The Assigning Of The Call

"I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church..." (Colossians 1:24).


We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. The He gives us tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed to be His call for us. And one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, "Here am I! Send me
(Isaiah 6:8).

This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make you into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, "If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn't object!" But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed- you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.

I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.


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

The Awareness Of The Call

"... for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!" (1 Corinthians 9:16).


We are inclined to forget the deeply spiritual and supernatural touch of God. If you are able to tell exactly where you were when you received the call of God and can explain all about it, I question whether you have truly been called. The call of God does not come like that; it is much more supernatural. The realization of the call in a person's life may come like a clap of thunder or it may drawn gradually. But however quickly or slowly this awareness comes, it is always accompanied with an undercurrent of the supernatural- something that is inexpressible and produces a "glow." At any moment the sudden awareness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life may break through- "I chose you..." (John 15:16). The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. You are not called to preach the gospel because you are sanctified; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a compulsion that was placed upon him.

If you are ignored, and thereby removed, the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances. See where you have put your own ideas of service or your particular abilities ahead of the fall of God. Paul said, "... woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!" He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to "preach the gospel" was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength.

If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn't matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God's purpose, He will bring not to only conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony.


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

Sid Roth "It Is Supernatural!"

The "Go" Of Unconditional Identification

"Jesus... said to him, 'One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor... and come, take up the cross, and follow Me'" (Mark 10:21).


The rich young ruler had the controlling passion to be perfect. When he saw Jesus Christ, he wanted to be like Him. Our Lord never places anyone's personal holiness above everything else when He calls a disciple. Jesus' primary consideration is my absolute annihilation of my right to myself and my identification with Him, which means having a relationship with Him in which there are no other relationships. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation or sanctification, but deals solely with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. Very few of us truly know what is meant by the absolute "go" of unconditional identification with, and abandonment and surrender to, Jesus.

"Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him..." (Mark 10:21). This look of Jesus will require breaking your heart away forever from allegiance to any other person or thing. Has Jesus ever looked in this way at you? This look of Jesus transforms, penetrates, and captivates. Where you are soft and pliable with God is where the Lord has looked at you. If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on having your own way, and always certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, then there are whole areas of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.

"One thing you lack...." From Jesus Christ's perspective, oneness with Him, with nothing between, is the only good thing.

"... sell whatever you have...." I must humble myself until I am merely a living person. I must essentially renounce possessions of all kinds not for salvation (for only one thing saves a person and that is absolute reliance in faith upon Jesus Christ), but to follow Jesus. "... come... and follow Me." And the road is the way He went.


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

The "Go" Of Renunciation

"...someone said to Him, 'Lord, I will follow You wherever You go'" (Luke 9:57).


Our Lord's attitude toward this man was one of severe discouragement, "for He knew what was in man" (John 2:25). We would have said, "I can't imagine why He lost the opportunity of winning that man! Imagine being so cold to him and turning him away so discouraged!" Never apologize for your Lord. The words of the Lord hurt and offend until there is nothing left to be hurt or offended. Jesus Christ had no tenderness whatsoever toward anything that was ultimately going to ruin a person in his service to God. Our Lord's answers were not based on some whim or impulsive thought, but on the knowledge of "what was in man ." If the Spirit of God brings to your mind a word of the Lord that hurts you, you can be sure that there is something in you that He wants to hurt to the point of its death.

LUKE 9:58. These words destroy the arrangement of serving Jesus Christ because it is a pleasant thing to do. And the strictness of the rejection that He demands of me allows for nothing to remain in my life but the Lord, myself, and a sense of desperate hope. He says that I must let everyone else come or go, and that I must be guided solely by my relationship to Him. And He says, "... the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

LUKE 9:59. This man did not want to disappoint Jesus, nor did he want to show a lack of respect for his father. We put our sense of loyalty to our relatives ahead of our loyalty to Jesus Christ, forcing Him to take last place. When your loyalties conflict, always obey Jesus Christ whatever the cost.

LUKE 9:61. The person who says, "Lord, I will follow You, but....," is the person who is intensely ready to go, but never goes. This man had reservations about going. The exacting call of Jesus has no room for good-byes; good-byes, as we often use them, are pagan, not Christian, because they divert us from the call. Once the call of God comes to you, start going and never stop.


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

The "Go" Of Reconciliation

"If you... remember that your brother has something against you..." (Matthew 5:23).


This verse says, "If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you...." It is not saying, "If you search and find something because of your unbalanced sensitivity," but, "If you ... remember...." In other words, if something is brought to your conscious mind by the Spirit of God- "First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (5:24). Never object to the intense sensitivity of the Spirit of God in you when He is instructing you down to the smallest detail.

"First be reconciled to your brother...." Our Lord's directive is simple- "First be reconciled...." He says, in effect, "Go back the way you came- the way indicated to you by the conviction given to you at the altar; have an attitude in your mind and soul toward the person who has something against you that makes reconciliation as natural as breathing." Jesus does not mention the other person- He says for you to go. It is not a matter of your rights. The true mark of the saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus.

"... and then come and offer your gift." The process of reconciliation is clearly marked. First we have the heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, then the sudden restraint of the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit, and then we are stopped at the point of our conviction. This is followed by obedience to the Word of God, which builds on attitude or state of mind that places no blame on the one with whom you have been in the wrong. And finally there is the glad, unhindered offering of your gift to God.


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

The "Go" Of Relationship

"Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two" (Matthew 5:41).


Our Lord's teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a supernatural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciples does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself- a relationship that has been examined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and I can truly say, "I am here for God to send me where He will." Everything else may become blurred, but this relationship with Jesus Christ must never be.

The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changes my nature by putting His own nature in me. Jesus Christ is the only One who can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount.

If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must be made disciples supernaturally. And as long as we consciously maintain the determined purpose to be His disciples, we can be sure that we are not disciples. Jesus says, "You did not choose Me, but

I chose you..." (John 15:16). That is the way the grace of God begins. It is a constraint we can never escape; we can disobey it, but we can never start it or produce it ourselves. We are drawn to God by a work of His supernatural grace, and we can never trace back to find where the work begin. Our Lord's making of a disciple is supernatural. He does not build on any natural capacity of ours at all. God does not ask us to do the things that are naturally easy for us- He only asks us to do the things that are perfectly fit to do through His grace, and that is where the cross we must bear will always come.


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

The "Go" Of Preparation

"If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23-24).

It is easy for us to imagine that we will suddenly come to a point in our lives where we are fully prepared, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished. In fact, it is a process that must be steadily maintained. It is dangerous to become settled and complacent in our present level of experience. The Christian life requires preparation and more preparation.
The sense of sacrifice in the Christian life is readily appealing to a new Christian. From a human standpoint, the one thing that attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense of the heroic, and a close examination of us by our Lord's words suddenly puts this tide of enthusiasm to the test. "... go your way. First be reconciled to your brother...." The "go" of preparation is to allow the Word of God to examine you closely. Your sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit will detect in you is your nature that can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you. Do you have anything to hide from God? If you do, then let God search you with His light. If there is sin in your life, don't just admit it- confess it. Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?
Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you. You were looking for some big things to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go. But behind that tiny thing lies the stronghold of obstinacy, and you say, "I will not give up my right to myself"- the very thing that God intends you to give up if you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

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

The Missionary's Goal

"He...said to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem...'" (Luke 8:31).


In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him-"...till we all come...to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ..." (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God's will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.

In our Lord's life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father's will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go "up to Jerusalem."

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master" (Matthew 10:24). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our "Jerusalem." There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going "up to [our] Jerusalem."

"...there they crucified Him..." (Luke 23:33). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord's grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, "I too go 'up to Jerusalem.'"


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

The Missionary's Master And Teacher

"You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.... I say to you,a servant is not greater than his master..." (John 13:13,16).

To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depth of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing else- "... for One is your Teacher, the Christ..." (Matthew 23:8).
Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.
"You call Me Teacher and Lord..."- but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God's servant- He was His Son. "... though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience..." (Hebrews 5:8). If we are consciously aware that we are being mastered, that idea itself is proof that we have no master. If that is our attitude toward Jesus, we are far away from having the relationship He wants with us. He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it- a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.

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

The Missionary's Predestined Purpose

"Now the LORD says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant..." (Isaiah 49:5).


The first thing that happens after we recognize our election by God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our preconceived ideas, our narrow-minded thinking, and all of our other allegiances- we are turned solely into servants of God's own purpose. The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted human race onto another course, but it has not altered God's purpose to the slightest degree. And when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God's great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interest of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely forced into John 3:16- "For God so loved the world...."

We must continually keep our soul open to the fact of God's creative purpose, and never confuse or cloud it with our own intentions. If we do, God will have to force our intentions aside no matter how much it may hurt. A missionary is created for the purpose of being God's servant, one in whom God is glorified. Once we realize that it is through the salvation of Jesus Christ that we are made perfectly fit for the purpose of God, we will understand why Jesus Christ is so strict and relentless in His demands. He demands absolute righteousness from His servants, because He has put into them the very nature of God.

Beware lest you forget God's purpose for your life.


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

His Temptation And Ours

"We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).


Until we are born again, the only kind of temptation we understand is the kind mentioned in James 1:14, "Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." But through regeneration we are lifted into another realm where there are other temptations to face, namely the kind of temptations our Lord faced. The temptations of Jesus had no appeal to us as unbelievers because they were not at home in our human nature. Our Lord's temptations and ours are in different realm until we are born again and become His brothers. The temptations of Jesus are not those of a mere man, but the temptations of God as Man. Through regeneration, the Son of God is formed in us (see Galatians 4:19), and in our physical life He has the same setting that He had on earth. Satan does not tempt us just to make us do wrong things- he tempts us to make us lose what God has put into us through regeneration, namely the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come to us on the premise of tempting us to sin, but on the premise of shifting our point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil.

Temptation means a test of the possessions held within the inner, spiritual part of our being by a power outside us and foreign to us. This makes the temptation of our Lord explainable. After Jesus' baptism, having accepted His mission of being the One "who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) He "was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness" (Matthew 4:1) and into the testing devices of the devil. Yet he did not become weary or exhausted. He went through the temptation "without sin," and He retained all the possessions of His spiritual nature completely intact.


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

Is There Good In Temptation?

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man..." (1 Corinthians 10:13).


The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.

A person's inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of a person being tempted and being reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or set the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.

Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal- it does not direct me toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don't know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.

Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else- what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations- He sustains us in the midst of them (see Hebrews 2:18 and 4:15-16).


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

Praying To God In Secret

"When you pray, go into your room , and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place..." (Matthew 6:6).


The primary thought in the area of religion is- keep your eyes on God, not on people. Your motivation should not be the desire to be known as a praying person. Find a inner room in which to pray where no one even knows you are praying, shut the door, and talk to God in secret. Have no motivation other than to know you Father in heaven. It is impossible to carry on your life as a disciple without definite time of secret prayer.

"When you pray, do not use vain repetitions..." (6:7). God does not hear us because we pray earnestly- He hears us solely on the basis of redemption. God is never impressed by our earnestness. Prayer is not simply getting things from God- that is only the most elementary kind of prayer. Prayer is coming into perfect fellowship and oneness with God. If the Son of God has been formed in us through regeneration (see Galatians 4:19) then He will continue to press on beyond our common sense and will change our attitude about the things for which we pray.

"Everyone who asks receives..." (Matthew 7:8). We pray religious nonsense without even involving our will, and then we say that God did not answer- but in reality we have never asked for anything. Jesus said, "...you will ask what you desire..." (John 15:7). Asking means that our will must be involved. Whenever Jesus talked about prayer, He spoke with wonderful childlike simplicity. Then He respond with our critical attitude, saying, "Yes, but even Jesus said that we must ask." But remember that we have to ask things of God that are in keeping with the God whom Jesus Christ revealed.


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

What To Renounce

"We have renounced the hidden things of shame..." (2 Corinthians 4:2).


Have you "renounced the hidden things of shame" in your life- the things that your sense of honor or pride will not allow to come into the light? You can easily hide them. Is there a thought in your heart about anyone that you would not like to be brought into the light? Then renounce it as soon as it comes to mind- renounce everything in its entirety until there is no hidden dishonesty or craftiness about you at all. Envy, jealousy, and strife don't necessarily arise from your old nature of sin, but from the flesh which was used for these kind of things in the past (see Romans 6:19 and 1 Peter 4:1-3). You must maintain continual watchfulness so that nothing arises in your life that would cause you shame.

"... not walking in craftiness..." (2 Corinthians 4:2). This means not resorting to something simply to make your own point. This is a terrible trap. You know that God will allow you to work in only one way- the way of truth. Then be careful never to catch people through the other way- the way of deceit. If you act deceitfully, God's blight and ruin will be upon you. What may be craftiness for you, may not be for others- God has called you to a higher standard. Never dull your sense of being your utmost for His highest- your best for His glory. For you doing certain things would mean craftiness coming into your life for a purpose other than what is the highest and best, and it would dull the motivation that God has given you. Many people have turned back because they are afraid to look at things from God's perspective. The greatest spiritual crisis comes when a person has to move a little farther on in his faith than the beliefs he has already accepted.


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

Arguments Or Obedience?

"... the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3).


Simplicity is the secret to seeing things clearly. A saint does not think clearly until a long time passes, but a saint ought to see clearly without any difficulty. You cannot think through spiritual confusion to make things clear; to make things clear, you must

obey. In intellectual matters you can think things out, but in spiritual matters you will only think yourself into further wondering

thoughts and more confusion. If there is something in your life upon which God has put His pressure, then obey Him in that matter. Bring all your "arguments and... every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" regarding the matter, and everything will become as clear as daylight to you (2 Corinthians 10:5). Your reasoning capacity will come later, but reasoning is not how we see. We see like children, and when we try to be wise we see nothing (see Matthew 11:25).

Even the very smallest things that we allow in our lives that is not under the control of the Holy Spirit is completely sufficient to account for spiritual confusion, and spending all of our time thinking about it will still never make it clear. Spiritual confusion can only be conquered through obedience. As soon as we obey, we have discernment. This is humiliating, because when we are confused we know that the reason lies in the state of our mind. But when our natural power of sight is devoted and submitted in obedience to the Holy Spirit, it becomes the very power by which we perceive God's will, and our entire life is kept in simplicity.


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

After Surrender - Then What?

"I have finished the work which You have given Me to do" (John 17:4).


True surrender is not simply surrender of our external life but surrender of our will-and once that is done, surrender is complete. The greatest crisis we ever face is the surrender of our will. Yet God never forces a person's will to surrender, and He never begs. He patiently waits until that person willingly yields to Him. And once that battle has been fought, it never needs to be fought again.

Surrender for Deliverance. "Come to Me...and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). It is only after we have begun to experience what salvation really means that we surrender our will to Jesus for rest. Whatever is causing us a sense of uncertainty is actually a call to our will- "Come to Me." And it is a voluntary coming.

Surrender for Devotion. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself..." (Matthew 16:24). The surrender here is of my self to Jesus, with His rest at the heart of my being. He says, "If you want to be My disciple, you must give up your right to yourself to Me." And once this is done, the remainder of your life will exhibit nothing but the evidence of this surrender, and you never need to be concerned again with what the future may hold for you. Whatever your circumstances may be, Jesus is totally sufficient (see 2 Corinthians 12:9 and Philippians 4:19).

Surrender for Death. "...another will gird you..." (John 21:18; also see verse 19). Have you learned what it means to be girded for death? Beware of some surrender that you make to God in an ecstatic moment in your life, because you are apt to take it back again. True surrender is a matter of being "united together [with Jesus] in the likeness of His death" (Romans 6:5) until nothing ever appeals to you that did not appeal to Him.

And after that surrender- then what? Your entire life should be characterized by an eagerness to maintain unbroken fellowship and oneness with God.


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

Missionary Weapons

"If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14).

Ministering in Everyday Opportunities. Ministering in everyday opportunities that surrounds us does not mean that we select our own surroundings- it means being God's very special choice to be available for use in any of the seemingly random surroundings which He has engineered for us. The very character we exhibit in our present surroundings is an indication of what we will be like in other surroundings.
The things Jesus did were the most menial of everyday tasks, and this is an indication that it takes all of God's power in me to accomplish even the most common tasks in His way. Can I use a towel as He did? Towels, dishes, sandals, and all the other ordinary things in our lives reveal what we are made of more quickly than anything else. It takes God Almighty Incarnate in us to do the most menial duty as it ought to be done.
Jesus said, "I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you" (13:15). Notice the kind of people that God brings around you, and you will be humiliated once you realize that this is actually His way of revealing to you the kind of person you have been to Him. Now He says we should exhibit to those around us exactly what He has exhibited to us.
Do you find yourself responding by saying, "Oh, I will do all that once I'm out on the mission field"? Talking in this

way is like trying to produce the weapons of war while in the trenches of the battlefield- you will be killed while trying to do it.
We have to go the "second mile" with God (see Matthew 5:41). Yet some of us become worn out in the first ten steps. Then we say, "Well, I'll just wait until I get closer to the next big crisis in my life." But if we do not steadily minister in everyday opportunities, we will do nothing when the crisis comes.

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

Matthew 4:8-11

Matthew 4:8-11, a Scripture we all know well, Jesus has just finished 40 days of fasting and amongst the temptations given to Jesus from the devil this is the last one.

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

The temptations that Jesus faced are the same temptations that we face today.
There are many places that ignore the existence of the devil and demons altogether.
The devil that tempted Jesus, does he consider me as he considered Jesus?
What do you think sir?
Do I have faith that is considered like that of Jesus’?
Do you?
The devil who tempted Jesus, what do you think he thinks of you?
What does the devil think of you?
He may think that you are not even bad food.
He may think of you as not even worth trying for.
We have fallen into the trap, we have eaten the food he has given to us, thinking that we are better than Jesus, and therefore we think that there is no temptation in our lives.
“The devil cannot tempt me!” we say.
We say,”There is no reason for me to fall into that trap!” in pride.
Because we have fallen into the trap we do not see that sin that we are in and have no thought about it.
It is because we do not realize that we have fallen into the trap.
The devil has deceitfully come into us but we refuse to face the truth.
This is hard to understand is it not?
Especially for those who are second generation because the terms I am using are bit difficult.
Many pastors speak about authentic versus fake.
Nowadays there are many fake products that are almost better than the authentic products.
Other times there is an over stock of the material that the company is using so that they make the same products but do not label it with their logo.
Otherwise it is the same.
Likewise, each of us tries to understand the Word of God and apply it into our lives, but the one who believes does so with the strength of the Spirit, for the glory of Jesus, through His blood, in joy for the redemption of their soul, being led by the Spirit and revealing it in their lives.
The devil, also reveals the Word of God, but does so only in knowledge of it, in formality, which makes it hard for even true believers to differentiate between the authentic believers and the fake.
Why?
From a knowing point of view, we know that to follow Jesus we are to surrender ourselves completely and let go of all that we think is the way to do things.
We are to die to ourselves, and accept the Word of God and reveal it through our lives, but the devil teaches us in a manner which fits our way of thinking and it seems more proper to us.
We think “Of course, that is the way the Word of God is to be revealed!” so the devil teaches us in a manner in which it is much more easier for us to accept.
Do you understand what I am saying, if not ask me.
I can explain it again.
For example, if I have fruit like that of the fruit of knowledge and it is poisonous, if you eat of it you will die.
But I am starving, and being led by the Spirit I am told to eat of eat, because if I do not eat it I will die.
If the Lord tells me to eat of eat and says I will not die, then am I to eat of it or not eat of it?
If I have truly received the word from the Lord whom we serve, then I must eat.
But from a knowing standpoint, if I eat it I will die, so I would rather starve and die than eat of it and die.
So we put forth our knowledge before the Spirit.
This is an example of how the devil interferes with the work of the Lord.
I have told you this example before of the time when I was in seminary school.
I met another seminary student who was influenced by the power of the devil and drove his car into the middle of a desert.
Then the devil left him and he came to his senses.
He realized that he had no gas in his car.
There was no way for him to go any further.
He searched his car and in his trunk he had water.
He prayed in faith saying that though he was led by the devil into the desert, he must now live to do God’s work so he was going to put the water in the tank and asked that the water be like fuel.
So he put the water in the gas tank, what happened next?
That car, the one I have ridden in myself, whenever that person would drive around to do God’s work, there was no consumption of fuel.
This is happening in today’s time.
But can you only be doing God’s work all the time?
Whenever he went to school, or to church meetings and worship meetings hardly any fuel was used.
But whenever he would need to run personal errands like shopping, or deal with some personal issues, then the fuel in the car would go down just like any other car.
One person is driving the same car, but depending on what his purpose is for driving the consumption of fuel is different.
I have ridden that car and seen it for myself.
The result of faith is beyond our understanding.
If the path that you are going on, is the path where you decide what you will do, then like the example of the car, you will be uselessly using fuel.
But if you go the path where the Lord is the standard, then you will not be using your fuel.
By whose standard are we to drive?
Whose standard are we to speak and act?
I am saying that it is not to be by our standards.
In today’s Scripture we see that the devil came to Jesus to tempt Him.
He knows who Jesus is.
The devil knows the purpose for which Jesus came.
That same devil, who tried to tempt Jesus with the desires of the flesh, heart and mind, if you think that the devil is not trying to make you fall, then you are standing in the place of pride above the devil himself.
Do you realize this?
You do not.
Often I go out and work on in the garden and my room is by the window and because we are next to a big street I hear the sound of motorcycles even late at night.
I hear it all through the day and especially when they are stopped at the signal and when they take off I imagine in my mind what kind of motorcycle it maybe.
There are some motorcycles that have a nice sound, some sound like they are going fast, and other that sound loud, but do not seem to be going fast.
I am always wondering what kind of motorcycle is passing by.
Yesterday, as I was going through the garden, I heard a loud motorcycle but it did not seem to be going fast, so I looked over the wall.
Do you know what kind of motorcycle it was?
It was very unique sounding.
It was a scooter.
I laughed to myself for a while.
That sound had made me think of motorcycles often but seeing it, it wasn’t even a scooter you sit on, it was one of those which you stand on and a motor was attached.
I listened to it and laughed to myself.
I do not want to talk about scooters, but in our lives as we put our faith in Jesus we make a certain sound.
Without looking at our hearts others may see how we sing, pray and all that we do and think that we are good believers but if we reveal the heart of the person they may have only the engine of a scooter in them.
Do you understand what I am trying to say?
I go around showing others how great a believer I am.
I boast in myself.
Though they make claims about what Jesus has done for them, but when you look at their hearts they are not motorcycles and not even a scooter but they are only a toy with a motor attached to it.
I am saying that the devil may look at us as such kind of believers.
I realized that it was not the first time I had been tricked and thought to myself how many times I must have been tricked and laughed about it.
Recently the weather has been unreliable.
It gets hot and then cold.
Do you know what happens because of the weather difference?
One of the first things I do in the morning is to go around the garden and pollinate the plants that need it.
There are few butterflies and bees these days to have it done on its own.
Without someone doing the work we will not be able to eat of some the vegetables that need to have it done.
I must be diligent.
Normally the flower of the squash open up early and about 11 AM closes and loses strength.
But due to the erratic weather, the flower at times stays open until late in the day or even the next day.
No matter how diligently I pollinate those flowers those flowers eventually die.
Why do I tell you this?
Is it about the flowers?
This past month there have been countless flowers that I have not been able to pollinate that have died.
You can see many of them on the ground even now.
Like these flowers we may have an appearance of beauty calling out to the bees and the butterflies, and though we are bloomed, like the apostle Paul has said, though we have watered the plants, it is the Lord who makes them grow.
But like the flowers if we are unable to receive properly the warmth of the sun, and the temperature fluctuates drastically, we cannot grow.
And though we may grow there will be no fruit.
Like flowers that are pollinated but do not grow, if we put on an appearance of faith and sing praises, and pray, dress in nice clothes, come to church, and do things in the name of the Lord, but if my relationship with the Lord is not right, there will be no fruit.
You are already dead.
No matter what is done to the flower it is already dead.
This is what nature teaches us as we apply the truth of God’s Word to our lives.
Unless my relationship with God is right, all the Bible reading, singing praises, and all the time I spend in prayer, if there is no fruit in my life, then I am dead.
The squash must bear fruit so that there can be seeds for the next season and also to please the owner by being food on the table.
But a dead flower is useless.
Seeing that no matter how diligent I am to the flowers that are already going to die, no matter how I live my life by praying, singing praises and crying out to God, without a right relationship with God and a life of obedience, then I am only wasting my time.
Let us not live this kind of life.
Go see for yourselves.
The pomegranate tree has flowers that bloomed.
It did so a little late this year.
I was diligent in watering it.
There must be at least a thousand flowers on it.
Out of the thousand there are only two that will bear fruit.
The other 998 are useless.
There will only be two pomegranates fruits.
The rest will die off and there will be nothing.
It seems that there are going to be many but in truth it is just a couple.
If our lives of faith are like this, then what will you do?
Yesterday, we attended a funeral for a pastor.
Of all the funerals I have been to, it was by far the largest gathering for someone who had died that I have attended.
In that large chapel, there were more people standing outside who could not come in.
The cars that people drove there were by far much more luxurious than the average person’s car.
All the people who sat in the row with one of our pastors had name brand designer bags on their laps.
People of great position came to pay their respects.
Then did the person who passed away sow good seeds or did she sow bad seeds for all these people to come to her funeral?
What do you think?
This one person had done much for all these people to come say goodbye which is what we were shown by the outcome.
In Korean history, there was conflict between two sides, one side lost and was removed from authority, but the one in authority died and the person who was removed came into power. When they took power they convicted the dead of crimes?
What happened afterwards?
They dug up the dead and punished the body of the dead.
This is history.
Are you aware of this?
Though someone has died, they committed a crime worthy of punishment and even though they are dead they must be punished.
So they dug up the grave and punished the dead.
Though I may live my life as though it seems good but the result is otherwise, then I will be punished in the end.
I am speaking about myself.
If I may have lived a life that helped many people and they would all later come to pay their respects at my funeral, but ultimately I did this all for my gain, then in the end when God calls me to judgment at the resurrection and he raises me up from the dead to punish me, then what will happen to me?
In the end we will all be raised up from the dead.
At that time if I am raised up to receive judgment and sent to Hell, then we must reconsider our lives.
We must consider how to enter in the God’s glory in the resurrection.
Depending on the result of my actions today, if I live a life that is acknowledged by God and the people, then in the end I will be guaranteed eternal life.
But if not, what will happen to me.
Today if I am filled with the Spirit and led by Him, and doing my work diligently.
But who am I as diligent as?
1 Samuel 10:9-11
Samuel has met with Saul and anointed him with oil as king of Israel.
After he was anointed...
9 As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10 When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. 11 When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”
God gave Saul a new heart and everything the Lord desired was fulfilled that day.
And in order of the events Saul has now become king of Israel.
Saul had received a new heart.
In today’s term he was redeemed.
He was filled with the Spirit and with a new heart he became the king of Israel and then what happened?
He disobeyed God and then rather than repenting before God, he fell into the trap of the devil, and thinking that he had come into the position of king on his own, he tried to maintain that position by trying to kill David.
1 Samuel 19:23-24

23 So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24 He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

How powerfully he was filled with the Spirit, that the king lay naked all day and all night prophesying?
Would you too be able to prophesy naked for a day and night while naked and being in the Spirit?
No matter how filled we are with the Spirit, we feel we must wear our clothes, cover the parts we must cover, and this reveals our will.
The king who wants to keep his position and is on his way to kill David his enemy, the one who is anointed by God, but when the Spirit of God came on him, he let go of everything, took off his clothes and prophesied.
He was filled with the Spirit.
But what did he do after he got up?
What did he do?
Until the day he died he was constantly interfering with God’s work.
Is being filled with God’s Spirit and prophesying important?
Yes, it is important.
But to the degree in which I prophesy, if I do not die to Jesus and reveal Him through my life, then it is all pointless.
Luke 10:17:20
The Lord gave authority to cast out demons and to preach the good news about the coming kingdom of God.
This is what they said.
17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

They were filled with joy because they were able to cast out demons and that they were doing something, but the Lord replies, “do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
What we are truly joyful about is not about casting out demons or healing the sick, but that our names are written in the book of life.
I thought about this yesterday, whether Judas Iscariot was among the 72, I do not know.
If we consider that the 12 were among the 72 then even Judas Iscariot had his name written in Heaven.
But in the end, because he was unable to live a life of obedience that revealed Jesus that name was erased from heaven.
If we today speak about prophesy, then Judas was not to have done what he did.
Even before this time the disciples had been given power.
They all claimed Him to be the Savior.
The called Him Lord and followed Him.
It is not important that they followed Him around, nor that they did things in His name, and though it is important that my name is written in Heaven, but I must live a life that bears fruit so that my name is not erased from Heaven.
Like Jesus who rebuked the devil with God’s Word and overcome the temptations, if I am unable to live a life that bears fruit, then like the flowers that are pollinated but are dead because there is no proper relationship between it and the sun, it will not bear fruit and die. Likewise a tree that has thousand of flowers but none of it bear fruit then all those flowers are useless. It is all the same.
God and I, Jesus and I, the Holy Spirit and I, unless I offer myself in obedience to the Word, and live my life according to what I think faith is, then our lives will be a life without fruit, no matter how much we pray, how much we read the Bible, no matter how much we sing praises, no matter how much power we display, then like Jesus said in Matthew, if on that day Jesus says that He does not know us, who is He saying that too?
Is it a nonbeliever or a believer?
Who is he telling “I never knew you.”
Lord, Lord, in you name I cast out demons and displayed power.
In your name means I am a believer.
I believe you yet why do you not know me?
I did these things in your name.
Like the 72 who cast out demons and were filled with joy.
They returned and were excited.
When I prayed things happened.
What importance is this?
I have told you repeatedly, these are only signs of God’s existence to you.
The joy of being saved by Jesus, the Spirit shows you these things to reveal God, that is why through your life you are to reveal Jesus by living a life of surrender.
But when I see myself, I realize I still want to live.
When I look at myself, the devil who tempted Jesus tempts me with the same temptation and me not having been victorious, am found fallen down in the trap.
When other see me they may see a pastor who seems to be righteous but when I look at myself in light of the Word, I see one who continues to fall into the trap.
Truly the devil disguises himself as an angel of light and tirelessly attacks us to make us fall.
The one word we speak, the one thought we have, whatever it may be in the brief moment that these things fly past our eyes, the devil throws more things at us in order to tempt us and make us fall.
The devil comes looking for me endlessly.
It will be a sudden thought, a sudden vision, it may seem like it is from the Lord, but when I take it one more step, I am worried, anxious and fearful.
My thoughts have entered and I stumble and fall.
When I fall then I decide how the story will end.
In the circumstance I no longer trust God to lead me, but I decide what I will do and have already fallen into the trap.
It is a cunning trap.
A student is about to take an exam but has not studied.
He starts daydreaming out the things he must do to get a good grade and calculates things in his mind without studying.
He decides how the story will be written out and what the end result will be.
He is not dependent on God.
Another example is a fight between spouses.
The spouse decides how they will resolve the issue in the what manner and what they will do.
Rather than ridding oneself the evil that is within, they try to undo the wrong by using the methods in their heads.
You fail to realize that you have already fallen into the trap of the devil.
You do business.
You get a customer.
Rather than serve them in obedience, you start calculating what you will do when you meet this person and what you will do when you meet that person.
You will make this deal, you will do this, and you have calculated all the scenarios in your head and then met the person, you have already fallen into the trap of the devil.
It is severe.
When we pray during the week as we are faced with trial we pray saying what is it Lord that you desire I do for your glory?
We are asking the wrong question.
Whenever we ask the wrong question we will always get the wrong response.
We think that God has sent us here to do something through us.
So we think we need to ask God what it is the He desires that we do with our lives.
What did we read in the quiet time.
God has already laid out the plans for His will.
If for His will I have been placed here, then we are to ask how do You want to use me?
But we do not ask to reveal God’s will, but we ask to do something for Him for ourselves.
We have fallen into the trap.
We are asking the wrong question.
If the devil tempted Jesus, then we are going to face greater temptations and far more every time we open our eyes, every time we open our ears, every time we think, whenever something arises from with in us, we must realize that the temptations of the devil are right there trying to take us down, and unless we remove them, with the Word of God, we will fall.
We must realize this, so that we can use our strength not to fall.
Unless we examine ourselves we will never be victorious.
When we examine our lives, we must be able to stand before God.
How you will stand in what manner is your decision that you must make.
You must decide for yourself and live that life.
By whose standards?
By the Word given to us by the Lord.
Determined to do so in obedience.
The devil who came to tempt Jesus, tempted Him all the way to the cross.
If you think that the devil is trying to tempt you until the point you die, then what kind of life should you be living, what kind of thoughts should you be thinking?
Re-examine your life and make the decision to do all that pleases God in obedience to His Word and living according to His will.
May this time be the time you decide to do so.

Missionary Weapons

"When you were under the fig tree, I saw you" (John 1:48).


Worshiping in Everyday Occasions. We presume that we would be ready for battle if confronted with a great crisis, but it is not the crisis that builds something within us- it simply reveals what we are made of already. Do you find yourself saying, "If God calls me to battle, of course I will rise to the occasion"? Yet you won't rise to the occasion unless you have done so on God's training ground. If you are not doing the task that is closer to you now, which God has engineered into your life, when the crisis comes, instead of being fit for battle, you will be revealed as being unfit. Crises always reveal a person's true character.

A private relationship of worshiping God is the greatest essential element of spiritual fitness. The time will come, as Nathanael experienced in this passage, that a private "fig-tree" life will no longer be possible. Everything will be out in the open, and you will find yourself to be of no value there if you have not been worshiping in everyday occasion in your own home. If your worship is right in your private relationship with God, then when He sets you free, you will be ready. It is in the unseen life, which only God saw, that you have become perfectly fit. And when the strain of the crisis comes, you will be relied upon by God.

Are you saying, "But I can't be expected to live a sanctified life in my present circumstances; I have no time for prayer or Bible study right now; besides, my opportunity for battle hasn't come yet, but when it does, of course I will be ready"? No, you will not. If you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions, when you get involved in God's work, you will not only be useless yourself but also a hindrance to those around you.

God's training ground, where the missionary weapons are found, is the hidden, personal, worshiping life of the saint.


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

Do It Yourself

"... bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..." (2 Corinthians 10:5).


Determinedly Discipline Other Things. This is another difficult aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood. Paul said, according to the Moffatt translation of this verse, "... I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ...." So much Christian work today has never been disciplined, but has simply come into being by impulse! In our Lord's life every project was disciplined to the will of His Father. There was never the slightest tendency to follow the impulse of His own will as distinct from His Father's will- "the Son can do nothing of Himself..." (John 5:19). Then compare this with what we do- we take "every thought" or project that comes to us by impulse and jump into action immediately, instead of imprisoning and disciplining ourselves to obey Christ.

Practical work for Christians is greatly overemphasized today, and the saints who are "bringing every thought [and project] into captivity" are criticized and told that they are not determined, and that they lack zeal for God or zeal for the souls of others. But true determination and zeal are found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that arises from our own undisciplined human nature. It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not "bringing every thought [and project] into captivity," but are simply doing work for God that has been instigated by their own human nature, and has not been made spiritual through determined discipline.

We have a tendency to forget that a person is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation , but is also committed, responsible, and accountable to Jesus Christ's view of God, the world, and of sin and the devil. This means that each person must recognize responsibility to "be transformed by the renewing of [his] mind..." (Romans 12:2).


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

Do It Yourself

"... casting down arguments and every high things that exalts itself against the knowledge of God..." (2 Corinthians 10:5).


Determinedly Demolish Some Things. Deliverance from sin is not the same as deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudice, that the saint can only destroy through sheer neglect. But there are other things that have to be destroyed through violence, that is, through God's divine strength imparted by His Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but only to "stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord..." (Exodus 14:13). But every theory or thought raises itself up as a forfeited barrier "against the knowledge of God" is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God's power, not through human effort or by compromise (see 2 Corinthians 10:4).

It is only when God has transformed our nature and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin- Jesus Christ conquered that in His redemption of us. The conflict is waged over turning our natural life into spiritual life. This is never done easily, nor does God intend that it be so. It is accomplished only through a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense that He makes our character holy. He makes us holy in the sense that He has made us innocent before Him. And then we have to turn that innocence into holy character through the moral choices we make. These choices are continually opposed and hostile to the things of our natural life which have become so deeply entrenched- the very things that raises themselves up as fortified barriers "against the knowledge of God." We can either turn back, making ourselves of no value to the kingdom of God. or we can determinedly demolish these things, allowing Jesus to bring another son to glory (see Hebrews 2:10).


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

Fountain Of Blessing

"The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).


The picture our Lord described here is not that of a simple stream of water, but an overflowing fountain. Continue to "be filled" (Ephesians 5:18) and the sweetness of your vital relationship to Jesus will flow as generously out of you as it has been given to you. If you find that His life is not springing up as it should, you are to blame- something is obstructing the flow. Was Jesus saying to stay focused on the Source so that you may be blessed personally? No, you are to focus on the Source so that out of you "will flow rivers of living water"- irrepressible life (John 7:38).

We are to be fountains through which Jesus can flow as "rivers of living water" in blessing to everyone. Yet some of us are like the Dead Sea, always receiving but never giving, because our relationship is not right with the Lord Jesus. As surely as we receive blessings from Him, He will pour out blessings through us. But whenever the blessing are not being poured out in the same measure as they are received, there is a defect in our relationship with Him. Is there anything between you and Jesus Christ? Is there anything hindering your faith in Him? If not, then Jesus says that out of you "will flow rivers of living water." It is not a blessing that you pass on, or an experience that you share with others, but a river that continually flows through you. Stay at the Source, closely guarding your faith in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow into the lives of others with no dryness or deadness whatsoever.

Is it excessive to say that rivers will flow out of one individual believer? Do you look at yourself and say, "But I don't see the rivers"? Through the history of God's work you will usually find that He has started with the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but with those who have been steadfastly true to Jesus Christ.


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

The Obama Deception

The Far-Reaching Rivers Of Life

"He who believes in Me... out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38).


A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, "rivers of living water" will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8) regardless of how small the visible effects our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow- "This is the work of God, that you believe..." (John 6:29). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.

A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the rivers of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ- not emotion nor experience- nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.

Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.


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

Watching With Jesus

"Stay here and watch Me" (Matthews 26:38).


"Watch with Me." Jesus was saying, in effect, "Watch with no private point of view at all, but watch solely and entirely with Me." In the early stage of our Christian life, we do not watch with Jesus, we watch for Him. We do not watch with Him through the revealed truth of the Bible even in the circumstances of our own lives. Our Lord is trying to introduce us to identification with Himself through a particular "Gethesemane" experience of our own. But we refuse to go, saying, "No, Lord, I can't see the meaning of this, and besides, it's very painful." And how can we possibly watch with Someone who is so incomprehensible? How are we going to understand Jesus sufficiently to watch with Him in His Gethesemane, when we don't even know why He is suffering? We don't know how to watch with Him- we are only used to the idea of Jesus watching with us.

The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose. In the garden of Gethesemane they slept as a result of their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest and most intimate relationship of their lives they "all... forsook Him and fled" (26:25).

"They were all filled with the Holy Spirit..." (Acts 2:4). "They" refers to the same people, but something wonderful has happened between these two events- out Lord's death, resurrection, and ascension- and the disciples now have been invaded and "filled with the Holy Spirit." Our Lord had said, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you..." (Acts 1:8). This meant they they learned to watch with Him the rest of their lives.


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

His!

"They were Yours, You gave them to Me..." (John 17:6).


A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: "You are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19). To say, "I am not my own," is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature. The true nature of that life in actual everyday confusion is evidenced by the deliberate giving up of myself to another Person through a sovereign decision, and that Person is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His showcase. Our Lord never sent any of His disciples out on the basis of what He had done for them. It was not until after the resurrection, when the disciples had perceived through the power of the Holy Spirit who Jesus really was, that He said, "Go" (Matthew 28:19; also see Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8).

"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" (Luke 14:26). He was not saying that this person cannot be good and upright, but that he cannot be someone over whom Jesus can write the word Mine. Any one of the relationships our Lord mentions in this verse can compete with our relationship with Him. I may prefer to belong to my mother, or to my wife, or to myself, but if that is the case, then Jesus said, "[You] cannot be My disciple." This does not mean that I will not be saved, but it does mean that I cannot be entirely His.

Our Lord makes His disciple His very own possession, becoming responsible for him. "... you shall be witness to Me..." (Acts 1:8). The desire that comes into a disciple is not one of doing anything for Jesus, but of being a perfect delight to Him. The missionary's secret is truly being able to say, "I am His, and He is accomplishing His work and His purposes through me."

Be entirely His!


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

Pouring Out The Water Of Satisfaction

"He would not drink it, but pour it out to the LORD" (2 Samuel 23:16).


What has been the "water from the well of Bethlehem" to you recently- love, friendship, or maybe some spiritual blessing (23:16)? Have you taken whatever it may be, even at the risk of damaging your own soul, simply to satisfy yourself? If you have, then you cannot pour it out "to the LORD." You can never set apart for God something that you desire for yourself to achieve your own satisfaction. If you try to satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you. You must sacrifice it, pouring it out to God- something that your common sense says is an absurd waste.

How can I pour out "to the LORD" natural love and spiritual blessings? There is only one way- I must make a determination in my mind to do so. There are certain things other people do that could never be received by someone who does not know God, because it is humanly impossible to repay them. As soon as I realize that something is too wonderful to me, that I am not worthy to receive it, and it is not meant for a human being at all, I must pour it out "to the LORD." Then these very things that have come to me will be poured out as "rivers of living water" all around me (John 7:38). And until I pour these things out to God, they actually endanger those I love, as well as myself, because they will be turned into lust. Yes, we can be lustful in things that are not sordid and vile. Even love must be transformed by being poured out "to the LORD."

If you have become bitter and sour, it is because when God gave you a blessing you hoarded it. Yet if you have poured it out to Him, you would have been the sweetest person on earth. If you are always keeping blessings to yourself and never learning to pour out anything "to the LORD," other people will never have their vision of God expanded through you.


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

A Life Of Pure And Holy Sacrifice

"He who believes in Me... out of his heart will flow..." (John 7:38).


Jesus did not say, "He who believes in Me will realize all the blessings of the fullness of God," but in essence, "He who believes in Me will have everything he receives escape out of him." Our Lord's teaching was always anti-self-realization.

His purpose is not the development of a person- His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God's purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us- and we cannot measure that at all.

When Mary of Bethany "broke the flask... of very costly oil... and poured it on [Jesus'] head," it was an act for which no one else show any special occasion; in fact, "... there were some who... said, 'Why was this fragrant oil wasted?'" (Mark 14:3-4). But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said, "... wherever this gospel is preached ... what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her" (Mark 14:9). Our Lord is filled with overflowing joy whenever he sees any of us doing what Mary did- not being bound by a particular set of rules, but being totally surrendered to Him. God poured out the life of His Son "that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:17). Are we prepared to pour out our lives for Him?

"He who believes in Me... out of his heart will flow rivers of living water"- and hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. Now is the time for us to break "the flask" of our lives, to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers

Destined To Be Holy

"... it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy'" (1 Peter 1:16).


We must continually remind ourselves of the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness. Today we have far too many desires and interests, and our lives are being consumed and wasted by them. Many of them may be right, noble, and good, and may later be fulfilled, but in the meantime God must cause their importance to us to decrease. The only thing that truly matter is whether a person will accept the God who will make him holy. At all cost, a person must have the right relationship with God.

Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe that God can come into me and make me holy? If through your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I then resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it is designed to reveal my unholiness, but it also awakens an intense yearning and desire within me. God has only one intended destiny for mankind- holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing-machine for people to use, and He did not come to save us out of pity- He came to save us because He created us to be holy. Atonement through the Cross of Christ means that God can put me back into perfect oneness with Himself through the death of Jesus Christ, without a trace of anything coming between us any longer.

Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind- placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God Himself. Holiness is not simply what God gives me that is being exhibited in my life.


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