This is excellent! Take the time to watch all 5 videos…
Popularity: 1% [?]
Suffering Afflictions and Going the Second Mile
July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Oswald Chambers’ Devotion for July 14…
Suffering Afflictions and Going the Second Mile
But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. – Matthew 5:39
This verse reveals the humiliation of being a Christian. In the natural realm, if a person does not hit back, it is because he is a coward. But in the spiritual realm, it is the very evidence of the Son of God in him if he does not hit back. When you are insulted, you must not only not resent it, but you must make it an opportunity to exhibit the Son of God in your life. And you cannot imitate the nature of Jesus- it is either in you or it is not. A personal insult becomes an opportunity for a saint to reveal the incredible sweetness of the Lord Jesus.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is not, “Do your duty,” but is, in effect, “Do what is not your duty.” It is not your duty to go the second mile, or to turn the other cheek, but Jesus said that if we are His disciples, we will always do these things. We will not say, “Oh well, I just can’t do any more, and I’ve been so misrepresented and misunderstood.” Every time I insist on having my own rights, I hurt the Son of God, while in fact I can prevent Jesus from being hurt if I will take the blow myself. That is the real meaning of filling “up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . .” ( Colossians 1:24 ). A disciple realizes that it is his Lord’s honor that is at stake in his life, not his own honor.
Never look for righteousness in the other person, but never cease to be righteous yourself. We are always looking for justice, yet the essence of the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is- Never look for justice, but never cease to give it.
Popularity: 1% [?]
God, Hurry Up!
July 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I loved today’s entry from Oswald Chambers. I find myself too often wanting God to hurry up and fulfill the vision he’s given me, whether it be for my family, for my church, or for myself personally. I’ve had a new hunger and longing lately, one that I’ve never had before and today, I think I see that it is God getting me into shape for the goal he has for me. I’ve heard similar things from some of our New Passion team. They are longing for God to show up in a fresh and powerful way; first personally then corporately. I’m excited that God has us on the same page and I cannot wait (although he wants me to wait) to see God continue to unfold his plan in us and through us.
Check out the devotional from today:
Visions Become Reality
The parched ground shall become a pool . . . Isaiah 35:7
We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.
Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.
God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.
The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Christ-Awareness
August 20, 2009 By 1 Comment
I was reading the daily devotional for August 20th today from Oswald Chambers. It’s called “Christ-Awareness.” You can read the entire devotional below, but I particularly liked this section:
When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, “Lord, what is your will?” A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.
Full devotion:
Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once, asking Him to re-establish your rest. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life that is causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not as something you should allow to remain. Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will disappear. Then He will be your all in all. Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue, because slowly but surely it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. Don’t allow yourself to say, “Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something over which they should be apologizing to me; I’m sure I must have this cleared up with them already.” Learn to leave others alone regarding this. Simply ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute.
A complete life is the life of a child. When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, “Lord, what is your will?” A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.
If we try to overcome our self-awareness through any of our own commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously. Jesus says, “Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest,” that is, Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes rest- the rest of the completion of activity in our lives that is never aware of itself.
Popularity: 1% [?]
I’d Rather See a Sermon
June 25, 2009 By 1 Comment
I’d Rather See a Sermon
By: Edgar Albert Guest
I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
I’d rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.
The eye’s a better pupil, more willing than the ear;
Fine counsel is confusing, but example’s always clear,
And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds,
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.
I can soon learn how to do it if you will let me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
The lectures you deliver may be very wise and true,
But I’d rather get my lesson by observing what you do.
For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give,
But there is no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.
When I see a deed of kindness, I am eager to be kind.
When a weaker brother stumbles, and a strong man stands behind
Just to see if he can help him, then the wish grows strong in me
To become as big and thoughtful as I know that friend to be.
And all travelers can witness that the best of guides today
Is not the one who tells them, but the one who shows the way.
One good man teaches many; men believe what they behold;
One deed of kindness noted is worth forty that are told.
Who stands with men of honor learns to hold his honor dear,
For right living speaks a language which to everyone is clear.
Though an able speaker charms me with his eloquence, I say,
I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Throw Me in the Lab and Make Me an Experiment
June 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I often want to have all of the answers. Its not always fun walking by this thing we call faith. The more I walk in faith the more I realize that it is by walking in faith that it increases and I learn how to live in it more regularly. It still doesn’t make it easy. I posted about my desire at times for a flashlight HERE last week. Without faith to fully trust God, I wonder how deep our Christianity really goes? Today, I was reading some more of Oswald Chambers and was really inspired by what he wrote…
Getting There
June 13“. . . come, follow Me” Luke 18:22
Where our individual desire dies and sanctified surrender lives. One of the greatest hindrances in coming to Jesus is the excuse of our own individual temperament. We make our temperament and our natural desires barriers to coming to Jesus. Yet the first thing we realize when we do come to Jesus is that He pays no attention whatsoever to our natural desires. We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself (see Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you- and His experiments always succeed. The one true mark of a saint of God is the inner creativity that flows from being totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing Well, which is a continual Source of original life. The Spirit of God is a Well of water springing up perpetually fresh. A saint realizes that it is God who engineers his circumstances; consequently there are no complaints, only unrestrained surrender to Jesus. Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative and original with others as He is with you.
If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, “Come,” then He will continue to say, “Come,” through you. You will go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ’s “Come.” That is the result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus.
Have I come to Him? Will I come now?
Two things stood out to me on this devotional:
- “Yet the first thing we realize when we do come to Jesus is that He pays no attention whatsoever to our natural desires. We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours.” – Talk about TOTAL surrender. Jesus pays no attention to our natural desires. Does this mean that there is nothing about our humanity that can make a difference in the spiritual realm? Don’t get me wrong. I totally believe that God uses us, humans, flesh and blood, to make a difference and to advance his kingdom. However, I believe that without the power of God, we are powerless. I love where Chambers says, “You cannot dedicate what is not yours.” - I believe he is telling us that it is through these gifts that God has given to us that we are given the power to advance his Kingdom, not through our own physical or mental capacities. I wonder how effective I could be for Christ, if I would just stop (trying to figure things out in my own intellect & doing things in my own power) and fully surrender to His idea for my life?
- “If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you- and His experiments always succeed.” – I am posting the definition of Experiment for my readers, but I didn’t need it to grasp what was being said right off. This is awesome! EXPERIMENT = A test, trial, or tentative procedure; an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown.- If we totally surrender our lives; our abilities, our intellect, our wills…God will throw us in his lab and make us his personal experiment. He will make us into an instrument to do something that is totally new, totally unknown, totally unique. I see men and women all over the world that God is using in tremendous ways, and a part of me envies them. I don’t envy them to be known or famous, but I envy what God uses them to do, the changes they inspire, the effect they have. I want God to throw me in his lab and make me his personal experiment. How about you? What’s your thoughts?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Church Planting: Can I At Least Have A Flashlight?
June 1, 2009 By 3 Comments
I read this devotion from Oswald Chambers the other night…I thought it defined my journey as a church planter pretty accurately. Sometimes I wish I just had a flashlight to see some of the things lying before me. At times I think a flashlight would make things easier. When I talk to people about joining our team…honestly, I understand their squirminess. Church planting is tough. I can say that with integrity now. It requires total reliance on God. Some people are not willing to do that. We absolutely will not take a step unless we can see what it is that’s lying in the grass ahead of us…what Oswald talks about is a scary, dangerous life of reckless abandon:
“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 of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”
Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventerous 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 on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find 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.
When God gives you a challenge. Do you wait for Him to give you a flashlight? Or are you daring enough to invest your faith in the character of God and taking a leap into the dark?
Popularity: 1% [?]
What Holds You Back?
February 20, 2009 By 3 Comments
I was at a church training event this past weekend. One of the pastors at the event gave a great morning devotion. He opened by talking about some of the things that hold him back from fully obeying God or fulfilling the call that God has placed on his life. One of the reasons he listed was simply that he knew how messed up he really was. I have to agree with him. Someone can tell me how they think I am going to be successful at an upcoming endeavor and I appreciate the encouraging words, but too often I find myself wanting to hold back and to sit still versus progressing because I get to looking at how messed up I am. After all, I know the thoughts I thought or the attitude towards other people that I had…the people saying the encouraging things don’t see the junk, they only see the shining parts of my life. In the end, I know I have to step out fully trusting that God knows what he is doing by leading me to do anything, but its not always easy!
Join the Conversation: What do you let hold you back?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Voddie Baucham Flips the Script
December 30, 2008 By 3 Comments
I had the priviledge of seeing Voddie Baucham for the first time at North Point Church in Alphretta, Georgia. At first I was a little upset that Andy Stanley was not going to be speaking, however after Voddie got finished I was excited I was introduced to this pastor. My dad and brother showed this video to me over the weekend. Watch the brief clip where Voddie flips the script on the philosophy of “If God is so powerful and so good, why do bad things happen?” Join the Conversation – Thoughts?
Popularity: 1% [?]