Devotional for the day

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers   



The Unheeded Secret
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world -John 18:36

The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation . . . . For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21). It is a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives to be seen by others, while it is the innermost, personal area that reveals the power of a person's life.

We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord's life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.

It is not the practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College- its entire strength lies in the fact that here you are immersed in the truths of God to soak in them before Him. You have no idea of where or how God is going to engineer your future circumstances, and no knowledge of what stress and strain is going to be placed on you either at home or abroad. And if you waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God's redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens.


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Showers of Blessings

In Ezekiel 34:26, God is speaking, and He says,

"I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing."

In this passage, God is certainly speaking of natural rain when He talks about the showers He will send.  Those are rains He promised to Israel which would water the land and cause it to increase and be fruitful and bring an abundant harvest. 

But, more than that, when God says there will be showers of blessing, He is talking about bringing blessings into the lives of His people.  The rain is symbolic of more than just the rain that falls to the earth.  It symbolizes the good things that God wants to bring into the lives of those who serve Him.

God wants to bring showers of blessings into your life.  Not just a blessing or two, but showers of blessings.  An abundance of blessings.

You may feel like you are in a season of drought rather than experiencing showers of blessings.  So over the next few devotionals, I will help you understand:

The three ways God brings blessing into the lives of people
The things that can cause a spiritual drought
How you can break such a drought in your life
For today, what I want you to begin to see is God's desire to rain blessings into your life.  If you are feeling a spiritual drought, I pray God will use the coming devotionals to help you break that drought, and experience the refreshing rains of His blessing.


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What is Discipleship?

Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:12-17 

In the New Testament, Jesus' disciples were students, pupils or learners, and Jesus was their teacher or in the Hebrew, Rabbi.  Jesus told His disciples that He wanted them to be just like Him, their teacher.

During their time with Christ, the disciples had to learn loads of information and how to practically apply what they learned so they could help others.

The goal of discipleship - for Christ's first disciples and for us today - is Christ-likeness.  Jesus is just as much our teacher today as He was for the twelve who followed Him.  The ultimate goal of discipleship is to develop the discipline of living a Christ-centered life and demonstrating and teaching that to others.

 
God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers   

The Witness of the Spirit
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit . . . -Romans 8:16

We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him-we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.

Why doesn't God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won't abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself-He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28 , "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden . . . ." Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).

The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.
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The Number One Cause for Spiritual Drought

By far the Scriptures teach that the number one cause for spiritual drought is sin.  And the number one cure for drought, according to the Scriptures, is repentance.

In 2 Chronicles 6:26-27, King Solomon is clear in this prayer,

When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

Notice that the heavens were shut up, there was no rain, because of sin.  But when the people confessed God's name and turned and repented, Solomon prayed, "God, hear and open the heavens once again and send rain."

This prayer is particularly significant because Solomon is praying at the dedication of the temple.  Scripture declares to us in 2 Corinthians 6:16, You are the temple of the living God.

The Old Testament temple was just a type and a shadow pointing to better things-to the era in which God would no longer dwell in buildings made with mortar and stone, but take up residence in human hearts.

That's you and me!  As 1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are not our own.  We have been bought with a price, and God's expectation is that we glorify Him in our bodies.  You and I are God's temple.

If there is sin in your life, turn from it and turn to God, so that you can experience the refreshing rain of God's blessing in your life.

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Assurance and Self-Examination

Scripture Reading: Romans 10:9-13

When you read 1 Corinthians 11:28-29, you must be careful not to misinterpret its meaning. One understanding of these verses is that as a believer you must examine yourself to be certain that you're a Christian. But that's not what this means. The misconstrued verse is one reminder of the importance of correctly interpreting the Scriptures.

Paul has presented the Corinthian church with his observation about communion, and in the second reference, he's writing to people who were already Christians. Paul was urging the church at Corinth to examine themselves regularly to avoid God's further judgment (1 Corinthians 11:32).

I don't want you to ever doubt or be confused about the authenticity of your salvation. But as many as received Him, to them he gave the right to become children of God... (John 1:12).


God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers   


Nothing of the Old Life!
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new -2 Corinthians 5:17

Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices- He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, "God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right." But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and "all things are of God" (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that "is kind . . . is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil"? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God- such a trust that we no longer want God's blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.


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The Cure for the Drought Brought by Sin

In our last devotional, we talked about sin being the number one cause for spiritual drought.  The natural question is, "What is the cure, how do I end that drought?"

One word:  repentance.

In addition to the passage we read yesterday, 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 is clear and instructive,

"When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

True repentance literally means an inward change of heart resulting in an outward change of direction.  If there is no outward change of direction, then it is not true repentance.

There is no real repentance even if you are feeling emotional and weeping over your sin.  That is not repentance.  Feeling sorry is not repentance.

Repentance is the change of heart that results in a change of lifestyle, a change of direction, a turning.  So I have a word for you:  If there is known sin in your life, repent.

King David gives us a great example in Psalm 32:4-5 when he said,

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.  I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden.  I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD...."

If, because of sin, you are in a drought spiritually, repent.  If you do, your drought can be broken and you can experience the blessings of God.


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The Cost of Grace

Scripture Reading: Romans 10:9-13

Imagine it's your birthday.  Your friend comes by and gives you a beautifully wrapped gift.  When you open it, it's something you've always wanted!  After the party, you walk your friend to the door and just before he leaves, he says, "Oh, by the way, here's the receipt.  Your gift costs $500.  I'll take cash or a check"  Could you really call what you received a gift?

The same principle applies to salvation.  You don't have to buy it.  Salvation is a gift.  It depends wholly on God's grace.

Ephesians 2:8-9 reads, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Jesus paid the costs in full for our salvation.  Acts 4:12 says, ". . . there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven . . . by which we must be saved."


God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers   

The Proper Perspective

Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ . . . -2 Corinthians 2:14

The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God's perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don't think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.

The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose- to be captives marching in the procession of Christ's triumphs. We are not on display in God's showcase- we are here to exhibit only one thing- the "captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, "I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus," or, "I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him." But Paul said, in essence, "I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn't matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph." Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul's secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive- and that became his purpose. It was Paul's joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and "we are more than conquerors through Him . . ." (Romans 8:37).

"We are to God the fragrance of Christ . . ." (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.


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Idolatry

The most predominant sin we find in the Bible that stopped the rain of God's blessing from falling was idolatry.  Maybe you are thinking, "Well, that's great, but it doesn't really apply.  I'm not tempted to go to the nearest pagan shrine and bow down and worship a carved image."

Hold on, though.  As you read the New Testament you begin to realize it has a lot to say to us about idolatry.  For example, 1 Corinthians 10:14 says, Flee from idolatry, and 1 John 5:21 says, Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Wycliffe in his commentary says, "An idol is anything which occupies the place due to God."  An idol is anything in your life that competes with God.

Colossians 3:5 says, ...covetousness, which is idolatry.  In other words, your stuff can become an idol.  Greed can become an idol; money can become your idol.  If anything becomes the main pursuit of your life, other than God, then that thing becomes an idol.

It can be your job, your boyfriend or girlfriend, your husband, your wife, or even a child.  It can be a sport, a hobby, fame, anything that comes before God in your life.

I once saw an interview of one of my favorite golfers.  He was a brilliant golfer who had won major tournaments.  In the interview he said, "I've had a love affair with the game of golf.  But I want to tell you, it cost me my marriage.  It's cost me my relationship with my kids.  Golf has been my god."

The interviewer asked him, "If you had all of it to do over again, what would you do differently?"  He said, "Nothing.  I'd do it all the same."

You will never experience God's blessing if there is an idol in your life.  Is there?


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Make a Difference One by One

A father and son were walking along a beach after a powerful storm.  In fact, the storm was so strong that as the waves crashed and the wind blew, hundreds of starfish were washed ashore and left far from the water they needed to survive.

As they walked, the father and son began a rescue mission, picking up starfish one by one and throwing them back into the ocean.  When the boy looked at the hundreds of remaining starfish, he became discouraged. "Dad, there's too many. We can't save them all.   We can't make a difference!"

The father looked at the starfish in his hand.  The creature would have never made it back into the ocean on its own.  As he threw the starfish back in the ocean, he told his son, "We're making a difference to this one."

You can make a difference too . . . even if it's only one by one.  God has called each of us - not just the pastor or the missionary - to be a voice of encouragement to someone.  Bless someone. Make a difference.

God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers   


Submitting to God's Purpose

I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some -1 Corinthians 9:22

A Christian worker has to learn how to be God's man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, "If only I were somewhere else!" All of God's people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God's almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul's whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact- ". . . Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).

"I chose you . . ." (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose- that He may be able to say, "This is My man, and this is My woman." We have to be in God's hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.

Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you "turn aside . . . to the right or the left . . ." (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.
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Selfish?

Over the last several devotionals, we have been looking at the cause of spiritual drought.  In today's devotional, I want to look at selfishness as a cause of spiritual drought.

Selfishness is where I am focused on my own interests rather than the needs of others or of furthering God's Kingdom.

In Haggai 1:4-6, 9-11, God says,

"Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?"  Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts:  "Consider your ways!  You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes... You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away.  Why?" says the LORD of hosts.  "Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.  Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.  For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands."

They were investing everything in themselves and their homes, but not a thought was given to God's house or God's Kingdom.

Friend, if you want the rain to fall, you need to think about God and His house first, others second, and yourself third.  It is like the old saying, "If you want joy, j-o-y, it's Jesus, others, and then you."


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Oh Death, Where is Your Victory?

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 

In 1 Corinthians 15:56, the Apostle Paul explains that the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.  Jesus' death satisfied God's divine law to overcome the problem of sin and the condemnation of death.

All the sin of the world for all time was placed on the person of Jesus Christ at Calvary.  In His resurrection, He rose victorious over sin and death.  Death no longer has authority over us.

I encourage you to reflect on what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.  He shares His resurrection victory with all who believe in Him.  This victory is a gift of grace: God forgives the sins of all who trust in Christ alone.

You don't have to be afraid of death because it has no power over you.  For those who trust in Christ, death is not the end - it is only the beginning.

 
God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers   


What is a Missionary?


Jesus said to them again, '. . . As the Father has sent Me, I also send you' -John 20:21

A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front- to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him- to carry out His plans.

Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God's call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ- "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . ." (Matthew 28:19).

When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, "What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!" But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were "foolish" enough to trust God's wisdom and His supernatural equipment.


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Rx for Depression



Isaiah 58:10-11 gives you and me a powerful prescription for depression.  It says,

If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.  The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Take a moment to think about what God is saying.  Think about the promise:  If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, God will satisfy your soul in drought.

If you are a person who is given to depression and you feel like you have this big empty void in your life, I have a prescription for you based on this passage.  Are you ready?

Go help somebody else.  In fact, find a place in your church, local rescue mission, or The Salvation Army where you can minister to folks who are going through a rough patch.  Donate a couple of days a week, and help other folks who are going through a rough time.

God promises that if you will draw out your soul to the hungry and if you will minister to the afflicted soul, He will satisfy your soul in drought.

Rather than being so inwardly focused..."my problems, and I'm so depressed, and why aren't things going right for me?", go help somebody else.  Get things in perspective.  There are a lot of people who are a lot worse off than you are, and you will find that God will bring the rain into your life when you change your focus.

If your soul is dry, the way to get it watered is to go help someone else.  The sooner the better.


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What is Your Legacy?

Scripture Reading: Acts 20:16-24

Whether it's a high school competition or the Olympics, audiences get excited watching athletes compete in a relay race.  The key point of the relay is the passing of the baton.  No matter how fast the runners are, if one of them drops the baton, the team loses the race.

Leaving a legacy to the people in your life is a lot like passing the baton.  Legacy is about transfer, and what you leave behind can help someone else go further than you did.  What kind of legacy are you leaving behind?  Developing and passing on a true spiritual legacy doesn't just happen.  Like Elijah passing on the prophet's mantle to Elisha, you can share a Christian legacy.

Think about the price Jesus paid to leave His legacy.  Because of His death and resurrection, you and I have the privilege and duty to pass this legacy on to everyone around us.


God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers   

Substitution

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him -2 Corinthians 5:21

The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was "made. . . to be sin. . . ." Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take "away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9  , where Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father," was spoken to His disciples.

That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that "He died for all" (2 Corinthians 5:15)- not, "He died my death"- and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold- "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (seeGalatians 4:19).


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It's Never Too Late

As we wrap up our series of devotionals on how to break a spiritual drought, I want to focus our attention on Psalm 72:6.  This verse contains a very powerful truth that I want to leave with you.  It says,

He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass. (KJV)

I remember when I was first saved and read this passage, I would picture somebody out there with a lawnmower.  But of course, they didn't have lawnmowers back then!

This verse refers to a field that has been eaten over by locusts, a plague of locusts that has come through and just devoured a field.  And God gives a wonderful promise:  He will come down like the rain on the mown grass, to revive and to restore that which the locusts have eaten.

Today, as you read this devotional, you may feel like a swarm of locusts has come over your life and eaten your blessing.  I think if you seek God and earnestly pray and ask Him to send the rain, you will have an encounter with God beyond anything you could have imagined.

He can restore what the enemy has stolen in your life.  You can indeed experience the freshness and revival and fruitfulness in your life again.  It is never too late to pray for God's blessing.

No matter the situation, seek God today.  Ask, and He will send the rain down on whatever part of your life has been mowed over by the locusts.  And you will experience the blessing God desires for you.

Remember, it is never too late.


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A Lesson About Faith

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:7-11 

Have you ever taken a stress test to evaluate your heart's health?  One component of the stress test monitors your heart while you walk on a sloped treadmill at a fast pace.  It's not easy, but you keep going to get an accurate reading of your heart's strengths and weaknesses.

God has stress tests.  They're called trials, and through them God evaluates how well you've learned the lessons of life.  The prophet Elijah passed the tests on several occasions.  Once he had to help a widow and her son survive a famine.  The next test was the boy's death.  The widow's faith was shaken, but Elijah's faith remained firm.

Through that faith, God saved the boy.  That day the widow and her son receive a valuable lesson: In your trials, remember God's truths.  In spite of your circumstances, you can prevail!

God bless

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers   


Faith
Without faith it is impossible to please Him . . . -Hebrews 11:6

Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. "We know that all things work together for good . . ." (Romans 8:28) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God's providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children.

For every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, "Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I'm going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word" (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can't have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.


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Obedience

To God, obedience is a big deal.  And one of the best ways to see just how importantly He regards it is to learn from those who disobeyed.

One of those is King Saul.  When he was told by God to make an end of the Amalekites and to destroy all of their property, he did not do it.

Instead of obeying God, he saved the oxen and the sheep, along with some other things, and then claimed he had obeyed God.  But when Samuel heard the oxen and the sheep, Saul knew he had been caught.  So he changed his story.  He said, "Well, these things are just a sacrifice to God."

In response to this act of disobedience, this is what Samuel, the prophet, said.  We find it in 1 Samuel 15:22,

So Samuel said:  "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams."

God does not want religious lip service.  He wants obedience.  Obedience is better than sacrifice.  One reason for that is because you cannot make up by sacrifice what you lose through disobedience.

Another reason why obedience is better than sacrifice is because it is preventative.  In Saul's day, sacrifices were made to cover sin, but if he had obeyed, there would have been no need for sacrifice.  Obedience would have prevented his sin.

So do what God desires.  Obey what He commands.  It is always better.


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The Importance of Prayer

Scripture Reading: Philippians 4:4-7; Colossians 4:2-6 

Most people are fascinated by magic tricks, which are simply fantastic illusions.  What God is able to do and anything He purposes to accomplish in His Kingdom are never illusions.  And how He answers our prayers is no illusion.  When God's people commit to faithful prayer, the world will see God's power.

To pray powerfully and effectively, we must first deal with sin in our lives.  We must turn and flee from sin, understanding that as God responds to our cries, people will give Him greater glory.

We must pray expectantly, knowing that God will ultimately change us.  Isaiah 65:24 says, "... before [you] call, I will answer ..."  God gave us prayer to connect us with His plan for our lives to make an impact on all creation!

 

God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers   


The Trial of Faith

If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you -Matthew 17:20

We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith- faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to "walk by faith" (2 Corinthians 5:7). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.

Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God's character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him- a faith that says, "I will remain true to God's character whatever He may do." The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is- "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15).


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Obey and Honor

Yesterday's devotional helped us understand the importance of obedience.  Over the next few devotionals, I want to focus on three areas I believe are critical for you and me to ensure we are obedient.

The first is found in Ephesians 6:1-3   This first category of obedience has to do with family, something God teaches very specifically in His Word.  It says,

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise:  "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth."

As long as a child is under his parents' roof and under his parents' direct authority, he needs to obey.  But throughout your entire life you need to honor your parents.

One time I had a dear lady come to me after a service when I preached on this command and say, "Pastor, I just have to tell you.  I just felt I needed to make things right with my dad.  I went home that night and called him and said, 'Dad, you need to forgive me because I've been bitter against you for all these years.  I'm sorry, and I want you to know that I forgive you for all the past.'"

Then she said, "Pastor, you need to understand, I've had a migraine headache for 15 years, 24 hours a day.  I take piles of medication.  I go to bed with a migraine, and I wake up with one, but the morning after I made things right with my dad, I woke up, and I had no headache."  And she started to cry.

I am telling you, this promise is full of power!  It is better to obey and honor your parents!


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Stand Firm on the Word

Scripture Reading: 1 John 2:15-17 

When most people hear the word idolatry, they think of pagans worshiping statues and assume, "That's one subject that can't apply to me."  Oh, yes it can.

You don't have to keep a carved, wooden tiki idol in your backyard to be an idolater.  You don't have to visit a Buddhist shrine.  Any time you worship the thing God created as a god, that's idolatry.

We can get so caught up in the things of this world - jobs, money, people, material things - that we forget our purpose here on earth. We should live in the world but not of the world.  Spend some time analyzing your walk with the Lord.  Are there things that you are placing above your relationship with God?  Ask Him to reveal things in your life that are being placed above God.

 
God bless

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers   


"You Are Not Your Own"


Do you not know that . . . you are not your own? -1 Corinthians 6:19

There is no such thing as a private life, or a place to hide in this world, for a man or woman who is intimately aware of and shares in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. God divides the private life of His saints and makes it a highway for the world on one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves. We are called into intimacy with the gospel, and things happen that appear to have nothing to do with us. But God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way. If you refuse, you will be of no value to God in His redemptive work in the world, but will be a hindrance and a stumbling block.

The first thing God does is get us grounded on strong reality and truth. He does this until our cares for ourselves individually have been brought into submission to His way for the purpose of His redemption. Why shouldn't we experience heartbreak? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God's purpose and enter a slow death through self-pity. And all the so-called Christian sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, as if to say, "Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine." If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?


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Obedience in Marriage

Ephesians 5:22-24  gives an important area of obedience.  While this is not popular in our society today, it is biblical, but is also often misunderstood.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.  Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

It is important to make clear that before God there is an absolute equality between men and women, between husbands and wives.  In fact, this passage does not say, "Women submit to men."  It is purely a domestic situation.

Even with that understanding, the Bible says that husbands and wives are heirs together of the grace of life.  There is an equality before God between men and women and husband and wife.

What this passage teaches is that God has set up a system of authority in the home that needs to be followed, if it is going to be well with us.  In fact, this is even a military term.  To submit or to obey means to put yourself in rank under.

Friend, we are in a spiritual warfare, and there are spiritual forces that have been unleashed against homes and against marriages that would love to tear marriages apart. 

God has designed a way for the home to function, and that is for the man to take the responsibility of leadership and for the wife to come under that authority.  When a husband truly loves his wife, and cares for her like Christ does the church, and the wife respects her husband, things will be well in the home.  That couple and that family will be magnets for the blessings of God.


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Make God Your Reference Point

Scripture Reading: Romans 8:28-33 

God has assigned every believer a divine reason for being, including you.  Your purpose is to fulfill God's purpose.  And if you are not fulfilling His purpose, it's just another day gone by, filled with everything but real meaning. You will be floating around with no destination when you're disconnected from the purposes of God.

You cannot discover your purpose until God is your reference point.



I encourage you to pray, "Help me to grasp what it means to have a life of purpose, meaning and destiny and not to meander and waste another day on things that really don't matter."




God bless