My Utmost for His Highest - May 31st - God First

Put God First in Trust. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. - John 2:24-25

    Our Lord trusted no man; yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, never in despair about any man, because He put God first in trust; He trusted absolutely in what God's grace could do for any man. If I put my trust in human beings first, I will end in despairing in everyone; I will become bitter, because I have insisted on man being what no man ever can be--absolutely right. Never trust anything but the grace of God in yourself or in anyone else.

Put God's Needs First. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. - Hebrews 10:9

    A man's obedience is to what he sees to be a need; Our Lord's obedience was to the will of His Father. The cry to-day is--"We must get some work to do; the heathen are dying without God; we must go and tell them of Him." We have to see first of all that God's needs in us personally are being met. "Tarry ye until . . . (Luke 24:49)" The purpose of this College is to get us rightly related to the needs of God. When God's needs in us have been met, then He will open the way for us to realize His needs elsewhere.

Put God's Trust First. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. - Matthew 18:5

    God's trust is that He gives me Himself as a babe. God expects my personal life to be a "Bethlehem." Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transfigured by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God's ultimate purpose is that His Son might be manifested in my mortal flesh.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 30th - Yes--But . . . !

And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. - Luke 9:61

    Supposing God tells you to do something which is an enormous test to your common sense, what are you going to do? Hang back? If you get into the habit of doing a thing in the physical domain, you will do it every time until you break the habit determinedly; and the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will get up to what Jesus Christ wants, and every time you will turn back when it comes to the point, until you abandon resolutely. "Yes, but--supposing I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?" "Yes, I will obey God if He will let me use my common sense, but don't ask me to take a step in the dark." Jesus Christ demands of the man who trusts Him the same reckless sporting spirit that the natural man exhibits. If a man is going to do anything worth while, there are times when he has to risk everything on his leap, and in the spiritual domain Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold by common sense and leap into what He says, and immediately you do, you find that what He says fits on as solidly as common sense. At the bar of common sense Jesus Christ's statements may seem mad; but bring them to the bar of faith, and you begin to find with awestruck spirit that they are the words of God. Trust entirely in God, and when He brings you to the venture, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis, only one out of a crowd is daring enough to bank his faith in the character of God.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My thoughts

Interesting devotion which speaks of a common sentiment among us all - I will follow you Lord, but... as long as it make sense to my common sense I will follow Him but to venture out in the dark, well, that is something I'm not willing to do. Yet, Jesus demands this reckless way, defying common sense and forging ahead. That is the truth - even in evangelism, once we feel like we are properly prepared, then we will set out. We trust in ourselves even when we say we are following God rather than putting our faith in the character of God. 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 29th - Undisturbed Relationship

At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. - John 16:26-27

    "At that day ye shall ask in My name," i.e., in My nature. Not--"you shall use My name as a magic word," but--"You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me." "That day" is not a day hereafter, but a day meant for here and now. "The Father Himself loveth you"--the union is so complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that life will be free from eternal perplexities, but that just as he knew the Father's heart and mind, so by the baptism of the Holy Ghost He can lift us into the heavenly places where He can reveal the counsels of God to us. 

    "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name. . . . (John 16:23)" "That day" is a day of undisturbed relationship between God and the saint. Just as Jesus stood unsullied in the presence of His Father, so by the mighty efficacy of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, we can be lifted into that relationship--"that they may be one, even as We are One. (John 17:22)" 

    ". . . He will give it you. (John 16:23)" Jesus says that God will recognize our prayers. What a challenge! By the Resurrection and Ascension power of Jesus, by the sent-down Holy Ghost, we can be lifted into such a relationship with the Father that we are at one with the perfect sovereign will of God by our free choice even as Jesus was. In that wonderful position, placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in His name, in His nature, which is gifted to us by the Holy Ghost, and Jesus says--"Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you." The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested by His own statements. 

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My thoughts

Chambers continues these thoughts of prayer that have been talked about him now for the last 3 days. His focus on prayer is really more about the relationship Jesus had with the Father and it being oneness and how we need to have this in mind as we think of prayer. Jesus was one with the Father so his asking was one. He knew the Father's heart and mind and so receiving things were done, I think, because asking was based upon that relationship. I'm not sure if we ask always from the same thinking. Our requests are varied and a laundry list of our wants. I need to be focused on my relationship with Him first. As he starts out saying today - "In My Name" is not a magic word to use so you get what you want but really speaks of the union we have with Him. 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 28th - .Unquestioned Revelation

And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. - John 16:23

    When is "that day"? When the Ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. In that day you will be one with the Father as Jesus is, and "in that day," Jesus says, "ye shall ask Me nothing." Until the resurrection life of Jesus is manifested in you, you want to ask this and that; then after a while you find all questions gone, you do not seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the place of entire reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus which brings you into perfect contact with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why shouldn't you?

    There may be any number of things dark to your understanding, but they do not come in between your heart and God. "And in that day ye shall ask Me no question"--you do not need to, you are so certain that God will bring things out in accordance with His will. John 14:1 has become the real state of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and it is coming in between you and God, never look for the explanation in your intellect, look for it in your disposition, it is that which is wrong. When once your disposition is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, the understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will get to the place where there is no distance between the Father and His child because the Lord has made you one, and "in that day ye shall ask Me no question."

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

Romans 7:7-13 - The Law's Revelation of Sin

Romans 7:7-13

7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; 11 for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

Message: The Law's Revelation of Sin

Time: Paul wrote to Rome, a city he had never visited, from the Greek city of Corinth in AD 57. He writes to a church that he believes needed to hear basic gospel doctrine. The city was a hotbed of sexual immorality and idolatry. 

What the Lord is Saying:

Civil law is the law of the land for all people. Due to the threat of punishment, the Law restrains sin in people's lives. This law, either the one we read about in the Old Testament or the one on men's consciences (Romans 2:14-15), our actions are in check. However, the Law also shows us what is right and wrong and because we have a depraved human heart, we are ignited through the Law to sin or act in rebellion from it. 

What Paul speaks of, as is shown in today's passage, is the Law makes people more desirous of that which is sinful. He gives the perspective that all sin is coveting or wanting something that belongs to another - we want God's control so we try to take it and take matters into our hands. We want what our neighbor has or what another person has. Woman has been made for man and yet in pornography is this idea that a woman is made for any man. Women are not an object for anyone to take pleasure in -- when the commandment came, sin became alive..." 

What occurs in the law is the recognition that a person's sin is a lot more grievous than originally thought. People know they tell lies, but the law states, "Thou Shall Not Lie." It does not provide exceptions and yet within man is this feeling of justifiable lying but the Law gives the idea that all lies are wrong. Inside of man is this balancing act regarding sin and comparison regarding sin that makes everyone think their sin is not that big of a deal. Yet God's law exposes sin for always being wrong and that perfection or complete obedience is the standard. Here is a list of sins that amazes me. It exposes me. And I struggle looking at it. I'd much rather not look at it. I'd much rather go about my day exposing myself to it. I think this is where I struggle with the Bible and people struggle with the Bible is they do not want to be found out. They do not want to be exposed and told they are guilty. And so they don't read this book, they avoid church gatherings and yet I find even in church we tend to focus more on positive feelings than recognizing and speaking of sin. If we speak of sin, it is about other people. 

Promise: But the gospel must always be preached alongside the exposition of sin. Otherwise, despair will set in. In the gospel resides always the good news that God provides righteousness to make us always accepted and appear to be holy before Him. 

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for exposing me and showing me the seriousness of my sin. I admit Lord, I rebel against this. I would much rather stay focused on that which brings me pleasure than to look at the mirror and see where I have sinned. Forgive me for offending you daily and taking matters in my own hands. I do want control and want to always think my actions are not that bad. Help me to remember sin and your expectations. And than you Jesus for saving me and finishing off sin for me on the cross so that I can walk in new life. 

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of July is about the right use of God's Law; June was justification by faith alone; May about solus Christus - Christ Alone; April, salvation by grace alone; March, the sovereign providence of God; February, the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January, the doctrine of God.

The Restraint of the Law - the law is given for lawless, unholy, disobedient people, to restrain us from acting on our sinful thoughts. Restraint and Guilt - the law is meant to restrain Christians and non-Christians alike; so that others may see Christ. 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 27th - The Life That Lives

And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. - Luke 24:49

    The disciples had to tarry until the day of Pentecost not for their own preparation only; they had to wait until the Lord was glorified historically. As soon as He was glorified, what happened? "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. (Acts 2:33)" The parenthesis in John 7:39 ("For the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified") does not apply to us; the Holy Ghost has been given, the Lord is glorified; the waiting depends not on God's providence, but on our fitness.

    The Holy Spirit's influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Immediately Our Lord was glorified in Ascension, the Holy Spirit came into this world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revelation that he is here. The reception of the Hoy Spirit is the maintained attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive quickening life from the ascended Lord.

    It is not the baptism of the Holy Ghost which changes men, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into men's lives by the Holy Ghost that changes them. We too often divorce what the New testament never divorces. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ: it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.

    The baptism of the Holy Ghost does not make you think of Time or Eternity, it is one amazing glorious NOW. "This is life eternal that they might know Thee. (John 17:3)" Begin to know Him now, and finish never.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My Utmost for His Highest - May 26th - Think as Jesus Taught

"pray without ceasing." - I Thessalonians 5:17

    We think rightly or wrongly about prayer according to the conception we have in our minds of prayer. If we think of prayer as the breath to our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly. The blood flows ceaselessly, and breathing continues ceaselessly; we are not conscious of it, but it is always going on. We are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect joint with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life. Beware of anything that stops ejaculatory prayer. "Pray without ceasing," keep the childlike habit of ejaculatory prayer in your heart to God all the time. 

    Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer, He had the boundless certainty that prayer is always answered. Have we by the Spirit the unspeakable certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when God does not seem to have answered prayer? "Every one that asketh receiveth. (Matthew 7:8)" We say--"But . . . , but . . ." God answers prayer in the best way, not sometimes, but every time, although the immediate manifestation of the answer in the domain in which we want it may not always follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?

    The danger with us is that we want to water down the things that Jesus says and make them mean something in accordance with common sense; if it were only common sense, it was not worth while for Him to say it. the things Jesus says about prayer are supernatural revelation. 

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My thoughts

God answers prayer. Every prayer. "Every one that asks, receives" but the receives is defined by God. 

I Corinthians 5:1 - Restraint and Guilt

I Corinthians 5:1 - It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife.

Message: Restraint and Guilt

Time: Paul spent 18 months in Corinth and this is his 2nd letter to them (the first did not survive). He penned his letter in AD 55. There was quarrelling already in this church and deep divisions. Sin needs to be confronted and he did this boldly.

What the Lord is Saying:

As was seen in the previous lesson, the law is given for all, to restrain all from sin. Now we can't help but notice that this law of God has changed significantly, even in my lifetime. I can remember very few stores being open on Sunday. Thus, Sunday was thought to be a day of rest. And even stores were not open for 24 hours very often. But, all that has changed and there is rarely a day of rest when some stores are open on Christmas day. In addition, what has been defined as acceptable behavior has broadened.    

Homosexuality, sex before marriage, pornography, drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana -- were all even 40 years ago considered taboo and yet now they are celebrated as acceptable behavior and the needle continues to move as we have individuals now choosing their own biological sex. 

Yet the needle has not moved all the way and we are still centered on certain restraints, like murder, hate, theft, incest, torture, and certain aspect of sexual immorality like forcing minors to engage in sexual acts. 

In today's passage from I Corinthians 5:1 is an example of a sin that even the pagan world thought was wrong -- a sexual relationship between a man and his stepmother after his father died or divorced her. And this is a sin that was being practiced among those that call themselves followers of God. Thus, an example of how their was a law even in the pagan world of what is acceptable and unacceptable. And the Christians were those ones not rightly applying God's word. I've seen this in my lifetime. I remember my father saying that my faith would be challenged more by attending the Christian university that I did than if I were to attend a secular university. And having worked for Christian businesses as well, I found that I was treated differently than if I had been working for a business not made up of Christians. And even in the church, rather than being different, often churches are no different than the world. 

Many non-Christians are good citizens, doing good things, having good morals. They love their children and see the problem of exposure to all that the world offers and often are in very close relationships with one another. This is a good thing. And yet the words of the Bible decry an outward only manifestation of the truth of God, stating that it must be an inward change. Doing good and being Godly are very different things. None of us are perfect and all of us still are sinners and are in need of a Savior to redeem us from ourselves and bring us into God's acceptance. 

Promise: The Law of God is meant to be a restraint, and the world is watching how Christians restrain themselves. Let us seek to use the Law of God as a restraint so that others may see Christ in all His glory. 

Prayer: O God, thank you for the truth of You and the morality that you have set up in this world. You are holy and you have called your people to holiness. Thank you that our country was founded on Godly principles and this world still in many ways follows these creeds. Thank you that this country started with the right foundation and even I can remember these practices in my lifetime. Sin remains a surprise in all of its forms, and I pray that mankind would be redeemed and the law of God would be recognized again as the standard to live by. Draw people to yourself and help me to practice my faith at all times in all settings, to give you glory and be a testimony of God's love and right ways. 

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of July is about the right use of God's Law; June was justification by faith alone; May about solus Christus - Christ Alone; April, salvation by grace alone; March, the sovereign providence of God; February, the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January, the doctrine of God.

The Restraint of the Law - the law is given for lawless, unholy, disobedient people, to restrain us from acting on our sinful thoughts. 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 25th - The Test of Self-Interest

Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.” - Genesis 13:9

    As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascination and luxurious prospects will open up before you, and these things are yours by right; but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God choose for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the right and proper thing to consider if you were not living a life of faith; but if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and leave God to choose for you. This is the discipline by means of which the natural is transformed in the spiritual by obedience to the voice of God.

    Whenever right is made the guidance in the life, it will blunt the spiritual insight. The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. It would seem the wisest thing in the world for Abraham to choose, it was his right , and the people around would consider him a fool for not choosing. Many of us do not go on spiritually because we prefer to choose what is the right instead of relying on God to choose for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eye on God. "Walk before Me. (Genesis 17:1)"

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My Utmost for His Highest - May 24th - The Delight of Despair

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: - Revelation 1:17

    It may be that like the apostle John you know Jesus Christ intimately, when suddenly He appears with no familiar characteristic at all, and the only thing you can do is to fall at His feet as dead,. There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awfulness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair; if you are ever to be raised up, it must be by the hand of God.

    "He laid His right hand upon me." In the midst of the awfulness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. The right hand not of restraint nor of correction nor of chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it is ineffable peace and comfort, the sense that "underneath are the everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27)," full of sustaining comfort and strength. When once His touch comes, nothing at all can cast you into fear again. In the midst of all his ascended glory the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, and to say--"Fear not." His tenderness is ineffably sweet. Do I know Him like that?

    Watch some of the things that strike despair. There is despair in which there is not delight, no horizon, no hope of anything brighter; but the delight of despair comes when I know that "in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing. (Romans 7:18)" I delight to know that there is that in me which must fall prostrate before God when He manifests Himself, and if I am ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I get to the limit of the possible.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

I Timothy 1:8-11 - The Restraint of the Law

I Timothy 1:8-11

8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

Message: The Restraint of the Law

Time: Paul is writing to a young pastor in Timothy. He is writing to Timothy in about AD 63, who is serving the church in Ephesus. He is writing about church leadership and organizing the church. Paul gives practical and pastoral advice. 

What the Lord is Saying:

After spending time in looking at justification by faith alone, it seems natural now to talk about the Law. The antithesis to faith alone salvation is some level of works or obedience to the Law or a law in one's life. The church is tempted often to set up check points or ordinances that must be followed to assure people that they are saved. But in this way we start to become too focused on the works and eventually succumb to the belief that we must prove ourselves worthy to Jesus. And suddenly faith alone is abandoned, but in these lessons I think we need to see the importance still of the Law. 

In civil law it comes down to who is to execute the law. Lawful authorities are given this responsibility and not merely the citizens living under the law. A court must decided someone's fate for murdering another, not an individual. This is being assaulted and contradicted daily in our world as it seems popular opinion or at times, any opinion becomes judge and jury. 

In a similar way to authority, God as our authority needs to be considered. In considering, there is a conclusion of 3 different effects. The first is the use of the law as a restraint. In our text today is the idea the law is for those who are lawless. The point of a text like this one in I Timothy is to compel people to not break the law by describing lawbreakers who are accountable to judgments and consequences by their rebellious acts. Consequences and punishments cause our lives to be detoured and we are clearly a people that do not want to be detoured. 

Sinners or those that are unconverted especially need this written standard. With a desire to do evil. we need to know what it is that will lead to punishment for our evil actions. If we were sinless and unable to sin, we would not need an external code. Obviously it is hoped salvation comes to people, but for life to work for all - the converted and unconverted - we need a standard. The Law is that standard. We need to be constrained by the fruit of our evil urges such as murder, theft, and adultery. 

Promise: God has given us the Law and we should be grateful for this restraint and heed God's law so as to preserve a safe and orderly civil society. 

Prayer: Lord, I am thankful for the Law and the continual reminder that your ways are the best ways. You want to simply protect us and make life the best it can be - even if are lives are not surrendered to you. At least we can show that adherence to your law is the best way. I think you that society believes on core basics but pray that it would me more sweeping in what they define as murder. theft, adultery, and many of the other commandments you have given. Return us O God to living according to your standards. Thank you for those groups that seek to uphold this and help me to reinforce this as well that we need these core standards in our lives. I pray that we would trust our leaders and our leaders would adhered to standards and not give in to personal whims. 

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of July is about the right use of God's Law; June was justification by faith alone; May about solus Christus - Christ Alone; April, salvation by grace alone; March, the sovereign providence of God; February, the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January, the doctrine of God.

My Utmost for His Highest - May 23rd - Careful Infidelity

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? - Matthew 6:25

    Jesus sums up common-sense carefulness in a disciple as infidelity. If we have received the Spirit of God, He will press through and say--Now where does God come in in this relationship, in this mapped out holiday, in these new books? He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.

    "Take no thought. . ." don't take the pressure of forethought upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is infidelity, because worrying means that we do not think that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything else that worries us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the word He puts in? The devil? No, the cares of this world (Matthew 13:22). It is the little worries always. I will not trust where I cannot see, that is where infidelity begins. The only cure for infidelity is obedience to the Spirit.

    The great word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My thoughts

Infidelity is to be unfaithful to a spouse or to have unbelief is a religion. Either one of these definitions could be would Chambers is saying here - that worry or not listening to what God tells us to do is infidelity. We must be careful that we don't let the cares of this world sabotage our focus on Him. That we don't get pre-occupied with earning money, listening to our leaders, being responsible -- the cares of this world - and stop listening to Him. 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 22nd - Now This Explains It

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. - John 17:21

    If you are going through a solitary way, read John 17, it will explain exactly why you are where you are--Jesus has prayed that you may be one with the Father as He is. Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or have you some other end for your life? Since you became a disciple you cannot be as independent as you used to be.

    The purpose of God is not to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God, and this revealed in John 17. There is one prayer God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus--"that they may be one, even as We are One. (John 17:22)" Are we as close to Jesus Christ as that?
    

    God is not concerned about our plans; He does not say--Do you want to go through this bereavement; this upset? He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, nobler men, and women; or they are making us more captious* and fault-finding, more insistent upon our own way. the things that happen either make us fiends, or they make us saints; it depends entirely upon the relationship we are in to God. If we say--"Thy will be done, (Matthew 26:42)" we get the consolation of John 17, the consolation of knowing that our Father is working according to His own wisdom. When we understand what God is after we will not get mean and cynical. Jesus has prayed nothing less for us than absolute oneness with Himself as He was one with the Father. Some of us are far off it, and yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him, because Jesus has prayed that we may be.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

Mom's thoughts

*captious - fond of taking exception or raising objections

My thoughts

Very interesting thoughts here -- praying is to discern the mind of God and God does not consult us but allow things to occur in our lives for His purpose. -- I must remember always my purpose and it is to be one with God, not to have a happy, carefree life. 

Romans 1:16-17 - The Fruit of Faith

Romans 1:16-17 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Message: The Fruit of Faith

Time: The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans from the Greek city of Corinth in AD 57, just three years after the 16 year old Nero had ascended to the throne as Emperor of Rome. Persecution of Christians wouldn't begin until AD 64. The church was experiencing times of relative peace. From where he wrote, Corinth, was a hotbed of sexual immorality and idol worship.

What the Lord is Saying:

Faith clearly gets a bad rap, because it often is inferred that our faith is blind but it is not. We hold true to the evidence of God's word and the evidence of living rightly and seeing the benefits of right living and seeking first the Kingdom of God in our lives. The idea is very reasonable that I cannot save myself if God is holy and so therefore he expects our holiness to mirror His. And He is trustworthy and will do what He says and has shown this throughout history. 

And life is more rational and has a higher meaning. It is odd to me that once people know you are a Christian, the thought is a person must be perfect and have no sin. The fact that we understand sin does not though make us exempt from it; rather, we simple know it and know it's impact on our lives. 

Yet, with Christ in our lives it is true that we bear righteousness. As I've seen lately in my study the righteous person recognizes his need and is therefore a teachable person. They recognize something higher than them and they are more apt to obedience because they recognize their need to be different and submit to a creator's ways. 

Today's passage from Romans 1:16-17 stating that our obedience is not what declares us righteous as righteousness is not earned but is received by faith and once acknowledged this faith is confirmed throughout out life and moves us to greater and greater obedience. Every day we put our trust in Him. Every day when I seek Him First I am acknowledging my faith in Him and that faith is greater than anything else in my life. It takes first place. Other things take second, but each day that faith in Him takes first place. Each day my loyalty is to Him first as I pledge and live my life out to Him. 

And in turn He gives me a compassion for others and I am loyal to them and want the best for them. It means I trust in Him each day and I want to be obedient and keep my commitment to Him. And I want to keep my commitment to others. 

Promise: As I live by faith, I want to be more trustworthy to others. 

Prayer: Lord, I pray that I would be a trustworthy person always. Thank you Holy Spirit for quickening me always to live by faith each day and to put you number one in my life and let all other things in my life fall into place. Thank you for these lessons on faith and this past year of studying faith. It has taken me a while to get through these lessons and yet they have been rich and I am thankful for the consistency of Your word and its completeness. Help me to hold onto these truths. Lord, help me to be sensitive to sinners each day, as they look to themselves as truth and they are defining and redefining each day in them what is truth. Lord, help me to be a person that radiates truth and if I can point them to their sin and help them acknowledge it, direct me in this way. Thank you for your Law and that it radiates truth and speaks of obedience, but the complete obedience that is needed and reminds me every day of how much I need you because I can never be perfect. Yes, Lord, I need to be a person that keeps your Law but as a response to what you have done not as a condition to be accepted by You, because the only way for me to be justified is by Your Son Jesus. Jesus, you completed obedience as I was and am incapable of this. You have saved me simply out of Your kindness. It is only through you that I can be righteous and because of this I have a right and perfect relationship with You for all eternity. I am still a sinner, but because of your claim on My life You see me as righteous because of Jesus in me. Thank you for the simplicity of faith that sprung up in my life in 1982 and still lives in me today and has only gotten stronger and stronger. I am saved. By faith alone in Christ alone and will live for Christ alone. 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 21st - Divine Reasonings of Faith

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. - Matthew 6:33

    Immediately we look at these words of Jesus, we find them the most revolutionary statement human ears ever listened to. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." We argue in exactly the opposite way, even the most spiritually-minded of us--"But I must live; I must make so much money; I must be clothed; I must be fed." The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God, but how we are to fit ourselves to live. Jesus reverses the order: Get rightly related to God first, maintain that as the great care of your life, and never put the concern of your care on the other things.

    "Take no thought for your life. . . (Matthew 6:25)" Our Lord points out the utter unreasonableness from His standpoint of being so anxious over the means of living. Jesus is not saying that the man who takes thought for nothing is blessed--that man is a fool. Jesus taught that a disciple has to make his relationship to God the dominating concentration of his life, and to be carefully careless about everything else in comparison to that. Jesus is saying--"Don't make the ruling factor of your life what you shall eat and what you shall drink, but be concentrated absolutely on God." Some people are careless over what they eat and drink, and they suffer for it; they are careless about what they wear, and they look as they have no business to look; they are careless about their earthly affairs, and God holds them responsible. Jesus is saying that the great care of the life is to put the relationship to God first, and everything else second.

    It is one of the severest disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My thoughts

It is not that we seek only the kingdom of God and this is often how this statement is taken at times. We are to seek first the kingdom of God and everything else second. It is really a re-evaluation every day of what is most important in our lives. God needs to be the dominating concentration of my life. It needs to rule my life. 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 20th - The Realm of The Real

 In your patience possess ye your souls. - Luke 21:19

    When a man is born again, there is not the same robustness in his thinking or reasoning for a time as formerly. We have to make an expression of the new life, to form the mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:5). "Acquire your soul with patience." Many of us prefer to stay at the threshold of the Christian life instead of going on to construct a soul in accordance with the new life God has put within. We fail because we are ignorant of the way we are made, we put things down to the devil instead of our own undisciplined natures. Think what we can be when we are roused!

    There are certain things we must not pray about--moods, for instance. Moods never go by praying, moods go by kicking. A mood nearly always has its seat in the physical condition, not in the moral. It is a continual effort not to listen to the moods which arise from a physical condition, never submit to them for a second. We have to take ourselves by the scruff of the neck and shake ourselves, and we will find that we can do what we said we could not. The curse with most of us is that we won't. The Christian life is one of incarnate spiritual pluck.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My thoughts

Be careful in listening to your physical moods for moods distract us from the life God intended in us. We need to form the mind of Christ. Don't blame the devil for your poor decisions.  

 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 19th - "Out of the Wreck I Rise"

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? - Romans 8:35

    God does not keep a man immune from trouble; He says--I will be with him in trouble. (Psalm 91:15)" It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of a man's life, not one of them can separate him from his relationship to God. We are "More than conquerors in all these things. (Romans 8:37)" Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ. Rightly or wrongly, we are where we are, exactly in the condition we are in. I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.

    "Shall tribulation . . . ?" Tribulation is never a noble thing; but let tribulation be what it may--exhausting, galling, fatiguing, it is not able to separate us from the love of God. Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves you (Matthew 13:22).

    "Shall anguish. . .?"--can God's love hold when everything says that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?

    "Shall famine. . .?"--can we not only believe in the love of God but be more than conquerors, even while we are being starved?

    Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God's character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it--the love of God in Christ Jesus. "Out of the wreck I rise" every time.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My thoughts

Trouble - expect it. But it won't separate us from the love of God. Don't let those cares separate you from the love of God. They will try. God's love. Accept the trouble. Accept His love.  

 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 18th - Careful Unreasonableness

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? - Matthew 6:26, 28

    Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars and the moon--all these are, and what a ministration they exert. So often we mar God's designed influence through us by our self-conscious effort to be consistent and useful. Jesus says that there is only one way to develop spiritually, and that is by concentration on God. "Do not bother about being of use to others; believe on Me (John 7:38)"--pay attention to the Source, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. We cannot get at the springs of our natural life by common sense, and Jesus is teaching that growth in spiritual life does not depend on our watching it, but on concentration on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows the circumstance we are in, and if we keep concentrated on Him we will grow spiritually as the lilies.

 
    The people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us, but those who live their lives like the stars in heaven and the lilies in the field, perfectly simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mould us.

    If you want to be of use to God, get rightly related to Jesus Christ and He will make you of use unconsciously every minute you live.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My thoughts

To develop spiritually, we concentrate on God, not on our growth per se, but on Him and like the lilies of the field and the stars in the sky, we will exert Him as we focus on the Source. If we do this, unconsciously we will be in right relation to Him and be of use to Him. 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 17th - His Ascension and Our Union

While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. - Luke 24:51

    We have no corresponding experience in the events in Our lord's life after the Transfiguration. From then onwards Our Lord's life was altogether vicarious. Up to the time of the Transfiguration He has exhibited the normal perfect life of a man; from the Transfiguration onwards--Gethsemane, the Cross, the Resurrection--everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His Resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to any man, and by His Ascension Our Lord enters heaven and keeps the door open for humanity.

    On the Mount of Ascension the Transfiguration is completed. If Jesus had gone to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone; He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the Mount to identify Himself with fallen humanity.

    The Ascension is the consummation of the Transfiguration. Our Lord does now go back into His primal glory; but He does not go back simply as Son of God; He goes back to God as Son of Man as well as Son of God. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God by the Ascension of the Son of Man. As Son of Man Jesus Christ deliberately limited omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience in Himself. Now they are His in absolute full power. As Son of Man Jesus Christ has all power at the throne of God. He is King of kings and Lord of lords from the day of His Ascension until now.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My Utmost for His Highest - May 16th - The Habit of Wealth

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. - 2 Peter 1:4

    We are made partakers of the Divine nature through the promises; then we have to "manipulate" the Divine nature in our heaven nature by habits, and the first habit to form is the habit of realizing the provision God has made. "Oh, I can't afford it," we say--one of the worst lies is tucked up in that phrase. It is ungovernably bad taste to talk about money in the natural domain, and so it is spiritually, and yet we talk as if our Heavenly Father had cut us off with a shilling! We think it a sign of real modesty to say at the end of a day--"Oh, well, I have just got through, but it has been a severe tussle." And all the Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will tax the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will obey Him. What does it matter if external circumstances are hard? Why should they not be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we banish God's riches from our own lives and hinder others from entering His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it obliterates God and puts self-interest upon the throne. It opens our mouths to spit out murmurings and our lives become craving spiritual sponges, there is nothing lovely or generous about them.

    When God is beginning to be satisfied with us He will impoverish everything in the nature of fictitious wealth, until we learn that all our fresh springs are in Him (Psalm 87:7). If the majesty and grace and power of God are not being manifested in us (not to our consciousness), God holds us responsible. "God is able to make all grace abound, (2 Corinthians 9:8)" then learn to lavish the grace of God on others. Be stamped with God's nature, and His blessing will come through you all the time.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

Mom's Notes

Deanna's birthday

My thoughts

The danger in life is to think that we are going at it alone, like when we say at the end of a day, "I barely made it through the day." Again we act like trials shouldn't happen and yet God promises them. Instead we should approach each day seeking to better understand what God wants to teach us through the circumstances of our life. Guard against self-pity or "woe is me." This is self-absorbed thinking rather than being completely satisfied with Him, no matter the circumstance. Remember grace should be a constant in our life. We experience it and we pass it onto others.  

 

Genesis 22:1-14 - Living According to Faith

Genesis 22:1-14

Message: Living According to Faith

Time: Genesis is the first book and Moses is credited as authoring. The book spans 2400 years of time. It was originally written in Hebrew.

What the Lord is Saying:

Today I looked at Matthew 5:11 and it speaks of the promise that we will be reviled for our faith. It is not the sort of promise that we are looking for in our life. The promises we gravitate towards are those in which we are going to receive a blessing and yet persecution and being reviled for my faith is a blessing. It joins me with Christ's sufferings and the sufferings of saints in the past and looks me forward to a future reward. But often we present the gospel with this idea that it will make life easier in some way. We try to sell it before people like we would a new cell phone plan or a new TV or air conditioner, to make life more comfortable. But the reality is the Christian life is about suffering. There is obviously great peace in knowing we are saved for eternity and God has looked down on us and chosen us and we will continue to rejoice and sing those praises, but we must look at our faith as work, hard work to be Christ in me, God with us, and live and work and die for His glory. 

Jesus promises that trials will come. What makes life different with Jesus is how he works through us to stand up under those trials. We have a hope that never blemishes. Our hope is sure. 

In this lesson today is Genesis 22 and test put forth to Abraham to offer up his long awaited son Isaac. He had had a son, Ishmael, but that was through his wife pushing the maid on him in an impatient manner, rather than waiting for God. God kept his promise though. Even though they sought out other avenues for children, God still kept his promise to provide them a son. It was in old age. And now in Genesis 22 the unthinkable is thrown at Abraham. Take your son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. Here is the son he had waited for and God calls him to make a sacrifice. Abraham delayed in his departure to do this (Gen 22:2 says "Go now" and in verse 3 he waits till morning.) 

But then, upon seeing Abraham's faith, God does what He will always do, offering a substitute. God wants our faith in him. Faith is the calling card in our life to renewal. We must live this sort of life continually with God. We live in faith, trusting in Him, that He will come through. With Abraham, the substitute was told to him in advance. He was told to do something - sacrifice - and yet God interceded. God will intercede in our life. What is important is living daily by this faith. This is the faith that marks my salvation and this is the faith that needs to chronicle my life. Abraham was not a superhuman. He struggled. I struggle. But Abraham did trust. And I can trust. 

Promise: From Tabletalk -- Authentic faith does not trust God when times are good. It also believes God and acts upon His Word when difficulties come. Life will be hard. But the Lord will be with me, with us, even if the cost is high. A reward is waiting. 

Prayer: Lord God, thank you so much for this morning of being in Your word and the last year of the lesson in BSF in Genesis and spending that time going through Genesis with other men, learning from them and from you. Thank you for faith and that in you I have all I need. Life is hard. It has been and will be and I don't chagrin this because you told me it would be. But you are near. You are with me. And you will take me through all difficulties. Just help me to not guard myself from difficulty and acquiesce into the mold of this world that seeks freedom from trials, safety at all costs, and entertainment. I want to only be about faith. Thank you for providing the substitute of Jesus that changes my life always. I do praise You.  

My Utmost for His Highest - May 15th - The Habit of Rising to the Occasion

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. - Ephesians 1:18

    Remember what you are saved for--that the Son of God might be manifested in your mortal flesh (see 2 Corinthians 4:10). Bend the whole energy of your powers to realize your election as a child of God; rise to the occasion every time.

    You cannot do anything for your salvation, but you must do something to manifest it, you must work out what God has worked in (Philippians 2:12). Are you working it out with your tongue, and your brain and your nerves? If you are still the same miserable crosspatch, set on your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.

    God is the Master Engineer, He allows the difficulties to come in order to see if you can vault over them properly--"By my God have I leaped over a wall. (Psalm 18:29)" God will never shield you from any of the requirements of a son or daughter of His. 1 Peter 4:12 says--"Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you." Rise to the occasion; do the thing. It does not matter how it hurts as long as it gives God the chance to manifest Himself in your mortal flesh.

    May God not find the whine in us any more, but may He find us full of spiritual pluck and athleticism, ready to face anything He brings. We have to exercise ourselves in order that the Son of God may be manifested in our mortal flesh. God never has museums. The only aim of the life is that the Son of God may be manifested, and all dictation to God vanishes. Our Lord never dictated to His Father, and we are not here to dictate to God; we are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. When we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine to feed and nourish others.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My thoughts

God with us. Never forget that my salvation is so Christ can work through me. That is the hope of my calling. I must work out in me what God has worked in. That is a great reading of Philippians 2:12 that so many have given the idea that our salvation is by works. We are not saved by works. God enters our life and daily I need to surrender to Him so that His works in me will be manifested. I must look different if I am to say that God has saved me. Difficulties come my way for me to then vault over them. He allows the difficulties. Responding to trials centered on God shows that God is in me and I am trusting in Him. God with me. That's why I am here so people will see God in me.

My Utmost for His Highest - May 14th - The Habit of Enjoying the Agreeable

Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. - 2 Corinthians 4:10

    We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life. Do I manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of "myself" apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy the disagreeable is the keen enthusiasm of letting the life of the Son of God manifest itself in me. No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say--"Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee in this matter," and instantly the Son of God will press to the front, and there will be manifested in my human life that which glorifies Jesus.

    There must be no debate. The moment you obey the light, the Son of God presses through you in that particular; but if you debate you grieve the Spirit of God. You must keep yourself fit to let the life of the Son of God be manifested, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinary pure the Son of God is. The thing that ought to make the heart beat is a new way of manifesting the Son of God. It is one thing to choose the disagreeable and another thing to go into the disagreeable by God's engineering. If God puts you there, He is amply sufficient.

    Keep your soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of God. never live on memories; let the Word of God be always living and active in you.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My Thoughts

I love these thoughts of habits, new habits that are not so much on me doing, but letting Him take over in me. It is not about me and but obedience to Him and allowing Him to be manifested in me, for his glory. All of life can speak of Him - both the good and the trial, the agreeable and disagreeable. What is the purpose? Glorifying Him. Plain and simple. 

My Utmost for His Highest - May 13th - The Habit of a Good Conscience

And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men. - Acts 24:16

    God's commands are given to the life of His Son in us, consequently to the human nature in which His Son has been formed (see Galatians 4:19), His commands are difficult, but immediately we obey they become divinely easy.

    Conscience is that faculty in me which attaches itself to the highest that I know, and tells me what the highest I know demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either towards God or towards what it regards as the highest, and therefore conscience records differently in different people. If I am in the habit of steadily facing myself with God, my conscience will always introduce God's perfect law and indicate what I should do. The point is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I walk without offence. I should be living in such perfect sympathy with God's Son, that in every circumstance the spirit of my mind is renewed, and I "make out" at once "what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2, see also Ephesians 4:23)"

    God always educates us down to the scruple. Is my ear so keen to hear the tiniest whisper of the Spirit that I know what I should do? "Grieve not the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 4:30)" He does not come with a voice like thunder; His voice is so gentle that it is easy to ignore it. The one thing that keeps the conscience sensitive to Him is the continual habit of being open to God on the inside. When there is any debate, quit. "Why shouldn't I do this?" You are on the wrong track. There is no debate possible when conscience speaks. At your peril, you allow one thing to obscure your inner communion with God. Drop it, whatever it is, and see that you keep your inner vision clear.

- From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition.

My Thoughts

Six times is the word conscience mentioned today. 'Conscience records differently in different people' is a compelling statement to me that reminds me that I need to be sensitive to others and how God is directing them. God will speak to me, and each moment I need to be sensitive to Him because His volume may not be turned up. Let the Spirit of God renew in me daily my mind. This is a daily practice and just like any relationship I have, practicing this brings me more into that relationship and the practice of obedience of His commands becomes easier.