How can you do anything other than obey?

God doesn’t make us do anything. It is all voluntary. It is our choice.

Have you seen Him? How can you do anything other than obey?

“Jesus never insists on obedience, but when we truly see Him we will instantly obey Him.” ~~ Oswald Chambers

Is Jesus dominating more today than the day before?

Is Jesus dominating more today than the day before? Is Jesus dominating every interest in my life? Is it happening?

So here is a check list:

• Is Jesus dominating how I go about my work? Do I check with Him before I make decisions about my focus during the day?
• Is Jesus dominating what my family is spending time doing?
• Is Jesus dominating what I do in my spare time? Do I check with Him first?

May I allow Jesus to rule my life, every interest I have.

“Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest of my life?” ~~Oswald Chambers

Are we focused on Jesus?

Are we focused on Jesus?

When Peter was, walking on the water, all was fine. When Peter took his eyes off Jesus, he started to sink.

Are we focused on Jesus?

“When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ.”

–Oswald Chambers

Will I stop now?

We have “to do” lists but when God talks, we need “to stop” lists.

What does God causing a doubt mean? How does He do that? It is the difference between my doing something absent hearing from God versus have heard from God, I am doing something. We must admit that many times we just move ahead without having heard from God. God can and will cause doubt about that at some point. When that happens, the best thing is to stop immediately.

“Whenever God causes a doubt about something, stop it immediately, no matter what it may be. Nothing in our lives is a mere insignificant detail to God.” ~~Oswald Chambers

What is purity?

What is purity? Practically, what does it mean? One huge aspect is purity in our relationships. Now this is tough but important.

“A practical help in keeping your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, “That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus!” ~~Oswald Chambers

Related articles

• Purity of Heart and Life (Spurgeon’s Faith’s Checkbook) (hisimagenme.wordpress.com)
• A Pleasing Purity (whateverforeveramen.wordpress.com)

Is Jesus increasing?

Oswald Chambers makes an amazing point. Is my witness about myself or about Jesus?

Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left with this thought— “What a fine person that man is!” That is not being a true “friend of the bridegroom”— I am increasing all the time; He is not. ~~Oswald Chambers

“Sanctification is not something Jesus puts in me— it is Himself in me.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people?” ~~Oswald Chambers

Sometimes I have to be challenged. Jesus does it all the time. This quote from Oswald Chambers hit me right between the eyes. I am responsible to GOD for other people coming to His Son Jesus. There is no plan B. GOD is counting on me.

“Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people?” ~~Oswald Chambers

Related articles

• Oswald Chambers (tomroyreleased.wordpress.com)
• My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers (monkeysinmybag.wordpress.com)
• What You Will Get – Daily Devotion By Oswald Chambers (gospelbondservant.com)

Who understands me?

Wow. Now here is a thought. How much of our current culture is built around trying to understand ourselves. Way too much and not the way things are in God’s world.

“We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves. That is always the last bit of pride to go. The only One who understands us is God.” ~~Oswald Chambers

Will I obey God?

Am I willing to let others experience pain because I am following Jesus?

“If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins.” ~~Oswald Chambers http://ow.ly/Vfdi

“The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty.” ~~Oswald Chambers

We live in a world where the conventional wisdom is that we must have goals and will only be successful if we achieve them. Really?? Is that all there is to life.

Jesus demands we don’t see it that way. He knows we only have today and that is devoted to doing what our heavenly Father wants us to. Tomorrow will take care of itself.

. . . it has not yet been revealed what we shall be . . . —1 John 3:2

via My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

“Our work is not to save souls, but to disciple them.” ~Oswald Chambers

“”All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“God is never in a hurry.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“May we learn to intercede so wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ will be completely and overwhelmingly satisfied with us as intercessors.” ~~Jesus

“When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself.” ~Oswald Chambers

“The goal of my spiritual life is such close identification with Jesus Christ that I will always hear God and know that God always hears me.” ~Oswald Chambers

“God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them, … because we do not truly love and respect Him.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them— not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“Be exhausted for God, but remember that He is your supply.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted—not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister?” ~~Oswald Chambers

“This total surrender to “the love of Christ” is the only thing that will bear fruit in your life.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“Our Lord never requires the same conditions for discipleship that he requires for salvation.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“When we touch the foundation of the reality of the good news of God, we will never bother Him anymore with little personal complaints.” ~Oswald Chambers

I need to understand that God sent Jesus to redeem the whole world, not just me. What am I willing to endure to bring the good news of God to others? Criticism? Torture? Jail? Death? Ostracism?

Is it worth it? Yes, it is. It’s not about me.

It is an injustice to say that Jesus Christ labored in redemption to make me a saint. Jesus Christ labored in redemption to redeem the whole world and to place it perfectly whole and restored before the throne of God. The fact that we can experience redemption illustrates the power of its reality, but that experience is a byproduct and not the goal of redemption. If God were human, how sick and tired He would be of the constant requests we make for our salvation and for our sanctification. We burden His energies from morning till night asking for things for ourselves or for something from which we want to be delivered! When we finally touch the underlying foundation of the reality of the gospel of God, we will never bother Him anymore with little personal complaints.

via My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

“Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord,” and life will become a romance.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“Wake yourself up and look to God.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“He wants you to be a “living sacrifice”— to let Him have all your strengths that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus.” ~~Oswald Chambers

It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a “living sacrifice”— to let Him have all your strengths that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus (Romans 12:1). This is what is acceptable to God.

via My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

“Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely.” ~~Oswald Chambers

Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “. . . do not worry about your life . . . nor about the body . . .” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”

via My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

“Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest.” ~~Oswald Chambers

Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest

via My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

“Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Jesus.” ~~Oswald Chambers

‘The love of God working in me causes me to hate anything that is not in keeping with God’s holiness.” ~~Owsald Chambers

via My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

“When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“God expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“You must learn to wrestle against the things that hinder your communication with God.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“You must learn to wrestle against the things that hinder your communication with God, and wrestle in prayer for other people; but to wrestle with God in prayer is unscriptural.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith.” ~~Oswald Chambers

“It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself.” ~~Oswald Chambers

Conditions of obedience?

When I see things from my world, I can fall into the trap that I can “dictate to God” how I want things to happen. God is God and it is only what he wants that matters. Mine is only a issue of hearing His word and obeying.

Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience ~Oswald Chambers http://ow.ly/VfjW

What is the characteristic of a spiritual man?

I have a passion for the Good News!! I want to be a man after God’s own heart.

That is all there is to it.

“The lasting characteristic of a spiritual man is the ability to understand correctly the meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life, and the ability to explain the purposes of God to others. The overruling passion of his life is Jesus Christ. Whenever you see this quality in a person, you get the feeling that he is truly a man after God’s own heart.” ~~Oswald Chambers

Your life shall be a prize to you

“God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally — “… your life shall be as a prize to you ….” (Jeremiah 39:18).

“That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are to be a matter of indifference to us, and our hold on these things should be very loose. If this is not the case, we will have panic, heartache, and distress. Having the proper outlook is evidence of the deeply rooted belief in the overshadowing of God’s personal deliverence.”

–Oswald Chambers