“Never compare this Book with other books. Comparisons are dangerous. Never think or say that this Book contains the Word of God. It is the Word of God. It is supernatural in origin, eternal in duration, inexpressible in value, infinite in scope, regenerative in power, infallible in authority, universal in application, inspired in totality. Read it through. Write it down. Pray it in. Work it out. And then pass it on.” —Smith Wigglesworth
When I graduated from high school and began to look for a job, I had very little to put on my resume. Over time, however, I gained some experience, and began to accumulate some skills and accomplishments. Every once in awhile someone would even tell me, “That will look good on your resume!”
This might work fine in a job-hunting role, but it will never do as a disciple of Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus told a pretty pointed story about a resume-building Pharisee in Luke 18. This man was described as one who was “confident of [his] own righteousness and looked down on everybody else.” He emphasized all his good qualities, and did his best to make himself look good at the expense of others (see vv. 11-12). Jesus said, this type of man who exalts himself, will be humbled by God.
Another man was praying at the same time as this reputation-conscious Pharisee. But this man didn’t try to make himself look good. Instead he prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (v. 13). Jesus said this man “went home justified before God” (v. 14). As C.S. Lewis said,
I’m not trying to promote my accomplishments, but God’s accomplishments.
I’m not trying to put my skills in the spotlight, but God’s magnificence.
I’m not trying to make myself famous, I want God to be famous.
I don’t need to look good, but I certainly do want God to look good.
If you want to live this way, I challenge you to pray this prayer:
To check out all of the messages in our Live Dead series, please click here.
A couple of weeks ago a lady in our church asked me to pray for a need in her life. She is a single Mom, as well as a caregiver for her bed-bound grandmother, which means money is tight.
She knew her car needed some repairs, so she took the car to the mechanic on Thursday afternoon. His initial estimate was $400. On Sunday we prayed about this, and joined our faith that God would either provide the funds, or provide another way for her car to be repaired.
Here’s a powerful verse of Scripture—
…Your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him! (Matthew 6:8)
This lady returned to her mechanic the next day, and he told her the repairs had been completed. But the repairs were not as extensive as he originally thought, so the bill was only $105.
Now, here’s the best part—on Thursday, this lady had looked at her financial situation and had set aside all the money she could afford for this repair: $125!
So not only did God provide for her even before she asked, but she even gave the mechanic a $20 tip!
I love the fact that God knows what we need even before we ask Him!
Pastors, this is good counsel for all of us…
“Think yourself empty, read yourself full, write yourself clear, pray yourself keen—then enter the pulpit and let yourself go!” —W.H. Griffith Thomas
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Exhausted For God
Jesus said to Peter, ‘Feed My sheep,’ but He gave him nothing to feed them with. The process of being made broken bread and poured out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God. They must drain you to the dregs. Be careful that you get your supply, or before long you will be utterly exhausted. Before other souls learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus direct, they have to draw on it through you; you have to be literally ‘sucked,’ until they learn to take their nourishment from God. We owe it to God to be our best for His lambs and His sheep as well as for Himself.
Has the way in which you have been serving God betrayed you into exhaustion? If so, then rally your affections. Where did you start the service from? From your own sympathy or from the basis of the Redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually go back to the foundation of your affections and recollect where the source of power is. You have no right to say, ‘O Lord, I am so exhausted.’ He saved and sanctified you in order to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that your supply comes from Him. ‘All my fresh springs shall be in Thee.’
From My Utmost For His Highest
He saved and sanctified you in order to exhaust you. I want to be continually filled up and poured out for God. But in order to be of any good to others, I have to keep going back to the Source of life. If I’m not filled up with God’s presence, I will be exhausted, but not in the right way.
I have shared quite a bit about the correct way for godly leaders to be replenished through self-care. Check out these posts.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)
The mark of a Christian who is growing and maturing in faith is one who is always increasing their praise level.
The more knowledge we have of Him,
the more we realize the grace He’s lavished on us,
the more glory we should be giving Him…
now AND forever!
Amen.
I read a lot of reports, books, and surveys that talk about the number of unchurched people in America. Sadly, my experience is that most of these are actually dechurched people. In other words, they are folks who were involved in a church at one point in their lives, but then felt like church wasn’t doing it for them any longer.
I’m not sure that I have the answer that will cure this. Actually I’ve got a lot more questions:
I think the answer might be “No” to all of these questions.
“I suspect that most Christians today are fairly satisfied with the state of their faith. They have a ‘good enough’ experience of Jesus and they’re not really thirsting for much more. But the job of pastors is to help people realize that splashing around in the mud puddle of faith is nothing compared with sailing on the ocean of God’s grace and power (as C.S. Lewis says). We must whet the appetites of our people for a greater experience of the Lord’s reviving power. When we do, they will begin to seek it more fervently.” —T.M. Moore
“We’ve given people just enough of Jesus to be bored, but not enough to be transformed.” —David Kinnaman
“The outer courts are filled with distraction. It’s hard to hear. The holy place is still. And when you get into the inner courts, all the other voices vying for our attention are silenced. I’m afraid that most of us live most of our lives in the outer courts. We’re too Christian to enjoy sin, but we’re too sinful to enjoy Christ. It’s time to press in. It’s time to press on.” —Mark Batterson
If we are truly living as disciples of Jesus Christ, Christianity should be the most exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling way to live! That’s how I want it to be for me and for my church! What about you?
Today is Valentine’s Day—a day set aside for us to express our love to our sweethearts. Sadly, for many people, other than their birthday this may be the only day that someone is focused on them.
My encouragement to you is don’t stop today. Don’t let today be the only day those close to you see and hear and experience your love for them.
Don’t let your spouse wonder.
Don’t let your kids guess.
Don’t let your friends hope.
Don’t stop “studying” your loved ones. Learn what love language they speak, and then don’t stop speaking it. (If you haven’t read it already, I highly recommend Dr. Gary Chapman’s great book The Five Love Languages.)
Flowers, candy, cards, and romantic dinners today are a start. Don’t stop now. Keep it going all year long.
I have always had great respect and appreciation for the soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines that keep us safe. After seeing Act Of Valor, that level of appreciation has gone up significantly!
This is a realistic movie. It’s not a Hollywood-stylized action film. It portrays that way our teams operate in the field to keep our country and her citizens safe. And it shows the real men and women, and the real emotions they have to deal with as they do a very dangerous job.
This movie is rated R for very realistic combat scenes, and some language. But for your teenagers that think they know what “real combat” is because of the video games they play, take them to see this movie and use it as a discussion of what’s really real.
Go see this film. And then thank an active duty service personnel or a veteran for their incredibly selfless service to our country.
Sometimes what needs to go on my To Do list seems logical. But logical to whom? If I’m not careful I can get so focused on doing the next logical thing, that I miss out on the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Bruce Wilkinson said it this way—
“If we aren’t passionately and deliberately focused on carrying out God’s agenda with God’s heart, we’ll end up putting our own agenda first. We’ll increasingly look for the kind of missions we enjoy most. We’ll tend to ask God to bless our busyness for Him instead of asking Him to send us on the miracle mission of His choice.”
Ouch!
I don’t think the Bible is against To Do lists, but I need to make my lists the right way.
Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:15)
Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
With those verses in mind, this is what I’m praying:
I am trying to Live Dead to my agenda this week.
If you’ve missed any messages in our series called Live Dead, you can find them all by clicking here.
Craig T. Owens 