Be Encouraged with my Utmost for His Highest (August 2024)

31 August 2024

My joy, your joy

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, are you willing to stop being hypocritical, proud, and aware only of yourself, live your life hidden with Jesus, and find your joy?

"These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11).

What was the joy that Jesus had? Joy should not be confused with happiness.

It is an insult to Jesus Christ to use the word happiness in connection with Him.

The joy of Jesus was His absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice to His Father- the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do for the joy set before Him endured the cross ." (Hebrews 12:2).

“I delight to do Your will, O my God..." (Psalm 40:8). Jesus prayed that our joy might continue fulfilling itself until it becomes the same joy as His.

Have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce His joy to me?

Be encouraged. Living a full and overflowing life does not rest in bodily health, circumstances, or seeing God's work succeed but in the perfect understanding of God and the same fellowship and oneness with Him that Jesus Himself enjoyed.

But the first thing that will hinder this joy is the subtle irritability caused by giving too much thought to our circumstances.

Jesus said, "The cares of this world choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" (Mark 4:19).

Be encouraged. Before we even realize what has happened, we are caught up in our cares of the world and possessions. The desires are never filled or fulfilled. This creates less time for the word because the demand for more of everything is ceaseless.

All that God has done for us is merely the threshold- He wants us to come to the place where we will be His witnesses and proclaim who Jesus is.

Have the right relationship with God, finding your joy there, and out of you "will flow rivers of living water" John 7:38).

Be encouraged to be a fountain through which Jesus can pour His "living water."

Stop being hypocritical and proud, aware only of yourself, and live your life….hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).

A person with the right relationship with God lives as natural as breathing wherever he goes.

The lives that have been the greatest blessing to you are those who were unaware of having been a blessing.

Are you willing to stop being hypocritical, proud, and aware only of yourself, live your life hidden with Jesus, and find your joy?

This is your question today.

30 August 2024

Usefulness or relationship?

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, are you rejoicing that God has used you?

"Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).

Jesus Christ says here, "Don't rejoice in your successful service for Me, but rejoice because of your right relationship with Me."

The trap you may fall into in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service-rejoicing that God has used you.

Yet you will never be able to measure fully what God will do through you if you do not have a right-standing relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you keep your relationship right with Him, regardless of your circumstances or whoever you encounter each day, He will continue to pour "rivers of living water" through you (John 7:38).

And it is by His mercy that He does not let you know it. Once you have the right relationship with God through salvation and sanctification, remember that whatever your circumstances may be, God has placed you in them.

God uses the reaction of your life to your circumstances to fulfill His purpose as long as you continue to "walk in the light as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7).

Be encouraged to learn that our tendency today is to emphasize service. Please beware of the people who request help based on someone's usefulness.

If usefulness is the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure ever.

For the saint, direction and guidance come from God Himself, not some measure of that saint's usefulness.

It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him.

All that our Lord gives His attention to in a person's life is that person's relationship with Something of great value to His Father. Jesus is "bringing many sons to glory..." (Hebrews 2:10).

Are you rejoicing in the fact that God has used you?

This is your question today.

29 August 2024

The unsurpassed intimacy of tested faith

Oswald Chambers

Today, in business and life, has your faith been tested?

Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? — John?11:40

Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him?

Can you venture out with courage on the words of Jesus Christ while the realities of your common sense life continue to shout, "It's all a lie"?

Every time your strength runs dry and your vision is blurry and blinded, will you endure this trial of your faith victoriously, or will you run back in defeat?

"Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?? "

(John 11:40)

Be encouraged that when you are on the mountaintop, it's easy to say, "Oh yes, I believe God can do it," but you have to come down from the mountain to the demon-possessed valley and face the realities that scoff at your Mount-of-Transfiguration belief (see Luke 9:28-42).

Every time my theology becomes clear, I encounter something that contradicts it. As soon as I say, "I believe 'God shall supply all (my) need, " the testing of my faith begins (Philippians 4:19). What about you?

Faith must be tested because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict.

What is challenging your faith right now?

The test will either prove your faith exactly or kill it. Jesus said, "Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me" (Matthew 11:6).

The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. "We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end ..." (Hebrews 3:14).

Believe steadfastly in Him, and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith until our physical death, which is the last great test.

Faith is absolute trust in God- trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (see Hebrews 13:5- 6).

Be encouraged and remember that common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. They are as different as the natural is to the spiritual. The unsurpassed intimacy of a tested faith can not be experienced except through conflict.

Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will find something in your circumstances that, from common sense, contradicts your belief.

Every time your faith is challenged, the test will prove it right or kill it.

Has your faith been tested?

This is your question today.

28 August 2024

The purpose of prayer

Oswald Chambers

Today, in business and life, are you willing to be yourself before God and present Him with your problems, the things that have brought you to your wits’ end?

… one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray...” (Luke 11:1).

Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that.

What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food but by prayer.

When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life.

Prayer is the way that God's life in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament.

We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.

“Ask, and you will receive…”. (John 16:24). We complain before God, and sometimes we are apologetic or indifferent to Him, but we ask Him for very few things.

Be encouraged to know that the purpose of prayer is the way that the life of God is nourished in you.

Learn how to nourish your spirit through prayer. When you are born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in you, and you can either starve or nourish that life.

Be encouraged that prayer is not normal or natural in man. Prayer changes you, and you change things.

The biblical meaning of prayer is to get to know Him. Learn to be yourself with God and present him with your problem quickly. Do not pretend to be self-sufficient and high-minded.

Do you believe that God established prayer so that it changes the way you look at things?

Be encouraged. Ask, and you will receive. Ask, and God will do. But will we give Jesus the opportunity and the room to work?

Our problem is that we will wait until we are at our wits’ end to pray. Then, it will no longer be cowardly.

It is the only way to get in touch with the truth and the reality of God Himself.

Are you willing to be yourself before God and present Him with your problems- the things that have brought you to your wits’ end?

This is your question today.

27 August 2024

Living your theology

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, are you living your theology?

"Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you ..." (John 12:35).

When I reread this scripture, I was instantly reminded that during my youth, my mother would constantly say to me, “Honey, serve God while you are young. Do not wait until you get too old.” I did not understand then what she was referring to;

“Remember Him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky.” (Ecclesiastes 12:3).

I am glad I acted on what she said, even though I did not know why she kept me in church.

Beware not acting on what you see in your moments on the mountaintop with God.

If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. "If therefore the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:23).

Be encouraged. The moment you forsake sanctification or neglect anything else on which God has given you His light, your spiritual life begins to disintegrate within you.

Continually bring the truth into your real life, working it out in every area, or else even the light you possess will be a curse.

The most difficult person to deal with is the one who has the prideful self-satisfaction of an experience but is not working that experience out in his everyday life.

Be encouraged. If you say you are sanctified, show it. The experience must be so genuine that it shows in your life.

Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent or self-gratifying; that belief came from the pit of hell itself, regardless of how beautiful it may sound.

Your theology must work itself out, exhibiting itself in your most common everyday relationships.

Our Lord said, ". . . unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20).

In other words, you must be more moral than the most ethical person.

You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you working it out in the everyday issues of your life?

Every detail of your life, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, is to be judged and measured by the standard of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.

Be encouraged, and remember that God will judge every detail of your life. “God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad,” Ecclesiastes 12:14 states. This is why it is essential to guard my heart.

Whenever you open your heart, you are able to be open and free and connect to your emotions, which opens up the world for you.

As I learn more, I better understand why it’s not just important that I know to “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

Your heart is precious. We don't guard worthless things. This is living our theology. Our issues are issues of the heart.

You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you living your theology and expressing it in your everyday life?

These are your questions today.

26 August 2024

Are you ever troubled?

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, are you ever troubled? Are you severely troubled right now? Are you afraid and confused by the waves and the turbulence God sovereignly allows to enter your life? Are financial and family worries wearing you down? “Let not your heart be troubled.”

“Peace I leave you, My peace I give to you…” (John 14:27)

There are times in our lives when our peace is based simply on our ignorance, but when we are awakened to the realities of life, true inner peace is impossible unless it is received from Jesus.

Be encouraged to know that when our Lord speaks peace, He creates peace because His words are always "spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63).

I am learning it is all about His spirit. When I struggle, my peace comes from knowing and leaning on His Word and promises, which gives me His peace to overcome moment by moment persistently and patiently.

Have you ever received what Jesus speaks? "My peace I give to you…peace comes from looking into His face and fully understanding and receiving His quiet contentment.

Have you left no stone of your faith unturned yet still not found any well of peace? Jov, or comfort? Does your life seem completely barren to you?

Be encouraged. Then look up and receive the quiet contentment of the Lord Jesus. Reflecting on His peace proves you are right with God because you can turn your mind to Him.

If You are not right with God, you can never turn your mind anywhere but on yourself.

Allowing anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you either causes you to become troubled or gives you a false sense of security.

About the problem that is pressing in on you right now, are you "looking unto Jesus" (Hebrews(122) and receiving peace from Him?

If so, He will be a gracious blessing of peace exhibited in and through you.

But if you only try to worry your way out of the problem, you destroy His effectiveness in you, and you deserve whatever you get.

We become troubled because we have not been taking Him into account.

When someone confers with Jesus Christ, the confusion stops because He has no disorder.

Lay everything out before Him, and listen to Him say when you are faced with difficulty, grief, and sorrow. "Let not your heart be troubled" (John 14:27).

Be encouraged to know you are exactly where He wants you. Look up and receive the quiet contentment He has for you. Then, reflect on His peace.

When troubled, are you looking to Jesus with feet to your faith?

This is your question today.

25 August 2024

Sacrifice and friendship

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, did you know that self-surrender is the most challenging thing? Do you make it conditional by saying, "I will surrender if..."

"I have called you friends . .." John 15:15).

We surrender in every detail of our lives, yet self-surrender is the most challenging thing for us to do. We make it conditional by saying, "I'll surrender if . . ."

Or we approach it by saying, I suppose I have to devote my life to God." We will never find the joy of self-sacrifice in either of these ways.

Be encouraged. But as soon as we surrender, abandoning ourselves to Jesus, the Holy Spirit gives us a taste of His joy when we decide to surrender.

The ultimate goal of self-sacrifice is to lay down our lives for our Friend (see 15:13-14).

When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, our greatest desire is to lay down our lives for Jesus.

Yet the thought of selt-sacrifice never even crosses our minds because sacrifice is the Holy Spirit's ultimate expression of love.

Our Lord is our example of a life of self-sacrifice, and He perfectly exemplified Psalm 40:8. "I delight to do Your will, O my God . . . ."

He endured tremendous personal sacrifice, yet with overflowing joy.

Have I ever yielded myself in absolute submission to Jesus Christ? If He is not the One to whom I am looking for direction and guidance, then my sacrifice has no benefit.

But when my sacrifice is made with my eyes focused on Him, slowly but surely, His molding influence becomes evident in my life (see Hebrews 12:1-2).

Beware of letting your natural desires hinder your walk in love before God.

Personally, there was a time in my business and life when everything changed. My struggle turned into surrendering it all to Him, not to them. I am still learning to let go and let God.

One of the cruelest ways to kill natural love is through the rejection that results from having built the love on wild desires.

However, the one genuine desire of a saint is the Lord Jesus. Love for God is not something sentimental or emotional for a saint to love, as God's love is the most practical thing imaginable.

"I have called you friends.” Our friendship with Jesus is based on the new life He created in us, which has no resemblance or attraction to our old life.

Be encouraged to learn that your friendship with Jesus is based upon the new life He created in you, which has no resemblance to the old life but only to the life of God.

It is a life that is completely humble, pure, and devoted to God

Be encouraged. You will never know the joy of self-sacrifice until you surrender in every area and detail of your life.

Did you know that self-surrender is the most challenging thing? Do you make it conditional by saying, "I will surrender if..."

This is your question today.

24 August 2024

The spiritual search

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, will you examine yourself with this spiritual search?

“What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" (Matthew 7:9).

Be encouraged by this illustration of prayer: our Lord used the image of a good child asking for something good.

We talk about prayer as if God hears us regardless of our relationship (see Matthew 5:45).

Never say it is not God's will to give you what you ask for. Don't faint and give up; find out why you have not received it, increase the intensity of your search, and examine the evidence.

Is your relationship with your spouse, children, friends, and associates right?

Are you a "good child" in those relationships? Do you have to say to the Lord, "I have been irritable and cross, but I still want spiritual blessings"?

You cannot receive and will have to do without them until you have the attitude of a "good child."

We mistake defiance for devotion, arguing with God instead of surrendering. We refuse to look at the evidence that indicates where we are wrong.

Have I been living as God's child among my relatives and friends? (see Matthew 7:12).

Do not say that God will not give you what you ask. First, find out the reason you have not received it.

Second, begin to increase your intensity in your search for answers.

Third, ask yourself the following questions:

Or have you been asking God for liberty while withholding it from someone?

Or have you refused to forgive someone?

Or is your relationship right with your significant other, your children, your students?

Or are you irritable with everyone?

Have you been asking God to give you money for something you want while refusing to pay someone what you owe him?

These are your questions today.

23 August 2024

Prayer battle in the secret place

Oswald Chambers

Today in your business and life, did you know that when you become more sure of Him, and you enter the secret place, you will find that God was right in the middle of your everyday circumstances all the time?

"When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly" (Matthew 6:6).

Jesus did not say, "Dream about your Father who is in the secret place." He said, ". . pray to your Father who is in the secret place. ...

Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most challenging thing to do is to pray.

We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts.

Be encouraged. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We must discipline our minds and concentrate on wilful, deliberate prayer.

We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there, this plague of wandering thoughts begins as we begin to think, "This needs to be done, and I have to do that today.”

Jesus says to "shut your door." Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him.

God is in secret and sees us from "the secret place." He does not see us as other people do or as we see ourselves.

When we truly live in a secret place," it becomes impossible to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else.

Enter "the secret place." You will find that God is always present in your everyday circumstances.

Get into the habit of talking with God about everything. Unless you can open the door of your life and let God in from the first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day.

Be encouraged. But if you swing the door of your life fully open and "pray to your Father who is in the secret place," every public thing in your life will be marked with the lasting imprint of God's presence.

Be encouraged and remember prayer is an effort of the will.

Remember, the most challenging thing is to pray.

Remember Him in stillness in a secret place.

Did you know that God sent you to go to the battle to find Him in secret prayer in stillness so the battle is won in your secret place?

This is your question today.

22 August 2024

I indeed …. but He

Oswald Chambers

Today in your business and life, have you repented, or do you have a lingering urge to defend yourself?

"I indeed baptize you with water . . . but He . . . shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." — Matthew?3:11 KJV

Have I ever come to a place in my experience where I can say, “I indeed . . . but He”?

Until that moment, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means.

It means that “I indeed” am at an end; I can do nothing more. “But He” begins right there—He does what no one else can do.

“But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry” (Matthew 3:11).

Am I prepared for His coming?

Be encouraged. Jesus cannot come to me as long as there’s something inside me blocking His way. It doesn’t matter whether the thing is bad or good, sin or something I consider a personal quality.

Be encouraged. When He comes, I must be prepared for Him to drag everything into the light. Wherever I know I am unclean, He will put his feet. Wherever I think I am clean, He will withdraw them.

Repentance doesn’t bring a sense of sin but a sense of total unworthiness. When I repent, I realize I am completely helpless; I know that no part of me is worthy even to carry His sandals.

Have I repented like that? Or do I have a lingering urge to defend myself?

God cannot come into my life because I have not completely repented.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).

John doesn’t speak of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience. He speaks of it as a work performed by Jesus Christ.

The only conscious experience those baptized with the Holy Spirit ever have is a sense of being unworthy.

“I indeed” was unworthy, “but He” came, and a marvelous thing happened. Please get to the place in the margin where he does everything.

The main characteristic, proof of the indwelling Spirit, is a fantastic tenderness in personal dealing and a blazing truthfulness about God’s Word.

Have you repented or have a lingering urge to defend yourself?

This is your question today.

21 August 2024

The ministry of the unnoticed

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, take a moment to think of the people who have influenced you the most. Are they the ones who think they did or have the slightest idea they were?

“Blessed are the poor in spirit”….(Matthew 5:3)

The New Testament notices things that do not seem worthy of notice by our standards. “ Blessed are the poor in spirit….”This means, "Blessed are the paupers."

Paupers are remarkably commonplace! Today's preaching points out a person's strength of will or the beauty of his character – easily noticed things.

The statement we often hear, "Decide for Jesus Christ," emphasizes something our Lord never trusted.

Be encouraged that He never asks us to decide for Him. But to yield to Him – something very different.

At the foundation of Jesus Christ's kingdom is the genuine loveliness of those who are commonplace.

You are truly blessed in your poverty. If you have no strength of will and nature without worth or excellence, then Jesus says to you, "Blessed are you because it is through your poverty that you can enter My kingdom.”

I can not enter His kingdom under my goodness- I can only enter it as an absolute pauper.

The true character of the loveliness that speaks for God is always unnoticed by the one possessing that quality.

Conscious influence is prideful and unchristian. If I wonder if I am of any use to God, I instantly lose the beauty and the freshness of the touch of the Lord. "He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). And if Texamine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.

Where are those who have influenced us? Certainly not the ones who thought they did, but those who did not know they were affecting us.

In the Christian life, godly influences are never conscious of themselves. If we are aware of our power, it ceases to have genuine loveliness, which is characteristic of Jesus's touch.

We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces, in the commonplace, something inspired.

Will you take a moment to think of the people who have influenced you the most? Are they the ones who think they did or have the slightest idea that they did? This is the ministry of the unnoticed.

This is your question today.

20 August 2024

Christ-awareness

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, are you more Self-Aware or Christ-Aware?

“and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

Whenever something disintegrates your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him immediately and ask Him to re-establish your rest.

Be encouraged. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not something you should allow to remain.

Ask the Lord to make you aware of Himself, and your self-awareness will disappear.

Then He will be your all in all. Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue because, slowly but surely, it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic.

Be encouraged. Don't allow yourself to say: "Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something they should apologize for; I'm sure I must have this cleared up with them already."

Learn to leave others alone regarding this. Ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute.

A complete life is the life of a child. There is something wrong when I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ. It is the sick person who knows what health is.

A child of God is not aware of God's will because he is God's will. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, "Lord, what is your will?”

A child of God never prays to be made aware that God answers prayer because he is so restfully specific that God always answers prayer.

If we try to overcome our self-awareness through any of our commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously, Jesus says. "Come to Me . ... and I will give you rest. That is, Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness.

Be encouraged to know that wherever Jesus comes, He establishes rest- the rest of the completion of activity in our lives that we are never aware of.

Are you more Self-Aware or Christ-Aware?

Those are your questions today.

19 August 2024

Self awareness

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, are you allowing anything or anyone to divide or destroy the oneness with Christ to remain in your life without facing it?

"Come to Me . . ." (Matthew 11:28).

God intends for us to live a well-rounded life in Christ Jesus, but sometimes, that life is attacked from the outside.

Then, we tend to fall back into self-examination, a habit we thought was gone.

Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God.

Self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggle and turmoil in our lives.

Self-awareness is not a sin; it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a new set of circumstances.

Yet it is never God's will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him.

Anything that disturbs our rest in Him must be rectified at once, and it is not remedied by being ignored but only by coming to Jesus Christ.

If we come to Him, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it until we thoroughly learn to abide in Him.

Never allow anything to remain in your life that divides or destroys the oneness of your life with Christ without facing it.

Be encouraged, but beware of allowing your friends' or circumstances' influence to divide your life.

This only saps your strength and slows your spiritual growth. Beware of anything that can split your oneness with Him, causing you to see yourself as separate.

Be encouraged. Nothing is as important as staying right spiritually. And the only solution is a very simple-"Come to Me . .. " The intellectual, moral, and spiritual depth of our reality as a person is tested and measured by these words.

Yet, in every detail of our lives where we are not genuine, we would instead dispute the findings than come to Jesus.

Are you allowing anything or anyone to divide or destroy the oneness with Christ to remain in your life without facing it?

That is your question today.

18 August 2024

Have you ever been speechless with sorrow?

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and your life, has God’s Word ever come to you, pointing out an area of your life requiring you to deal with Him?

“When he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich" (Luke 18:23).

The rich young ruler left Jesus speechless with sorrow, having nothing to say in response to Jesus' words. He did not doubt what Jesus had said or what it meant, and it produced in him a sorrow with no words to respond.

Have you ever been there? Has God's Word ever come to you, pointing out an area of your life, requiring you to yield it to Him?

Maybe He has pointed out certain personal qualities, desires, interests, or possibly relationships of your heart and mind.

If so, then you have often been speechless with sorrow. The Lord will not go after you, and He will not plead with you.

But every time He meets you at the place where He has pointed, He will repeat His words, saying, "If you mean what you say, these are the conditions.” "Sell all that you have ." (18:22).

In other words, rid yourself before God of everything that might be considered a possession until you are a mere conscious human being standing before Him, and then give God that.

Be encouraged. That is where the battle is indeed fought in the realm of your will before God.

Are you more devoted to your idea of what Jesus wants than to Jesus Himself?

If so, you will likely hear one of His harsh and unyielding statements that will produce sorrow in you.

What Jesus says is difficult- it is only accessible when heard by those who have His nature in them.

Be encouraged, but do not allow anything to soften Jesus Christ's harsh words.

I can be so rich in my poverty or in the awareness of the fact that I am nobody that I will never be a disciple of Jesus.

Or I can be so rich in the awareness that I am somebody that I will never be a disciple.

Am I willing to be needy and poor even in my awareness of my destitution and poverty?

If not, I become discouraged. Discouragement is the dissolution of self-love, and self-love may be love for my devotion to Jesus, not love for Jesus Himself.

Are you willing to rid yourself before God of everything that might be a possession until you are a mere conscious human being standing before Him?

That is your question today.

17 August 2024

Are you discouraged or devoted?

Oswald Chambers

Today in your business and life, like the rich ruler, have you ever heard Jesus say something personally challenging and unyielding to you?

... Jesus ... said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have…and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was wealthy. (Luke 18:22-23)

Be encouraged. Have you ever heard the Master say something challenging to you? If you haven't, I question whether you have listened to Him say anything.

Jesus says a tremendous amount to us that we listen to but do not hear. And once we do hear Him, His words are harsh and unyielding.

Jesus did not show the slightest concern that this rich young ruler should do what He told him, nor did Jesus make any attempt to keep this man with Him. He said to him, "Sell all that you have...and come, follow Me."

Our Lord never pleaded with him: He never tried to lure him. He spoke the strictest words human ears have ever heard and left him alone.

Be encouraged and ask, have you ever heard Jesus say something brutal and unyielding to you?

Has He said something personally to you to which you have deliberately listened--not something you can explain for the sake of others, but something you have heard Him speak directly to you?

This man understood what Jesus said. He heard it, realizing the full impact of its meaning, and it broke his heart.

He did not go away as defiant but as one who was set sorrowful and discouraged.

He had come to Jesus on fire with zeal and determination, but Jesus' words froze him.

Instead of producing enthusiastic devotion to Jesus, they made heartbreaking discouragement.

And Jesus did not go after him, but let him go. Our Lord knows perfectly well that once His word is honestly heard, it will bear fruit sooner or later.

I am encouraged to learn that what is so terrible is that some of us prevent His words from bearing fruit in our present life.

What will we say when we finally decide to be devoted to Him on that particular point?

One thing is certain – He will never throw our past failures back in our faces.

Is there something you cannot explain that causes you to be discouraged or devoted?

That is your question today.

16 August 2024

Does He know me?

Oswald Chambers

Today in your business and life, have you misunderstood HIM, like the Pharisees, doubted Him, like Thomas, or denied Him, like Peter? Or do you have a personal history with Him? Does He know you?

"He calls His own ... by name..." John 10:3).

When I have sadly misunderstood Him? (see John 20:11-18).

It is possible to know all about doctrine and still not know Jesus. A person's soul is in grave danger when the knowledge of philosophy surpasses Jesus, avoiding intimate touch with Him.

Why was Mary weeping?

Doctrine meant no more to her than the grass under her feet.

Any Pharisee could have made a fool of Mary doctrinally, but one thing they could never ridicule was the fact that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her (see Luke 8:2);

Yet His blessings were nothing to her in comparison with knowing Jesus Himself. "She turned around and saw Jesus standing there but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, 'Mary!?" (John 20:14, 16).

Once He called Mary by her name, she immediately knew she had a personal history with the One who spoke. "She turned and said to Him. 'Rabboni! " (20:16).

When have I stubbornly doubted? (see John 20:24-29)?

Have I been questioning something about Jesus, maybe an experience to which others testify? But [which I have not yet experienced?

The other disciples said to Thomas, "We have seen the Lord" (20:25). But Thomas doubted, saying, "Unless I see, I will not believe (John 20:25). Thomas needed the personal touch of Jesus.

Be encouraged. His touches will come, we never know, but then they do come. They are indescribably precious.

“Thomas… said to Him. 'My Lord and my God!' " 20:281

When have I selfishly denied Him? (see John 21:15-17).

Peter denied Jesus Christ with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75), yet Jesus appeared to Peter alone after His resurrection. Jesus restored Peter privately, and then He revived him publicly before the others.

And Peter said to Him, "Lord….. You know that I love You" (John 21:17)

Do I have a personal history with Jesus Christ?

The one true sign of discipleship is intimate oneness with Him — a knowledge of Jesus that nothing can shake.

Be encouraged as you understand that blessings are nothing compared to knowing Him. Imagine if you gained the world of blessings and did not know Him. What difference would it make, or could you make in the world if you knew Him?

Have you misunderstood HIM, like the Pharisees, doubted HIM, like Thomas, or denied HIM, like Peter?

Do you have a personal history with HIM, and does He know you?

These are your questions today.

15 August 2024

The evidence of the new birth

Oswald Chambers

Today in business and life, do you have evidence of the new birth?

"You must be born again" (John 3:7).

The answer to Nicodemus' question, "How can a man be born when he is old?" is: Only when he is willing to die to everything in his life. Including his rights, virtues, and religion, he becomes ready to receive a new life that he has never experienced before (3:4).

This new life exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and our unconscious holiness.

"But as many as received Him.”

(John 1:12)

Be encouraged and ask, is your knowledge of Jesus the result of your internal spiritual perception or only what you have learned through listening to others?

Is there something in your life that unites you with the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior?

Your spiritual history must have a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ as its underlying foundation.

To be born again means that you see Jesus.

…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

Are you seeking only the evidence of God's kingdom, or do you recognize His absolute sovereign control?

The new birth gives me a new power of vision by which I begin to discern God's control.

His sovereignty was always there, but with God being faithful to His nature, I could not see it until I received His very nature myself.

*Whoever has been born of God does not sin (1 John 3.9).

Am I seeking to stop sinning, or have I stopped?

I am encouraged to learn that to be born of God means that I have His supernatural power to stop sinning.

The Bible never asks, "Should a Christian sin?" The Bible emphatically states that a Christian must not sin.

The work of the new birth is practical when it does not sin.

It is not merely that we have the power not to sin but that we have stopped sinning.

Yet John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin -it means that if we obey the life of God in us, we do not have to sin.

Is your knowledge of Jesus the result of your internal spiritual perception or only what you have learned through listening to others?

This is your question today.

14 August 2024

The discipline of the Lord

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and your life, do you quench the SPIRIT, and are you prepared to be disciplined by the Lord-are you fully prepared to allow God to grip you by his power and do a work in you that is genuinely worthy of Himself?

"My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him" (Hebrews 12:5).

It is straightforward to grieve the Spirit of God; we do it by despising the discipline of the Lord or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us.

If our experience of being set apart from sin and made holy through sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else.

And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense of warning or restraint, we are apt to say mistakenly,

"Oh, that must be from the devil."

Be encouraged and "do not quench the Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 5:19). And do not despise Him when He says to you, in effect, Don't be blind on this point anymore. Are not as far along spiritually as you thought.

Until now, I have not been able to reveal this to you, but I'm revealing it to you." When the Lord disciplines you like that, let Him have His way with you.

Allow Him to put you into a right-standing relationship before God.

“... nor be discouraged when He rebukes you." We begin to pout, become irritated with God, and then say, "Oh well, I can't help it. I prayed, and things didn't turn out right anyway. So I'm simply going to give up on everything." Just think about what would happen if we acted like this in other areas of our lives!

Am I fully prepared to allow God to grip me by His power and do a work in me that is truly worthy of Himself?

I am encouraged today yes, how about you?

Sanctification is not what I want God to do for me. Sanctification is God's idea of what He wants to do for me.

But He has to get me into the state of mind and spirit where I will allow Him to sanctify me wholly, whatever the cost. (Thessalonians 5:23-24).

Are you fully prepared to allow God to grip you by His power and do a work in you that is genuinely worthy of Himself?

This is your questions today.

13 August 2024

Do not quench the spirit

Oswald Chambers

Today in business and life, are you willing to go through the crisis and allow your life to become a hymn of praise while recognizing how and when you are quenching the Spirit?

"Do not quench the Spirit."

(1 Thessalonians 5:19)

The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze, so soft that you will never hear it unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness with God.

The Spirit's sense of warning and restraint comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways.

And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired.

Be encouraged. This sense of restraint that the Spirit gives will always come as a "still small voice" (I Kings 19:12), so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.

Beware if, in sharing your testimony, you continually have to look back, saying, "Once, several years ago, I was saved." If you have put your "hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no looking back “ - the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62; also see 1 John 1:6-7).

If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a rigid metallic ring to it.

Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to "walk in the light" by recalling your past experiences when you did "walk in the light" (1 John 1:7).

Whenever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.

Be encouraged. Suppose God brings you to a crisis, and you almost endure it, but not completely.

He will engineer the crisis again, but some intensity will be lost this time. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed.

If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated because you have quenched Him. But if you go on through the problem, your life will become a hymn of praise to God.

Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to break whatever it may be.

Be encouraged when the Spirit comes in unique and gentle ways. When the Spirit gives you a sense of restraint, halt and make things right. You know that thing. Make it right. Otherwise, you will go on quenching the Spirit and never knowing it. WOW. Watch out for the next crisis as you continue to grieve the Spirit and not make it right.

I am encouraged to learn how and when I am quenching the Spirit as I know more of what He looks like in my daily walk.

No, not perfect! No, where near, but the Spirit continues to reveal and rebuke when I listen to that small voice within me.

Therefore, are you willing to go through the crisis and allow your life to become a hymn of praise while recognizing how and when you are quenching the spirit?

Are you quenching the SPIRIT?

That is your question today.

12 August 2024

GOING THROUGH SPIRITUAL CONFUSION

Oswald Chambers?

Today, in your business and life, when you experience spiritual confusion, will you confidently trust Him?

"Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 8:26).

When we are afraid, we can only pray to God. But our Lord has a right to expect those who name His name to have an underlying confidence in Him.?

God expects His children to be so confident in Him that they will be reliable in any crisis.?

Yet our trust is only in God up to a certain point. Then we turn back to the elementary panic-stricken prayers of those who do not even know God.?

We come to our wits' end, showing that we don't have the slightest confidence in Him or His sovereign control of the world.?

He seems to be asleep, and we can see nothing but giant, breaking waves on the sea ahead of us.

Be encouraged. “O you of little faith!" What a stinging pain must have shot through the disciples as they surely thought, "We missed the mark again!"?

And what a sharp pain will go through us when we suddenly realize that we could have produced complete and utter joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining confident in Him despite what we were facing.

There are times when there is no storm or crisis in our lives, and we do all that is humanly possible.?

Be encouraged when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we rely. If we have been learning to worship God and to place our trust in Him, the problem will show that we can go to the point of breaking, yet without breaking, our confidence in Him.

We have been talking quite a lot about sanctification, but what will be the result in our lives??

It will be expressed as a peaceful resting in God, which means total oneness with Him. And this oneness will make us blameless in His sight and a profound joy to Him.

When you go through spiritual confusion, will you confidently trust HIM?

That is your question today.

11 August

THIS EXPERIENCE MUST COME

Oswald Chambers

Today, in business and life, will you be determined to trust God and no longer look for Elijah?

Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. . . . And Elisha saw him no more. — 2?Kings?2:11–12

Be encouraged. It isn’t wrong to depend upon your Elijah—your guide and leader—for as long as God gives you.

But remember that a time will come when your Elijah will have to go and can no longer be your guide because God does not intend it.

You say, “I can’t go on without Elijah.” God says you must.

Alone at your Jordan River (2 Kings 2:14). Jordan is the type of aloneness where you find no fellowship with other human beings, where no one can take responsibility for you.

At Jordan, you have to put what you learned with your Elijah to the test. You have been to Jordan repeatedly with Elijah, but now you must go there alone. It isn’t any use saying you can’t go. This experience has come, and you must go.

If you want to know whether God is the God you believe Him to be, go through your Jordan alone.

Alone at your Jericho (vv. 19–21). Jericho is the place where you’ve seen your Elijah do great things.

When you come to your Jericho, you strongly resist taking the initiative and trusting in God; you want someone else to take the initiative for you.

But if you remain true to what you learned with Elijah, you will get a sign that God is with you.

Alone at your Bethel (v. 23). At your Bethel, you find yourself at the end of your wits and the beginning of God’s wisdom.

When you get to your wits’ end and feel like you’re going to panic, don’t. Stand true to God, and he will bring His truth out in a way that will make your life a sacrament.

Put into practice what you learned with your Elijah. Use his cloak and pray. Determine to trust in God and not look for Elijah anymore.

For me, my mom was my Elijah. She was a Holiness Minister; I worshipped her and her God. Ahhh, but she could no longer be my guide when she passed.

What about you? Who is your Elijah?

This is where you are put to the test with all that you learned from your Elijah. You have no one to take your responsibilities. It would help if you faced your Jordan, where you have fellowship with no one.

Be encouraged if you are feeling that you are at your wit's end and the beginning of God’s wisdom, now put into practice what Elijah taught you.

Will you be determined to trust God and no longer look for Elijah?

Who is your Elijah standing in the way of you seeing God?

This is your question today.

10 August

THE SUFFERING OF THE SAINT

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, as a saint, do you dare interfere with God’s discipline of suffering in another saint?

“Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good' (1 Peter 4:19).

Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing God's will, even if it means you will suffer, is something very different.

Be encouraged. No ordinary, healthy saint ever chooses to suffer; he chooses God's will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.

No saint should ever dare interfere with the lesson of suffering being taught in another saint's life.

The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God.

Be encouraged to learn that the people used to strengthen us are never those who sympathize with us; in fact, we are hindered by those who give us their sympathy. because sympathy only serves to weaken them.

No one better understands a saint than one who is as close and intimate with Jesus as possible.

If we accept the sympathy of another saint, our spontaneous feeling is, "God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult."

That is why Jesus said that self-pity was of the devil (see Matthew 16:21-23). We must be merciful to God's reputation.

We can quickly tarnish God's character because He never argues back.

He never tries to defend or vindicate Himself. Beware of thinking that Jesus needed sympathy during His life of faith.

He refused people's sympathy because, in His great wisdom, He knew that no one on earth understood His purpose (see 16:23).

He accepted only the sympathy of His Father and the angels (see Luke 15.10).

Look at God's incredible waste of His saints, according to the world's judgment.

God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.

Yet Jesus never means HIS life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are incapable of judging where that may be.

Your suffering and crisis reveal what you are, so are you already spiritually fit for the battle, or do you find yourself saying if God calls me to the fight, I will get ready for the fight?

As a saint do you dare interfere with God’s discipline of suffering in another saint?

That is your question today.

9 August

PRAYER IN THE FATHER’S HEARING

Oswald Chambers

Today in your business and life, are you willing to bring every thought and project into captivity to the obedience of Christ?

"Jesus lifted His eyes and said, 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me " John 11:41

When the Son of God prays, He has only one consciousness: the consciousness of his Father. God always hears the prayers of His Son, and if His Son is formed in me, God will always hear my prayers.

I must ensure that the Son of God is manifested through the indwelling Holy Spirit in my mortal flesh.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Is the Son of God getting his chance with me?

Is the direct simplicity of His life being worked out in you?

When I come in contact with life's events as an ordinary human being, is the prayer of the eternal Son to his Father being prayed in me?

“On that day you will ask in my name” (John 16:26). On which day?

The day the Holy Spirit came to me and made me one with my Lord.

Ask yourself if Jesus Christ is abundantly satisfying in your life or if you’re getting your spiritual strut on.

Be encouraged, and never let common sense prevail and push the Son of God to the side.

Common sense is a gift God gave human nature, but the gift from his Son is supernatural sense.

The Son detects the Father. Common sense has never once detected the Father and never will. Don’t enthrone common sense.

Our ordinary wits never worship God unless his indwelling Son transforms them.

We must submit our mortal flesh to him in perfect subjection, letting him work through us moment by moment.

Are we living in such dependence on Jesus Christ that his life is being manifested in you?

Are you willing to submit every thought and project to Christ's obedience?

These are your questions today.

8 August

PRAYER IN THE FATHER’S HONOR

Oswald Chambers

Today, in business and in life, to demonstrate prayer in the Father’s Honor, ask yourself these questions: "that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).

Are you simple enough to bring honor and believe that whatever your circumstances may be, you must stay in contact with your Heavenly Father?

Ask yourself if the Son of God has been born in your flesh.

Are you allowing Him to be exhibited in your business and life daily in every thought, act, and deed?

Are you simple enough to identify yourself with your Lord, or are you only dictating your demands?

Are you pushing Him away through inaction by thinking there is no time or room for Him in prayer and silent meditation?

Did you know that your choices are continually opposed and hostile to the things of your natural life that have become so deeply entrenched - the very things that raise themselves as barriers against the knowledge of God?

These are your questions today.

7 August

THE CROSS IN PRAYER

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, do your prayers seem to go unanswered?

…they found Him in the temple . ... And He said to them.'

Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?' * (Luke 2:46, 49)

Our Lord's childhood was not immaturity waiting to grow into manhood. His childhood is an eternal fact.

Am I a holy, innocent child of God as a result of my identification with my Lord and Savior?

Do I look at my life as being in my Father's house? Is the Son of God living in His Father's house within me?

The only abiding reality is God Himself, and His order comes to me moment by moment.

Am I continually in touch with God's reality, or do I pray only when things have gone wrong, or there is some dis-chance in my life?

I must learn to identify myself closely with my Lord in holy fellowship and oneness that some of us have not yet begun to know."

I must be about My Father's business".

I must learn to live every moment in my Father's house.

Be encouraged as you think about your circumstances. Are you so closely identified with the Lord's life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that everything comes from His hands?

Is the eternal Child in you living in His Father's house? Is the grace of His ministering life being worked out through you in your home, business, and circle of friends?

Have you been wondering why you are going through certain circumstances?

You do not have to go through them. You do so because of your relationship with the Son of God, who comes into your life through the providential will of His Father.

You must allow Him to have His way with you, staying in perfect oneness with Him.

The life of your Lord is to become your vital, simple life, and the way He worked and lived among people while here on earth must be the way He works and lives.

When your prayers seem unanswered, ask yourself if you have reached such a level of intimacy with God; the only thing that can account for your prayer life is whether it has become one with Jesus' prayer life.

Do your prayers seem to go unanswered?

That is your question today.

6 August

THE CROSS IN PRAYER

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, did you know we are not here to prove that God answers prayer but to be living trophies of God's grace?

On that day, you will ask in my name. — John?16:26

When your prayers seem to be unanswered, ask yourself if you have reached such a level of intimacy with God; the only thing that can account for your prayer life is whether it has become one with the prayer life of Jesus.

We too often think of the Cross of Christ as something we must endure, yet we must endure it to enter it.

For example, I am encouraged to learn that I would petition my mom to pray to God for me for years in my youth. Her response was to teach me to pray to God in the name of Jesus for myself. I obeyed but did not understand why. I am still learning why as I study the Word, learning about the Cross in prayer.

The Cross represents only one thing: complete, complete, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing in which this identification is more accurate to us than prayer.

"Your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him" (Matthew 6:8).

Then why should we ask? The point of prayer is not to get answers from God. But to have perfect and complete oneness with Him.

Be encouraged. If we pray only because we want answers, we become irritated and angry with God.

We receive an answer every time we pray. Still, it does not always come in the way we expect, and our spiritual irritation shows our refusal to identify ourselves honestly with our Lord in prayer.

I do not say that I shall pray the Father for you; the Father Himself loves you. (John16:26-27)

Have you reached such a level of intimacy with God that the only explanation for your prayer life is that it has become one with the prayer life of Jesus Christ?

Has our Lord exchanged your life with His vital life? If so, then "on that day," you will be so closely identified with Jesus that there will be no distinction.

Be encouraged to learn that when prayer seems to be unanswered, do not try to blame someone else.

That is always a trap of Satan. When you seem to have no answer, there is always a reason God uses these times to give you deep personal instruction, and it is not for anyone else but you.

Did you know we are not here to prove that God answers prayer but to be living trophies of God's grace?

That is your question today.

5 August

THE BEWILDERING CALL OF GOD

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, will you trust the bewildering call of God?

“…and all things written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished... But they understood none of these things" (Luke 18:31, 34).

The bewildering call of God may seem to be a failure from man’s standpoint but a triumph from God’s standpoint. Remember, God’s purpose is never the same as man’s purpose.

The bewildering call of God can only be understood in your inner nature.

It is like the call of the sea. No one hears it except the one who has that inner nature.

The bewildering call of God can never be understood externally, only internally. His compelling purpose lies behind everything in your business and life. Take a moment and reflect on the challenges He has brought you through to bring you to Him.

Be encouraged as you grow in the Christian life. It will become easier to understand, and you will no longer ask why this is happening to you. You will see it all from a place of opportunity with confidence.

I am so encouraged at this point in learning from God's bewildering call that I am excited to play a game with myself as the trials, struggles, and challenges arise. I look for growth opportunities in it all. Yes, sometimes it takes years, but I grow through it all. No, it's not easy, but neither is the alternative.

Will you trust the bewildering call of God?

That is your question today.

4 August 2024

The brave friendship of God

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, do you ever say God has been unwise in choosing you because there’s nothing good in you and you have no value?

"He took the twelve aside . .." (Luke 18:31).

Oh, the bravery of God in trusting us! Do you say, "But He has been unwise to choose me because there is nothing good in me and I have no value"?

That is precisely why He chose you.

As long as you think that you are of value to Him, He cannot pick you, because you have purposes of your own to serve.

But if you allow Him to take you to the end of your self-sufficiency, He can choose you to go with Him "to Jerusalem" (18:31).

And that will mean fulfilling purposes, which He will not discuss with you.

We tend to say that because a person has natural ability, he will make a good Christian.

It is not a matter of our equipment but an issue of our poverty; not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us; not a point of natural virtues, of the strength of character, of knowledge, or experience- -all of that is of no avail in this concern.

The only thing of value is being taken into God's compelling purpose and made His friends (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

God's friendship is with people who know their poverty. He can accomplish nothing with the person who thinks he is helpful to God.

As Christians, we are not here for our purpose at all--we are here for God, and the two are not the same.

We do not know God's compelling purpose, but whatever happens, we must maintain our relationship with Him.

Be encouraged. We must never allow anything to damage our relationship with God, but if something does, we must take the time to make it right again.

Be encouraged to learn that the most critical aspect of Christianity is not our work but the relationship we maintain and the surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship.

That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack.

Do you ever say God has been unwise to choose you because there’s nothing good in you and you have no value?

That is your question today.

3 August 2024

Compelling Purpose of God

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, did you know that the work you do is of no account when compared to the compelling purpose of God?

"He . . . said to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem . .? " (Luke 18:31).

Jerusalem, in the life of our Lord, represents the place where He reached the culmination of His Father's will.

Jesus said, "I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5:30).

Seeking to do "the will of the Father" was the one dominating concern throughout our Lord's life.

And whatever He encountered along the way, whether joy or sorrow, success or failure, He was never deterred from that purpose. "

He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem ..." (Luke 9:51).

The greatest thing to remember is that we go up to Jerusalem to fulfill God's purpose, not our own.

In the natural life, our ambitions are our own, but in the Christian life, we have no goals.

We talk so much today about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, and our choices for this and that, but in the New Testament, the only aspect that is brought out is the compelling purpose of God. "You did not choose Me, but I decided you... John 15:16).

We are not taken into a conscious agreement with God's purpose. We are born into God's purpose with no awareness of it at all. We have no idea what God's goal may be; as we continue, His purpose becomes even more and more vague.

Be encouraged. God's aim appears to have missed the mark because we are too nearsighted to see the target at which He is aiming.

At the beginning of the Christian life, we have our ideas about God's purpose.

We say, "God means for me to go over there," and "God has called me to do this special work." We do what we think is right, and yet God's compelling purpose remains with us.

Our work is of no account when compared with the compelling purpose of God.

It is simply the scaffolding surrounding His work and His plan. "He took the twelve aside. .' (Luke 18:31).

Be encouraged to know God takes us aside all the time. We have not yet understood all there is to learn of the compelling purpose of God.

Are you challenged like the disciples who did not understand these things literally? They were so intent upon the prophecies of Christ's glory that they overlooked those who spoke of his sufferings.

Many of us have run into mistakes because we read our Bibles by halves and are only for the smooth things.

We are as unable to learn the proper lessons from Christ's sufferings, crucifixion, and resurrection as the disciples were to what he told them about those events, and for the same reason, self-love and a desire for worldly objects close our understandings.

Did you know that your work is of no account when compared to the compelling purpose of God?

This is your question today.

2 August 2024

The teaching of adversity

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and life, are you asking God to give you strength and strain while accepting life, liberty, and joy through it all?

“In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” John 16:3

The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. "

Be encouraged. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the Shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling ..: (Psalm 91, 10), the place where you are at one with God.

If you are a child of God, you will encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. "In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”

He is saying, "There is nothing for you to fear." The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of what it means to live the life of a saint.

Be encouraged. God does not give us life as we overcome; He gives us strength as we overcome. The strain of life builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength.

Overcome your timidity and take the first step. Then, God will give you nourishment. This overcomes I will give you to eat from the tree of life. Revelation 2:7).

If you ultimately give of yourself physically, you become exhausted. But when you give of yourself spiritually, you gain more strength.

Be encouraged, for God never gives us strength for tomorrow or the next hour but only for the moment's strain.

So, are you asking God to give you strength and endurance while you accept life, liberty, and joy through it all?

This is your question today.

1 August 2024

Learning about his ways

Oswald Chambers

Today, in your business and your life, are you trying to play the role of God in the lives of others? Are you so noisy in your instructions to other people that God cannot get near them?

When Jesus had ended commanding his twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and preach in their cities. — Matthew 11:1 KJV

He comes where He commands us to leave. If, when God says, “Go,” you stay because you’re concerned more about your people at home, your job, your loved ones, than the teaching of Jesus Himself.

Be encouraged. When you obey and go, trusting God with the consequences, the Lord Himself ministers to those you leave behind, just as He came to “teach and preach” in the disciples’ cities after they’d set out in His service.

As long as you refuse to obey, you’re in His way.

Watch out if your idea of duty begins to compete with your Lord’s commands.

Be encouraged. If you say, “I know God told me to go, but my duty is at home,” you don’t believe Jesus means what He says.

He teaches where he tells us not to. Are you teaching where God has told you not to, playing the amateur providence in other people’s lives?

Are you so noisy in instructing others that God can’t get anywhere near them?

We have to keep our mouths shut, and our spirits alert. God wants to instruct His children in the ways of His Son, to turn our prayer times into mountains of transfiguration.

Be encouraged. We won’t let Him because we know what He’ll do. When we’re confident of how God will work, He will never work that way again.

He works where he sends us to wait. “I will send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).

Wait on God, and He will work. But don’t wait sulkily just because you can’t see an inch in front of you!

Are you detached enough from your inner hysterics to wait patiently on God?

Waiting on Him doesn’t mean sitting on the sidelines with your hands folded. It means doing what you are told in joyful obedience to him.

These are phases of God’s ways we rarely recognize.

Are you trying to play the role of God in the lives of others?

“Learn to keep the door shut, keep out of your mind and out of your world every element that seeks admittance with no definite helpful end view..“. -George Matthew Adams

Are you so noisy in your instructions to other people that God cannot get near them?

That is your question today.