Sunday, August 13, 2017

My Utmost for His Highest for Monday, 14 August 2017 "Chastening" by Oswald Chambers

My Utmost for His Highest for Monday, 14 August 2017 "Chastening" by Oswald Chambers

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. [Hebrews 12:5]
It is very easy to grieve the Spirit of God; we do it by despising the discipline of the Lord, or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us. If our experience of being set apart from sin and being made holy through the process of sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else. And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense of warning or restraint, we are apt to say mistakenly, “Oh, that must be from the devil.”
“Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and do not despise Him when He says to you, in effect, “Don’t be blind on this point anymore— you are not as far along spiritually as you thought you were. Until now I have not been able to reveal this to you, but I’m revealing it to you right now.” When the Lord disciplines you like that, let Him have His way with you. Allow Him to put you into a right-standing relationship before God.
“…nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.” We begin to pout, become irritated with God, and then say, “Oh well, I can’t help it. I prayed and things didn’t turn out right anyway. So I’m simply going to give up on everything.” Just think what would happen if we acted like this in any other area of our lives!
Am I fully prepared to allow God to grip me by His power and do a work in me that is truly worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me— sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me. But He has to get me into the state of mind and spirit where I will allow Him to sanctify me completely, whatever the cost (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. [Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R[
Bible in One Year: Psalms 89-90; Romans 14
Psalms 89:
1 (0) A maskil of Eitan the Ezrachi:
2 (1) I will sing about Adonai’s acts of grace forever,
with my mouth proclaim your faithfulness to all generations;
3 (2) because I said, “Grace is built to last forever;
in the heavens themselves you established your faithfulness.”
4 (3) You said, “I made a covenant with the one I chose,
I swore to my servant David,
5 (4) ‘I will establish your dynasty forever,
build up your throne through all generations.’” (Selah)
6 (5) Let the heavens praise your wonders, Adonai,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the angels.
7 (6) For who in the skies can be compared with Adonai?
Which of these gods can rival Adonai,
8 (7) a God dreaded in the great assembly of the holy ones
and feared by all around him?
9 (8) Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot!
Who is as mighty as you, Yah?
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
10 (9) You control the raging of the sea;
when its waves rear up, you calm them.
11 (10) You crushed Rahav like a carcass;
with your strong arm you scattered your foes.
12 (11) The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours;
you founded the world and everything in it.
13 (12) You created north and south;
Tavor and Hermon take joy in your name.
14 (13) Your arm is mighty, your hand is strong,
your right hand is lifted high.
15 (14) Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
grace and truth attend you.
16 (15) How happy are the people who know the joyful shout!
They walk in the light of your presence, Adonai.
17 (16) They rejoice in your name all day
and are lifted up by your righteousness,
18 (17) for you yourself are the strength in which they glory.
Our power grows by pleasing you,
19 (18) for our shield comes from Adonai —
our king is from the Holy One of Isra’el.
20 (19) There was a time when you spoke in a vision;
you declared to your loyal [prophets],
“I have given help to a warrior,
I have raised up someone chosen from the people.
21 (20) I have found David my servant
and anointed him with my holy oil.
22 (21) My hand will always be with him,
and my arm will give him strength.
23 (22) No enemy will outwit him,
no wicked man overcome him.
24 (23) I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
25 (24) My faithfulness and grace will be with him;
through my name his power will grow.
26 (25) I will put his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
27 (26) He will call to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock of my salvation.’
28 (27) I will give him the position of firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
29 (28) I will keep my grace for him forever,
and in my covenant be faithful with him.
30 (29) I will establish his dynasty forever,
and his throne as long as the heavens last.
31 (30) “If his descendants abandon my Torah
and fail to live by my rulings,
32 (31) if they profane my regulations
and don’t obey my mitzvot,
33 (32) I will punish their disobedience with the rod
and their guilt with lashes.
34 (33) But I won’t withdraw my grace from him
or be false to my faithfulness.
35 (34) I will not profane my covenant
or change what my lips have spoken.
36 (35) I have sworn by my holiness once and for all;
I will not lie to David —
37 (36) his dynasty will last forever,
his throne like the sun before me.
38 (37) It will be established forever, like the moon,
which remains a faithful witness in the sky.” (Selah)
39 (38) But you spurned your anointed one,
rejected and vented your rage on him.
40 (39) You renounced the covenant with your servant
and defiled his crown in the dust.
41 (40) You broke through all his defenses
and left his strongholds in ruins.
42 (41) All who pass by plunder him;
he is an object of scorn to his neighbors.
43 (42) You raised up the right hand of his foes
and made all his enemies rejoice.
44 (43) You drive back his drawn sword
and fail to support him in battle.
45 (44) You brought an end to his splendor
and hurled his throne to the ground.
46 (45) You cut short the days of his youth
and covered him with shame. (Selah)
47 (46) How long, Adonai? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your fury burn like fire?
48 (47) Remember how little time I have!
Was it for no purpose that you created all humanity?
49 (48) Who can live and not see death?
Who can save himself from the power of the grave? (Selah)
50 (49) Where, Adonai, are the acts of grace you once did,
those which, in your faithfulness, you swore to David?
51 (50) Remember, Adonai, the taunts hurled at your servants,
which I carry in my heart [from] so many peoples!
52 (51) Your enemies, Adonai, have flung their taunts,
flung them in the footsteps of your anointed one.
53 (52) Blessed be Adonai forever.
Amen. Amen.
Book IV: Psalms 90–106
90:1 (0) A prayer of Moshe the man of God:
(1) Adonai, you have been our dwelling place
in every generation.
2 Before the mountains were born,
before you had formed the earth and the world,
from eternity past to eternity future
you are God.
3 You bring frail mortals to the point of being crushed,
then say, “People, repent!”
4 For from your viewpoint a thousand years
are merely like yesterday or a night watch.
5 When you sweep them away, they become like sleep;
by morning they are like growing grass,
6 growing and flowering in the morning,
but by evening cut down and dried up.
7 For we are destroyed by your anger,
overwhelmed by your wrath.
8 You have placed our faults before you,
our secret sins in the full light of your presence.
9 All our days ebb away under your wrath;
our years die away like a sigh.
10 The span of our life is seventy years,
or if we are strong, eighty;
yet at best it is toil and sorrow,
over in a moment, and then we are gone.
11 Who grasps the power of your anger and wrath
to the degree that the fear due you should inspire?
12 So teach us to count our days,
so that we will become wise.
13 Return, Adonai! How long must it go on?
Take pity on your servants!
14 Fill us at daybreak with your love,
so that we can sing for joy as long as we live.
15 Let our joy last as long as the time you made us suffer,
for as many years as we experienced trouble.
16 Show your deeds to your servants
and your glory to their children.
17 May the favor of Adonai our God be on us,
prosper for us all the work that we do —
yes, prosper the work that we do.
Romans 14:1 Now as for a person whose trust is weak, welcome him — but not to get into arguments over opinions. 2 One person has the trust that will allow him to eat anything, while another whose trust is weak eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats anything must not look down on the one who abstains; and the abstainer must not pass judgment on the one who eats anything, because God has accepted him — 4 who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? It is before his own master that he will stand or fall; and the fact is that he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One person considers some days more holy than others, while someone else regards them as being all alike. What is important is for each to be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes a day as special does so to honor the Lord. Also he who eats anything, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; likewise the abstainer abstains to honor the Lord, and he too gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives only in relation to himself, and none of us dies only in relation to himself; 8 for if we live, we live in relation to the Lord; and if we die, we die in relation to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord — 9 indeed, it was for this very reason that the Messiah died and came back to life, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You then, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For all of us will stand before God’s judgment seat; 11 since it is written in the Tanakh,
“As I live, says Adonai, every knee will bend before me,
and every tongue will publicly acknowledge God.”[Romans 14:11 Isaiah 45:23]
12 So then, every one of us will have to give an account of himself to God.
13 Therefore, let’s stop passing judgment on each other! Instead, make this one judgment — not to put a stumbling block or a snare in a brother’s way. 14 I know — that is, I have been persuaded by the Lord Yeshua the Messiah — that nothing is unclean in itself. But if a person considers something unclean, then for him it is unclean; 15 and if your brother is being upset by the food you eat, your life is no longer one of love. Do not, by your eating habits, destroy someone for whom the Messiah died! 16 Do not let what you know to be good, be spoken of as bad; 17 for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, shalom and joy in the Ruach HaKodesh. 18 Anyone who serves the Messiah in this fashion both pleases God and wins the approval of other people.
19 So then, let us pursue the things that make for shalom and mutual upbuilding. 20 Don’t tear down God’s work for the sake of food. True enough, all things are clean; but it is wrong for anybody by his eating to cause someone to fall away. 21 What is good is not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 22 The belief you hold about such things, keep between yourself and God. Happy the person who is free of self-condemnation when he approves of something! 23 But the doubter comes under condemnation if he eats, because his action is not based on trust. And anything not based on trust is a sin.
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My Utmost for His Highest
My Utmost for His Highest © 1927 in the U.K. by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All rights reserved. United States publication rights are held by Discovery House, which is affiliated with Our Daily Bread Ministries.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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