Today I am stealing from a master. These are quotes from Oswald Chambers and his daily devotional titled "My Utmost For His Highest". A profound a fresh voice for today.
Jesus looked her in the eye. "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" John 11:40
Every time you venture out in the life of faith, you will find something in your common-sense circumstances that flatly contradicts your faith. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture heroically on Jesus Christ's statements when the facts of your common-sense life shout - "It's a lie?" On the mount it is easy to say - 'Oh, yes, I believe God can do it'; but you have to come down into the demon-possessed valley and meet with facts that laugh ironically at the whole of your mount-of-transfiguration belief. Every time my programme of belief is clear to my own mind, I come across something that contradicts it. Let me say I believe God will supply all my need, and then let me run dry, with no outlook, and see whether I will go through the trial of faith, or whether I will sink back to something lower.
Faith must be tested, because it can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict. What is your faith up against just now? The test will either prove that your faith is right, or it will kill it. "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me." The final thing is confidence in Jesus. Believe steadfastly on Him and all you come up against will develop your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith, and the last great test is death. May God keep us in fighting trim! Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us.
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I think we get disappointed with our faith because we try to treat God like a "genie." What we have to understand that Jesus said "ask for anything in my name." The same passage also says "to bring glory to my Father." I think we get the impression (even in the Christian faith), that God wants to bless us financially, physicaly, and socially. If we get IN THE WORD Jesus almost says the opposite. He says not to "worry about tommorrow", or "store up our treasures in heaven." He never promises that we will ever get any of those blessings. If we really want to examine how we follow Him we could see we do not put ourselves out their or "sacrafice" enough (especially me!!), to follow Him. I am not completly sure, but I think Paul talks about enjoying the suffering for Jesus' name.
ReplyDeleteJosh La Seur