I was reading my devotional this morning and came upon something that set me back. As I thought about it, I realized that it was true... what I read was a statement regarding man's greatest fear which is that Jesus might fail. Pastor Oswald Chambers explained it in this way:
I am wondering about my displays of love for God this morning. Have I ever thrown caution to the wind and done something totally outlandish and bold for Him... not out of reason but just because? Have I left behind my more stoic religious faith and loved Him completely from my heart? Have I loved Him with reckless abandon?
This morning I am thinking about procrastination and the lack of motion after God has called us to action in dreams and visions. Pastor Oswald Chambers wrote about dreaming and divided them into two different types... healthy dreams that bring inspiration and creativity, and unhealthy dreams that replace activity and accomplishment with inaction. Jesus spoke on a healthy dream as he prepared to take action on His calling:
The mundane acts of life... do they drag you down or define you in your faith? Moreover, are they mundane at all, or just the day to day living of a life of faith? We read all the time about the great men and women of faith, but writers and pastors rarely speak of those who go quietly about their lives serving God in all of the small routine chores and expectations of a righteous life. We seldom hear about the foot washers, those humble souls that work both day and night for the kingdom with little recognition outside of heaven.
Are you sleeping through the major opportunities and events in your life and faith? In doing so, do you have regrets, and despair over lost opportunities? As we consider this today, let's also realize that the time we have to do these things on this earth is short and the timing of them is unforgiving.
Are you depressed about something this morning? Do you feel that the Lord has backed away or allowed some tragedy to befall you? Are you mired in a season of hopelessness? If so, you are not alone. This happened to others throughout the Bible, and is happening in the lives of many today, but here is a word of wisdom and hope for you that I personally cling to, and which will see you through such seasons too... “Just keep living!”
Is God calling you to do great things, but you just can't seem to join Him successfully in the effort? Is the Holy Spirit moving on you in a powerful way, but you can't find the time in your busy life to do what is asked, or seem able to bring your efforts to the point where they bear fruit? This is our contemplation this morning.
What happens when our faith is at risk? Have you ever contemplated the effect that we have on those around us when we slip into negative behavior or sin? How about the impact we have on our family, church, or Heaven? Even though our Christian walk seems totally personal... it isn't. Our faith has a ripple effect that touches all those around us, and beyond.
I am sitting in my prayer chair sipping on a cup of Dark English Breakfast Tea in the pre-dawn grey; having prayed, read my morning devotional and scripture. The house is still, as am I, and the spirit is swirling about me with a sweet peacefulness. This is the time of day that I can hear the Lord without distraction. I just read Oswald Chambers as he discussed a verse regarding darkness, on which I remained obtuse for many years. Does God inhabit the night? Is there something special about the darkness when it comes to our relationship with God? We often fear the night... should we?
This morning I want to invite you to join me in contemplating how well we hear the Lord's voice. He speaks to us often, but do we hear everything He says to us; and do we always recognize His voice? I recall Samuel being awakened by God calling his name in the night. Samuel, who from birth was Nazarite (having taken the Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:1-21)), and thus had consecrated himself to God. He would one day become a great prophet... but even he didn't always recognize the voice he was hearing. It wasn't until Eli told him how to respond that he said these words to God... “Speak; for thy servant heareth.”
Are we afraid to speak directly to God? Do we feel safer going to a deacon or our pastor when we have issues in our lives? If you look inward and find that this is true of yourself, don't fear, there is nothing new in this... it has been happening since at least the time of Moses.
Do you focus on and contemplate God throughout each day, and in everything you do? Is your awareness and imagination being used to find the Lord in every circumstance and activity in your life? These are our questions to consider today, and the portion of our faith that we are called to examine. Let’s begin with a verse from Isaiah 26.
What do we imagine our faith to be? How great and unbound can we dream that God is? What binds us to the commonplace, and the everyday isn't God, or our faith, but our own perception of their greatness and possibility. Let me give you a glimpse through the eyes of scripture, Oswald Chambers, Rick Bragg, and me today. Let’s see just how much further we can look into eternity through the eyes of Jesus…
Have you ever been spiritually exhausted, and if so why, and what did you do to overcome it? This is the subject I would like us to consider this morning. This topic peaked my desire to know more as I read Pastor Oswald Chambers’ devotional today and he gave us some deeper insight into this type of exhaustion.
This morning we will be concentrating on sanctification, and looking inward at our progress in that regard. Are you sanctified? Are we set apart and declared holy? Is our life focused on God and Jesus Christ, or are we double citizens who straddles the border between heaven and earth; between life and death? How should we best answer this question?