Thursdays With Oswald—I Hope I Am Insane!

October 11, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

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.

I Hope I Am Insane!

     Insanity simply means that a man is differently related to affairs from the majority of other men and is sometimes dangerous. Paul was charged with madness (Acts 26:24-25), and the same charge was brought against Jesus Christ—“For they said, He is beside Himself.” 

     Have you ever noticed the wisdom of the charge? Both Jesus Christ and Paul were unquestionably mad, according to the standard of the wisdom of this world; they were related to affairs differently from the majority of other men, consequently, for the sake of self-preservation, they must be got rid of. Our Lord was crucified, and Paul was beheaded. When we are imbued with Jesus Christ’s Spirit and are related to life as He was, we shall find that we are considered just as mad according to the standard of this world. 

From Biblical Psychology (emphasis added)

The teachings of Jesus are not only counter-cultural, but they are also are 180-degrees out-of-sync with worldly wisdom. I don’t want to be worldly wise; I want to be called insane by the “wise” men of this world!

Later in this same chapter Oswald Chambers writes:

Read the expositions of the Sermon on the Mount today and you will find some of the cleverest dialectics that have ever been written. The writers try to prove that Jesus is not mad according to the standards of this world; but He is mad, absolutely mad, and there is no apology needed for saying it. Either the modern attitude to things must alter, or it must pronounce Jesus Christ mad. 

Holy Spirit, may I never live my life by the “sane” beliefs and practices of this world’s culture, but may I be imbued with Jesus Christ’s Spirit and related to life as He was.

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More And More

October 10, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

There’s a popular cliché that many motivators use to challenge people to go beyond where they are. They will cheer them on by saying, “C’mon, let’s raise the bar!” The only problem is, once someone clears the bar’s next height, they usually celebrate and then stop trying to go any higher.

Christians should be especially on guard against this mindset. It’s not a one-time thing. I don’t simply invite Jesus into my life and then set Him on a shelf. If I’m going to live a life that pleases God, I must learn how to do so more and more.

…We instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more (1 Thessalonians 4:1).

The KJV says, “abound more and more.” This means that there is no set level I’m trying to reach, but that the level is always higher—there’s always more, my capacity is always increasing.

More and more is a single word in the Greek language. It means:

  • More willingly
  • More readily
  • Sooner

When the Holy Spirit speaks to me, do I respond and obey more willingly? more readily? sooner? If I do, then I am truly abounding more and more.

The mark of my maturity is a more willing, faster obedience.

This relentless focus on pleasing God more and more then overflows in the way I cheer on and encourage my brothers and sisters. Paul uses the exact same Greek word for more and more when he says a few verses later: “We urge you, brothers, to [express brotherly love] more and more” (vv. 9-10).

My increasing capacity and willingness to love and obey God more and more overflows into my increasing capacity and willingness to love and serve others more and more.

My prayer for you and for me: Holy Spirit, help us to hear Your voice, to abound more and more in our obedience to Your direction, and to express our love more and more to others.

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Tapping Into God’s Blessings

September 8, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Do you want God’s blessing on your life?

Good news: God wants to bless you! He is glorified when those who love Him are living a full, blessed life.

Better news: God not only blesses us, but He also provides the means for us to tap into His blessing. His Holy Spirit is constantly calling us into the place of obedience where God can bless us.

Check out these words from the Bible—

The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey His voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. (Deuteronomy 30:10)

To tap into God’s blessing, there is the conditional IF: if we obey, and if we turn to Him exclusively. That’s the good news. But the better news is that obeying Him and turning to Him is not too hard for us. Look at what the very next verses say—

This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach. It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, “Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?” It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, “Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?” No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it. (30:11-14)

What are you waiting for? Tap into God’s blessings today!

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Thursdays With Oswald—My Part And God’s Part

August 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

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.

My Part And God’s Part 

     Beware of the tendency of trying to do what God alone can do, and of blaming God for not doing what we alone can do. We try to save ourselves, but God only can do that; and we try to sanctify ourselves, but only God can do that. …

     The love of God is the great mainspring, and by our voluntary choice we can have that love shed abroad in our hearts, then unless hindered by disobedience, it will go on to develop into the perfect love described in 1 Corinthians 13. 

     We have, then, to make the voluntary choice of receiving the Holy Spirit Who will shed abroad in our hearts the love of God [Romans 5:5], and when we have that wonderful love in our hearts, the sovereign preference for Jesus Christ, our love for others will be relative to this central love. 

From Biblical Psychology

I cannot save myself from an eternity apart from God.

I cannot make myself love someone.

I cannot force myself to give up a sinful habit.

But I can decide to let the Holy Spirit flood my heart with God’s love. And when this happens, I can give up anything that’s holding me back from enjoying an eternity in God’s presence.

My part: allow the Holy Spirit to bring God’s love into my heart, and then obey what God’s Word tells me to do.

God’s part: everything else.

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Are You An Encourager?

July 10, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Check out these words of the Apostle Paul—

When we arrived in Macedonia, there was no rest for us. We faced conflict from every direction, with battles on the outside and fear on the inside. But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus. (2 Corinthians 7:5-6)

Paul wasn’t doing so well! No rest … conflicts every direction he turned … battles … fear … discouragement …

But did you see how God encouraged Paul?

By the arrival of Titus

God encouraged Paul through Titus. Not through an angel, or a sign in the heavens, or anything dramatic. But through a friend showing up.

God wants to encourage you through others…

are you allowing those encouraging friends into your life?

God wants to encourage others through you…

are you allowing Him to use you to do that?

People are almost always the means of God’s ministry to the world. May you and I always be ready, available, and obedient.

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Strengths Formula

June 11, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

God wants you to be yourself, but not as you can make you. But to be the “you” He created you to be. Part of what He implanted in you was certain gifts, talents, and abilities. To the extent that you allow the Holy Spirit to (1) reveal these gifts to you, and (2) turn these gifts into strengths, you will find more joy in being “you” as your “you” builds up the Body of Christ.

Just before listing some of the innumerable spiritual gifts God reveals in humanity, the apostle Paul says this:

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. (Romans 12:3)

Does that sound contradictory at all: Do not think…but rather think?

The root word is the same in each usage (phroneo in the Greek), but the prefix is what sets them apart from each other.

  • The first has the prefix hyper-. That means it’s overly analyzed, overly concerned = self-focused. 
  • The second time the prefix is soph- (meaning “wise”). This is sound thinking, big-picture thinking = others-focused.

The Holy Spirit gives you sophroneo thinking to reveal your God-implanted gifts and talents to benefit others—to benefit the whole Body of Christ. He helps us turn our talents into strengths by using a formula like this:

Passions + Talents + Your Obedience = Strength for the Body

Pay attention to your passionate responses to situations, as they will reveal to you some of your gifts.

Listen to areas where others say you are talented. This will help you know how God has wired you.

Then you must be obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in how to use your talents. If you let them sit on the shelf, they will never become strengths. Strengths develop when you passionately and obediently use your God-given talents for God’s glory.

The Holy Spirit wants to help you in all of these areas. Will you let Him?

If you’ve missed any of the messages in the Immersed series, you can find them all here.

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Thursdays With Oswald—My Spiritual Personality

May 24, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Spiritual Personality

     When we receive the Holy Spirit, He so energizes our spirit that we are able to detect things that are wrong, and we are able to rectify them if we ‘mind’ the Holy Spirit. This is the Scotch use of the term ‘mind,’ and it means ‘remember to obey.’ It carries with it the meaning of another Scotch word, ‘lippen,’ that is, ‘trust.’ Mind the Holy Spirit, mind His light, mind His convictions, mind His guidance, and slowly and surely the sensual personality will be turned into a spiritual personality. 

From Biblical Psychology

It’s not too often that I think of personality in a spiritual light. But God created me as a unique person, complete with my own personality. He gave me the personality He did on purpose: to glorify Him.

Left to myself, my personality is highly self-serving. But when I “mind” the Holy Spirit, He helps me live out my God-given personality in a way that is more and more God-serving and God-glorifying.

I love Chambers’ list:

  • Mind the Holy Spirit
  • Mind His light [illumination]
  • Mind His convictions
  • Mind His guidance

I’m working on “minding” better. How about you?

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If (Blank), Then (Blank)

March 27, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Let me set the stage. Jesus is explaining to some of His new followers about finding their identity in God, not in a man. He says to them,

If You hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31-32)

Notice the order of the if-then: If you hold to my teaching, then you will know the truth.

You see, later on in this discussion Jesus says, “Do you want to know why you can’t hear what I am saying? It’s because you are not listening with an ear to obey” (see vv. 43-47).

In other words, their tendency—and ours too—is to say, “If I hear truth from You, then I will obey.”

But this attitude is pragmatic—it’s like saying, “It has to ring true with what I already know.” But the problem is, Jesus’ teachings are so counter-cultural and counterintuitive that they may never ring true with what you already know.

Instead, my attitude should be, “I will obey. No matter what You say to me, I will do it. Even if it sounds uncomfortable, I will do whatever You tell me.”

If you HOLD to my teaching, then you will KNOW the truth.

God will not speak a word I can hear and understand UNLESS I am committed to obeying every word He speaks. My attitude of obedience must come before His truth will be revealed. Let’s not get this mixed up with, “If You speak the truth, then I will obey.”

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Thursdays With Oswald—Emotions In Christianity

February 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

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.

Emotions In Christianity

      Enthusiasm means, to use the phrase of a German mystic, ‘intoxicated with God.’ … The tendency is in us all to say, ‘You must not trust in feelings’; perfectly true, but if your religion is without feeling, there is nothing in it. If you are living a life right with God, you will have feeling, most emphatically so, but you will never run the risk of basing your faith on feelings. The Christian is one who bases his whole confidence in God and His work of grace, then the emotions become the beautiful ornament of the life, not the source of it.

From Biblical Ethics

God gave us a mind, a will, and emotions. We get ourselves in trouble when we elevate one above the rest, or worse yet, deny that one of those aspects are relevant.

So I don’t say, “I will obey God when I feel like it is the right thing to do.”

Nor do I say, “This feels so good, even though it makes no sense at all.”

We obey God’s Word by faith, because it is the right thing to do, and then the feelings of joy and peace and understanding will become the beautiful ornaments of our lives.

Obedience first, and the feelings will follow.

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Thursdays With Oswald—I Have To Do It

January 26, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

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.

He Simply Says, “Do It”

     You can’t wash anybody’s feet mysteriously; it is a purely mechanical, matter-of-fact job; you can’t do it by giving him devotional books or by praying for him; you can only, wash anybody’s feet by doing something mechanical. Our Lord did not tell the disciples how they were to do it: He simply says—‘Do it.’ … 

      The one great problem in spiritual life is whether we are going to put God’s grace into practice. God won’t do the mechanical; He created us to do that; but we can only do it while we draw on the mysterious realm of His divine grace. ‘If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments.’

From Biblical Ethics

I can dress it up all I want to, but I must obey what Jesus said.

I cannot pray about, I have to do it.

I cannot get someone else to do it, I have to do it.

I cannot get a pass on this, I have to do it.

Lord, what commands of Yours am I failing to do?

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