What is my dream of God's purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and His power now. If I can stay in that middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working toward a particular finish; His end is the process - that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.
God's training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get wrong when we think of the afterward. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end.
God's end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate process: if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious." Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest"
For those of you who've walked the walk for a while, I know this will resonate. The older I get, the firmer in my faith I get, the clearer I've seen this...almost on a daily basis.
Living in Him all day and night long...as much as possible; treating people as He would, seeing good in others, seeing beauty in God's scenery.........leaves one with a feeling of such utter contentment. Please read Chambers' words a few times. What a blessing.
"...godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6
Have a content, beautiful Sunday..............Practice.
Z
16 comments:
How did you know I needed to hear this, my friend? Thank you!
xo
Andie
Funny! I posted remarks by Oswald Chambers, myself today, Z
Just a coincidence? -- or another instance where "Great Minds Think Alike?"
God is a much kinder Master than Mammon.
Unfortunately, it takes most of a lifetime to begin to realize that. There's something in us that seems determined to deny Truth and embrace Error.
Fighting that tendency is what The Good FIght is all about, I think.
May you know joy and contentment in your faith, and be blest with a peaceful heart, dear friend.
"What is my dream of God's purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and His power now. If I can stay in that middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. "
As I read this, Dr. Stanley is on TV talking about Noah building an ark that had no sails, no rudder.
All we have to do is be obedient.
I love that "contentment" verse.
I wish I could do it more.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 NASB
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
Andie, I swear that sometimes I feel I don't write these things. I can be sitting here wondering what to use for a particular Sunday and BAMMO, someone emails me something that's perfect.
Sometimes, something comes up on Monday for the following Sunday...... I never know. But, very very often, I think "wow, where'd THAT come from!?"
FT..."great minds",definitely, but probably that Great Mind up there!
I think God is kind like this, too, but I also think it takes years to realize he isn't always kind in the way WE want him to be, you know? When he's honing us for bigger growth, etc.? Sometimes it takes difficulties to bring us back to Him and it's only later we see why things happened. Truth can hurt BIG TIME, temporarily. And in His time.
Ed, I know what you mean!
Elbro, thanks for that; so true.
I'm hosting a lecture Tuesday evening by a Cambridge Prof who speaks all over the world...he'll be speaking about immorality and violence in the Old Testament and where God's love falls in that...we're really excited to hear about it.
You and the Holy Spirit are a good mix on Sunday Z. You're always spot on.
You're right. I have to practice every day.
BZ
Elbro: I'm missing the "like" button.
Z - Oswald Chambers speaks the truth. I'm always amazed by his words.
And you are right about the end not being God's will but the process instead.
Have a great Sunday - Z.
I had forgotten how very "Zen" Oswald Chambers' writings can be.
Or at least, what those of us who have looked to Zen were trying to find.
Good stuff, Z.
One more "like" upding for Elbro's post.
Ecclesiastes IS the Bible. The rest, mostly filler.
BZ, don't we all :-)
Elbro, it's not me, but thanks!
Beamish, I know you love Ecclesiastes... There's a LOT of stuff that's not filler in there, though.
Sue, good, isn't it?
you have a nice day, too.
Ed.."like button?" As Ricky would say "splain!"
BLOVIATING ZEPPELIN has a good MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ cartoon at his place; take a look. Check in on his blog from time to time, you'll like it.
We DO have THE best bloggers in our little corner of the blogosphere, don't we!
Ed is referring to a Facebook function
Z,
I hope you had a great Sunday.
Beamish, I know you love Ecclesiastes... There's a LOT of stuff that's not filler in there, though.
I get more out of Ecclesiastes than most, I guess. I'm not discounting the importance of the rest of the Bible, its just that I hold the view that Ecclesiastes distills the wisdom of the Bible into one "book."
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