Immediate Gratification - Not Having The Faith To Wait

My Utmost For His Highest

 

When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. —Genesis 15:12

 

“Abram went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point of relying on his own common sense. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not a period of God’s displeasure. There is never any need to pretend that your life is filled with joy and confidence; just wait upon God and be grounded in Him (see Isaiah 50:10-11). Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all confidence in myself and other people of God? Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life? Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am Almighty God…”— El-Shaddai, the All-Powerful God (Genesis 17:1). […] As soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God.”  CHAMBERS

 

There is a recurring theme in the Bible.  Trusting God or trusting in ourselves.  Abram had waited on God to fulfill His promise.  He grew impatient and did something on his own. In Genesis 17 something happened … there was a transaction of faith between Abram and God, and God gave Abram a new name .. Abraham .. father of many nations.  Soon after Sarah conceived.  It happened when it was impossible to give credit to men.  God received all of the glory.  It’s the same way with us.  We know God’s promises, but are unwilling to wait on God.  We want to “make it happen”.  We accept something less than God’s best because we lacked the faith to wait.  Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.  Faith is trusting in something you can’t see . .being convinced that it will come to pass, and then living … making choices in the context of that belief.  Faith becomes stronger when faith is exercised.  Are you facing something in your life that is testing your faith?  Testing your confidence in God?  It is a common malady for us Christians.  There is or was a TV commercial where people receiving an annuity or settlement said “It’s my money and I want it now.”  To do that they had to be willing to give up a great deal of their money.  To receive something today, they were willing to sacrifice what they would receive tomorrow.  They didn’t want to wait.  Another example is the business that does taxes and promises an immediate tax return.  That is not the government’s money the tax payer receives, but the business provides the money at a significant cost to the tax payer. Don't accept anything but God's best.  Waiting on God is worth the wait.  ELGIN

 

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

 

Charley Elgin

Return To The Place Where Your First Found Your Joy

My Utmost For His Highest

 

Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" —John 20:28

 

“Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink’ ” (John 4:7). How many of us are expecting Jesus Christ to quench our thirst when we should be satisfying Him! We should be pouring out our lives, investing our total beings, not drawing on Him to satisfy us. “You shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). That means lives of pure, uncompromising, and unrestrained devotion to the Lord Jesus, which will be satisfying to Him wherever He may send us. […] The goal of the call of God is His satisfaction, not simply that we should do something for Him. We are not sent to do battle for God, but to be used by God in His battles.”  CHAMBERS

 

Do you remember the day that you were saved, born again?  It was on that day that you realized your true nature … a sinner in the hands of an angry God.  Bound for Hell.  In need of a savior.  It was at that point that you yielded your heart, your devotion, your trust to the God of heaven and place your faith in Jesus Christ.  So what happened?  As the glory faded and life on this earth began to intervene, the significance of that glorious day began to dim.  You know that you are a Christian, but the reality of your “need” for a savior no longer felt so dominant.  As the urgency to yield to the lordship of Jesus diminished from desperation to something more like a choice.  Sin became less intolerable as you slowly drift from the place where you first found your joy in the Lord.  Maybe this is not you, but it is true for many other Christians.  (Hebrews 10:24-25) “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”  Why would we need to be stir one another up, if we didn’t need stirring?  ELGIN

 

“Take Me Back”  Andre Crouch

 

“ I feel that I'm so far from you Lord  But still I hear you calling me  Those simple things that I once knew,  The memories are drawing me.

 

I must confess, Lord I've been blessed  But yet my soul's not satisfied.  Renew my faith, restore my joy  And dry my weeping eyes.

 

I tried so hard,  To make it all alone.  I need your help  Just to make it home.

 

Take me back, take me back dear Lord  To the place where I first received you.  Take me back, take me back dear Lord where I  First believed.”

 

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

 

Charley Elgin

Your Not Living For Jesus If You Are Accomodating Sin In Your Life

My Utmost For His Highest

I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" —Isaiah 6:8

 

“When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls.[…] The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God’s nature, not ours. […] The call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. […] The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed.”  CHAMBERS

 

Living your new life in Christ means that you have a new nature, a spiritual nature.  A nature that is “in tune” with God’s nature.  His Spirit is in us.  There is nothing in our old nature that can connect to or please God.  Our old nature can deceive us.  We can think we are living the Christian life, when in fact, we are walking in sin and have become spiritually disconnected from God.  Unconfessed sin is perhaps the biggest reason for the disconnect.  It may be the only reason.  We live our lives each day, often making bad choices, yielding to the flesh, yielding to temptation.  But instead of addressing it we accommodate it and ignore it.  We don’t see it as a problem but as “normal” and really not a big deal.  I mean it’s not like I robbed a bank.  We have redefined holiness.  So we live in a pseudo-righteous life.  (2 Timothy 3:2-5)   “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,  unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,  traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,   having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

 

Living the Christian life means that you must keep your heart clean from sin.  You may be familiar with the story of the  “sin of Achan”  in Joshua 7.  (if not, read it)  The army was suffering defeat at the hands of the enemy.  Joshua didn’t understand and God told him that there was “sin in the camp”.  Just one sinful act was causing the problem.  Does one sin really matter?  Jesus died to defeat it.  A Holy God can have no part of it.  Why would we think that it doesn’t matter.  Confess your sin when it happens, and repent.  You have heard, I am certain, the definition of repentance as doing an about face, a 180 degree turn.  Spiritual repentance does not mean to turn around and trust in yourself again.  It means to turn from trusting in yourself – your flesh – your old nature and turn to God, and trust in the power of God.  (Romans 8:13) “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”  ELGIN

 

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

 

Charley Elgin

God's Call And Your Answer .. Fulfilling Your Spiritual Purpose On Earth

My Utmost For His Highest

 

I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." —Isaiah 6:8

 

“God did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, “…who will go for Us?” The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude. [..] However, God doesn’t single out someone and say, “Now, you go.” He did not force His will on Isaiah. Isaiah was in the presence of God, and he overheard the call. His response, performed in complete freedom, could only be to say, “Here am I! Send me.”  Remove the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you or to plead with you. When our Lord called His disciples, He did it without irresistible pressure from the outside. The quiet, yet passionate, insistence of His “Follow Me” was spoken to men whose every sense was receptive (Matthew 4:19). If we will allow the Holy Spirit to bring us face to face with God, we too will hear what Isaiah heard— “the voice of the Lord.” In perfect freedom we too will say, “Here am I! Send me.”” CHAMBERS

 

When you think of a spiritual calling, what comes to your mind?  Pastors?  Missionaries?  I hear people speak of someone’s calling .. or more often saying .. “That is NOT my calling!” as they explain why they are not doing something.  God’s call is constant.  Romans 12:1-2.  Give your life to God, no matter what that means.  (Ephesians 4:7, 11-12) “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ…. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” Not everyone is gifted by God to do the same thing.  The Body of Christ is like a body in that it has parts and each part has its purpose.  It is a spiritual purpose that cannot be fulfilled without the power of the Spirit, and us yielded to that power.

 

(1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 11-14)  “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.  And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.  But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all….  But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.”

 

So there is a general context to God’s calling to serve Him and function in the Body of Christ and there is a specific purpose for you to fulfill as part of the Body.  The question is, will you live in that purpose for the glory of God or live for yourself?  ELGIN

 

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

 

Charley Elgin

Be At Peace My Child Be At Peace

My Utmost For His Highest

When He was alone…the twelve asked Him about the parable. —Mark 4:10

“When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship— when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us. [..] His disciples constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly explained things to them, but they didn’t understand until after they received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26). [..] The sorrows and difficulties in the lives of others will be absolutely confusing to you. We think we understand another person’s struggle until God reveals the same shortcomings in our lives. There are vast areas of stubbornness and ignorance the Holy Spirit has to reveal in each of us, but it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now? Or are we more concerned with our own ideas, friendships, and cares for our bodies?”  CHAMBERS

We try, but cannot understand God with our natural minds.  To understand anything of God requires spiritual understanding, yet we struggle, trying to make sense of something that is impossible to understand by the power of our human intellect.  We read the Word and see that God has told us we need the Spirit for such things, yet it is not the Spirit that questions God.  It is not the Spirit that cries out “Why?”.  I have heard more than one teacher/preacher say it is OK to be angry with God.  Where does that anger come from?  From disappointment, loss, heartbreak … from all things natural.  All of those things are part of our life here on earth.  Knowing that does not lesson the pain we feel, but knowing God does give us a source of comfort and spiritual insight into something better, greater, beyond our circumstances that will bring us peace and joy in the midst of a great tragedy. I have said it before and I will say it again, draw near to God.  (John 16:33) “I have told you all this so that you will have peace of heart and mind. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows; but cheer up, for I have overcome the world.” (John 14:27)  “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  Listen for the Lord in your alone time with Him and hear Him saying, "Be at peace my child, be at peace." ELGIN

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

Charley Elgin

Listening For God's Voice - He Speaks To You In A Whisper

My Utmost For His Highest

 

When they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. —Mark 4:34

 

“Jesus doesn’t take us aside and explain things to us all the time; He explains things to us as we are able to understand them. The lives of others are examples for us, but God requires us to examine our own souls. It is slow work— so slow that it takes God all of time and eternity to make a man or woman conform to His purpose. We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own character. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We don’t even recognize the envy, laziness, or pride within us when we see it. But Jesus will reveal to us everything we have held within ourselves before His grace began to work. […]The only One who understands us is God. The greatest curse in our spiritual life is pride. […] Whenever there is any element of pride or conceit remaining, Jesus can’t teach us anything. He will allow us to experience heartbreak or the disappointment we feel when our intellectual pride is wounded. He will reveal numerous misplaced affections or desires” CHAMBERS

 

Many people call getting alone with God, quiet time.  It is a time when you quiet your mind, your spirit.  You turn your full attention on God. It is during those times that you will hear God speak most clearly. (1 Kings 19:11-13) “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?”  A still small voice.  When God speaks you must be listening.  Elijah was hiding in a cave, fearful that harm would come to him.  In one moment he was focused on God and the next moment he was focused on himself. In one moment, focused on what God could and did do, and in the next moment, afraid that he was doomed, alone, without hope.  Sound crazy? Or does it sound like you?  It is the nature of man.  It is a struggle to not depend on our own abilities.  And when we do, realizing that we are facing the impossible, we look for a cave to hide in.  Seek the Lord where He may be found.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Trust in the Lord and not yourself.  ELGIN

 

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

 

Charley Elgin

Do You Hate You Mother?

My Utmost For His Highest

 

As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon…, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. —Luke 23:26

 

“If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the cost be paid.[…] A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are immediately affected by our obedience to Him. Will we remain faithful in our obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to be independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not cause other people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but it will grieve our Lord. […] We must simply obey and leave all the consequences with Him. Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.” CHAMBERS

 

As I read Chambers this morning, I was thinking about family and friends who are not believers, that have turned aside from us because of our faith and  about family and friends who were separated from us because of our service to the Lord. About counting the cost for following Jesus.  (Matthew 12:46-50) “While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”  Jesus brought spiritual, eternal perspective that conflicted with natural understanding.  In that room, He was honoring his Father, but was given the opportunity to turn from that to honor His natural mother and family.  Nothing wrong with that.  In fact the fifth commandment says to honor your father and mother.  But if you notice that commandment is fifth.  The first four have to do with your relationship with the Father, who is in heaven.

 

Jesus also said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.  And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-27)  Our faith must be our priority.  Our relationship with our Father must shape every other facet of our lives.  Every relationship, every desire.  Our love for Him should pale every other relationship we have.  Do you remember Lot’s wife?  When she turned back to look, she was not just leaving a life style, she was leaving family. She did not have a heart for God, but for what she was told to leave behind.  You may be struggling with a broken relationship or with  God’s call for you to do something or go somewhere that will affect relationships that you care about.  Obey God.  Trust God.  Faith God.  And leave the rest to Him.  ELGIN

 

“I have decided to follow Jesus.  The world behind me, the Cross before me.  No turning back, No turning back.”

 

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

 

Charley Elgin