My Utmost - Sept 24, 2009

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The “Go” Of Preparation

Matthew 5:23-24
“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there thou rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”

Key Passages

• It is easy to imagine that we will get to a place where we are complete and ready, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished, it is a process steadily maintained.

• “First be reconciled to your brother.” The “go” of preparation is to let the word of God scrutinize. The sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit is detecting in you is the disposition that will never work in His service.

• Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?

• Never discard a conviction.

• You were looking for a great thing to give up. God is telling you of some tiny thing; but at the back of it there lies the central citadel of obstinacy: I will not give up my right to myself – the thing God intends you to give up if ever you are going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

My Own Thoughts

So many places this applies in life. In my marriage its an obvious application. I come to God all the time in prayer and instantly remember some scuffle the wife and I may have just had. We come to it together when we pray together. We usually spend time praying together in the van on the way to work. However, the mornings are usually crazy and hectic getting three kids together for school or ready for daycare. Needless to say, some mornings we get “tense” with each other. That makes for a rough prayer time really. How can we expect to truly connect with God in prayer when we can connect to each other and forgive each other for whatever has come to pass that morning? Or how can we go to prayer together when we are both at our wits ends with the kids? Can we come to our Lord while we are angry with each other or others? “The sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough.” That line couldn't be more true. I get grandiose visions of being some sort of heroic sacrificial Christian man, but I can't even make simple sacrifice for my family, those closest to me whom I love.

I am as obstinate as any. I get big ideas about how I could be an amazing servant for God, but my follow through is weak because I am at some very deeply rooted level, unwilling to give up my handle on myself, my way, my plans.

Dear Father, I praise you for being a God who loves those undeserving of love. I pray that your will be done in my life, my marriage, in my kids lives and that you'd use me in whatever way you see fit. Provide for us only as you see that we need on any given day. Forgive me Father for my selfishness and unwillingness to let your Spirit have complete control. Lead me Father into the way that you would have me follow, and not the way that I would choose for myself.

My Utmost - Sept 23, 2009

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http://www.myutmost.org/09/0923.html

The Missionary's Goal

Luke 18:31
“Behold, we go up to Jerusalem.”

Key Passages

• The aim of the missionary is to do God's will, not to be useful, not to win the heathen; he is useful and he does win the heathen, but that is not his aim. His aim is to do the will of his Lord.

• Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord one hair's breadth away from His purpose to go up to Jerusalem.

• “The disciple is not above his Master.” The same things will happen to us on our way to our Jerusalem.

• There will be the works of God manifested through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude and the rest will show gross ingratitude, but nothing must deflect us from going up to our Jerusalem.

My Own Thoughts

Not a lot to go on tonight because I am pretty tired. Real quick though... a major weakness of mine is the need to have approval and gratitude from people. I struggle with this one all the time and it leads to a lot of my frustration and stress in life. I have a need to know that I am filling some gap somewhere and that I am worth something to someone. What a huge weight off the shoulders though once I get it through my head that I don't have to win approval from anyone. I already have it from the only One that it matters to have it from anyway. I don't have to worry about getting people saved, or living a right life, or being useful. I am all these things already. I need only to do the will of the God.

God show me your will today that I might accomplish it. Whether I am aware that I am accomplishing it or not. Use me in whatever way you see fit Lord.

My Utmost - Sept 22, 2009

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The Missionary's Master

John 13:13
“Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am.”

Key Passages

• To have a master and to be mastered is not the same thing.

• To have a master means that there is one who knows me better than I know myself, one who is closer than a friend, one who fathoms the remotest abyss of my heart and satisfies it, one who has brought me into the secure sense that He has met and solved every perplexity and problem of my mind.

• Our Lord never enforces obedience; He does not take means to make me do what He wants.

• Master and Lord have little place in our vocabulary, we prefer the words Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer.

• In the Bible obedience is based on the relationship of equals, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not God's servant, He was His Son.

• He wants us in the relationship in which He is easily Master without our conscious knowledge of it, all we know is that we are His to obey.

My Own Thoughts

I love the way Chambers words the idea of having a master... “To have a master means that there is one who knows me better than I know myself, one who is closer than a friend, one who fathoms the remotest abyss of my heart and satisfies it, one who has brought me into the secure sense that He has met and solved every perplexity and problem of my mind.” This whole sentence speaks so deeply to me that its hard to not choke up. My downfall is that I forget I have this master. Somebody who knows me like this. I sit and cry out to know and be known, all the while... I am known.

One piece of imagery that gets to me every time is the image of a father playing with his kids. Picking them up and embracing them, bringing them the sense of security, safety, and love. This idea of a father who knows his children intimately and deeply is something that I strive for myself as a father, it's what I miss about my relationship with my dad, and its what I long for in a very real sense with my heavenly Father. My relationship with my dad was great, and continues to be great. However, I truly miss being picked up by my dad and hugged and completely engulfed in his strength and his love for me. When my dad hugged me I could instantly tell that he loved me completely without condition, and would do anything for me to keep me safe and make it known that he loved me and was proud of me. He was my master as a kid. I want that same thing for my kids. I want that for myself again with my heavenly Father. I know its here for me now, but I can't wait for the day that I actually see and hear and feel His very presence with me in the immediate.

My Utmost - Sept 21, 2009

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Missionary Predestinations

Isaiah 49:5
“And now, saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be His servant.”

Key Passages

• The first thing that happens after we have realized our election to God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our prejudices and our parochial notions and our patriotisms; we are turned into servants of God's own purpose.

• The whole of human race was created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

• Sin has switched the human race onto another track, but it has not altered God's purpose in the tiniest degree, and when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God's great purpose for the human race, viz., I am created for God, He made me.

• The first thing God will do with us is to “force through the channels of a single heart” the interests of the whole world. The love of God, the very nature of God, is introduced into us, and the nature of Almighty God is focused on John 3:16 - “God so loved the world...”

• We have to maintain our soul open to the fact of God's creative purpose, and not muddle it with our own intentions.

My Own Thoughts

I am created for God and for His purposes. Sounds good to me. Takes a lot of pressure off from me with trying to come up with my own plans. I mean that seriously. How freeing it can be in those “every once in a while” times when I can really let go of all my plans and ambitions and just accept the fact that God has a plan for me. I am His for His eternal glorification, and He is mine for my eternal salvation and life.

My own intentions do get in the way sometimes. Specifically these last couple years I can see it. My trying to make it on my own. God keeps showing me over and over again that all the things that happen in my life, whether good at the time or bad, seem to work themselves out along the path of bringing me to a better understanding of God and a sense of His closeness and realness.

A statement I've made in the past that seems like something too smart sounding to have come out of my mouth... “When I look to the future I can't see God, but when I look at my past I can't deny that He is real and that He has been working.” So what does the future hold? How do I answer that question? I look at my past. I see that God has always been there for me, even in some dark times, and that God has always worked things out and had a grand plan that has brought me to where I am now to be used in the way I am being used now.

My Utmost - Sept 20, 2009

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The Divine Rule Of Life

Matthew 5:48
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Key Passages

• “If we walk in the light as God is in the light,” God will give us communion with people for whom we have no natural affinity.

• To be a disciple means that we deliberately identify ourselves with God's interests in other people. “That ye love one another; as I have loved you...”

• The expression of Christian character is not good doing, but God-likeness.

• God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not as human life trying to be godly.

• The secret of the Christian is that the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the experience of this works out in the practical details of life, not in times of communion with God.

My Own Thoughts

“God will give us communion with people for whom we have no natural affinity”... boy thats funny. I was just a family reunion today :) Just kidding. But it brings up a good point and one that I struggle with constantly and I am sure that many of us all struggle with. Communing (hanging out with) people that we would never hang out with naturally. I am not good at this at all. I like to stick to the people that make me comfortable, and when one person who might be a little “off” comes along, I avoid them like the plague, or better yet, I pick up on their weirdness and make fun of them. Maybe not to anyone else other than myself, but even then, I do it. I am a jerk. Nice to meet you.

I need this saving ability of the Holy Spirit to change my perceptions on people. Sometimes I am open to the Spirit and I feel like I can be used anywhere. However other days, I would much rather not interact with anyone I find to be different, than to have to do the hard work of letting go of everything thing I am gripping and letting the Spirit take over.

What a great relief it would be to let the Spirit have control of me. “God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not as human life trying to be godly.” No more trying. I long for the natural flow of the Holy Spirit through me. Come Spirit, wake me. I've been sleeping.

My Utmost - Sept 19

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Do You Continue To Go With Jesus?

Luke 22:28
“Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations.”

Key Passages

1. We wear His badge, but are we going with Him? “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him.”
2. The temptations of Jesus continued throughout His earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. Are we going with Jesus in the life we are living now?
3. We have the idea that we ought to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings round us. Never! God engineers circumstances and whatever they may be like we have to see that we face them while abiding continually with Him in His temptations.
4. Do you continue to go with Jesus? The way lies through Gethsemane, through the city gate, outside the camp; the way lies alone, and the way lies until there is no trace of a footstep left, only the voice, “Follow Me.”

My Own Thoughts

I think the first point hits me the hardest here. "We wear His badge, but are we going with Him." Kinda conjures up the imagery of the crusades to me. I'm a member of the "God" party, thinking I am doing what He wants, or maybe just doing what I want and saying that it's God who really wants it. Did I stop following Him a long time ago, go home, and now I am just telling my buddies of all the great stories I have with my buddy God? I know this is where I am at quite often. I have been convicted lately of my own attitude, and in my being a part of the church body and family. I quite often think I am just there to get my weekly dosage of God, then I am off to my week with no more change of attitude or life than I had before I got to church. Did I gather there to worship a God whom I say I love, or was I just serving myself? It positions me in the place of being an enemy of the God I like to say I serve. It's a scary thing to say out loud that you are an enemy of God. But that is the position I am putting myself in when I just get in His way. That is my temptation... to float through life comfortably never taking God seriously. Then I wonder why I struggle with feeling loved and validated, and worth anything to anyone. The enemy has me so deceived into serving and looking after myself that I don't even want to look up and around or anywhere away from myself. And when people don't look after me the way I want them to, I think they don't love me. When that somebody else is God, and I think He is ignoring me, I think He doesn't love me. This in spite of me knowing that He loves me much more than I could understand.

So Father forgive me for being a self-centered, self-worshiping individual. God help me to take my eyes off myself and look around at others who may have a need I can be used by you to fill. Forgive me for being your enemy.

My Utmost For His Highest

This book has been sneaking its way back into my regular daily reading. I had this idea to post each day to a blog post with some key passages from it to share with you all. Oswald Chambers really is a genius and the passages have something for me everyday that I need to hear. Other than the Bible, this book seems to speak to me more than any other ever. Although some CS Lewis books and Dallas Willard are working their way in there as well. Anyway, I don't know that I will actually be faithful in posting each and every days reading because let's be honest, I haven't be loyal in posting anything in quite a while, but I promise to give it a try. So keep your eyes open for the upcoming posts and I hope they work their way into you...