Successful Response To Life's Circumstances Depends Upon Your Spiritual Preparation

My Utmost For His Highest

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world." —John 18:36

{CHAMBERS} […] 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. […] 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. […] 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 […] time […] 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.

{ELGIN} When I was accepted into flight school, on the first day I did not go to the flight line, climb into a helicopter, and fly around the airfield.  There was a season of intense preparation , ground school.  Training in the fundamentals before I ever got to smell aviation fuel for the first time, let alone even sit in a helicopter.  And then training in a simple helicopter before I learned to fly a Huey, Cobra or Chinook.  In the same way, we must prepare ourselves for our new life in Christ if we don’t want to crash and burn.  The disciples spent three years with Jesus.  Moses spent 40 years as a shepherd.  Paul spent three years in the desert.  There was a season of preparation.  Their learning did not stop there.  Their relationship with the Lord deepened as they walked in obedience to His leading.  It’s the same for you and me.  There is much to do on the inside before a life that brings glory to God can be manifested on the outside.  The Pharisees were “whitewashed tombs filled with dead men’s bones” (Matthew 23:27) They “praised God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him.” (Isaiah 29:13)  We very often confuse doing with being. 

You will not be successful in your new life if you do not first get your relationship on the inside right.  Going to church once a week and reading scripture on the screen is not enough.  Reading a devotion such as this one is good, but reading the Word and praying is better.  Joshua 1:8-9 says this “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” In Ephesians 6, Paul describes our preparation for living the new life in Christ as putting on a soldier’s armor. One of the things that you do in flight training is learn emergency procedures .. what to do when something goes wrong … for the Christian … what to do when life happens … as an aviator, you had to learn to recognize the problem and know what to do, and in what sequence to survive.  Same for a Christian.  Don’t count on having an epiphany – a Divine revelation – in the midst of a trial.  You have to be ready through preparation.  And that is the truth whether you choose to believe it or not!

Who Do You Love More? Your Life Will Shout It Out.

My Utmost For His Highest

…they went forth for His name’s sake… —3 John 7

{CHAMBERS} “Our Lord told us how our love for Him is to exhibit itself when He asked, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:17). And then He said, “Feed My sheep.” In effect, He said, “Identify yourself with My interests in other people,” not, “Identify Me with your interests in other people.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 shows us the characteristics of this love— it is actually the love of God expressing itself. […] Faithfulness to Jesus Christ is the supernatural work of redemption that has been performed in me by the Holy Spirit— “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit…” (Romans 5:5). And it is that love in me that effectively works through me and comes in contact with everyone I meet. […] The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. […] The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit.”

{ELGIN} “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)  That verse can be taken two ways.  First, if you pursue God then He will give you anything your little heart desires.  Second, if you pursue God, He will make His passion, your passion.  He will change your “wants” to those things that reflect His will and purposes.  That is what Jesus was telling Peter.  “If you love Me, then pursue those things that I pursue.  Do what I say to do, even if it makes no earthly sense.” What makes missionaries distinctive is that they place less value on earthly comforts and relationships than they do on the call of Jesus on their lives to pick up their cross, abandon the things of this world, and follow Him.  To feed His sheep if you will.  The thing about a shepherd, when everyone else is at home sleeping, he is standing guard over the flock. I am typing this while sitting in a travel trailer, parked next to a church, listening to the cars zoom up and down the highway.  My point?  God has called us to this place. When He calls, you must be willing to lay what is comfortable and familiar, down.

From time to time when I tell my wife that I love her, she will say “I love you more.” Then I say “No, I love you more.” And we go back and forth several times with that.  But where is the proof of that love? The proof of love is not words, as affirming as they might be. Ephesians 5:25 says this, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.”  Do you love God enough to give yourself up for Him?  – your hopes, your dreams, your comfort, your secure retirement, your family holidays, the list goes on ….. The theme of the Bible is that God is supreme and deserves our total devotion … like David, we must love God with our whole heart. (1 Kings 14:8).  Listen, men, you won’t love your wife that way (Ephesians 5:25) if you first don’t love God that way. (Matthew 22:37-39). And you won’t love God that way if you are unwilling to lay your life down.

Prayer, The Key To A Closer Walk With God

My Utmost For His Highest

…I say to you, he who believes in Me,…greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. —John 14:12

{CHAMBERS} “Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some commonsense exercise of our higher powers that simply prepares us for God’s work. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, prayer is the working of the miracle of redemption in me, which produces the miracle of redemption in others, through the power of God. […] Prayer is the battle, and it makes no difference where you are. However God may engineer your circumstances, your duty is to pray. Never allow yourself this thought, “I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly cannot be used where you have not yet been placed. Wherever God has placed you and whatever your circumstances, you should pray, continually offering up prayers to Him. […] We must learn to work according to God’s direction, and He says to pray. “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38).[…] When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results.”

{ELGIN} As I read Chambers this morning, several verses came to mind.  “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) “In all things with prayer and supplication”(Philippians 4:6) “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18) We fight our spiritual battles on our knees not with our hands.  “It’s not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord God of Hosts” (Zechariah 4:6)  Prayer is not an option it is essential.  But sadly many Christians treat prayer as if they were in the drive through at McDonalds.  “I would like 2 paid bills, 1 new car, and a 401K to assure a comfortable, worry-free future, oh, supersize that.”  Prayer is a spiritual act and is not intended to satisfy our lust for more of the world, but to seek more of the “other” world, God’s kingdom.  “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)  James wrote “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:2-3)

Prayer is a critical component of your new life in Christ. But most of us don’t prayer regularly.  Only for emergencies.  Prayer helps to gird your mind.  To maintain spiritual perspective.  Prayer is the only way we can communicate with the Father.  But wait there’s more!  Prayer is so important that God has made a special provision for us “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27)  You don’t need a seminary degree for God to hear your prayers.  What you do need is a clean heart and a humble spirit.  It is a mistake to think that you can approach God with unconfessed sin in your heart.  God is not waiting at the window to take your next order.  But He is waiting to talk with you.  That’s right … with YOU my friend!

Keeping Focus On Your Prime Directive - Love God - Love People - Spread The Good News

My Utmost For His Highest

Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. —Matthew 9:38

{CHAMBERS} “The key to the missionary’s difficult task is in the hand of God, and that key is prayer, not work— that is, not work as the word is commonly used today, which often results in the shifting of our focus away from God. The key to the missionary’s difficult task is also not the key of common sense, nor is it the key of medicine, civilization, education, or even evangelization. The key is in following the Master’s orders— the key is prayer. “Pray the Lord of the harvest….” In the natural realm, prayer is not practical but absurd. We have to realize that prayer is foolish from the commonsense point of view.[…] He [Jesus] owns the harvest that is produced through distress and through conviction of sin. […] A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ’s own, “a servant [who] is not greater than his master” (John 13:16), and someone who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord calls us to no special work— He calls us to Himself. “Pray the Lord of the harvest,” and He will engineer your circumstances to send you out as His laborer.”

{ELGIN} Prayer is one our weapons in spiritual warfare.  In a battle, communication with the commander is important.  If you are not communicating with the Father, you are operating on your own .. and that is not a good place to be.  It is so easy to lose focus on your mission.  To get diverted.  If you are not in constant contact with your “commander”.  We are in Texas right now to help with the recovery from Hurricane Harvey.  But is that our mission?  No.  Our mission has never changed.  Our primary mission is to lift Jesus up.  To let people know that God has not forgotten them and there is a Savior whose name is Jesus.  The primary method we do that is by serving others who are in need with no hope of satisfying that need on their own.  It is all too easy to become so focused on the method that you lose sight of the mission.  There are many organizations, faith based and secular responding the needs created by natural disasters.  On the surface there is little difference.  But in the case of the former, there is opportunity for an eternal solution to the needs of the people, for the latter, the solution is only as good for a lifetime, maybe less.

If the eternal destiny of the people you help is not important. If that has somehow become secondary to the material help you are providing, then you have lost focus on your mission.  In Star Trek - speak, you would call it your Prime Directive.  In God-speak, you would call it the Great Commission and Great Commandment.  In order to accomplish your mission you must be willing to lay your life down (John 15:13, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 6:24) and walk in obedience to the Father’s will.  Micah 6:8 is perhaps the best synopsis of what that is … “What does the Lord require of you, oh man?  But to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”  That means to not go your own way, not do what you think is best or reasonable, but to obey the Father.  Just like Jesus! Go figure!  So what does this mean for you?  Chambers was addressing young men and women who were pursuing a life of full-time vocational ministry.  I am addressing Christians who are pursuing their new life in Christ.  Not necessarily one that means leaving their home behind to fulfill their God-given purpose.  But it could!  The bottom line … every day you live should be encompassed by who you are in Christ and the fact that the world needs to hear the Gospel and to see Jesus through the lives of the Saints.  To see Jesus in you. A transformed life does not happen because you do good things.  It happens because Christ in you. Think about it.

Every Christian Must Respond To The Call Of God - What Is He Calling You To Do?

My Utmost For His Highest

…when Moses was grown…he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. —Exodus 2:11

{CHAMBERS} “Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. […] God allowed Moses to be driven into empty discouragement, sending him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that time, God appeared to Moses and said to him, “ ‘…bring My people…out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go…?’ ” (Exodus 3:10-11). In the beginning Moses had realized that he was the one to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in his individual perspective, but he was not the person for the work until he had learned true fellowship and oneness with God. We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and yet when we start to do it, there comes to us something equivalent to Moses’ forty years in the wilderness. […] We are focused on the right individual perspective of things; we have the vision and can say, “I know this is what God wants me to do.” But we have not yet learned to get into God’s stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead.”

{ELGIN}  God calls, prepares and then sends.  That pattern is clear in both the old and new testaments.  A.W. Tozier wrote, “God does not use a man (or woman) greatly until they have been hurt deeply.”  That happens in the season of preparation.  After my new birth in 1976, I was certain that I had been called to the ministry.  I thought I should become a Chaplain in the Army.  Change the tank on my collar (the insignia for the Armor branch in the Army) for a cross.  Looking back now, I can see that becoming a Chaplain would have been a huge mistake. It was a good thing, but something, like Moses, that I chose to do in response to the call of God.  Fortunately there were some very wise men that gave me council.  One a chaplain, another a mature Christian officer.  So, here I sit today, in someone else’s home, in a state that is not my own, entering into a work that God has shaped me for.  Sometimes I wonder why I can’t be most other people.  But then I consider that “ (I am) God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for (me) to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)  It is easy to accept what the preceding 2 verses tell us … “we are saved by grace through faith”, not so easy to accept that we belong to God.  He is the potter and we are the clay.  There is a bigger story than my comfort or occupation … God’s eternal plan.

I sometimes tell Martie, my wife, that I wish I could only do one thing, like work on a garbage truck.  Those guys really have to know two things.  Don’t get off the truck until it stops and get back on before it starts.  (Actually there is more to it than that and they provide a great service to the community)  But my life is not my own.  When God calls us to lay our lives down, that means we must loosen our grip.  To let go and let God.  All of you reading this know that “letting go” can be a challenge.  It was for Moses … it was for Peter .. it is for us.  Maybe your calling is not like mine.  Perhaps you are supposed to be a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker, or a stay at home mom, whatever.  It does not mean that your life does not belong to God.  You may not be called to lead a nation across a desert, but you have been called to live a life that brings glory and honor to God and lifts Jesus up as the resurrected King.  To walk in obedience to the will of God and not follow your own way.  Listen, it’s a struggle … you never arrive … the temptation to “look back to Sodom” (Genesis 19:26) is always there.  The question “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1) will ring in your ears.  But there will be a voice that whispers in your ear .. “This is the way, walk in it.”  (Isaiah 30:21) In spite of the distractions, that is what the redeemed must do.  That would be you my friend!

Staying In Stride With Jesus - It's A Supernatural Ability

My Utmost For His Highest

Enoch walked with God… —Genesis 5:24

{CHAMBERS} “The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (see John 1:35-37 and John 3:30). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him […] In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself. […] It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. […] Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now— get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose.”

{ELGIN}  I was walking down the hall with a friend yesterday, but his pace was much faster than mine.  I soon found myself a few yards behind him.  I thought, “I guess my age is catching up with me.”  Then it dawned on me that I might be out of shape!  We can get out of shape spiritually too.  (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”  This new life we live requires the discipline of an athlete.  Without proper spiritual conditioning, we will find ourselves falling behind, getting spiritually winded – another way of saying that we will struggle with sin and obedience. 

There are two qualities that are important both in manufacturing and in the Christian life.  Validity and Reliability.  Validity means that whatever it is, is made and functions according to the designer’s plan.  Reliability means that it continues to function in the same valid way every time.  Have you ever said of someone that they are unreliable?  That they can’t be counted on? Well, perhaps that could be said of us as well with respect to our walk with the Lord.  We all have feet of clay, but we also all have the Spirit of God and the capacity to live a super-natural life.  A life dependent upon the One who saved us and not ourselves. And so my friend, I think we need to look to Jesus and pick up the pace!

Letting God Use Your Life For His Glory Requires Faith - Are You Willing To Do It?

My Utmost For His Highest

When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. —John 11:6

{CHAMBERS} “Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? […] Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? […] If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. […] For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35). If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.”

{ELGIN} Certainly Mary and Martha expected Jesus to react immediately to their message to Him.  Why wouldn’t Jesus stop what He was doing and run to the aid of His friend?  Wouldn’t you do that?  I mean, a friend in need is a friend in deed, right?  What they asked was certainly well within Jesus ability, healing the sick.  The thing is, God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.(Isaiah 55:8) Jesus knew that even though there would be great sorrow and worry over this illness, that what Mary and Martha thought was the end of things, Jesus knew that it was not the end.  We look at life’s circumstances and consider them as hopeless, inevitable.  But God is not limited by our lack of faith in Him, our lack of spiritual perspective.  “Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory” (John 11:4)  The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  Are you willing to allow God to be glorified through you?  No matter how that happens?  I can tell you from personal experience, it will stretch your faith and will demand a sacrifice in some measure.  “Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”” (John 11:40)  So Jesus did the humanly impossible, the unimaginable – He called Lazarus out of the tomb.  What is it that is happening in your life for which you see no hope?  Trust God and not yourself (Proverbs 3:5-8) Our God – “is the God of all comfort who comforts us in our affliction.”  (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) What circumstance is your Lazarus, that you have accounted as dead, lacking any possibility of hope that it can live again, that God will use as an opportunity to be glorified?  Are you willing to allow God to use your life for His glory?  Are your sure?