I have recently started a year-long daily devotional read-along of My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers with a group of Christians on Ravelry (this is a free site somewhat like Facebook for yarn enthusiasts, only 1000x better...don't get me started on how wonderful it is unless you want me to try to convince you that you should join). We have decided to start from the beginning of the book, reading in sequence rather than starting in the middle and aligning our readings with the prescribed dates. Only six days into the journey, and already I have found so much to chew on spiritually. The overarching theme so far seems to be surrender. Here are a couple of thought-provoking quotes I have encountered thus far, and some of my personal reflections concerning them:
"...surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably." (January 1)
Reading this culminating thought for the first day of the devotional caused me to prayerfully consider what surrendering my will to Jesus means in everyday life. How am I doing this already? How can I grow in this area?
“Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised on iota by anything He does?…You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.” (January 2)
Here I feel the Lord is showing me a small piece of what surrender means for my life. I am a planner by nature, and I do try to keep that from limiting how I actively work to serve God, but there is always room for growth.
"Once, the Bible was just so many words to us--"clouds and darkness" [Psalm 97:2] --then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words." (January 3)
Am I living in surrender to the word of the Lord? Do I keep His word ever in my mouth, written on the tablet of my heart? How can I expect Him to speak to me if I do not listen to His words? Lord, will You continue to increase my faith?
"Wait for God's timing...When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move." (January 4)
Patience...that virtue we are always told, tongue-in-cheek, not to pray for, because we just might be given the opportunity to learn. It is easy to jump ahead of God's timing because we think we see the right fix.
"All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to "receive the Holy Spirit"...the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ." (January 5)
It is so easy to “get it right” in my head when I read Scripture and pray and study the things of God, and then to turn around and “get it wrong” in my heart throughout the rest of the day. May I be content to be directed only by Him!
“Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship…God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.” (January 6)
This is the portion that stood out to me today. I want to always accept God’s blessing with open hands, allowing Him permission (not that He needs it, but because I need to offer it!) to take as freely as He gives, and use me as a serving vessel, not a storage vessel.
At the same time that I am reading Chambers, I am also working to complete a study of Hebrews which I began earlier this year. I am just wrapping up Hebrews 10, and this is a quote from Kay Arthur's New Inductive Study Series:
"We live our lives in faith, we persevere, and we love the Lord's appearing...We acknowledge that all we have came from Him and belongs to Him, so we give it back to Him in worship...We aren't persevering in order to get; we're persevering in order to give. Our faithfulness is an act of worship that culminates in giving everything to God. That's what our everyday lives should be like--living worship of the living Word."
Interestingly, all of these quotes and ideas also tie in well to the crux of the sermon from this past Sunday: "What sacrificial thing are you doing today for the sake of the gospel?"
While I appreciate the intent of this question to dig for a specific example as an answer, I think that seeking true surrender to Jesus is the best possible answer. If I am willing to surrender my will to Jesus every minute of every day, He will show me how He has planned for me to spread the gospel to those around me. I pray that the Lord will continue grow me in surrender each day.
"...surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably." (January 1)
Reading this culminating thought for the first day of the devotional caused me to prayerfully consider what surrendering my will to Jesus means in everyday life. How am I doing this already? How can I grow in this area?
“Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised on iota by anything He does?…You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.” (January 2)
Here I feel the Lord is showing me a small piece of what surrender means for my life. I am a planner by nature, and I do try to keep that from limiting how I actively work to serve God, but there is always room for growth.
"Once, the Bible was just so many words to us--"clouds and darkness" [Psalm 97:2] --then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words." (January 3)
Am I living in surrender to the word of the Lord? Do I keep His word ever in my mouth, written on the tablet of my heart? How can I expect Him to speak to me if I do not listen to His words? Lord, will You continue to increase my faith?
"Wait for God's timing...When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move." (January 4)
Patience...that virtue we are always told, tongue-in-cheek, not to pray for, because we just might be given the opportunity to learn. It is easy to jump ahead of God's timing because we think we see the right fix.
"All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to "receive the Holy Spirit"...the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ." (January 5)
It is so easy to “get it right” in my head when I read Scripture and pray and study the things of God, and then to turn around and “get it wrong” in my heart throughout the rest of the day. May I be content to be directed only by Him!
“Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship…God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.” (January 6)
This is the portion that stood out to me today. I want to always accept God’s blessing with open hands, allowing Him permission (not that He needs it, but because I need to offer it!) to take as freely as He gives, and use me as a serving vessel, not a storage vessel.
At the same time that I am reading Chambers, I am also working to complete a study of Hebrews which I began earlier this year. I am just wrapping up Hebrews 10, and this is a quote from Kay Arthur's New Inductive Study Series:
"We live our lives in faith, we persevere, and we love the Lord's appearing...We acknowledge that all we have came from Him and belongs to Him, so we give it back to Him in worship...We aren't persevering in order to get; we're persevering in order to give. Our faithfulness is an act of worship that culminates in giving everything to God. That's what our everyday lives should be like--living worship of the living Word."
Interestingly, all of these quotes and ideas also tie in well to the crux of the sermon from this past Sunday: "What sacrificial thing are you doing today for the sake of the gospel?"
While I appreciate the intent of this question to dig for a specific example as an answer, I think that seeking true surrender to Jesus is the best possible answer. If I am willing to surrender my will to Jesus every minute of every day, He will show me how He has planned for me to spread the gospel to those around me. I pray that the Lord will continue grow me in surrender each day.
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