I love reminders. Not the nagging kind; I like the Post-It note style reminders, the ones that jog a knowledge or stirring of something you intended to act upon but yet again failed to execute. I am continually humbled by the realization that I am a ridiculously slow learner and that I have an immeasurably patient God. For that, I am am thankful.
January 18th's "My Utmost for His Highest" lesson, Taught by God and Shared by Oswald Chambers
"Test of Faithfulness"
"We know that all things work together for good to those who love God." -Romans 8:28
"It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith--the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.
Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others or to anything else; just don't ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.
The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that he will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son."
This was my devo time last night before I went to bed, what a way to end the day. It followed perfectly with all that we were learning/discussing in our small group. Everything hinges on our faith. We just have faith and be faithful to Christ in order for EVERYTHING else to work. Yet, that faithfulness is SOOOO difficult sometimes. I can MEASURE how faithful I being to my work by the physical, visible things I see around me. I can MEASURE how faithful I am to serving others by their response and the fuzzy feeling on the inside. How do you measure a faithfulness to Jesus? Sure there are fruits, and knowledge is gained and I can "see" the spiritual things he is doing sometimes, but so much of the time that faith is wholly in the unseen. Sigh. Still learning faithfulness. Yes, I still need lots of sticky-note reminders and so much patience. I want this faithfulness that Oswald is talking about. It may be years of growth ahead....but the seed must be planted somewhere.
January 18th's "My Utmost for His Highest" lesson, Taught by God and Shared by Oswald Chambers
"Test of Faithfulness"
"We know that all things work together for good to those who love God." -Romans 8:28
"It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith--the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.
Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others or to anything else; just don't ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.
The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that he will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son."
This was my devo time last night before I went to bed, what a way to end the day. It followed perfectly with all that we were learning/discussing in our small group. Everything hinges on our faith. We just have faith and be faithful to Christ in order for EVERYTHING else to work. Yet, that faithfulness is SOOOO difficult sometimes. I can MEASURE how faithful I being to my work by the physical, visible things I see around me. I can MEASURE how faithful I am to serving others by their response and the fuzzy feeling on the inside. How do you measure a faithfulness to Jesus? Sure there are fruits, and knowledge is gained and I can "see" the spiritual things he is doing sometimes, but so much of the time that faith is wholly in the unseen. Sigh. Still learning faithfulness. Yes, I still need lots of sticky-note reminders and so much patience. I want this faithfulness that Oswald is talking about. It may be years of growth ahead....but the seed must be planted somewhere.
