Archive for the ‘Devotions’ Category

The Habit Of Rising To The Occasion— Devotion By Oswald Chambers

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan 2 Comments

Buckskin Gulch Utah

 

 

 

 

 

“That ye may know what is the hope of His calling …”

Ephesians 1:18

Remember what you are saved for – that the Son of God might be manifested in your mortal flesh. 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. 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.” God will never shield you from any of the requirements of a son or daughter of His. Peter 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 Him self 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.

Son Reflectors

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan No Comments

 Thanks Dick Duerksen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does the moon do? She generates no light. Contrary to the lyrics of the song, this harvest moon cannot shine on. Apart from the sun, the moon is nothing more than a pitch-black, pockmarked rock. But properly positioned, the moon beams. Let her do what she was made to do, and a clod of dirt becomes a source of inspiration, yea, verily, romance. The moon reflects the greater light.

And she’s happy to do so! You never hear the moon complaining. She makes no waves about making waves. Let the cow jump over her or astronauts step on her; she never objects. Even though sunning is accepted while mooning is the butt of bad jokes, you won’t hear ol’ Cheeseface grumble. The moon is at peace in her place. And because she is, soft light touches a dark earth.

What would happen if we accepted our place as Son reflectors?

Such a shift comes so stubbornly, however. We’ve been demanding our way and stamping our feet since infancy. Aren’t we all born with a default drive set on selfishness? I want a spouse who makes me happy and coworkers who always ask my opinion. I want weather that suits me and traffic that helps me and a government that serves me. It is all about me. . . .

How can we be bumped off self-center? . . . We move from me-focus to God-focus by pondering him. Witnessing him. Following the counsel of the apostle Paul: “Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, [we] are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18 KJV).

Beholding him changes us.

—originally from It’s Not About Me

 

 

O Lord, change our focus from a me-focus to a God-focus. Work your will in our lives that we might be instruments to do your work and to tell others of your great love. Let our lives reflect your holiness through thick and thin. Help us live in pursuit of what you want rather than what we want. May we keep a firm grip on our faith no matter what hard times come our way. In all we do, may we honor you, amen. 

Sing praise to the Lord, . . . and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
Psalm 30:4

God Is For You

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan No Comments

   Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.  Matthew 25:40

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Max Lucado

“I have written your name on my hand! Isaiah 49:16”

Romans 8:31 asks, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Indulge me a moment.  Four words in this verse deserve your attention.  God is for us.

Say it out loud.  God is for us.

Repeat it, emphasizing each word.  Come on, you’re not in that big of a hurry.

God is for us!  GOD IS FOR YOU.

Your parents may have forgotten you, your teachers may have neglected you, your siblings may be ashamed of you; but within reach of your prayers is the maker of the oceans.  God!

God is for you!  If he had a calendar, your birthday would be circled.  If there’s a tree in heaven, he’s carved your name in the bark.

Isaiah 49:16 says, “I have written your name on my hand!”  No one can defeat you.  You are protected.  God is for you!

His Forgetful Natue

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan No Comments

 

 

 

 

By Max Lucado

 

“As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 
Psalm 103:12”

Recently I was thanking the Father for his mercy.  And I began listing the sins he’d forgiven.  “Remember the time I…” But I stopped.  Something was wrong.  It didn’t fit.
Does he remember?

Then I remembered.  I remembered his words in Hebrews 8:12: “And I will remember their sins no more.”  Wow!

God doesn’t just forgive, he forgets.  He erases the board.  He destroys the evidence. He burns the microfilm.  He clears the computer.  He doesn’t remember!

No, he doesn’t, but I do, you do.  That horrid lie.  The time you exploded in anger.  That date.  That jealousy.  That habit.  Spiteful specters that slyly suggest, “Are you really forgiven?”

Do you think God was teasing when he said, “I will remember your sins no more?”  Of course you don’t.  You and I just need an occasional reminder of God’s nature.  His
forgetful nature!

Visit the Max Lucado website

What Do You Want?—Daily Devotion By Oswald Chambers

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan 2 Comments

 

 

 

 

 

 By Oswald Chambers

Author of:“My Utmost for His Highest”

Devotion For April 27th 

“Seekest thou great things for thyself?”

Jeremiah 14:5

Are you seeking great things for yourself? Not seeking to be a great one, but seeking great things from God for yourself. God wants you in a closer relationship to Himself than receiving His gifts, He wants you to get to know Him. A great thing is accidental, it comes and goes. God never gives us anything accidental. There is nothing easier than getting into a right relationship with God except when it is not God Whom you want but only what He gives.

If you have only come the length of asking God for things, you have never come to the first strand of abandonment, you have become a Christian from a standpoint of your own. “I did ask God for the Holy Spirit, but He did not give me the rest and the peace I expected.” Instantly God puts His finger on the reason – you are not seeking the Lord at all, you are seeking something for yourself. Jesus says – “Ask, and it shall be given you.” Ask God for what you want, and you cannot ask if you are not asking for a right thing. When you draw near to God, you cease from asking for things. “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.” Then why ask? That you may get to know Him.

Are you seeking great things for yourself? “O Lord, baptize me with the Holy Ghost.” If God does not, it is because you are not abandoned enough to Him, there is something you will not do. Are you prepared to ask yourself what it is you want from God and why you want it? God always ignores the present perfection for the ultimate perfection. He is not concerned about making you blessed and happy just now; He is working out His ultimate perfection all the time – “that they may be one even as We are.”

The Supreme Climb—Daily Devotion By Oswald Chambers

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan No Comments

 The Grand Canyon

 

 

 

 

 

 

  By Oswald Chambers

Author of:“My Utmost for His Highest”

Devotion For April 26th

 

 

“Take now thy son . . and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”

Genesis 22:2

Character determines how a man interprets God’s will (cf. Psalm 18:25-26). Abraham interpreted God’s command to mean that he had to kill his son, and he could only leave this tradition behind by the pain of a tremendous ordeal. God could purify his faith in no other way. If we obey what God says according to our sincere belief, God will break us from those traditions that misrepresent Him. There are many such beliefs to be got rid of, e.g., that God removes a child because the mother loves him too much – a devil’s lie! and a travesty of the true nature of God. If the devil can hinder us from taking the supreme climb and getting rid of wrong traditions about God, he will do so; but if we keep true to God, God will take us through an ordeal which will bring us out into a better knowledge of Himself.

The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. He was there to obey God, no matter to what belief he went contrary. Abraham was not a devotee of his convictions, or he would have slain Isaac and said that the voice of the angel was the voice of the devil. That is the attitude of a fanatic. If you will remain true to God, God will lead you straight through every barrier into the inner chamber of the knowledge of Himself; but there is always this point of giving up convictions and traditional beliefs. Don’t ask God to test you. Never declare as Peter did – “I will do anything, I will go to death with Thee.” Abraham did not make any such declaration, he remained true to God, and God purified his faith.

Instant In Season—Daily Devotion By Oswald Chambers

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan No Comments

Photo by Charles Mills

Oswald Chambers - Author of "My Utmost for His Highest"

Devotion For April 25th

“Be instant in season, out of season.”

2 Timothy 4:2

Many of us suffer from the morbid tendency to be instant “out of season.” The season does not refer to time, but to us – ‘Be instant in season, out of season,” whether we feel like it or not. If we do only what we feel inclined to do, some of us would do nothing for ever and ever. There are unemployables in the spiritual domain, spiritually decrepit people, who refuse to do anything unless they are supernaturally inspired. The proof that we are rightly related to God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not.

One of the great snares of the Christian worker is to make a fetish of his rare moments. When the Spirit of God gives you a time of inspiration and insight, you say – “Now I will always be like this for God.” No, you will not, God will take care you are not. Those times are the gift of God entirely. You cannot give them to yourself when you choose. If you say you will only be at your best, you become an intolerable drag on God; you will never do anything unless God keeps you consciously inspired. If you make a god of your best moments, you will find that God will fade out of your life and never come back until you do the duty that lies nearest, and have learned not to make a fetish of your rare moments.

The Warning Against Wantoning—Daily Devotion By Oswald Chambers

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan No Comments

Photo by Charles Mills

  By Oswald Chambers

Author of:“My Utmost for His Highest”

Devotion For April 24th   

“Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you.”

Luke 10:20

As Christian workers, worldliness is not our snare, sin is not our snare, but spiritual wantoning is, viz.: taking the pattern and print of the religious age we live in, making eyes at spiritual success. Never court anything other than the approval of God, go “without the camp, bearing His reproach.” Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, and yet this seems to be the one thing in which most of us do rejoice. We have the commercial view – so many souls saved and sanctified, thank God, now it is all right. Our work begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation; we are not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace; our work as His disciples is to disciple lives until they are wholly yielded to God. One life wholly devoted to God is of more value to God than one hundred lives simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and that will be God’s witness to us as workers. God brings us to a standard of life by His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that standard in others.

Unless the worker lives a life hidden with Christ in God, he is apt to become an irritating dictator instead of an indwelling disciple. Many of us are dictators, we dictate to people and to meetings. Jesus never dictates to us in that way. Whenever Our Lord talked about discipleship, He always prefaced it with an “IF,” never with an emphatic assertion – “You must.” Discipleship carries an option with it.

What You Will Get—Daily Devotion By Oswald Chambers

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan 1 Comment

 

 

 

 

 

 

   By Oswald Chambers

Author of:“My Utmost for His Highest”

Devotion For April 28th  

“Thy life will I give thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.”

Jeremiah 14:5

This is the unshakable secret of the Lord to those who trust Him – “I will give thee thy life.” What more does a man want than his life? It is the essential thing. “Thy life for a prey” means that wherever you may go, even if it is into hell, you will come out with your life, nothing can harm it. So many of us are caught up in the shows of things, not in the way of property and possessions, but of blessings. All these have to go; but there is something grander that never can go – the life that is “hid with Christ in God.”

Are you prepared to let God take you into union with Himself, and pay no more attention to what you call the great things? Are you prepared to abandon entirely and let go? The test of abandonment is in refusing to say – “Well, what about this?” Beware of suppositions. Immediately you allow – What about this? – it means you have not abandoned, you do not really trust God. Immediately you do abandon, you think no more about what God is going to do. Abandon means to refuse yourself the luxury of asking any questions. If you abandon entirely to God, He says at once, “Thy life will I give thee for a prey.” The reason people are tired of life is because God has not given them anything, they have not got their life as a prey. The way to get out of that state is to abandon to God. When you do get through to abandonment to God, you will be the most surprised and delighted creature on earth; God has got you absolutely and has given you your life. If you are not there, it is either because of disobedience or a refusal to be simple enough.

The Worship Of The Work—Daily Devotion By Oswald Chambers

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan No Comments

I Am A Very Proud Uncle!!!! My Great Nieces Ella and Zoe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  By Oswald Chambers

Author of:“My Utmost for His Highest”

Devotion For April 23rd 

“Labourers together with God.”

1 Corinthians 3:9

Beware of any work for God which enables you to evade concentration on Him. A great many Christian workers worship their work. The one concern of a worker should be concentration on God, and this will mean that all the other margins of life, mental, moral and spiritual, are free with the freedom of a child, a worshipping child, not a wayward child. A worker without this solemn dominant note of concentration on God is apt to get his work on his neck; there is no margin of body, mind or spirit free, consequently he becomes spent out and crushed. There is no freedom, no delight in life; nerves, mind and heart are so crushingly burdened that God’s blessing cannot rest. But the other side is just as true – when once the concentration is on God, all the margins of life are free and under the dominance of God alone. There is no responsibility on you for the work; the only responsibility you have is to keep in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your co-operation with Him. The freedom after sanctification is the freedom of a child, the things that used to keep the life pinned down are gone. But be careful to remember that you are freed for one thing only – to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.

We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”

The Light That Fails—Daily Devotion By Oswald Chambers

Posted on: by Wayne Bolan No Comments

Snow and water

By Oswald Chambers, author of "My Utmost for His Highest"

Devotion For April 22nd

“We all with open face beholding … the glory of the Lord.”

2 Corinthians 3:18

A servant of God must stand so much alone that he never knows he is alone. In the first phases of Christian life disheartenments come, people who used to be lights flicker out, and those who used to stand with us pass away. We have to get so used to it that we never know we are standing alone. “All men forsook me . . notwithstanding the Lord stood with me” (2 Tim. 4:16-17). We must build our faith, not on the fading light, but on the light that never fails. When “big” men go we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, the one thing that remains is looking in the face of God for ourselves.

Allow nothing to keep you from looking God sternly in the face about yourself and about your doctrine, and every time you preach see that you look God in the face about things first, then the glory will remain all through. A Christian worker is one who perpetually looks in the face of God and then goes forth to talk to people. The characteristic of the ministry of Christ is that of unconscious glory that abides. “Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.”

We are never called on to parade our doubts or to express the hidden ecstasies of our life with God. The secret of the worker’s life is that he keeps in tune with God all the time.