My Utmost for His Highest - June 6th - Work Out What God Works In

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. - Philippians 2:12-13

    Your will agrees with God, but in your flesh there is a disposition which renders you powerless to do what you know you ought to do. When the Lord is presented to the conscience, the first thing conscience does is to rouse the will, and the will always agrees with God. You say--"But I do not know whether my will is in agreement with God." Look to Jesus and you will find that your will and your conscience are in agreement with Him every time. The thing in you which makes you say "I shan't" is something less profound than your will; it is perversity, or obstinacy, and they are never in agreement with God. The profound thing in man is his will, not sin. Will is the essential element in God's creation of man: sin is a perverse disposition which entered into man. In a regenerated man the source of will is almighty. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." You have to work out with concentration and care what God works in; not work your own salvation, but work it out, while you base resolutely in unshaken faith on the complete and perfect Redemption of the Lord. As you do this, you do not bring an opposed will to God's will, God's will is your will, and your natural choices are along the line of God's will, and the life is as natural as breathing. God is the source of your will, therefore you are able to work out His will. Obstinacy is an unintelligent 'wadge' that refuses to be enlightened; the only thing is for it to be blown up with dynamite, and the dynamite is obedience to the Holy Spirit. 

    Do I believe that Almighty God is the source of my will? God not only expects me to do His will, but He is in me to do it. 

- 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 - June 5th - God's Say-So

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.  - Hebrews 13:5-6

    My say-so is to be built on God's say-so. God says--"I will never leave thee," then I can with good courage say--"The Lord is my helper, I will not fear--" I will not be haunted by apprehension. This does not mean that I will not be tempted to fear, but I will remember God's say-so. I will be full of courage, like a child "bucking himself up" to reach the standard his father wants. Faith in many a one falters when the apprehensions come, they forget the meaning of God's say-so, forget to take a deep breath spiritually. The only way to get the dread taken out of us is to listen to God's say-so.

    What are you dreading? You are not a coward about it, you are going to face it, but there is a feeling of dread. When there is nothing and no one to help you, say--"But the Lord is my Helper, this second, in my present outlook." Are you learning to say things after listening to God, or are you saying things and trying to make God's word fit in? Get hold of the Father's say-so, and then say with good courage--"I will not fear." It does not matter what evil or wrong may be in the way, He has said--"I will never leave thee." 

    Frailty is another thing that gets in between God's say-so and ours. When we realize how feeble we are in facing difficulties, the difficulties become like giants, we become like grasshoppers, and God becomes a nonentity. Remember God's say-so--"I will in no wise fail you." Have we learned to sing after hearing God's key-note? Are we always possessed with the courage to say--"The Lord is my helper," or are we succumbing? 

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

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition

Mom's Notes

Timothy's Birthday

My thoughts

He continues talk about not needing to fear or worry because God is our helper. Start with Him and let Him define things rather than trying to fit him in. 

My Utmost for His Highest - June 4th - The Never-Failing God

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. - Hebrews 13:5

    What line does my thought take? Does it turn to what God says or to what I fear? Am I learning to say not what God says, but to say something after I have heard what He says? "He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." 

    "I will in no wise fail thee"--not for all my sin and selfishness and stubbornness and waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never fail me? If I have listened to this say-so of God's, then let me listen again. 

    "Neither will I in any wise forsake thee." Sometimes it is not difficulty that makes me think God will forsake me, but drudgery. There is no Hill Difficulty to climb, no vision given, nothing wonderful or beautiful, just the commonplace day in and day out--can I hear God's say-so in these things? 

    We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing, that He is preparing and fitting us for some extraordinary thing by and bye, but as we go on in grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, in the present minute. If we have God's say-so behind us, the most amazing strength comes, and we learn to sing in the ordinary days and ways. 

- 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 - June 3rd - The Secret of the Lord

The secret (friendship R.V.) of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. - Psalm 25:14

    What is the sign of a friend? That he tells you secret sorrows? No, that he tells you secret joys. Many will confide to you their secret sorrows, but the last mark of intimacy is to confide secret joys. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys, or are we telling God our secrets continually that we leave no room for Him to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God, then we find that God wants to get us into relationship with Himself, to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so wedded to Jesus Christ's idea of prayer--"Thy will be done (Matthew 6:10)"--that we catch the secrets of God? The things that make God dear to us are not so much His great big blessings as the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us; He knows every detail of our individual lives. 

    ". . . him shall He teach in the way that He shall choose. (Psalm 25:12)" At first we want the consciousness of being guided by God, then as we go on we live so much in the consciousness of God that we do not need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing any other will never occur to  us. If we are saved and sanctified God guides us by our ordinary choices, and if we are going to choose what He does not want, he will check, and we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never reason it out and say--"I wonder why I shouldn't?" God instructs us in what we choose, that is, He guides our common sense, and we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually saying--"Now, Lord, what is Thy will?"

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

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition

My thoughts

We often come to God filled with our needs and wants, but do we think about the relationship that God wants with us and what He wants to share with us? Is it "thy will be done" or "our will be done?" God knows the details of our lives. He knows, but do I know the details of His life? When we are walking with Him day by day, walking in His presence, then He will be teaching us in the way we are to walk so that we don't really need to ask Him for His will.  He will guides us by our ordinary choices. If the Spirit is giving me doubt about a situation then don't try to reason it out, but simply stop and move on to what He confirms He wants. 

My Utmost for His Highest - June 2nd - What Are You Haunted By?

What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. - Psalm 25:12

    What are you haunted by? You will say--By nothing, but we are all haunted by something, generally by ourselves, or if are Christians, by our experience. The Psalmist says we are to be haunted by God. The abiding consciousness of the life is to be God, not thinking about Him. The whole of our life inside and out is to be absolutely haunted by the presence of God. A child's consciousness is so mother-haunted that although the child is not consciously thinking of his mother, yet when calamity arises, the relationship that abides is that of the mother. So we are to live and move and have our being in God (see Acts 17:28), to look at everything in relation to God, because the abiding consciousness of God pushes itself to the front all the time. 

    If we are haunted by God, nothing else can get in, no cares, no tribulation, no anxieties. We see now why Our Lord so emphasized the sin of worry. How can we dare be so utterly unbelieving when God is round about us? To be haunted by God is to have an effective barricade against all the onslaughts of the enemy. 

    "His soul shall dwell at ease. (Psalm 25:13)" In tribulation, misunderstanding, slander, in the midst of all these things, if our life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), He will keep us at ease. We rob ourselves of the marvelous revelation of this abiding companionship of God. "God is our Refuge (Psalm 46:1)"--nothing can come through that shelter. 

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

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition

My thoughts

The modern edition changes the word "haunted" to "obsessed." It seems like that changes the meaning and yet, haunted is a tough word to figure out. The dictionary says that "haunted" is showing signs of mental anguish or torment. It seems to be speaking of a power that overcomes a person. And then also today is "consciousness" which is changed to "awareness." That seems to be more in line with the idea. Yet, he speaks of a close relationship between a child to his mother. In that relationship it seems he is saying that the child may experience a difficulty and because there is so an intense closeness with his mother, the child immediately goes to mother. I saw this in our family with our children. Mom was the first name called in most situations, almost like it was unconscious. And so this is the relationship we as Christians are to have with God and to that end, the idea of "haunted" starts to make more sense. It speaks of this special connection or dependence the Christian has with God. And if that is occurring then worry really has no place in the life of the Christian. And that makes sense. When we are hid with Christ in God we are at ease. Thus, the word "haunted" seems to work better for it is a sort of antithesis of what we think with that word; a good "haunted." 

My Utmost for His Highest - June 1st - The Staggering Question

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. - Ezekiel 37:3

    Can that sinner be turned into a saint? Can that twisted life be put right? There is only one answer: "O Lord, Thou knowest, I don't." Never trample in with religious common sense and say--"Oh, yes, with a little more Bible reading and devotion and prayer, I see how it can be done." 

    It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we mistake panic for inspiration. That is why there are so few fellow workers with God and so many workers for Him. We would far rather work for God than believe in Him. Am I quite sure that God will do what I cannot do? I despair of men in the degree in which I have never realized that God has done anything for me. Is my experience such a wonderful realization of God's power and might that I can never despair of anyone I see? Have I had any spiritual work done in me at all? The degree of panic is the degree of the lack of personal spiritual experience. 

    "Behold, O my people, I will open your graves. (Ezekiel 37:12)" When God wants to show you what human nature is like apart from Himself, He has to show it you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He only does it when His Spirit is at work), you know there is no criminal who is half so bad in actuality as you know yourself to be in possibility. My "grave" has been opened by God and "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing. (Romans 7:18)" God's Spirit continually reveals what human nature is like apart from His grace. 

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

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition

Mom's Notes

Pamela's Birthday

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.