compensate for it. Would they not pay you? You can receive payment. Why? Because I have confidently taken up Heavenly insurance and confidently and assuredly made daily payments through the life I lived, and that is why I can as a Christian receive the payment that I seek. Jesus came for us 2000 years ago so that we can live this life by dying on the cross and be buried for us on this day. When we remember these events, we realize that there are many times in our lives that we regret things the moment words leave our mouths. As we confess our sins and change, as 10 becomes 9 and 9 becomes 8 and as we lessen the sins as we live holy lives so that God the Father will acknowledge us as having lived our lives as Jesus. It does not matter that no one on this earth knows me. When I see my neighbors because I have difficulty communicating with them I am not known by them except that I live next to them. But still I can still live here without any uneasy feeling because this is my house. I can live here with confidence. Though I am not known by any Korean or American, but as a child of God I live confidently according to His will, then I can live confidently on this planet during my time here. You are confident when you live according to the Word. But if you are living a life where people are calling you a hypocrite then you cannot live confidently. When Jesus went to bear the cross, we have been shown that in may depictions His face was downcast and shall we say burdened? But there was an artist whom the Lord spoke to saying “Look carefully at my face.” “I came to earth and accomplished everything that I have been given and lived a perfect life in victory. Therefore when I carried the cross to Golgotha I did so with a smile on my face.” This person testified that this is what the Lord had told him. I do not know about you, but what I heard and understood is that though we may be going on a path of suffering let us do so with a smile. Then we can be victorious. Do not complain. We know that complaining comes form the devil. Yet we still complain. Then recognize that you have fallen down, admit it and quickly stand back up. Do not regret. Do not get angry. You must see that in those moments you have been tricked by the devil. Jesus Christ lived a life of victory for me. If we are following Him in this path of victory which is the path to Golgotha, then though everything may seem as failure and seem without fruit, the path we go with in Jesus is a path where everything has already been done and it can be a path we go with a smile on our faces. I am asking that this is the path that you will choose to follow. You must make this decision to be victorious. This is the life that will pay you when you decide to use your Heavenly insurance. This week, as we remember the suffering of Jesus, let us examine our lives and the relationship we have with Him, and truly see with our eyes that we are sinners so that we can truly confess that our Lord did die for me. And when that confession comes from our mouths may we live a life that exemplifies that belief by following our Lord. May you truly meet the Lord in His terms and live the life the proper way and participate in the crucifixion, not only in remembrance of His death, but as a turning point where tonight I too have died. Sermon bt Pastor Howard Park Translated by Miguel Park