Quote from Forum Archives on February 16, 2001, 1:33 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

It has been a while since I have shared with you a message from
Oswald Chamber's "My Utmost For His Highest". That's not because
Oswald's messages have been any less useful, it has simply been
that there is more and more good material out there. I still
like to come back to some of my favorites, from time to time.
For me, Oswald stretches my understanding of who God is and how I
relate to God. His words tend to be brief, but concise and very
sound. A thorough study of scripture tends to back up what he
says - I have not found anything to contradict his words.

Given that, we are often called to do things we may have never
considered, things which may be far outside of our comfort zone.
Our Creator, however, knows us far better than we know ourselves.
For me, a frequent prayer is not that I always be comfortable,
rather, that my spirit be renewed, that my old ways will be
completely replaced by the ways of God. My friend, that can (and
has) caused considerable discomfort, but the outcomes have been
the best. Coming from "The BEST", that's no surprise, is it?

Dear God,

Thank You for the power of life that You offer and give to us.
Help me to earnestly seek You at all times for all things, and be
willing to respond to Your initiative.

Brother Brian

February 16

The Inspiration of Spiritual Initiative

"Arise from the dead..." (Ephesians 5:14).

Not all initiative, the willingness to take the first step, is
inspired by God. Someone may say to you, "Get up and get going!
Take your reluctance by the throat and throw it overboard -- just
do what needs to be done!" That is what we mean by ordinary human
initiative. But when the Spirit of God comes to us and says, in
effect, "Get up and get going," suddenly we find that the
initiative is inspired.

We all have many dreams and aspirations when we are young, but
sooner or later we realize we have no power to accomplish them.
We cannot do the things we long to do, so our tendency is to
think of our dreams and aspirations as dead. But God comes and
says to us, "Arise from the dead..." When God sends His
inspiration, it comes to us with such miraculous power that we
are able to "arise from the dead" and do the impossible. The
remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life and
power comes after we "get up and get going." God does not give us
overcoming life -- He gives us life as we overcome. When the
inspiration of God comes, and He says, "Arise from the dead...
," we have to get ourselves up; God will not lift us up. Our Lord
said to the man with the withered hand, "Stretch out your hand"
(Matthew 12:13). As soon as the man did so, his hand was healed.
But he had to take the initiative. If we will take the initiative
to overcome, we will find that we have the inspiration of God,
because He immediately gives us the power of life.

Authorized By The Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd.
1997 RBC Ministries--Grand Rapids, MI 49555-0001

=====
--
Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/
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