dual personalities

Tag: Oswald Chambers

February 28, 2017

“Blow the trumpet in Zion!”

by chuckofish

TTT-MardiGras-01.png

Tonight we dine on pancakes. That’s as crazy as it gets at my house.

Seriously though, I really cannot believe that Lent is upon us. March is a super busy month and will whiz by, I just know it. So maybe I’ll try to slow things down a bit in Lent by intentionally not hurrying and taking my own sweet time.

“Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him.”

–Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

“Lay aside this ardor of mind, which exhausts your body, and leads you to commit errors. Accustom yourself gradually to carry prayer into all your daily occupations. Speak, move, work, in peace, as if you were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be. Do everything without excitement, by the spirit of grace. As soon as you perceive your natural impetuosity gliding in, retire quietly within, where is the kingdom of God. Listen to the leadings of grace, then say and do nothing but what the Holy Spirit shall put in your heart. You will find that you become more tranquil, that your words will be fewer and more effectual, and that, with less effort, you will accomplish more good.”

–Francois de la Mothe Fenelon

Enjoy your pancakes! (I know I will.)

*Joel 2:1

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January 20, 2016

Mid-week pep talk

by chuckofish

William Morris Hunt (1824-1879)

William Morris Hunt (1824-1879)

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don’t want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of ‘good time’ is seldom in sync with ours.”

–Oswald Chambers

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July 24, 2014

“Take yourself by the scruff of the neck and shake off your incarnate laziness.”

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of Oswald Chambers (24 July 1874 – 15 November 1917), an early 20th century Scottish Baptist and Holiness Movement teacher and evangelist.

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You can read about him here. He is most famous today as the author of My Utmost for His Highest (1924), a daily devotional composed of 365 selections of Chamber’s talks, each of about 500 words. The work has never been out of print and has been translated into 39 languages. The book was published after Oswald’s death in 1917, his wife Gertrude Hobbs compiling the passages from her shorthand notes.

I have had my own copy of this wonderful book for many years. It is dog-eared and much highlighted. If you do not have a copy, I recommend you get one.

“The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is not–Do your duty, but–Do what is not your duty. It is not your duty to go the second mile, to turn the other cheek, but Jesus says if we are His disciples we shall always do these things. There will be no spirit of–“Oh, well, I cannot do any more, I have been so misrepresented and misunderstood”. . . Never look for right in the other man, but never cease to be right yourself. We are always looking for justice; the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is–Never look for justice, but never cease to live it.”

There is a good reason that this book has never been out of print! There is also a daily online devotional.

“Get into the habit of saying, ‘Speak, Lord,’ and life will become a romance.”

Bonus tidbit: Since we celebrated the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing in 1969 earlier this week, I thought I would share this story with you. Do you know that Buzz Aldrin, an elder in his Presbyterian Church in Texas, brought communion on the space flight and  celebrated it with Neil Armstrong on the moon? He did. Here is the full text of the original article — written by Buzz Aldrin — published inGuideposts magazine in October of 1970.

So I unstowed the elements in their flight packets.  I put them and the scripture reading on the little table in front of the abort guidance system computer.

Then I called back to Houston.

“Houston, this is Eagle.  This is the LM Pilot speaking.  I would like to request a few moments of silence.  I would like to invite each person listening in, wherever and whomever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the past few hours and to invite each person listening to give thanks in his own individual way.”

Amazing. Read the whole thing.

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June 12, 2013

Mid-week readjustment

by chuckofish

“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God’s purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself.

What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish–His purpose is the process itself.

–Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

*The above illustration is from GodBricks, “Blogging at the intersection between LEGO and religion”.

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