More from Oswald Chambers-Living Water

 

 

 The Impoverished Ministry of Jesus

By Oswald Chambers

Where then do You get that living water? —John 4:11

¹¹ “But you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this is a very deep well! Where would you get this living water?  Living Bible

“The well is deep” — and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! (John 4:11). Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth of the “wells” in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the ministry of Jesus to the point that He is unable to work in your life? Suppose that you have a deep “well” of hurt and trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says to you, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:1). Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, “But, Lord, the well is too deep, and even You can’t draw up quietness and comfort out of it.” Actually, that is correct. Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from the wells of human nature— He brings them down from above. We limit the Holy One of Israel by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and also by saying, “Of course, I cannot expect God to do this particular thing.” The thing that approaches the very limits of His power is the very thing we as disciples of Jesus ought to believe He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in us the moment we forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but we refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.
The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.

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Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We must keep ourselves in touch, not with theories, but with people, and never get out of touch with human beings, if we are going to use the word of God skilfully amongst them.  Workmen of God, 1341 L

Freedom in Christ

I came across the ministry of Neil T Anderson and his associates a few years back now.

I thought that it complemented what I had already been learning over many years.

I believe that people struggling with being a Christian will find this helpful.

There are tools, mainly the "Steps to Freedom " that are used in this ministry.

FIC ministries will emphasise that there is no "magic" in this tool but just a tool that enables you to get yourself to Jesus.

 Your full self not just the self you present to the world.

Here is a link to vary good series of presentations on how the steps work and the essential message of the Gospel and how you can use them in your own Church.

https://ficm.org/gfd/welcome.html

I am currently working my way through these.

"Polished stones and sharpened arrows"-Another book in my library.

"Polished Stones and Sharpened Arrows" is a book written in 1888  by a man called CW Bibb.
 The idea of this book was to help Christians share their faith with others and also help them grow in their Christian life.
I have the book in my collection.
 It's full of illustrations which when  I read the book I saw how many familiar illustrations there are that I was taught to use myself when doing personal evangelism .
 I still think there's a value with of this type of illustration even though of course a lot of the illustrations that are used in personal evangelism and stories might be anecdotal
 some maybe true some maybe just to give an illustration.
But they can be helpful so I'm going to share some of these in my  my blog

 This next story which has a historical authenticity comes in a chapter titled "Trust in Christ".

"Romans 8:18  KJV

¹⁸ For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Margaret Wilson a young lady of 18, living in Wigtown, Scotland, was cruelly condemned  by James the 2nd to be drowned for her faith in Christ .
She was taken to the seashore and tied to a stake so the rising tide would slowly overflow her and give her an opportunity to recant her faith.
Calmly she awaited to the approaching tide.
 Someone asked "do you have any fears of the future."
 She calmly replied "Christ is my stay"

 As the waves came up to her mouth she repeated these lines.

 "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers,
 nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"

 Both illustrations by John Everett Millais

Read about Margaret here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Wilson_(Scottish_martyr) 

More from Oswald Chambers

 

The Devotion of Hearing

By Oswald Chambers

Samuel answered, "Speak, for Your servant hears." —1 Samuel 3:10

Just because I have listened carefully and intently to one thing from God does not mean that I will listen to everything He says. I show God my lack of love and respect for Him by the insensitivity of my heart and mind toward what He says. If I love my friend, I will instinctively understand what he wants. And Jesus said, “You are My friends…” (John 15:14). Have I disobeyed some command of my Lord’s this week? If I had realized that it was a command of Jesus, I would not have deliberately disobeyed it. But most of us show incredible disrespect to God because we don’t even hear Him. He might as well never have spoken to us.
The goal of my spiritual life is such close identification with Jesus Christ that I will always hear God and know that God always hears me (see John 11:41). If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God all the time through the devotion of hearing. A flower, a tree, or a servant of God may convey God’s message to me. What hinders me from hearing is my attention to other things. It is not that I don’t want to hear God, but I am not devoted in the right areas of my life. I am devoted to things and even to service and my own convictions. God may say whatever He wants, but I just don’t hear Him. The attitude of a child of God should always be, “Speak, for Your servant hears.” If I have not developed and nurtured this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God’s voice at certain times. At other times I become deaf to Him because my attention is to other things— things which I think I must do. This is not living the life of a child of God. Have you heard God’s voice today?

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Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything.  Shade of His Hand, 1200 L

Understanding God’s Plan for the End of Life - Joni Eareckson Tada

When I was a new Christian Joni was just a few steps ahead of me in her Christian Journey.
She has written some amazing books and ministered to so many people. Those with disabilities or otherwise.
A voice that needs to be heard and that us why I am sharing this here.
Back then we had these 2 wonderful young Christian women leading the way.
Joni and Evie(Tornquist)

The Books in My Library-Peter Slater,Pat Slater,Raoul Slater. Sally Elmer.

There are some wonderful husband and wife teams when it comes to Photography and Art in Australia.
It becomes even more wonderful when children in the family continue in the same mould.
One such family are the Slaters.
Peter, his late wife Pat and son Raoul
They have been photographing,illustrating and producing books mainly on birds for many years.

I have many in my collection.

Sally Elmer has collaborated with Peter and Raoul on the Glimpses of Australian Birds book which is a masterpiece.

There are fantastic technical and practical advice in these books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Slater_(ornithologist)

These books here are some I cherish from this talented family.

Art work by Peter Slater

Inside front cover of Rare and Vanishing Australian Birds

This is a delightful book by Raoul

This bok is a classic of how they used to do it.

Description of the book

One of the featured photographers

Picture from book by A G Wells.