http://www.rbc.org/ http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/09/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/09/devotion.aspx Exhaustion means that our vital energies are completely worn out and spent. Spiritual exhaustion is never the result of sin, but of service. Whether or not you experience exhaustion will depend on where you get your supplies. Jesus said to Peter, "Feed My sheep," but He gave him nothing with which to feed them ( John 21:17 ). The process of being made broken Oswald Chambers Mon, 09 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/08/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/08/devotion.aspx When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means Oswald Chambers Sun, 08 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/07/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/07/devotion.aspx Every fact that the disciples stated was right, but the conclusions they drew from those facts were wrong. Anything that has even a hint of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If I am depressed or burdened, I am to blame, not God or anyone else. Dejection stems from one of two sources— I have either Oswald Chambers Sat, 07 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/06/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/06/devotion.aspx Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person Oswald Chambers Fri, 06 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/05/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/05/devotion.aspx Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer— to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, "I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him. I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have Oswald Chambers Thu, 05 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/04/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/04/devotion.aspx Paul said that he was overpowered, subdued, and held as in a vise by "the love of Christ." Very few of us really know what it means to be held in the grip of the love of God. We tend so often to be controlled simply by our own experience. The one thing that gripped and held Paul, to the exclusion of everything else, Oswald Chambers Wed, 04 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/03/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/03/devotion.aspx These words are not an exaggeration. The only reason they may not be true of us who call ourselves ministers of the gospel is not that Paul forgot or misunderstood the exact truth of them, but that we are too cautious and concerned about our own desires to allow ourselves to become Oswald Chambers Tue, 03 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/02/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/02/devotion.aspx Beware of refusing to hear the call of God. Everyone who is saved is called to testify to the fact of his salvation. That, however, is not the same as the call to preach, but is merely an illustration which can be used in preaching. In this verse, Paul was referring to the stinging pains produced in him by the Oswald Chambers Mon, 02 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/01/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/02/01/devotion.aspx Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But remember what Paul means by "the gospel," namely, the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are inclined to make sanctification the goal of our preaching. Paul refers to personal experiences only by way of illustration, never as the end of the matter. We are not Oswald Chambers Sun, 01 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/31/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/31/devotion.aspx Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God. The one all-important thing is that the gospel of God should be recognized as the abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell— it is redemption. The need to perceive this is the most Oswald Chambers Sat, 31 Jan 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/30/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/30/devotion.aspx God never speaks to us in dramatic ways, but in ways that are easy to misunderstand. Then we say, "I wonder if that is God’s voice?" Isaiah said that the Lord spoke to him "with a strong hand," that is, by the pressure of his circumstances (Isaiah 8:11). Without the sovereign hand of God Himself, nothing Oswald Chambers Fri, 30 Jan 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/29/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/29/devotion.aspx "The Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand . . ." (Isaiah 8:11). There is no escape when our Lord speaks. He always comes using His authority and taking hold of our understanding. Has the voice of God come to you directly? If it has, you cannot mistake the intimate insistence with which Oswald Chambers Thu, 29 Jan 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/28/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/28/devotion.aspx Are you determined to have your own way in living for God? We will never be free from this trap until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of "the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11). Stubbornness and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate Oswald Chambers Wed, 28 Jan 2004 00:00:00 EST http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/27/devotion.aspx @/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/01/27/devotion.aspx A warning which needs to be repeated is that "the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches," and the lust for other things, will choke out the life of God in us (Matthew 13:22). We are never free from the recurring waves of this invasion. If the frontline of attack is not about clothes and food, it may be about Oswald Chambers Tue, 27 Jan 2004 00:00:00 EST