I have to be honest, and say that anytime I take the time to ask the Lord to reveal Himself in my life, reveal Himself, he does!! As I know Him more, it seems that He delights in sharing His gigantic power, generosity, and showering His unmitigated favor and mercy on His own. If we could only stay in one truth forever, the moment that we find it.. and never struggle with it again.
I had to share another Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest) daily devotional. This man's words strike straight through the heart of what I deal with, when I need it, and I know that the Lord has used this man mightily, in my life and many others. Prepare for world rocking!!!
Beware of placing our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard I cannot attain. (This is a true Ah-ha moment for me. Perhaps a little insight into the psyche of the non-believer?) Waht is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it. What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be-to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only; He came to make me what he teaches I should be. (Wow!) The Redemptionmeans that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man- the very thing Jesus meant it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility-- I cannot begin to do it. The Jesus says-- Blessed are you. That is the entrance and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.
So much depth to this Jesus!! So many times He has to break through the tiny box we put Him in. Praise to His holy name, that He hears our weary cries for help and mercy. I am thankful, ever and eternally for a personal God who knows our struggles and bids us "Come to me" to bear up under them.
I pray the words of this incredible saint of old, have blessed you tonight!!! I know that they are exactly what I've needed...
