There is a Difference Between Grieving and Groaning

For the next few days we are going to be very cognisant of what we speak.  Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for all things under the sun.  Al thought we go through all types of common conditions and experiences we must be aware of the difference between deep grief filled groans and groaning or moaning due to lack of growth.

This is what Oswald Chambers had to say about it. 

Enjoy your life, the good, the bad, the difficult or what ever - it's just another day!
Love,
Candace

THE SPHERE OF EXALTATION

"Jesus leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves." Mark 9:2

We have all had times on the mount, when we have seen things from God's standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up. We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount. We feel we could talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay on the mount. The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time.

We are apt to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching, it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz., into character. The mount is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a great snare in asking - What is the use of it? In spiritual matters we can never calculate on that line. The moments on the mountain tops are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God's purpose.
By Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

I pray that we not try to stay alone with God but abide in His presence as He flows through us overtaking the valley to rush in His glorious light.  So today, stand up, walk out and speak life to all that is about you.  Be the salt....Be the light...Be free because in Christ there is liberty....."Today".

With Love,
Candace

Sabbatical - Day 7

SANCTIFICATION

"This is the will of God, even your sanctification." 1 Thessalonians 4:3

The Death Side. In sanctification God has to deal with us on the death side as well as on the life side. Many of us spend so much time in the place of death that we get sepulchral. There is always a battle royal before sanctification, always something that tugs with resentment against the demands of Jesus Christ. Immediately the Spirit of God begins to show us what sanctification means, the struggle begins. "If any man come to Me and hate not . . his own life, he cannot be My disciple."

The Spirit of God in the process of sanctification will strip me until I am nothing but "myself," that is the place of death. Am I willing to be "myself," and nothing more - no friends, no father, no brother, no self-interest - simply ready for death? That is the condition of sanctification. No wonder Jesus said: "I came not to send peace, but a sword." This is where the battle comes, and where so many of us faint. We refuse to be identified with the death of Jesus on this point. "But it is so stern," we say; "He cannot wish me to do that." Our Lord is stern; and He does wish us to do that.
Am I willing to reduce myself simply to "me," determinedly to strip myself of all my friends think of me, of all I think of myself, and to hand that simple naked self over to God? Immediately I am, He will sanctify me wholly, and my life will be free from earnestness in connection with every thing but God.

When I pray - "Lord, show me what sanctification means for me," He will show me. It means being made one with Jesus. Sanctification is not something Jesus Christ puts into me: it is Himself in me. (1 Cor. 1:30.)

Sabbatical - Day 6

THE GATEWAY TO THE KINGDOM

"Blessed are the poor in spirit." Matthew 5:3

Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard I can not attain. What 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. The Redemption means 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 means 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. Then 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.

Sabbatical - Day 4

MASTERY OVER THE BELIEVER

"Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am." John 13:13

Our Lord never insists on having authority; He never says - Thou shalt. He leaves us perfectly free - so free that we can spit in His face, as men did; so free that we can put Him to death, as men did; and He will never say a word. But when His life has been created in me by His Redemption I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me. It is a moral domination - "Thou art worthy . . ." It is only the unworthy in me that refuses to bow down to the worthy. If when I meet a man who is more holy than myself, I do not recognize his worthiness and obey what comes through him, it is a revelation of the unworthy in me. God educates us by means of people who are a little better than we are, not intellectually but "holily," until we get under the domination of the Lord Himself, and then the whole attitude of the life is one of obedience to Him.

If Our Lord insisted upon obedience He would become a taskmaster, and He would cease to have any authority. He never insists on obedience, but when we do see Him we obey Him instantly, He is easily Lord, and we live in adoration of Him from morning till night. The revelation of my growth in grace is the way in which I look upon obedience. We have to rescue the word "obedience" from the mire. Obedience is only possible between equals; it is the relationship between father and son, not between master and servant. "I and My Father are one." "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." The Son's obedience was as Redeemer, because He was Son, not in order to be Son

Sabbatical - Day 3

THE MYSTERY OF BELIEVING

"And he said, Who art Thou, Lord?" Acts 9:5

By the miracle of Redemption Saul of Tarsus was turned in one second from a strong-willed, intense Pharisee into a humble, devoted slave of the Lord Jesus.

There is nothing miraculous about the things we can explain. We command what we are able to explain, consequently it is natural to seek to explain. It is not natural to obey; nor is it necessarily sinful to disobey. There is no moral virtue in obedience unless there is a recognition of a higher authority in the one who dictates. It is possibly an emancipation to the other person if he does not obey. If one man says to another - 'You must,' and - 'You shall,' he breaks the human spirit and unfits it for God. A man is a slave for obeying unless behind his obedience there is a recognition of a holy God. Many a soul begins to come to God when he flings off being religious, because there is only one Master of the human heart, and that is not religion but Jesus Christ. But woe be to me if when I see Him I say - I will not. He will never insist that I do, but I have begun to sign the death warrant of the Son of God in my soul. When I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and say - I will not, He will never insist; but I am backing away from the recreating power of His Redemption. It is a matter of indifference to God's grace how abominable I am if I come to the light; but woe be to me if I refuse the light (see John 3:19-21).

Sabbatical - Day 2

THE MIRACLE OF BELIEF

"My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words." 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Paul was a scholar and an orator of the first rank; he is not speaking out of abject humility; but saying that he would veil the power of God if, when he preached the gospel, he impressed people with his "excellency of speech." Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the efficacy of Redemption, not by impressiveness of speech, not by wooing and winning, but by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of the Redemption comes through the preaching of the Gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher. The real fasting of the preacher is not from food, but rather from eloquence, from impressiveness and exquisite diction, from everything that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God - "as though God did beseech you by us." He is there to present the Gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get anywhere near Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the Gospel will end in making me a traitor to Jesus; I prevent the creative power of His Redemption from doing its work.

"I, if I be lifted up . . . , will draw all men unto Me."

Sabbatical

Sabbatical:  a period away from your normal routine - a time to immerse yourself in a different environment, a chance to see your life from a different point of view.

This is what I am doing for one week.  I am immersing my self into my family 24/7 for 7 days.  I am going to take every moment to look at life from their precious eyes and appreciate what God has blessed me with.  However, know that I will be missing each of you and praying for you.  Also, I went ahead and posted this weeks devotions to be sent out each morning.  We will take a break from Genesis and lap up the wise views from Oswald Chambers  - from My Utmost For His Highest.

Please pray that as I am out I hear God more clearly, rest in him deeply and return refreshed, invigorated with much to share about our Lord God Almighty.
Till then, may each of you feel His sun upon your face and know you are cherished.
Candace

THE NOTION OF DIVINE CONTROL

"How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" Matthew 7:11

Jesus is laying down rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit. By the simple argument of these verses He urges us to keep our minds filled with the notion of God's control behind everything, which means that the disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.

Notion your mind with the idea that God is there. If once the mind is notioned along that line, then when you are in difficulties it is as easy as breathing to remember - Why, my Father knows all about it! It is not an effort, it comes naturally when perplexities press. Before, you used to go to this person and that, but now the notion of the Divine control is forming so powerfully in you that you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit, and it works on this principle - God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, why should I worry?

There are times, says Jesus, when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but trust Him. God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural Father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the notion of the mind of God behind all things strong and growing. Nothing happens in any particular unless God's will is behind it, therefore you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but an attitude of mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. "Ask, and it shall be given you."

Lord I Will Follow You But.......

True Cost of Discipleship

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is dfit for the kingdom of God.”


Daily Devotion By Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest
Luke 9:62 (I added the full scripture that we used last week)

Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.

My love to each of you - Have a wonderful Sunday,
Candace

For Every Thing....There is a Season

Time and Season
Open your eyes and see as I see,
Look where I turn, be one with my world,
Your breath is my wind: the seeds scattered, job done.
My presence in your faith will water their ground,
Be all I am… trust, do not stop,
Keep watch in the distance and know all is done,
Today has a future but was done in the past,
So time doesn’t matter… for all matter will pass.
Remember those passing and always be in prayer,
My spirit is with them, with you, and the air.
What once seemed impossible is now known through light,
So travel, my angel, come home, it’s your flight.
By Candace Huffmaster ©

There are times when I read Oswald's writings and I thank God that we are not friends or acquaintances. If we were, I would have to believe he was writing about conversations I have had with people or experiences I have gone through. If God had not told us that ALL things are common to man, I would not have the confidence to keep trusting and allowing Him to transform me into what He has desired me to be at creation.
Today, don't look at what your best moment has been....that is in the past. Don't look at what mistakes you made....they are only stepping stones to getting it right. Remember, all striving is chasing after the wind unless your sights are set as flint on the Kingdom of God. When that is what we are chasing after, He is faithful to add all else to that: in abundance, to the full....till it overflows in Glory for His name sake.
With love in Christ,
Candace

Be Ready in Season and Out of Season —2 Timothy 4:2

from My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Many of us suffer from the unbalanced tendency to “be ready” only “out of season.” The season does not refer to time; it refers to us. This verse says, “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season.” In other words, we should “be ready” whether we feel like it or not. If we do only what we feel inclined to do, some of us would never do anything. There are some people who are totally unemployable in the spiritual realm. They are spiritually feeble and weak, and they refuse to do anything unless they are supernaturally inspired. The proof that our relationship is right with God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not.

One of the worst traps a Christian worker can fall into is to become obsessed with his own exceptional moments of inspiration. When the Spirit of God gives you a time of inspiration and insight, you tend to say, “Now that I’ve experienced this moment, I will always be like this for God.” No, you will not, and God will make sure of that. Those times are entirely the gift of God. You cannot give them to yourself when you choose. If you say you will only be at your best for God, as during those exceptional times, you actually become an intolerable burden on Him. You will never do anything unless God keeps you consciously aware of His inspiration to you at all times. If you make a god out of your best moments, you will find that God will fade out of your life, never to return until you are obedient in the work He has placed closest to you, and until you have learned not to be obsessed with those exceptional moments He has given you.

Will We Rise to the Occasion?

Just for the record, it goes without saying that Oswald Chambers challenges me to judge myself. There is no doubt that Mr. Chambers, like David, is a man after God's heart, who will do all His will. I know I am not alone in what I am about to say, due to conversations I have had with other servants of God. So I share with humility in hopes of allowing others to discern, open up their hearts and encourage others as well.

There are times when God is stretching me to take the hard steps of giving sacrificially. I am not speaking of finances, which are not a challenge for me. I am speaking of energy, patience, perseverance and strength. The casting aside of giving in to being human and having limitations is a sacrifice. I now realize that the times I have to reach beyond what I can do to be His presence when I might not desire to is the point that He is trying to increase me...or more accurately, to increase HIM.

I pray that we acknowledge that when we come to this point we see the truth. The truth is that when we do not have enough of something to get the job done, we are to use that as an offering of sacrifice. We know that when we give a tithe God uses it to multiply and care for many. In Malachi 3:10 God says to test Him in this and we will see that He is God and He does not change, His will always provides and comes to pass.

I believe this to be true, I believe God is faithful and that Christ has risen for our redemption...indeed!

Candace

My Utmost for His Highest

By Oswald Chambers

All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen . . . —2 Corinthians 1:20

Jesus’ parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25:14-30 was a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacities. This parable has nothing to do with natural gifts and abilities, but relates to the gift of the Holy Spirit as He was first given at Pentecost. We must never measure our spiritual capacity on the basis of our education or our intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured on the basis of the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, we will falsely accuse Him as the servant falsely accused his master when he said, “You expect more of me than you gave me the power to do. You demand too much of me, and I cannot stand true to you here where you have placed me.” When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, “I can’t.” Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us.

The servant justified himself, while condemning his lord on every point, as if to say, “Your demand on me is way out of proportion to what you gave to me.” Have we been falsely accusing God by daring to worry after He has said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”? (Matthew 6:33 ). Worrying means exactly what this servant implied— “I know your intent is to leave me unprotected and vulnerable.” A person who is lazy in the natural realm is always critical, saying, “I haven’t had a decent chance,” and someone who is lazy in the spiritual realm is critical of God. Lazy people always strike out at others in an independent way.

Never forget that our capacity and capability in spiritual matters is measured by, and based on, the promises of God. Is God able to fulfill His promises? Our answer depends on whether or not we have received the Holy Spirit.

Complete and Effective Dominion

From: My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Death no longer has dominion over Him. . . . the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God . . . —Romans 6:9-11

Co-Eternal Life. Eternal life is the life which Jesus Christ exhibited on the human level. And it is this same life, not simply a copy of it, which is made evident in our mortal flesh when we are born again. Eternal life is not a gift from God; eternal life is the gift of God. The energy and the power which was so very evident in Jesus will be exhibited in us by an act of the absolute sovereign grace of God, once we have made that complete and effective decision about sin.

“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . .” (Acts 1:8)— not power as a gift from the Holy Spirit; the power is the Holy Spirit, not something that He gives us. The life that was in Jesus becomes ours because of His Cross, once we make the decision to be identified with Him. If it is difficult to get right with God, it is because we refuse to make this moral decision about sin. But once we do decide, the full life of God comes in immediately. Jesus came to give us an endless supply of life— “. . . that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” ( Ephesians 3:19 ). Eternal life has nothing to do with time. It is the life which Jesus lived when He was down here, and the only Source of life is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Even the weakest saint can experience the power of the deity of the Son of God, when he is willing to “let go.” But any effort to “hang on” to the least bit of our own power will only diminish the life of Jesus in us. We have to keep letting go, and slowly, but surely, the great full life of God will invade us, penetrating every part. Then Jesus will have complete and effective dominion in us, and people will take notice that we have been with Him.

What is Your Final Position?

(GW)Psalm 50:15 "Call on me in times of trouble, I will rescue you, and you will honor me."

Good Morning Father!

I thank you for this day. For your mercy which starts it and your grace that gets me through.

I praise you, your design is complete. Each moment you saw beforehand, each opportunity in its place, the knowledge of your will extended, the opportunity available and within our reach.

I ask for your understanding, to wait till I feel your peace, to be lifted as I see the formation and the joy to propel your perfect speed.

Sing from my heart your great wisdom; dazzle us all with your will. Propel us into your timing, your pathway perfectly laid. Raise us up this morning, together to claim your ways; all of us with one motive, an offering to our King.

Today help us remember, as we focus on His calling and plea: Life is for the living, death only part of this life; it is not the final position...only the collision between earth bound and our heavenly flight.

I pray for the angels that are charging, to be felt when the pressure is on, for all the intercessions of your righteousness, to pour heavily and ease the strife. For at the right moment, you hear us, and at the perfect moment you came. We all are bound in your victory; Hallelujah to our risen Lord.

God is Almighty in the Highest; His kingdom reaches and fills all things. Not bound to just the heavens, but now released to set the captives free. Selah

In Christ,

Candace

Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?

It is Christ . . . who also makes intercession for us. . . . the Spirit . . . makes intercession for the saints . . . —Romans 8:34, 27

Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors-that Christ "always lives to make intercession" ( Hebrews 7:25 ), and that the Holy Spirit "makes intercession for the saints"? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.

Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord. by Oswald Chambers





















Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?

Not I, but Christ that Lives

When reading this devotional,  I was reminded of Paul speaking in 1 Corinthians Chapter 2. He was telling them that he knows nothing but Christ and Him crucified. As we are being sanctified, refined and melded into His body there is this process which Oswald speaks of below. However, there is the point in time when we can say as Paul says, "It is not I but Christ that lives".


I pray that we make it through the "walking away from Christ" and into the "abiding 24/7 in Christ" and He in us. I pray that we allow Him through the Holy spirit to train us up in His ways, increasing our belief that it is so very good - and we can never choose to turn our backs on Him again.

Live this day in His love,
Candace

Our Lord’s Surprise Visits

You also be ready . . . —Luke 12:40

A Christian worker’s greatest need is a readiness to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience has been. This battle is not against sin, difficulties, or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in our service to Jesus Christ that we are not ready to face Jesus Himself at every turn. The greatest need is not facing our beliefs or doctrines, or even facing the question of whether or not we are of any use to Him, but the need is to face Him.

Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This sense of expectation will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious. In other words, we must stop using religion as if it were some kind of a lofty lifestyle-we must be spiritually real.

If you are avoiding the call of the religious thinking of today’s world, and instead are "looking unto Jesus" ( Hebrews 12:2 ), setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts, you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer. But when He suddenly appears in the work of the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he blocks your sight of Jesus Christ. by Oswald Chambers

A Really Hearty Meal

Good Morning -
The depth of Oswald Chambers wisdom never ceases to amaze me. He articulates spiritual thoughts with such heights of clarity that I can truly say without a doubt, I have heard the truth of God as I read.

May the peace that surpasses all understanding blanket you as you read, comprehend and digest all that is written.
In Christ,
Candace

Identified or Simply Interested?

I have been crucified with Christ . . . —Galatians 2:20

 

The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ . . . ." He did not say, "I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ," or, "I will really make an effort to follow Him"-but-"I have been identified with Him in His death." Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.

". . . it is no longer I who live . . . ." My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.

". . . and the life which I now live in the flesh," not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh-the life which others can see, "I live by faith in the Son of God . . . ." This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8 ). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits-a faith that comes only from the Son of God. By Oswald Chambers

Christ I Know; Who are You?

The Discipline of Dismay

As they followed they were afraid —Mark 10:32

At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. But now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar— "Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed" (Mark 10:32 ).

There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple’s heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set "like a flint" (Isaiah 50:7 ) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and I can no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant.

Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings could experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don’t know Him. We don’t recognize even one characteristic of His life, and we don’t know how to begin to follow Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him.
The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 1:10-11 ). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy. By Oswald Chambers

Today I thought I would share another poem with you all. This one is so fitting for Oswalds devotion.

Proper Prospective by the Water’s Edge
– Reflections of a still heart

Be still my child; know that I am God
Come here, walk with me, reach for my hand
I have been calling you to be by my side
Still waters to calm you run through your path
All tensions drift, as you hold firm my hand

Rest deep as the waters, which have no beginning or end
Twisting and turning, rolling inward and flowing out
Time is a continuum, plunging deep while running out
Years into seconds, to turn back the hand of time
A wish from the sorrowful, there is a lesson to learn
To return a wave, requires an earth movement; which is no simple task
For man it is impossible through his lifeless hand
My hand, however, has strength yours cannot comprehend

To stop the world from turning, just watch and understand
I think and it happens, because love knows no bounds
When flowing like water, it quenches the driest of sand
Time is the shoreline, the boundary for us all
Its water the lifeblood running throughout each soul
Knowledge is power, the heartbeat understands
Energy is the motion to pump over and beyond
The spirit propels each vision, empowering good and halting the bad

Sit by my still waters; come near to contemplate life
Listen to the babbling of the years that you’ve passed by
Listen to all the laughter, forget all of the pain
Joy is through my spirit and peace is in my right hand

Lengthen your own shoreline to take more water in
Deepen your own tide pool, so that you may understand
Dive in with a deep breath, then kick hard to reach the top
Breath in all that freshness, as your face burst through the wet
Emerge a new life form, cleansed from your past

Walk as the righteous, upright and straight ahead
Now you can see forward, when looking behind
So wait for proper prospective, before standing to leave
Always focus your pathway, designed from my lead
By Candace Huffmaster

Yield to Right of Way

This perfectly reiterates our discussions last Friday on Boundaries and the signs that we post.  This verse from Romans also depicts "Love Angles". If you cannot find the information in the archives to the left, e-mail me and I will send you the notes.

Romans 6:16 (Amplified Translation)
Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness (right doing and right standing with God)?

Yielding

The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.

If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— "I must have it now," whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. ". . . He has anointed Me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives . . ." ( Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1 ).

When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, "Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like," you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, "He will break every fetter," while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life. by Oswald Chambers

It is hard when we have to grow through experiences which are intended to show us that we are now safe and do not need to protect ourselves from the people that misused power or neglected to love and protect us while we were vulnerable to their dominance. I know that God loves us and wants what is best for us. Knowing that caused me to try really hard to understand why, when I was doing nothing wrong but protecting and respecting myself were all these bad situations happening. What he loving showed me was that although I had survived bad situations I had tried to handle them in my own strength and understanding. I was in danger and treated unloving at times, however He had rescued and delivered me from that so that I could live a better life. If I had continued to lives as though I were not free from that, I would never have received my freedom. I would have been free and living as a prisoner to those that I had been liberated from.

I pray that we all live in the liberty that Christ has given us.
With love,
Candace

Do Your Thoughts Make you Walk the Plank?

Walking with Jesus is not easy, I thank God that He never said it would be. I also thank Him that He told us in advance that He would never leave us nor forsake us. Don't you know that is how Jesus could ask the "tough questions". Would we dare ask someone when we were going through a time of testing or trial ..Do you also want to go away?

Speaking for myself, I can honestly remember a situation where I was asking "How can you think of leaving me when everyone else is jumping ship"? "Have you no compassion"? If we can remember that He never leaves us as well as His promise that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us we will not NEED the commitment of other "ordianary" individuals. We will recall that we are extraordinary due to Him completing us!  Don't you think you can handle a "ship jumper" now? I know you can!

I pray that when we have done all to stand ....that because we KNOW that God is faithful and true, we will stand, pick up the armor He has trained us with and enter into the battle to remain in the good fight; not being "one of those" that jumps ship.

"So don't lose your confidence. It will bring you a great reward. 36 ou need endurance so that after you have done what God wants you to do, you can receive what he has promised. 37 Yet, the one who is coming will come soon. He will not delay. 38 he person who has God's approval will live by faith. But if he turns back, I will not be pleased with him." W e don't belong with those who turn back and are destroyed. Instead, we belong with those who have faith and are saved." (Hebrews 10:35-39) God's Word Translation 

May Christ be glorified in all our coming and going this day, Amen.
Candace Huffmaster

Turning Back or Walking with Jesus?

Do you also want to go away? —John 6:67
What a penetrating question! Our Lord’s words often hit home for us when He speaks in the simplest way. In spite of the fact that we know who Jesus is, He asks, "Do you also want to go away?" We must continually maintain an adventurous attitude toward Him, despite any potential personal risk.

 "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more" (John 6:66 ). They turned back from walking with Jesus; not into sin, but away from Him. Many people today are pouring their lives out and working for Jesus Christ, but are not really walking with Him. One thing God constantly requires of us is a oneness with Jesus Christ. After being set apart through sanctification, we should discipline our lives spiritually to maintain this intimate oneness. When God gives you a clear determination of His will for you, all your striving to maintain that relationship by some particular method is completely unnecessary. All that is required is to live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. Never try to live your life with God in any other way than His way. And His way means absolute devotion to Him. Showing no concern for the uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus.

Peter saw in Jesus only someone who could minister salvation to him and to the world. But our Lord wants us to be fellow laborers with Him.

In John 6:70 Jesus lovingly reminded Peter that he was chosen to go with Him. And each of us must answer this question for ourselves and no one else: "Do you also want to go away?" By Oswald Chambers

beauty is as beauty DOES

The only way we Can live out our lives as Oswald Chambers is speaking of below is directly related to how great our faith in the fact that Christ was one with His father while He walk about on this earth. Then our faith must develop to embrace the fact that Christ is in us and we are in Him so we too are one. When we believe that, we will allow Him to transform us so that He may continue His task as we continue His task ...so that our Father is continuing His task.


I pray for us all to gain understanding of what it looks like to live like this, if only for "today".

With love in Christ,
Candace

The Determination to Serve

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve . . . —Matthew 20:28

Jesus also said, "Yet I am among you as the One who serves" (Luke 22:27). Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s— ". . . ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake" ( 2 Corinthians 4:5 ). We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry is called to be different and above other people. But according to Jesus Christ, he is called to be a "doormat" for others— called to be their spiritual leader, but never their superior. Paul said, "I know how to be abased . . ." (Philippians 4:12 ). Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last drop for others. And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As long as there was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of service to that person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.

Paul’s understanding of how Christ had dealt with him is the secret behind his determination to serve others. "I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man . . ." ( 1 Timothy 1:13 ). In other words, no matter how badly others may have treated Paul, they could never have treated him with the same degree of spite and hatred with which he had treated Jesus Christ. Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake. - Oswald Chambers

I Should be Dust by Now....but God........

We all have days..and yes, some of us even years, when we just do not think we can take another day like the one we have just lived through. But there you have it....we DID lived through it!!


Makes me kind of giggle at myself when I see how weak I "thought" I was and yet here I am; despite myself. THAT is God..He shows up and shows out in our weakest moment. Apart from Him we probably would just crumble into a million weary pieces. With Him we CAN pick up our weary pieces and move right on.

Praise God it is a new day...and He gives us the Mercy and the Grace to get through this one too.

My prayers over you all for His victory in all things to race upon you, move through you and set the path ahead of you,THIS day!

With love and faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ,
Candace

Taking the Initiative Against Despair

Rise, let us be going —Matthew 26:46

In the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples went to sleep when they should have stayed awake, and once they realized what they had done it produced despair. The sense of having done something irreversible tends to make us despair. We say, "Well, it’s all over and ruined now; what’s the point in trying anymore." If we think this kind of despair is an exception, we are mistaken. It is a very ordinary human experience. Whenever we realize we have not taken advantage of a magnificent opportunity, we are apt to sink into despair. But Jesus comes and lovingly says to us, in essence, "Sleep on now. That opportunity is lost forever and you can’t change that. But get up, and let’s go on to the next thing." In other words, let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him.

There will be experiences like this in each of our lives. We will have times of despair caused by real events in our lives, and we will be unable to lift ourselves out of them. The disciples, in this instance, had done a downright unthinkable thing— they had gone to sleep instead of watching with Jesus. But our Lord came to them taking the spiritual initiative against their despair and said, in effect, "Get up, and do the next thing." If we are inspired by God, what is the next thing? It is to trust Him absolutely and to pray on the basis of His redemption.

Never let the sense of past failure defeat your next step. By Oswald Chambers