MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST - by Oswald Chambers

Don't Plan Without God
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jul 05 2012

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass Psalm 37:5

Don't plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.

In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our spiritual face before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.

Don't plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? Love . . . thinks no evil (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.

Don't plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, Let not your heart be troubled . . (John 14:1). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command Let not. . . To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.

"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

WISDOM RETREAT
Light Up the Runway!

Matthew 5:14-15

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house."

James Dobson told a story about a friend who was flying his single-engine plane toward a small rural airport. When he arrived at the close of the day, the sun had already dropped behind the mountain. By the time he had maneuvered into position to land, he couldn't see the shadowy field below. There was no one on duty at the airport, and there were no lights on the plane.

The pilot circled the runway for another attempted landing, but the darkness had become even more impenetrable. For two hours he flew around in the inky blackness, knowing full well that he faced certain death when his fuel tank emptied.

Then, as panic began to seize him, a wonderful thing happened. Someone who lived near the airport had heard the continuous drone of a small plane engine and realized there was a problem. That kind, merciful man raced to the airport and drove his car back and forth on the runway to indicate the direction of the airstrip. He then drove to the far end of the runway, positioned his lights, and turned them on high beam, to shine down the stretch of tarmac.

The pilot landed safely.

We all know the potential disaster that comes from being caught ill-equipped in darkness.

Maybe you drove to the restaurant anyway, even though your daughter reminded you that you don't see well enough to drive at night. Maybe you tried to get that last section of the deck stained before nightfall and discovered the streaks the next morning. Maybe you stepped on the only Lego left out on the floor as you started down the hallway to get a late-night drink of water.

Darkness can be frightening. Darkness can be dangerous. Darkness can be deadly.

But, "God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6).

This Light that He gave us is Himself. In John's Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples that He is the Light of the World (John 8:12). In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Jesus Christ tells His disciples that they are the light of the world. This is to say that Christ puts His Light in us. This He does by giving us Himself.

Because God has given Himself to us, we in turn bear witness of God to others. What if the man who had illuminated the runway had decided to stay home?

The souls of the world hang in the balance, and without Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, they are destined to remain in the darkness—without God . . . without hope.

Grab your keys; start the engine; turn on the headlights—someone's in trouble. Don't make him circle the field again! Light up the runway . . . bring him in for a safe landing!

Prayer Point: Pray that God will give you opportunity to share Christ with others. Pray that you will have the courage to shine brightly.

Extra Refreshment: Read Luke 1:67-79 and experience the same joy as Zacharias in praising God for Jesus, the Light of the World.

Go to God

1 Samuel 1:10

She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.

If man had written the Bible without God's inspiration, he would have placed the people found there on pedestals and edited the script to remove all of their mistakes, sins, and failures. But God, the Master Artist, paints the heroes of the Bible with realistic brush strokes.

God records the whole story of these men and women—"warts" and all; He records their triumphs and also their tears. There are no perfect people parading across the pages of Scripture—there are real people with real problems.

There was an article in Newsweek written by a woman who had been the editor for a publisher producing self-help books. She wrote:

You might expect that people who work for authors and bosses of such a company would, in general, be terribly well-adjusted folks—on a first name basis with all their feelings; bursting with self-esteem; free of type-A stress, phobias, and anxieties. Think again. The bosses are even now beginning construction on a second story for our building because the office manager and the head of typesetting cannot stand working in the same room together. One of the executive staff routinely gets so upset during phone calls that he falls out of his chair onto the floor.

Two in-house authors of a book on stress are on the verge of suing each other. Our best-selling book on phobias and fears is lacking an author cover photo because—you guessed it—the author has a phobia about having his picture taken!

This is true not only in the secular world but in the sacred world as well. We are all made of clay! If anyone ever gives you the impression that he has it all together, you need to look again . . . or just quit looking.

Hannah was unable to have children; she also suffered the indignity of the mocking of her husband's other wife Peninnah, who was able to bear children. This added insult to injury! It would be unbiblical to say that Hannah, this great woman of faith, was not affected by this situation—she was miserable.

I Samuel 1:8-9 says, "Elkanah her husband said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?' Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD."

And here comes Hannah's flood of tears!

You may have had times like this: tears bathing your cheeks and washing your soul. But the wonderful thing in verse 10 is that Hannah poured out her soul to the Lord. She went to Him, not away from Him, in the time of her deepest sorrow.

Your heartaches are God's concern; your burdens are His to bear for you. You can take comfort in the knowledge that "casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you," your heart will be eased (1 Peter 5:7). "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). Never forget that God is your greatest source of help; of strength; of comfort; of refuge.

What is it in your life that causes great distress? What causes you to weep bitterly? Whatever the reason, follow Hannah's example . . . go to God.

Prayer Point: Take time to pray to God, using real words about real things. Don't just utter the spiritual words that you think you should say—talk to your heavenly Father about your struggles; your feelings; your desires; your failures. Ask Him to help you trust His provision for your need.

Extra Refreshment: Read Hannah's prayer of exaltation in 1 Sam. 2:1-10, expressing her understanding of God's power.

One of God’s Great “Don’ts”
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jul 04 2012

Do not fret— it only causes harm —Psalm 37:8

Fretting means getting ourselves “out of joint” mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say, “Do not fret,” but something very different to have such a nature that you find yourself unable to fret. It’s easy to say, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7) until our own little world is turned upside down and we are forced to live in confusion and agony like so many other people. Is it possible to “rest in the Lord” then? If this “Do not” doesn’t work there, then it will not work anywhere. This “Do not” must work during our days of difficulty and uncertainty, as well as our peaceful days, or it will never work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work for anyone else. Resting in the Lord is not dependent on your external circumstances at all, but on your relationship with God Himself.

Worrying always results in sin. We tend to think that a little anxiety and worry are simply an indication of how wise we really are, yet it is actually a much better indication of just how wicked we are. Fretting rises from our determination to have our own way. Our Lord never worried and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God’s plans. Fretting is wickedness for a child of God.

Have you been propping up that foolish soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God to handle? Set all your opinions and speculations aside and “abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about whatever concerns you. All our fretting and worrying is caused by planning without God.


"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

The Conditions of Discipleship
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jul 02 2012

. . . So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple —Luke 14:33

If the closest relationships of a disciple’s life conflict with the claims of Jesus Christ, then our Lord requires instant obedience to Himself. Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person— our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a vast difference between devotion to a person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause— He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself.

To be a disciple is to be a devoted bondservant motivated by love for the Lord Jesus.

Many of us who call ourselves Christians are not truly devoted to Jesus Christ. No one on earth has this passionate love for the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Spirit has given it to him. We may admire, respect, and revere Him, but we cannot love Him on our own. The only One who truly loves the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit, and it is He who has “poured out in our hearts” the very “love of God” (Romans 5:5). Whenever the Holy Spirit sees an opportunity to glorify Jesus through you, He will take your entire being and set you ablaze with glowing devotion to Jesus Christ.

The Christian life is a life characterized by true and spontaneous creativity. Consequently, a disciple is subject to the same charge that was leveled against Jesus Christ, namely, the charge of inconsistency. But Jesus Christ was always consistent in His relationship to God, and a Christian must be consistent in his relationship to the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to strict, unyielding doctrines.

People pour themselves into their own doctrines, and God has to blast them out of their preconceived ideas before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.


"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3

He wants you to recognize the
nature you were exhibiting the nature of demanding your right to
yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work.

My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jul 01 2012

You will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny Matthew 5:26

There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you have been “thrown into prison, [and] . . . you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny (5:25-26). Yet you ask, Is this a God of mercy and love?

When seen from God's perspective, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work.

And the moment you realize that God's purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, Yes, Lord, I will write that letter, or, I will be reconciled to that person now.

These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to your heart.

If you find yourself asking, I wonder why Im not growing spiritually with God? then ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God's standpoint. Do now what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an ought behind it the knowledge of knowing what we ought to do.
"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

Receiving Yourself in the Fires of Sorrow
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jun 25 2012

. . . what shall I say? ’Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ’Father, glorify Your name’ —John 12:27-28

As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.

We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.

Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other
people.

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The Unchanging Law of Judgment
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jun 22 2012

With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you —Matthew 7:2

This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26).

Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”

Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.

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My Utmost for His Highest
Jun 19 2012
Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

. . . do you love Me? . . . Tend My sheep —John 21:16

Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate . . . , he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.

Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming
insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).

utmost.org

Beware of Criticizing Others
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jun 17 2012

Judge not, that you be not judged Matthew 7:1

Jesus instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, Don't.The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you
to think of yourself as a superior person.

There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person's situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.

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Getting There...
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jun 13 2012

". . . 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?
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And After That What’s Next To Do?
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jun 10 2012

". . . seek, and you will find . . ." —Luke 11:9

Seek if you have not found. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss . . .” (James 4:3). If you ask for things from life instead of from God, “you ask amiss”; that is, you ask out of your desire for self-fulfillment. The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God. “. . . seek, and you will find . . . .” Get to work— narrow your focus and interests to this one thing. Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you simply given Him a feeble cry after some emotionally painful experience? “. . . seek, [focus,] and you will find . . . .”

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. . .” (Isaiah 55:1). Are you thirsty, or complacent and indifferent— so satisfied with your own experience that you want nothing more of God? Experience is a doorway, not a final goal. Beware of building your faith on experience, or your life will not ring true and will only sound the note of a critical spirit. Remember that you can never give another person what you have found, but you can cause him to have a desire for it.

“. . . knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). “Draw near to God . . .” (James 4:8). Knock— the door is closed, and your heartbeat races as you knock. “Cleanse your hands . . .” (James 4:8). Knock a bit louder— you begin to find that you are dirty. “. . . purify your hearts . . .” (James 4:8). It is becoming even more personal— you are desperate and serious now— you will do anything. “Lament . . . ” (James 4:9). Have you ever lamented, expressing your sorrow before God for the condition of your inner life? There is no thread of self-pity left, only the heart-rending difficulty and amazement which comes from seeing what kind of person you really are. “Humble yourselves . . . ” (James 4:10). It is a humbling experience to knock at God’s door— you have to knock with the crucified thief. “. . . to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:10).

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“The Secret of the Lord”
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jun 03 2012

The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him . . . —Psalm 25:14

What is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys with you. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God. But then we find that God wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself— to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer— “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10)— that we catch the secrets of God? What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us— He knows every detail of each of our individual lives.

“Him shall He teach in the way He chooses” (Psalm 25:12). At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?” God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense. And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is Your will?”

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Are You Obsessed by Something?
Mu Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jun 02 2012

Who is the man that fears the Lord? Psalm 25:12

Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, No, by nothing, but all of us are obsessed by something usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A childs awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to live and move and have our being in God (Acts 17:28), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives.

If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy.

He himself shall dwell in prosperity . . . (Psalm 25:13). God will cause us to dwell in prosperity, [that is] keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. God is our refuge . . . (Psalm 46:1). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection.

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The Staggering Question
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Jun 01 2012
He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live?Ezekiel 37:3

Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate answer O Lord God, You know (Ezekiel 37:3). Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, Oh, yes, with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I see how it can be done.

It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers - with - God, yet so many people working -Â for - God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him. Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God's power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.

Behold, O My people, I will open your graves . . . (Ezekiel 37:12). When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He will only do this when His Spirit is at work in you), then you know that in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. My grave has been opened by God and I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells (Romans 7:18). God's Spirit continually reveals to His children what human nature is like apart from His grace.

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Put God First
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
May 31 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

utmost.org
"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
May 26 2012

Pray without ceasing . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:17

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

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

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

utmost.org

Our Careful Unbelief
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
May 23 2012

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

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

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

The greatest word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.

utmost.org

The Explanation For Our Difficulties
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
May 22 2012

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

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

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

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

utmost.org
"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

Taking Possession of Our Own Soul
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
May 20 2012
By your patience possess your souls Luke 21:19

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

There are certain things in life that we need not pray about moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we won't. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh.

utmost.org

Having God’s “Unreasonable” Faith
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
May 21 2012

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you —Matthew 6:33 **

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

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

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

utmost.org

**Note: What is 'the kingdom of God'? Paul defined it: "[After all] the kingdom of God is not a matter of [getting the] food and drink [one likes], but instead it is righteousness (that state which makes a person acceptable to God) and [heart] peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans 14

"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart
"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

Out of the Wreck I Rise
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
May 19 2012

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? —Romans 8:35

God does not keep His child immune from trouble; He promises, “I will be with him in trouble . . .” (Psalm 91:15). It doesn’t matter how real or intense the adversities may be; nothing can ever separate him from his relationship to God. “In all these things we are more than conquerors . . .” (Romans 8:37). Paul was not referring here to imaginary things, but to things that are dangerously real. And he said we are “super-victors” in the midst of them, not because of our own ingenuity, nor because of our courage, but because none of them affects our essential relationship with God in Jesus Christ. I feel sorry for the Christian who doesn’t have something in the circumstances of his life that he wishes were not there.

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

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

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

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

utmost.org


"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

Living Simply— Yet Focused
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
May 18 2012

Look at the birds of the air . . . . Consider the lilies of the field . . . —Matthew 6:26, 28

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin”— they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon— all of these simply are as well— yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Do not worry about being of use to others; simply believe on Me.” In other words, pay attention to the Source, and out of you “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). We cannot discover the source of our natural life through common sense and reasoning, and Jesus is teaching here that growth in our spiritual life comes not from focusing directly on it, but from concentrating on our Father
in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually— just as “the lilies of the field.”

The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and “the lilies of the field”— simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.

If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live— yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.
utmost.org
"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

His Ascension and Our Access
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
May 17 2012

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

We have no experiences in our lives that correspond to the events in our Lord’s life after the transfiguration. From that moment forward His life was altogether substitutionary. Up to the time of the transfiguration, He had exhibited the normal, perfect life of a man. But from the transfiguration forward— Gethsemane, the Cross, the resurrection— everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to anyone, and by His ascension our Lord entered heaven, keeping the door open for humanity.

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

The ascension is the complete fulfillment of the transfiguration. Our Lord returned to His original glory, but not simply as the Son of God— He returned to His father as the Son of Man as well. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God because of the ascension of the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ deliberately limited His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. But now they are His in absolute, full power. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ now has all the power at the throne of God. From His ascension forward He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

utmost.org


"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

The Habit of Rising to the Occasion
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

May 15 2012

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

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

God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life
to see if you can jump over them properly—”By my God I can leap over a
wall” (Psalm 18:29). God will never shield you from the requirements of being His son or daughter. First Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is
to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you . . . .” Rise
to the occasion—do what the trial demands of you. It does not matter how much it hurts as long as it gives God the opportunity to manifest the
life of Jesus in your body.
May God not find complaints in us anymore, but spiritual vitality—a
readiness to face anything He brings our way. The only proper goal of
life is that we manifest the Son of God; and when this occurs, all of
our dictating of our demands to God disappears. Our Lord never dictated
demands to His Father, and neither are we to make demands on God. We are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He
wants. Once we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine with which to feed and nourish others.

utmost .org

"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

The Habit of Enjoying Adversity
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
May 14 2012

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

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

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

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

utmost.org
"The head may seek God, but it is the heart that finds Him." Jeremiah 29:13
Susannah's Grace Counseling (Faith-based &/or Recovery) ~ Healing For The Wounded Heart

"Eternal life [is] to know you, the only true God,& Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." John 17:3
The Acts 1711 Project ~ Searching The Scriptures to Know Truth

The Habit of Having No Habits
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
May 12 2012

If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful . . . 2 Peter 1:8
When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it.
There are times when we are aware of becoming virtuous and godly, but
this awareness should only be a stage we quickly pass through as we grow spiritually. If we stop at this stage, we will develop a sense of
spiritual pride. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse
them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous
expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them. Our
spiritual life continually causes us to focus our attention inwardly for the determined purpose of self-examination, because each of us has some qualities we have not yet added to our lives.

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

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

utmost.org

MAY 12
When the Light Begins to Dim

“The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.” - Luke 11:34

Are there times in your life when you have sensed yourself growing cold spiritually? Felt the power seeping out of your life and felt that Jesus Christ wasn’t as real as He used to be? In times like this, get alone in a quiet place and begin to give things back to God that you have subtly taken off the altar.

Give Him your physical body and your right to life. Give Him your health, your strength, and your abilities to work and make a living. Give Him your reputation and your children. Give Him your cars, your clothes, your house.

And when you have honestly, earnestly, and sincerely given all to Him, the joy will return to your heart and you will sense your relationship with God restored.

For more from Love Worth Finding and Pastor Adrian Rogers, please visit www.lwf.org.

You can also listen to Adrian Rogers at OnePlace.com.

Watch Adrian Rogers and Love Worth Finding Video Online.

FEATURED RESOURCE
Daybreak: Practicing the Presence of God

This devotional journal with daily applications was designed several years ago by Adrian Rogers. This leather-bound keepsake will be a treasured addition to start your day out right!

Each day you will begin with a nugget from one of his messages, a reading from God's Word, and a place to write your "Spiritual concerns and prayer requests." Order your copy today.

For more Adrian Rogers resources you may visit the Love Worth Finding bookstore at www.lwf.org.

God
loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do
so.

"Love One Another"
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

May 11 2012

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

Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don't know
what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this
sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26). Initially, when the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things
mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.
2 Peter 1 --http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2% 20Peter%201: 1-10&version= NLT

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

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

utmost.org
The Habit of Having No Habits
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
May 12 2012

If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful . . . —2 Peter 1:8
When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it.
There are times when we are aware of becoming virtuous and godly, but
this awareness should only be a stage we quickly pass through as we grow spiritually. If we stop at this stage, we will develop a sense of
spiritual pride. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse
them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous
expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them. Our
spiritual life continually causes us to focus our attention inwardly for the determined purpose of self-examination, because each of us has some qualities we have not yet added to our lives.

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

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