A number of years ago, I read the most delightful biography about Oswald Chambers. It’s called Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God, by David McCasland. It was quite good as well as inspiring. I believe I’ve mentioned before, about two thousand times, that I love reading Christian biography.
Of course, as with most people, I first met Chambers through the devotional, My Utmost for His Highest. That devotional, like all of his books, was put together after his death from the notes his wife took (shorthand) from his many lectures, studies, sermons, etc. (She was quite a woman).
I own pretty close to all of Chambers’ books (due to the very kind and generous offerings of a widow who was giving away her departed husband’s library). I have treasured them.
Chambers only lived into his early 40s. As someone who will be 48 this year, I have been “forced” to compare my productivity with his. I’m not fairing well. But we moderns never seem to compare well with anyone who’s been dead for a hundred years or more (usually). At any rate, if you would like to learn more about Chambers’ extraordinary short life, you can check out the following links.
. . . so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus. — Acts 20:24
Joy means the perfect fulfilment of that for which I was created and regenerated, not the successful doing of a thing. The joy Our Lord had lay in doing what the Father sent Him to do, and He says – “As My Father hath sent Me, even so am I sending you.” Have I received a ministry from the Lord? If so, I have to be loyal to it, to count my life precious only for the fulfilling of that ministry. Think of the satisfaction it will be to hear Jesus say – “Well done, good and faithful servant”; to know that you have done what He sent you to do. We have all to find our niche in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive our ministry from the Lord. In order to do this we must have companied with Jesus; we must know Him as more than a personal Saviour. “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My sake.”
“Lovest thou Me?” Then – “Feed My sheep.” There is no choice of service, only absolute loyalty to Our Lord’s commission; loyalty to what you discern when you are in closest contact with God. If you have received a ministry from the Lord Jesus, you will know that the need is never the call: the need is the opportunity. The call is loyalty to the ministry you received when you were in real touch with Him. This does not imply that there is a campaign of service marked out for you, but it does mean that you will have to ignore the demands for service along other lines.
They asked each other, “Were not our heartsburning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32)
by A.W. Tozer
As for myself, I have learned to talk back to [the devil] on this score.
I say, “Yes, Devil, sin is terrible – but I remind you that I got it from you! And I remind you, Devil, that everything good – forgiveness and cleansing and blessing – everything that is good I have freely received from Jesus Christ!”
Brethren, we have been declared “Not guilty!” by the highest court in all the universe. It is good to know that on the basis of grace as taught in the Word of God, when God forgives a man, he trusts him as though he had never sinned.
by John Bunyan
God is the only desirable good; nothing without him is worthy of our hearts. Right thoughts of God are able to ravish the heart; how much more happy is the man that has interest in God. God alone is able by himself to put the soul into a more blessed, comfortable, and happy condition than can the whole world; yes, and more than if all the created happiness of all the angels of heaven did dwell in one man’s bosom.
by Oswald Chambers
We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, it may be so in the initial stages; but we do not earn anything by faith, faith brings us into right relationship with God and gives God his opportunity.
God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of sentimental enjoyment of his blessings.
Your earlier life of faith was narrow and intense, settled around a little sun-spot of experience that as much of sense as of faith in it, full of light and sweetness; then God withdrew his conscious blessings in order to teach you to walk by faith. You are worth far more to him now than you were in your days of conscious delight and thrilling testimony.
…Faith in the Bible is faith in God against everything that contradicts him – I will remain true to God’s character whatever he may do. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him” (Job 13:15) - this is the most sublime utterance of faith in the whole of the Bible.
There seems to be a great throng of professing Christians in our churches today whose total and amazing testimony sounds like this: “I am thankful for God’s plan of sending Christ to the cross to save me from hell. …Surely we know the Bible well enough to be able to answer that: God’s highest purpose in the redemption of sinful humanity was based in his hope that we would allow him to reproduce the likeness of Jesus Christ in our once-sinful lives!”
“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored or turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”
from Oswald Chambers
The answer to the question “How can a man be born when he is old?” is – When he is old enough to die – die right out of his “rag rights,” to his virtues, to his religion, to everything, and to receive into himself the life which never was there before. The new life manifests itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness.
Is my knowledge of Jesus born of internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned by listening to others?
from John Wesley
The [new] Society [in Portarlington] now contained above one hundred members, full of zeal and good desires; and in one week the face of the whole town is changed: open wickedness is not seen; the fear of God is on every side; and rich and poor ask, “What must I do to be saved?” How long (I thought with myself) will this continue? In most only till the fowls of the air come, and devour the good seed. Many of the rest, when persecution or reproach begins, will immediately be offended. And in the small remainder, some will fall off, either through other desires, or the cares of the world, or the deceitfulness of riches.
from Ken Boa
Father, You have loved me and called me to be Your loyal follower, and to find my true pleasure in Your revealed will. You have given all humanity great personal worth and have called us to a high and holy life of other-centered love. As I pursue You, may I also pursue the best interests of the people You have sovereignly placed in my life, so that I will be an agent of reconciliation and of Your grace. You are the eternal wellspring of wisdom, and I want to drink from the water of Your Word and be satisfied. Keep me from being a stumbling block to others and empower me to treat people according to their true dignity in Your image rather than according to the world’s distorted view of status and worth. Let my love and service of others be an expression of my love and service to You.
Galatians 3:1-11
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. [2] I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? [3] Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? [4] Have you suffered so much for nothing–if it really was for nothing? [5] Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
[6] Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” [7] Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. [8] The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” [9] So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
[10] All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” [11] Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”
Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 39
The Ten Commandments
110. Question: What does God forbid in the eighth commandment?
Answer: God forbids not only outright theft and robbery[1] but also such wicked schemes and devices as false weights and measures, deceptive merchandising, counterfeit money, and usury;[2] we must not defraud our neighbor in any way, whether by force or by show of right.[3] In addition God forbids all greed[4] and all abuse or squandering of His gifts.[5]
[1] Ex. 22:1; I Cor. 5:9, 10; 6:9, 10. [2] Deut. 25:13-16; Ps. 15:5; Prov. 11:1; 12:22; Ezek. 45:9-12; Luke 6:35. [3] Mic. 6:9-11; Luke 3:14; James 5:1-6. [4] Luke 12:15; Eph. 5:5. [5] Prov. 21:20; 23:20, 21; Luke 16:10-13.
111. Question: What does God require of you in this commandment?
Answer: I must promote my neighbor’s good wherever I can and may, deal with him as I would like others to deal with me, and work faithfully so that I may be able to give to those in need.[1]
[1] Is. 58:5-10; Matt. 7:12; Gal. 6:9, 10; Eph. 4:28.
“If . . thou rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee. . . .” Matthew 5:23
If when you come to the altar, there you remember that your brother has anything against you, not – If you rake up something by a morbid sensitiveness, but – “If thou rememberest,” that is, if it is brought to your conscious mind by the Spirit of God: “first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” Never object to the intense sensitiveness of the Spirit of God in you when He is educating you down to the scruple.
“First be reconciled to thy brother . . .” Our Lord’s direction is simple, “first be reconciled.” Go back the way you came, go the way indicated to you by the conviction given at the altar; have an attitude of mind and a temper of soul to the one who has something against you that makes reconciliation as natural as breathing. Jesus does not mention the other person, He says – you go. There is no question of your rights. The stamp of the saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus.
“And then come and offer thy gift.” The process is clearly marked. First, the heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, then the sudden checking by the sensitiveness of the Holy Spirit, and the stoppage at the point of conviction, then the way of obedience to the word of God, constructing an unblameable attitude of mind and temper to the one with whom you have been in the wrong; then the glad, simple, unhindered offering of your gift to God.
The Gospel of John: Part 19
Prayer for this Lord’s Day
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the way of peace.
Come into the brokenness of our lives and our land
with your healing love.
Help us to be willing to bow before you in true repentance,
and to bow to one another in real forgiveness.
By the fire of your Holy Spirit, melt our hard hearts
and consume the pride and prejudice which separate us.
Fill us, O Lord, with your perfect love, which casts out our fear,
and bind us together in that unity
which you share with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jesus of Nazareth is the heaven-sent Savior we sinners need. We need to be forgiven and restored to fellowship with the all-holy God, from whom our sins have separated us. We need to be set free from our selfishness and given strength to live up to our ideals. We need to learn to love one another,, friend and foe alike. This is the meaning of “salvation.” This is what Christ came to win for us by his death and resurrection.
by Leonard Ravenhill
Unction cannot be learned, only earned – by prayer. Unction is God’s knighthood for the soldier-preacher who has wrestled in prayer and gained the victory.
by K.P. Yohannan
Each and every day, our walk with the Lord and our commitment to him must be fresh and new.
It is of utmost importance that the people who are called to fulfill God’s plan and purpose remain close to him and do not blindly rely on the past.
How is it possible for us to regain or maintain this fresh walk with the Lord…? I believe the answer starts with a conscious decision to daily “humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord (James 4:10) and begin or continue to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). And this is possible only if we are willing to repent or forsake all that causes our heart to wander away from the Lord…
by Oswald Chambers
[God] wants to get us to the place where we will be his witnesses and proclaim who Jesus is.
Be rightly related to God, find your joy there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water.
Galatians 2:11-21
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. [12] Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. [13] The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
[14] When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
[15] “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ [16] know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
[17] “If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! [18] If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. [19] For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. [20] I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 36
The Ten Commandments
99. Question: What is required in the third commandment?
Answer: We are not to blaspheme or to abuse the Name of God by cursing,[1] perjury,[2] or unnecessary oaths,[3] nor to share in such horrible sins by being silent bystanders.[4] In short, we must use the holy Name of God only with fear and reverence,[5] so that we may rightly confess Him,[6] call upon Him,[7] and praise Him in all our words and works.[8]
[1] Lev. 24:10-17. [2] Lev. 19:12 [3] Matt. 5:37; James 5:12. [4] Lev. 5:1; Prov. 29:24. [5] Ps. 99:1-5; Is. 45:23; Jer. 4:2. [6] Matt. 10:32, 33; Rom. 10:9, 10. [7] Ps. 50:14, 15; I Tim. 2:8. [8] Rom. 2:24; Col. 3:17; I Tim. 6:1.
100. Question: Is the blaspheming of God’s Name by swearing and cursing such a grievous sin that God is angry also with those who do not prevent and forbid it as much as they can?
Answer: Certainly,[1] for no sin is greater or provokes God’s wrath more than the blaspheming of His Name. That is why He commanded it to be punished with death.[2]
“Watch with Me” – with no private point of view of your own at all, but watch entirely with Me. In the early stages we do not watch with Jesus, we watch for Him. We do not watch with Him through the revelation of the Bible; in the circumstances of our lives. Our Lord is trying to introduce us to identification with Himself in a particular Gethsemane, and we will not go; we say – “No, Lord, I cannot see the meaning of this, it is bitter.” How can we possibly watch with Someone Who is inscrutable? How are we going to understand Jesus sufficiently to watch with Him in His Gethsemane, when we do not know even what His suffering is for? We do not 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 understand what He was after. In the Garden of Gethsemane they slept for their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest intimacy they “all forsook Him and fled.”
“They were all filled with the Holy Ghost” – the same “they,” but something wonderful has happened in between – Our Lord’s Death and Resurrection and Ascension; and the disciples have been invaded by the Holy Spirit. Our Lord had said – “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you,” and this meant that they learned to watch with Him all the rest of their lives.
Dear Father, I rejoice in the revelation that You want to be with me and me with You. The depths of Your grace are unfathomable—I cannot see how You could wish to have such intimacy with me. Yet daily I seem to forget this glorious truth and turn my heart instead to lesser goods that compete with the one thing most needful. Why do I clamor after other affections above Yours? How did I get betrothed to your enemy? I ask that you would untie me and break that knot, and take me to Yourself. Only when I am enthralled by You will I ever be free. Knowing this, I ask for the grace of holy aspiration, so that I will treasure what You declare to be important and stop giving myself to lesser things that cannot satisfy, but only entrap. By Your grace, I would break free from the bondage of the flesh, the world and the devil.
A number of years ago, I read the most delightful biography about Oswald Chambers. It’s called Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God, by David McCasland. It was quite good as well as inspiring. I believe I’ve mentioned before, about two thousand times, that I love reading Christian biography.
