My Utmost for His Highest in Crewe, England [Great Britain], United Kingdom "The Fruitfulness Of Friendship/Sacrifice and Friendship” by Oswald Chambers for Thursday, 25 August 2016

My Utmost for His Highest in Crewe, England [Great Britain], United Kingdom "The Fruitfulness Of Friendship/Sacrifice and Friendship” by Oswald Chambers for Thursday, 25 August 2016

I have called you friends.[John 15:15]
We never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we abandon in every particular. Self-surrender is the most difficult thing — “I will if…!” “Oh, well, I suppose I must devote my life to God.” There is none of the joy of self-sacrifice in that.
As soon as we do abandon, the Holy Ghost gives us an intimation of the joy of Jesus. The final aim of self-sacrifice is laying down our lives for our Friend. When the Holy Ghost comes in, the great desire is to lay down the life for Jesus, and the thought of sacrifice never touches us because sacrifice is the love passion of the Holy Ghost.
Our Lord is our example in the life of self-sacrifice — “I delight to do Thy will, O my God.” He went on with His sacrifice with exuberant joy. Have I ever yielded in absolute submission to Jesus Christ? If Jesus Christ is not the lodestar, there is no benefit in the sacrifice; but when the sacrifice is made with the eyes on Him, slowly and surely the moulding influence begins to tell.
Beware of letting natural affinities hinder your walk in love. One of the most cruel ways of killing natural love is by disdain built on natural affinities. The affinity of the saint is the Lord Jesus. Love for God is not sentimental, for the saint to love as God loves is the most practical thing.
“I have called you friends.” It is a friendship based on the new life created in us which has no affinity with our old life, but only with the life of God. It is unutterably humble, unsulliedly pure, and absolutely devoted to God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him.[Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L]
Bible in One Year: Psalms 119:1-88; 1 Corinthians 7:20-40
Psalms 119:א (Alef)
1 How happy are those whose way of life is blameless,
who live by the Torah of Adonai!
2 How happy are those who observe his instruction,
who seek him wholeheartedly!
3 They do nothing wrong
but live by his ways.
4 You laid down your precepts
for us to observe with care.
5 May my ways be steady
in observing your laws.
6 Then I will not be put to shame,
since I will have fixed my sight on all your mitzvot.
7 I thank you with a sincere heart
as I learn your righteous rulings.
8 I will observe your laws;
don’t completely abandon me!
ב (Bet)
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
don’t let me stray from your mitzvot.
11 I treasure your word in my heart,
so that I won’t sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, Adonai!
Teach me your laws.
13 I proclaim with my mouth
all the rulings you have spoken.
14 I rejoice in the way of your instruction
more than in any kind of wealth.
15 I will meditate on your precepts
and keep my eyes on your ways.
16 I will find my delight in your regulations.
I will not forget your word.
ג (Gimel)
17 Deal generously with your servant;
then I will live and observe your word.
18 Open my eyes, so that I will see
wonders from your Torah.
19 Though I’m just a wanderer on the earth,
don’t hide your mitzvot from me.
20 I am continually consumed
with longing for your rulings.
21 You rebuke the proud, the cursed,
who stray from your mitzvot.
22 Remove scorn and contempt from me,
because I observe your instruction.
23 Even when princes sit and plot against me,
your servant meditates on your laws.
24 Also your instructions are my delight;
they are my counselors.
ד (Dalet)
25 I lie prostrate in the dust;
revive me, in keeping with your word.
26 I told you of my ways, and you answered me;
teach me your laws.
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wonders.
28 I am melting away from anxiety and grief;
renew my strength, in keeping with your word.
29 Keep deceitful ways far from me,
and favor me with your Torah.
30 I choose the way of trust;
I set your rulings [before me].
31 I cling to your instruction;
Adonai, don’t let me be put to shame!
32 I will run the way of your mitzvot,
for you have broadened my understanding.
ה (Heh)
33 Teach me, Adonai, the way of your laws;
keeping them will be its own reward for me.
34 Give me understanding; then I will keep your Torah;
I will observe it with all my heart.
35 Guide me on the path of your mitzvot,
for I take pleasure in it.
36 Bend my heart toward your instructions
and not toward selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
with your ways, give me life.
38 Fulfill your promise, which you made to your servant,
which you made to those who fear you.
39 Avert the disgrace which I dread,
for your rulings are good.
40 See how I long for your precepts;
in your righteousness, give me life!
ו (Vav)
41 May your grace come to me, Adonai,
your salvation, as you promised;
42 then I will have an answer for those who taunt me;
for I trust in your word.
43 Don’t take away completely my power to speak the truth;
for I put my hope in your rulings;
44 and I will keep your Torah always,
forever and ever.
45 I will go wherever I like,
for I have sought your precepts.
46 I will speak of your instructions even to kings
without being ashamed.
47 I will delight myself in your mitzvot,
which I have loved.
48 I will lift my hands to your mitzvot, which I love;
and I will meditate on your laws.
ז (Zayin)
49 Remember your promise to your servant,
through which you have given me hope.
50 In my distress my comfort is this:
that your promise gives me life.
51 Though the arrogant scorn me completely,
I have not turned away from your Torah.
52 Adonai, I keep in mind your age-old rulings;
in them I take comfort.
53 Fury seizes me when I think of the wicked,
because they abandon your Torah.
54 Your laws have become my songs
wherever I make my home.
55 I remember your name, Adonai, at night;
and I observe your Torah.
56 This [comfort] has come to me,
because I observe your precepts.
ח (Het)
57 Adonai, I say that my task
is to observe your words.
58 I beg your favor with my whole heart;
show pity to me, in keeping with your promise.
59 I thought about my ways
and turned my feet toward your instruction.
60 I hurry, I don’t delay,
to observe your mitzvot.
61 Even when the cords of the wicked close around me,
I don’t forget your Torah.
62 At midnight I rise to give you thanks
because of your righteous rulings.
63 I am a friend of all who fear you,
of those who observe your precepts.
64 The earth, Adonai, is full of your grace;
teach me your laws.
ט (Tet)
65 You have treated your servant well,
Adonai, in keeping with your word.
66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
because I trust in your mitzvot.
67 Before I was humbled, I used to go astray;
but now I observe your word.
68 You are good, and you do good;
teach me your laws.
69 The arrogant are slandering me,
but I will wholeheartedly keep your precepts.
70 Their hearts are as thick as fat,
but I take delight in your Torah.
71 It is for my good that I have been humbled;
it was so that I would learn your laws.
72 The Torah you have spoken means more to me
than a fortune in gold and silver.
י (Yud)
73 Your hands made and formed me;
give me understanding, so I can learn your mitzvot.
74 Those who fear you rejoice at the sight of me,
because I put my hope in your word.
75 I know, Adonai, that your rulings are righteous,
that even when you humble me you are faithful.
76 Let your grace comfort me,
in keeping with your promise to your servant.
77 Show me pity, and I will live,
for your Torah is my delight.
78 Let the proud be ashamed, because they wrong me with lies;
as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.
79 Let those who fear you turn to me,
along with those who know your instruction.
80 Let my heart be pure in your laws,
so that I won’t be put to shame.
כ (Kaf)
81 I am dying to know your salvation;
my hope is in your word.
82 My eyes fail from watching for your promise;
I ask, “When will you comfort me?”
83 For I have shriveled like a wineskin in a smoky room;
still, I don’t forget your laws.
84 How long can your servant stay alive?
When will you bring judgment on my persecutors?
85 The arrogant have dug pits for me to fall in;
this is not in keeping with your Torah!
86 All your mitzvot [show your] faithfulness;
they are hounding me with lies; help me!
87 They have nearly ended my life on earth,
but I have not abandoned your precepts.
88 In keeping with your grace, revive me;
and I will observe your spoken instructions.
1 Corinthians 7:20 Each person should remain in the condition he was in when he was called.
21 Were you a slave when you were called? Well, don’t let it bother you; although if you can gain your freedom, take advantage of the opportunity. 22 For a person who was a slave when he was called is the Lord’s freedman; likewise, someone who was a free man when he was called is a slave of the Messiah. 23 You were bought at a price, so do not become slaves of other human beings. 24 Brothers, let each one remain with God in the condition in which he was called.
25 Now the question about the unmarried: I do not have a command from the Lord, but I offer an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is worthy to be trusted. 26 I suppose that in a time of stress like the present it is good for a person to stay as he is. 27 That means that if a man has a wife, he should not seek to be free of her; and if he is unmarried, he should not look for a wife. 28 But if you marry you do not sin, and if a girl marries she does not sin. It is just that those who get married will have the normal problems of married life, and I would rather spare you. 29 What I am saying, brothers, is that there is not much time left: from now on a man with a wife should live as if he had none — 30 and those who are sad should live as if they weren’t, those who are happy as if they weren’t, 31 and those who deal in worldly affairs as if not engrossed in them — because the present scheme of things in this world won’t last much longer. 32 What I want is for you to be free of concern. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord’s affairs, 33 with how to please the Lord; but the married man concerns himself with the world’s affairs, with how to please his wife; 34 and he finds himself split. Likewise the woman who is no longer married or the girl who has never been married concerns herself with the Lord’s affairs, with how to be holy both physically and spiritually; but the married woman concerns herself with the world’s affairs, with how to please her husband. 35 I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to put restrictions on you — I am simply concerned that you live in a proper manner and serve the Lord with undivided devotion.
36 Now if a man thinks he is behaving dishonorably by treating his fiancée this way, and if there is strong sexual desire, so that marriage is what ought to happen; then let him do what he wants — he is not sinning: let them get married. 37 But if a man has firmly made up his mind, being under no compulsion but having complete control over his will, if he has decided within himself to keep his fiancée a virgin, he will be doing well. 38 So the man who marries his fiancée will do well, and the man who doesn’t marry will do better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if the husband dies she is free to marry anyone she wishes, provided he is a believer in the Lord. 40 However, in my opinion, she will be happier if she remains unmarried, and in saying this I think I have God’s Spirit.
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Grace and Truth
A Holy Pursuit
Inspiring quotes from the works of Oswald Chambers to help you experience more of God’s grace and truth.
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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.

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