My Utmost for His Highest for Friday, 14 July 2017 "The Account With Persecution" by Oswald Chambers

Donate My Utmost for His Highest for Friday, 14 July 2017 "The Account With Persecution" by Oswald Chambers

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. [Matthew 5:39] These verses reveal the humiliation of being a Christian. Naturally, if a man does not hit back, it is because he is a coward; but spiritually if a man does not hit back, it is a manifestation of the Son of God in him. When you are insulted, you must not only not resent it, but make it an occasion to exhibit the Son of God. You cannot imitate the disposition of Jesus; it is either there or it is not. To the saint personal insult becomes the occasion of revealing the incredible sweetness of the Lord Jesus. The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is not — Do your duty, but — Do what is not your duty. It is not your duty to go the second mile, to turn the other cheek, but Jesus says if we are His disciples we shall always do these things. There will be no spirit of — “Oh, well, I cannot do any more, I have been so misrepresented and misunderstood.” Every time I insist upon my rights, I hurt the Son of God; whereas I can prevent Jesus from being hurt if I take the blow myself. That is the meaning of filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ. The disciple realises that it is his Lord’s honour that is at stake in his life, not his own honour. Never look for right in the other man, but never cease to be right yourself. We are always looking for justice; the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is — Never look for justice, but never cease to give it. WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same. [Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1449 L] Bible in One Year: Psalms 10-12; Acts 19:1-20

Psalms 10:1 Why, Adonai, do you stand at a distance? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 The wicked in their arrogance hunt down the poor, who get caught in the schemes they think up. 3 For the wicked boasts about his lusts; he blesses greed and despises Adonai. 4 Every scheme of the wicked in his arrogance [says], “There is no God, [so] it won’t be held against me.” 5 His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are way up there, so he takes no notice. His adversaries? He scoffs at them all. 6 In his heart he thinks, “I will never be shaken; I won’t meet trouble, not now or ever.” 7 His mouth is full of curses, deceit, oppression; under his tongue, mischief and injustice. 8 He waits near settlements in ambush and kills an innocent man in secret; his eyes are on the hunt for the helpless. 9 Lurking unseen like a lion in his lair, he lies in wait to pounce on the poor, then seizes the poor and drags him off in his net. 10 Yes, he stoops, crouches down low; and the helpless wretch falls into his clutches. 11 He says in his heart, “God forgets, he hides his face, he will never see.” 12 Arise, Adonai! God, raise your hand! Don’t forget the humble! 13 Why does the wicked despise God and say in his heart, “It won’t be held against me”? 14 You have seen; for you look at mischief and grief, so that you can take the matter in hand. The helpless commits himself to you; you help the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked! As for the evil man, search out his wickedness until there is none left. 16 Adonai is king forever and ever! The nations have vanished from his land. 17 Adonai, you have heard what the humble want; you encourage them and listen to them, 18 to give justice to the fatherless and oppressed, so that no one on earth will strike terror again. 11:1 (0) For the leader. By David: (1) In Adonai I find refuge. So how can you say to me, “Flee like a bird to the mountains! 2 See how the wicked are drawing their bows and setting their arrows on the string, to shoot from the shadows at honest men. 3 If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” 4 Adonai is in his holy temple. Adonai, his throne is in heaven. His eyes see and test humankind. 5 Adonai tests the righteous; but he hates the wicked and the lover of violence. 6 He will rain hot coals down on the wicked, fire, sulfur and scorching wind will be what they get to drink. 7 For Adonai is righteous; he loves righteousness; the upright will see his face. 12:1 (0) For the leader. On sh’minit [low-pitched musical instruments?]. A psalm of David: 2 (1) Help, Adonai! For no one godly is left; the faithful have vanished from humankind. 3 (2) They all tell lies to each other, flattering with their lips, but speaking from divided hearts. 4 (3) May Adonai cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks so proudly, 5 (4) those who say, “By our tongues, we will prevail; our lips are with us. Who can master us?” 6 (5) “Because the poor are oppressed, because the needy are groaning, I will now rise up,” says Adonai, “and grant security to those whom they scorn.” 7 (6) The words of Adonai are pure words, silver in a melting-pot set in the earth, refined and purified seven times over. 8 (7) You, Adonai, protect us; guard us forever from this generation — 9 (8) the wicked strut about everywhere when vileness is held in general esteem. Acts 19:1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Sha’ul completed his travels through the inland country and arrived at Ephesus, where he found a few talmidim. 2 He asked them, “Did you receive the Ruach HaKodesh when you came to trust?” “No,” they said to him, “we have never even heard that there is such a thing as the Ruach HaKodesh.” 3 “In that case,” he said, “into what were you immersed?” “The immersion of Yochanan,” they answered. 4 Sha’ul said, “Yochanan practiced an immersion in connection with turning from sin to God; but he told the people to put their trust in the one who would come after him, that is, in Yeshua.” 5 On hearing this, they were immersed into the name of the Lord Yeshua; 6 and when Sha’ul placed his hands on them, the Ruach HaKodesh came upon them; so that they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 In all, there were about twelve of these men. 8 Sha’ul went into the synagogue; and for three months he spoke out boldly, engaging in dialogue and trying to persuade people about the Kingdom of God. 9 But some began hardening themselves and refusing to listen; and when these started defaming the Way before the whole synagogue, Sha’ul withdrew, took the talmidim with him, and commenced holding daily dialogues in Tyrannus’s yeshivah. 10 This went on for two years; so that everyone, both Jews and Greeks, living in the province of Asia heard the message about the Lord. 11 God did extraordinary miracles through Sha’ul. 12 For instance, handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were brought to sick people; they would recover from their ailments; and the evil spirits would leave them. 13 Then some of the Jewish exorcists who traveled from place to place tried to make use of the name of the Lord Yeshua in connection with people who had evil spirits. They would say, “I exorcise you by the Yeshua that Sha’ul is proclaiming!” 14 One time, seven sons of a Jewish cohen gadol named Skeva were doing this; 15 and the evil spirit answered them. It said, “Yeshua I know. And Sha’ul I recognize. But you? Who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit fell upon them, overpowered them and gave them such a beating that they ran from the house, naked and bleeding. 17 When all this became known to the residents of Ephesus, fear fell on all of them, Jews and Greeks alike; and the name of the Lord Yeshua came to be held in high regard. 18 Many of those who had earlier made professions of faith now came and admitted publicly their evil deeds; 19 and a considerable number of those who had engaged in occult practices threw their scrolls in a pile and burned them in public. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, it came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 Thus the message about the Lord continued in a powerful way to grow in influence.

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Donate My Utmost for His Highest for Thursday, 13 Jul 2017 "The Price Of Vision" by Oswald Chambers

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. [Isaiah 6:1] Our soul’s history with God is frequently the history of the “passing of the hero.” Over and over again God has to remove our friends in order to bring Himself in their place, and that is where we faint and fail and get discouraged. Take it personally: In the year that the one who stood to me for all that God was, died — I gave up everything? I became ill? I got disheartened? or — I saw the Lord? My vision of God depends upon the state of my character. Character determines revelation. Before I can say “I saw also the Lord,” there must be something corresponding to God in my character. Until I am born again and begin to see the Kingdom of God, I see along the line of my prejudices only; I need the surgical operation of external events and an internal purification. It must be God first, God second, and God third, until the life is faced steadily with God and no one else is of any account whatever. “In all the world there is none but thee, my God, there is none but thee.” Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision. WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.  [Not Knowing Whither, 903 R] Bible in One Year: Psalms 7-9; Acts 18 Psalms 7:1 (0) A shiggayon of David, which he sang to Adonai because of Kush the Ben-Y’mini: 2 (1) Adonai my God, in you I take refuge. Save me from all my pursuers, and rescue me; 3 (2) otherwise, they will maul me like a lion and tear me apart, with no rescuer present. 4 (3) Adonai my God, if I have caused this, if there is guilt on my hands, 5 (4) if I paid back evil to him who was at peace with me, when I even spared those who opposed me without cause; 6 (5) then let the enemy pursue me until he overtakes me and tramples my life down into the earth; yes, let him lay my honor in the dust. (Selah) 7 (6) Rise up, Adonai, in your anger! Arouse yourself against the fury of my foes. Wake up for me; you commanded justice. 8 (7) May the assembly of the peoples surround you; may you return to rule over them from on high. 9 (8) Adonai, who dispenses judgment to the peoples, judge me, Adonai, according to my righteousness and as my integrity deserves. 10 (9) Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and establish the righteous; since you, righteous God, test hearts and minds. 11 (10) My shield is God, who saves the upright in heart. 12 (11) God is a righteous judge, a God whose anger is present every day. 13 (12) If a person will not repent, he sharpens his sword. He has bent his bow, made it ready; 14 (13) he has also prepared for him weapons of death, his arrows, which he has made into burning shafts. 15 (14) Look how the wicked is pregnant with evil; he conceives trouble, gives birth to lies. 16 (15) He makes a pit, digs it deep, and falls into the hole he made. 17 (16) His mischief will return onto his own head, his violence will recoil onto his own skull. 18 (17) I thank Adonai for his righteousness and sing praise to the name of Adonai ‘Elyon. 8:1 (0) For the leader. On the gittit. A psalm of David: 2 (1) Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious is your name throughout the earth! The fame of your majesty spreads even above the heavens! 3 (2) From the mouths of babies and infants at the breast you established strength because of your foes, in order that you might silence the enemy and the avenger. 4 (3) When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place — 5 (4) what are mere mortals, that you concern yourself with them; humans, that you watch over them with such care? 6 (5) You made him but little lower than the angels, you crowned him with glory and honor, 7 (6) you had him rule what your hands made, you put everything under his feet — 8 (7) sheep and oxen, all of them, also the animals in the wilds, 9 (8) the birds in the air, the fish in the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. 10 (9) Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious is your name throughout the earth! 9:1 (0) For the leader. On the death of Labben. A psalm of David: 2 (1) I give thanks to Adonai with all my heart. I will tell about all your wonderful deeds. 3 (2) I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to your name, ‘Elyon. 4 (3) When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before you. 5 (4) For you upheld my cause as just, sitting on the throne as the righteous judge. 6 (5) You rebuked the nations, destroyed the wicked, blotted out their name forever and ever. 7 (6) The enemy is finished, in ruins forever; you destroyed their cities; all memory of them is lost. 8 (7) But Adonai is enthroned forever; he has set up his throne for judgment. 9 (8) He will judge the world in righteousness; he will judge the peoples fairly. 10 (9) Adonai is a stronghold for the oppressed, a tower of strength in times of trouble. 11 (10) Those who know your name put their trust in you, for you have not abandoned those who seek you, Adonai. 12 (11) Sing praises to Adonai, who lives in Tziyon; proclaim his deeds among the peoples. 13 (12) For the avenger of blood remembers them, he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted: 14 (13) “Have mercy on me, Adonai! See how I suffer from those who hate me; you raise me from the gates of death, 15 (14) so that I can proclaim all your praises at the gates of the daughter of Tziyon and rejoice in this deliverance of yours.” 16 (15) The nations have drowned in the pit they dug, caught their own feet in the net they hid. 17 (16) Adonai made himself known and executed judgment; the wicked are ensnared in the work of their own hands. (Higgayon; Selah) 18 (17) The wicked will return to Sh’ol, all the nations that forget God. 19 (18) For the poor will not always be forgotten or the hope of the needy perish forever. 20 (19) Arise, Adonai! Don’t let mortals prevail! Let the nations be judged in your presence. 21 (20) Strike them with terror, Adonai! Let the nations know they are only human. (Selah) Acts 18:1 After this, Sha’ul left Athens and went to Corinth, 2 where he met a Jewish man named Aquila, originally from Pontus but having recently come with his wife Priscilla from Italy, because Claudius had issued a decree expelling all the Jews from Rome. Sha’ul went to see them; 3 and because he had the same trade as they, making tents, he stayed on with them; and they worked together. 4 Sha’ul also began carrying on discussions every Shabbat in the synagogue, where he tried to convince both Jews and Greeks. 5 But after Sila and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Sha’ul felt pressed by the urgency of the message and testified in depth to the Jews that Yeshua is the Messiah. 6 However when they set themselves against him and began hurling insults, he shook out his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! For my part, I am clean; from now on, I will go to the Goyim!” 7 So he left them and went into the home of a “God-fearer” named Titius Justus, whose house was right next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the president of the synagogue, came to trust in the Lord, along with his whole household; also many of the Corinthians who heard trusted and were immersed. 9 One night, in a vision, the Lord said to Sha’ul, “Don’t be afraid, but speak right up, and don’t stop, 10 because I am with you. No one will succeed in harming you, for I have many people in this city.” 11 So Sha’ul stayed there for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. 12 But when Gallio became the Roman governor of Achaia, the unbelieving Jews made a concerted attack on Sha’ul and took him to court, 13 saying, “This man is trying to persuade people to worship God in ways that violate the Torah.” 14 Sha’ul was just about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews, “Listen, you Jews, if this were a case of inflicted injury or a serious crime, I could reasonably be expected to hear you out patiently. 15 But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law, then you must deal with it yourselves. I flatly refuse to judge such matters.” 16 And he had them ejected from the court. 17 They all grabbed Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue, and gave him a beating in full view of the bench; but Gallio showed no concern whatever. 18 Sha’ul remained for some time, then said good-bye to the brothers and sailed off to Syria, after having his hair cut short in Cenchrea, because he had taken a vow; with him were Priscilla and Aquila. 19 They came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself went into the synagogue and held dialogue with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay with them longer, he declined; 21 however, in his farewell he said, “God willing, I will come back to you.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22 After landing at Caesarea, he went up to Yerushalayim and greeted the Messianic community. Then he came down to Antioch, 23 spent some time there, and afterwards set out and passed systematically through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the talmidim. 24 Meanwhile, a Jewish man named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker with a thorough knowledge of the Tanakh. 25 This man had been informed about the Way of the Lord, and with great spiritual fervor he spoke and taught accurately the facts about Yeshua, but he knew only the immersion of Yochanan. 26 He began to speak out boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way of God in fuller detail. 27 When he made plans to cross over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote the talmidim there to welcome him. On arrival, he greatly helped those who through grace had come to trust; 28 for he powerfully and conclusively refuted the unbelieving Jews in public, demonstrating by the Tanakh that Yeshua is the Messiah.

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. Special offers are valid only for orders placed online and may not be combined with any other offers or coupons.

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