Quote from Forum Archives on December 22, 2003, 7:53 am

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

The writing of Oswald Chambers is always challenging to me,
personally. It never allows me to simply rest in my spiritual
thinking, wherever I happen to be, at any moment in time. While
I would add, on one hand, that we can always find hope and rest
in God Himself, as well as a lasting peace, comfort when it's
needed (see Psalm 37), there is also an aspect of our
relationship to God where absolute obedience and complete
abandonment of ourselves is necessary. It is when we completely
rely on God, in fact, that we find that lasting peace, even
though we are moved away from what we formerly found to be
comforting to us.

Today's message contains a challenge that is typical of his
writing. The message is really intended only for those who are
willing to be challenged in their faith. Is that you, by any
chance?

Yours in Christ,
Brian
_____________________________

December 22

The Drawing of the Father

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me
draws him . . . --John 6:44

When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will
comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that
God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate
over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and
disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with
anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians
1:15-16 ). Belief is not the result of an intellectual act, but
the result of an act of my will whereby I deliberately commit
myself. But will I commit, placing myself completely and
absolutely on God, and be willing to act solely on what He says?
If I will, I will find that I am grounded on reality as certain
as God's throne.

In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of the will.
Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a
surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or
powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my
faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in
my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental
understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I
must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must
will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my
forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways
of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.

Everyone has been created with the ability to reach out beyond
his own grasp. But it is God who draws me, and my relationship
to Him in the first place is an inner, personal one, not an
intellectual one. I come into the relationship through the
miracle of God and through my own will to believe. Then I begin
to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the
wonder of the transformation in my life.

Oswald Chambers was born in Scotland and spent much of his
boyhood there. His ministry of teaching and preaching took him
for a time to the United States and Japan. The last six years of
his life were spent as principal of the Bible Training College
in London, and as a chaplain to the British Commonwealth troops
in Egypt during World War I. After his death, the books which
bear his name were compiled by his wife from her own verbatim
shorthand notes of his talks.

Authorized By The Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd.

My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotional is provided by RBC
Ministries
(c) 2003 RBC Ministries-Grand Rapids MI, 49555-0001
www.gospelcom.net/rbc/utmost/

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

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