Thursdays With Oswald—Character Development

June 26, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Oswald ChambersThis 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.

Character Development 

     God can put a saint into a right relationship with Himself, but He cannot make him work out that relationship, the saint must do that himself. … 

     God alters our disposition, but He does not make our character. When God alters my disposition the first thing the new disposition will do is to stir up my brain to think along God’s line. As I began to think, begin to work out what God has worked in, it will become character. Character is consolidated thought. God makes me pure in heart; I must make myself pure in conduct.

From Conformed To His Image 

I like to think of the word sanctification this way: saint-ification. Through His Holy Spirit, God is making me a saint, by making it possible for me to demonstrate Christlike conduct.

Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to make a saint out of you? What’s holding you back?

(If you are in the Cedar Springs area this Sunday, I will be talking more about the Holy Spirit’s role in this saint-ification process. Please join me!)

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Thursdays With Oswald—Temptations Mature Us

June 19, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Oswald ChambersThis 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.

Temptations Mature Us

     When we are born again we get our first introduction into what God calls temptation. When we are sanctified we are not delivered from temptation, we are loosened into it; we are not free enough before either morally or spiritually to be tempted. Immediately we become His “brethren” we are free, and all these subtleties are at work. God does not shield any man or woman from any requirements of a full-grown man or woman [Luke 22:28]. … 

     When temptation comes, stand absolutely true to God no matter what it costs you, and you will find the onslaught leaves you with affinities higher and purer than ever before. Temptation overcome is the transfiguration of the natural into the spiritual and the establishment of conscious affinity with the purest and best.

From Conformed To His Image (emphasis added) 

Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean temptations stop. Just the opposite. Before becoming one of Christ’s “brethren” we weren’t exposed to the full onslaught of satan’s temptations, because satan wanted to keep us comfortably in his kingdom.

Jesus says to His followers, “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials” (Luke 22:28). It’s good to stand by Jesus and overcome all the trials and temptations that come our way.

  • Temptation overcome matures us.
  • Temptation overcome helps us see more acutely our need for a Savior and His abiding Spirit in us.
  • Temptation overcome makes us more empathetic to others who are going through the same temptation.
  • Temptation overcome glorifies God! 

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Chambers & Murray Quotes

June 15, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Reckless confidenceSeveral people asked me to share the two quotes I used in my message this morning. I am happy to do so!

“So many of us limit our praying because we are not reckless in our confidence in God. In the eyes of those who do not know God, it is madness to trust Him, but when we pray in the Holy Spirit we begin to realize the resources of God, that He is our perfect heavenly Father, and we are His children.” —Oswald Chambers

“The father so often feels himself too sinful to be a blessing to his child; thus the home becomes a path to destruction rather than to eternal life. But—blessed be God!—what sin destroyed, grace restores. … Let God’s Father-heart and His Father-love be your confidence. As you know and trust Him the assurance will grow that He is fitting you for making your home, in ever-increasing measure, the bright reflection of His own.” —Andrew Murray

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Thursdays With Oswald—Everyday Faith

June 12, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Oswald ChambersThis 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.

Everyday Faith

     The great need today is for Christians to toe the line: “And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes” (Ezekiel 36:23). Unless Christians are facing up to God’s commands there is no use pushing forward to meet the life of our time.

     Jesus wants us to face the life of our time in the power of the Holy Spirit. Do we proclaim by our lives, by our thinking, by our faith in God, that Jesus Christ is sufficient for every problem life can present? that there is no force too great for Him to cope with and overcome? If our faith is not living and active it is because we need reviving; we have a faith that is limited by certain doctrines instead of being the faith of God.

From Conformed To His Image

People watch Christians to see how they behave in “real life.” If our faith is only for going to church on Sundays and not for meeting life’s challenges everyday, we need a revival!

Oswald Chambers’ question is one we should all ask ourselves: Do people see in our life a trust in God for every circumstance?

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Links & Quotes

June 9, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

link quote

Some good reading from today…

Food for thought: Worship In A Selfie World.

“The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.” —Rachel Naomi Remen

Pastor Dave Barringer has some good thoughts on Successful Communication In Marriage.

“Joy is distinctly a Christian word and a Christian thing. It is the reverse of happiness. Happiness is the result of what happens of an agreeable sort. Joy has its springs deep down inside. And that spring never runs dry, no matter what happens. Only Jesus gives that joy.” —S.D. Gordon

“The Holy Spirit does not bring text after text until we are utterly confused; He simply brings back with the greatest of ease the words which we need in the particular circumstances we are in. Then comes in the use of the will, will I obey the word which has been brought back to our remembrance? The battle comes when we begin to debate instead of obeying.” —Oswald Chambers

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Thursdays With Oswald—God Makes The Church Go

June 5, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Oswald ChambersThis 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.

God Makes The Church Go

     The Church is a separated band of people who are united to God by the regenerating power of the Spirit, and the bedrock of membership in the Church is that we know who Jesus is by a personal revelation of Him. The indwelling Spirit is the supreme Guide, and He keeps us absorbed with our Lord. 

     The emphasis today is placed on the furtherance of an organization; the note is, “We must keep this thing going.” If we are in God’s order the thing will go; if we are not in His order, it won’t.

From Conformed To His Image

It’s not clever tactics, or great preaching, or amazing music that makes the Church go. It’s only our focus on Jesus.

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Thursdays With Oswald—The Holy Spirit In Me

May 29, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Oswald ChambersThis 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.

The Holy Spirit In Me

     When I receive the Holy Spirit He lifts my personality back into its primal relationship with God. Holy Spirit coming into my spirit never becomes my spirit; He energizes my spirit and enables me “to will and to do of His good pleasure.” 

     … When the Holy Spirit begins to unearth the works of the flesh in you, don’t temporize it, don’t whitewash them; don’t call suspicion “discernment of the spirit,” or ill-temper “righteous indignation”; bring it to the light, come face to face with it, confess it and get cleansed away.

From Conformed To His Image

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would help form the righteousness of Christ in us, but we have to obediently respond to what the Spirit is convicting us of.

Probably like you, I am more apt to make excuses or rationalize why what I’m doing is okay (even though the Holy Spirit is convicting me otherwise). It becomes a battle that won’t end well for me! The better course of action is to listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, repent of my fleshly behavior as He reveals it to me, and receive more of the life in Christ in me.

What do you think?

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Thursdays With Oswald—Transforming Circumstances

May 22, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

ChambersThis 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.

Transforming Circumstances

     We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. 

From Conformed To His Image

God will use whatever means necessary to fashion us into the man or woman He created us to be. We must not fight against these circumstances, but view them through the lens of God’s Word.

  • God created you in advance to do amazing things that would bring Him glory (Ephesians 2:10).
  • God loves you enough to discipline you if you are going astray from His purpose and design (Hebrews 12:5-11).
  • God will give you strength to withstand every circumstance (2 Corinthians 12:9).
  • God will redeem every circumstance to bring forth something good (Romans 8:28-39).
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Thursdays With Oswald—All Of Me

May 15, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

ChambersThis 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.

All Of Me

     Never run away with the idea that you are a person who has a spirit, has a soul and has a body; you are a person that is spirit, soul and body. Man is one; body, soul and spirit are terms of definition. My body is the manifest “me.” Some of us are so dominated by the body that our spirit lives only in the physical domain, instead of the physical being slowly taken into the spiritual by a series of moral choices. Our spirit goes no further than we bring our body. 

From Conformed To His Image

God created us as a three-part, integrated being. Quite simply, all parts are interdependent on each other.

If my body is diseased, it’s hard for me to develop my soul and spirit. If my emotions are out-of-balance, it adversely affects by body and spirit. If my spirit is still weighed down by sin, it cannot but affect my body and soul.

I love the brief description Dr. Luke gives us about how Jesus grew up: Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people (Luke 2:52). Let me state this verse differently. Jesus grew healthily…

  • …in wisdom (His mind)
  • …in stature (His physical body)
  • …in favor with God (His soul)
  • …in favor with all the people (His emotions and relationships)

Jesus showed us well-round, healthy growth. If you are diseased in your body, talk to a doctor about remedies; if you are diseased in your soul, talk to a counselor or psychologist about your emotional health; if you are diseased in your spirit, talk to God about forgiveness.

Don’t let one part of you hold you back from being all the you God created you to be!

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Thursdays With Oswald—Thoughtful Questions

May 8, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Oswald ChambersThis 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.

Thoughtful Questions

Oswald Chambers usually sprinkles questions into his lectures, but in this passage, the questions came one right after another—

  • Are we lazy spiritually because we are so active in God’s work?
  • When the problems of the body face us, do we stop going with Jesus?
  • Do we listen to the tempter’s voice to put our bodily needs first—‘Eat bread, be well, first look after what you were going to wear, and then attend to God?’
  • Have we given God as much ‘elbow room’ in our lives as Our Lord gave Him in His?
  • Have we the one set purpose… not to do our own will but the will of God?
  • Are we going with Jesus in the life we are living now?
  • When we are tempted as He was, do we continue to go with Him?
  • What are we like where nobody sees?
  • Have we a place in our heart and mind and life where there is always open communion between ourselves and God so that we can detect the voice of the devil when he comes as ‘an angel of light’?
  • Are we compromising in the tiniest degree in mental conception with forces that do not continue to go with Jesus, or are we maintaining the attitude of Jesus Christ all through?
  • Are we departing from Jesus in the slightest way in connection with the world to which we belong?
  • Have we this past week choked the Son of God in our life by imperceptible degrees?

From The Love Of God

Yeah, I’m going to have to ponder these for awhile…

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