You Remind Me Of Your Father

My Utmost For His Highest

“Our Lord can never be described in terms of individuality and independence, but only in terms of His total Person— “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). […] When love or the Spirit of God come upon a person, he is transformed. He will then no longer insist on maintaining his individuality. Our Lord never referred to a person’s individuality or his isolated position, but spoke in terms of the total person— “…that they may be one just as We are one….” […] The transformation is brought about by love— personal devotion to Jesus. Love is the overflowing result of one person in true fellowship with another.” CHAMBERS

When I was a young man I was told that I reminded others of my dad.  My sense of humor, my dispositions, the way I interacted with others.  There were a number of reasons for that … I respected my dad, I trusted my dad in that the way he lived his life, I worked with him, I saw how he responded to and treated other people.  So it is in our new life in Christ.  As we spend time with the Father, we respect  Him, trust Him, we serve Him, we come to understand His grace and mercy and His great love for us .. we surrender our lives to Him … we become one with Him … we become a reflection of our heavenly Father. We become one with the Father … not only with the Father but with one another.  All this made possible by the power of His Spirit, His Word, and our obedience in the faith.  It is really glorious. ELGIN

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

Stop Making Excuses For Your Old Nature

My Utmost For His Highest

“Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. […] The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality. If you say, “I can’t believe,” it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, “I will not surrender,” or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge. […] God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot.” CHAMBERS

In Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, he says that God SHAPES us for ministry, for His purpose.  The “P” stands for personality.  Each of us as a unique personality.  Certainly God can use that, but what we call a personality trait is often really a learned behavior and we learned it, many times, out of pain and trials.  Rick also says that “hurt people hurt people”.  There are unresolved issues in our lives that manifest themselves in how we deal with life and others. Many times, not in good ways.  We do things that do not glorify God or bless others.  Our response .. that is just the way that I am, or I can’t help it. We must stop making excuses for our old nature.

To say I can’t change is really to say I won’t change.  There is nothing impossible for God.  But, we can turn away from Him, refuse to yield some part of us that we think protects who we really are .. the “me” that no one sees .. the “me” that must be protected at all costs.  But God sees.  There is nothing that He does not know about you.  We must yield ourselves … all of ourselves to God.  He only has the best in mind.  There is none who can be trusted more.  Pray about this … even as I type this, I think about my own life .. the hurts that have shaped me .. 2 Corinthians 1 says “God is the God of all comfort who comforts us in our affliction so that we can comfort others.”  That is God’s solution to the pain in our lives .. We use the pain as a reason to keep people at a distance … He uses it as a tender caress, a reassuring hug to those who are struggling. The prinicple to remember is that you cannot give comfort until you have received it yourself. ELGIN

“He Knows My Name”

“I have a maker, He formed my heart.  Before even time began my life was in His hands.

He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls. And He hears me when I call.

I have a Father, He calls me His own.  He’ll never leave me, no matter where I go.”

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

You Have Got To Listen To Doctor Jesus

My Utmost For His Highest

[…] The natural can be turned into the spiritual only through sacrifice. Without this a person will lead a divided life. Why did God demand that the natural must be sacrificed? God did not demand it. It is not God’s perfect will, but His permissive will. God’s perfect will was for the natural to be changed into the spiritual through obedience. Sin is what made it necessary for the natural to be sacrificed. […] Some of us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural. The only way we can offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice…” (Romans 12:1). […] If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life will resist and defy the life of the Son of God in us and will produce continual turmoil. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves physically, morally, or mentally. We excuse ourselves by saying, “Well, I wasn’t taught to be disciplined when I was a child.” Then discipline yourself now! If you don’t, you will ruin your entire personal life for God. CHAMBERS

Have you ever wondered why some Christians seem to live a life that is superior to your own?  The things that preachers preach about.  The things that you read about in the Bible are lived out in them. And you think, I cannot be like them.  I would like to be, but I can’t.  The difference between a nominal Christian (the one who wants to be) and normal Christian (the one who is)  is obedience.  The thing that Oswald Chambers refers to as the means to realizing God’s perfect will.  1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God” The principle here is that we will live in a way that dishonors God if we don’t discipline ourselves spiritually. 

What if you went to see a doctor because you were losing weight and did not feel well.  The doctor said ‘Tell me what you have been eating.” And you say “I am not eating.” Then the doctor says, “Well, your body needs nutrition.  If you don’t eat, your body will eventually die from starvation.” Now you are faced with a choice. Do you continue to not eat or do you do as the doctor says.  You must decide.  You must choose to obey the doctor’s orders and eat.  The doctor won’t make you eat.  In the same way, Doctor Jesus says, you must pray, you must read the Word, you must associate with other Christians, you must choose what you think about, you must listen to the Spirit of God.  You must decide.  You must choose to obey the Doctor’s orders.  If you are waiting for a spiritual revelation, you already have it.  What is missing is your obeying what you already know. ELGIN

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

Why Our Good Is Not Good Enough

My Utmost For His Highest

“Very few of us would debate over what is filthy, evil, and wrong, but we do debate over what is good. It is the good that opposes the best. The higher up the scale of moral excellence a person goes, the more intense the opposition to Jesus Christ. “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh….” The cost to your natural life is not just one or two things, but everything. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Matthew 16:24). That is, he must deny his right to himself, and he must realize who Jesus Christ is before he will bring himself to do it.” CHAMBERS

The challenge for us, those who have been reborn, is to not define what is "Good". What is “OK” to do, to think, to say, to watch.  Rather than let the Word of God and the Spirit of God teach us and guide us, we believe we can do it on our own.  The rich young ruler thought he was good enough to get to heaven, but Jesus showed him that it begins with God, not himself. (Matthew 19:16-22)  I remember one of our granddaughters always saying, “I can do it myself”.  I don’t need any help.  I’ve got this.  What we do is OK for the most part.  But our insistence on being able to do things on our own gives way to the flesh and its desires.  It is not our intent to do things that lead to sin and not everything we will do is sin, but a willful attitude is what started this mess in the Garden.  The basis of our new life is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  God’s word is clear on what our lives should be based upon .. and it is not our idea of what is right and what is good .. but His.  Take some time to examine your heart .. if you say to yourself, I don’t need to do that .. I would say that is proof that you do.  And if you need to make a course correction, then do it today.  Think about it. ELGIN

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

Is Christian a Noun or an Adjective in Your Life?

My Utmost For His Highest

“[…] The only reason for the forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the result of our personal realization of the atonement by the Cross of Christ, which He has provided for us. […] It cannot be earned, just accepted. […] God’s response, through Peter, is, “… there is no other name…by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). […] “In Him we have redemption through His blood…” (Ephesians 1:7). To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him. God is just in saving bad people only as He makes them good. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement by the Cross of Christ is the propitiation [satisfaction of God’s wrath toward sin] God uses to make unholy people holy.” CHAMBERS

God sent Jesus because He loves us and because Jesus is the only way that we could be restored back to God.  You can never make it right with God through your wanting to or through your effort.  It is only because of Jesus that our sins are forgiven.  He is the essence of grace and mercy. It is so easy to forget that as we live day to day.  Our sins begin to pile up and we push them back in the corner of our minds .. our thoughts wander to other things .. things not quite so heavenly. The single most important thing in our mortal and eternal existence is no longer a noun but an adjective.  Who we are in Christ no longer defines us .. but is merely a characteristic like the color of our hair, or the school we attended.  This life we live in Christ requires focus and effort.  If we are not intentional every day, it will soon slip into the background.  Our light will grow dim.  And the purpose that God has intended for us will not be fulfilled.  So be alert!  Don’t forget “Whose” you are.  And ….

Colossians 3:16 “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” ELGIN

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)