Posted on 01/13/2006 9:52:16 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
God did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, ". . . who will go for Us?" The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude. "Many are called, but few are chosen" ( Matthew 22:14 ). That is, few prove that they are the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and have had their spiritual condition changed and their ears opened. Then they hear "the voice of the Lord" continually asking, ". . . who will go for Us?" However, God doesn’t single out someone and say, "Now, you go." He did not force His will on Isaiah. Isaiah was in the presence of God, and he overheard the call. His response, performed in complete freedom, could only be to say, "Here am I! Send me."
Remove the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you or to plead with you. When our Lord called His disciples, He did it without irresistible pressure from the outside. The quiet, yet passionate, insistence of His "Follow Me" was spoken to men whose every sense was receptive (Matthew 4:19). If we will allow the Holy Spirit to bring us face to face with God, we too will hear what Isaiah heard-"the voice of the Lord." In perfect freedom we too will say, "Here am I! Send me."
In 1910 Chambers married Gertrude Hobbs. They had one daughter, Kathleen, who still resides in London (as of 1992).
In 1911 he founded and became principal of the Bible Training College in Clapham, London, where he lectured until the school was closed in 1915 because of World War I. In October 1915 he sailed for Zeitoun, Egypt (near Cairo), where he ministered to Australian and New Zealand troops as a YMCA chaplain. He died there November 15, 1917, following surgery for a ruptured appendix.
My Utmost for His Highest, his best-known book, has been continuously in print in the United States since 1935 and in this, the last decade of the century, remains in the top ten titles of the religious book bestseller list with millions of copies in print. It has become a Christian classic. [from the flyleaf of the book]
Absolutely no flaming! These daily threads are intended to be devotional in nature. If a particular day's offering says nothing to you, please just go on and wait for the next day. Consider these threads a DMZ of sorts, a place where a perpetual truce is in effect and a place where all other arguments and disagreements from other times and places are left behind.
I can attest from personal experience that reading from Chambers daily will almost certainly change - not one's faith - but one's perspective of his/her own faith, and open up new vistas in your spiritual life. If - when - this happens to a reader of these threads, and they choose to share what has happened within them - we are treading on hallowed ground. Be respectful.
- Religion Moderator
Oh wow! This one was for me! I'm going to have to ponder this one and pray over it for a good while. This one's really speaking to me tonight! Eyes are opening wider and wider! Thank you! God Bless!
I was moved to fast yesterday. Work was a long day but I pressed through continually to praise and all-prayer as I went through my duties at the P.O. and around the mail route. I get to be an encourager to many in many small ways, and this is the grace of Our God - It is Christ IN US!
After a long day I had to get to the bank and grocery store - he used me for encouragement of others in these places, too! Always forcefully removing my eyes from myself and intentionally putting my eyes to others and opening my ears to their needs in the moment.
Coming home by a back street I saw a woman walking along the sidewalk, talking on a cell phone, weeping. As I drove by it took a moment to register what was happening. My heart was immediately moved with love for her. I turned around at the very next driveway and went back, pulling into another driveway right in front of her as she walked.
I threw the transmission in park, set the e-brake, and leapt from the Jeep! I rushed up to her, extending my hands. Her face was so sweet and so sad, the phone still held to her ear. She was in the middle of a sentence, her voice quavering with such intense sorrow.
"May I please help you?" I asked her, feeling such an intense compassion. She looked at me amazed. Her tears came in flood. Without removing the phone from the side of her face she said, "You just did. You are an angel sent from out of nowhere! God bless you."
"I stopped because I want to be a blessing to you," I said, feeling as though I were both in and outside myself as we stood there.
"You already have," she repeated. Crying myself now I could barely get the words out between my quivering lips as tears welled up and flowed from my eyes in empathy - true, heart-wrenching compassion for her.
I reached for her hand; it was icy cold, though the temperature was mild. She squeezed my hand in return, and my hand actually felt as though it *increased* in warmth as we touched. "God...Bless...You..." I said, squeezing out every word slowly, deliberately, whole-heartedly, with every ounce of strength my body had (for it was required!) and with my entire spirit involved and every emotion held captive to her need. Never have I said those three simple words of prayer so fervently. It was as though time were suspended. Our eyes full of tears locked in a sort of Spirit-embrace.
"God bless you, God bless you," she said, and did not turn away or begin talking into the cell phone again until I wrenched my eyes away and moved back to the Jeep. As I backed up and headed again toward home I saw her walking and talking into the phone again, moving on away from me.
It was a very brief encounter. It was one of the most awesome manifestations of the Countenance of God between men I have ever experienced.
I tell you this because God is One and His Spirit is the Moving Force in All Things. When we are consecrated to His Purpose nothing hinders us from doing His will.
I tell you this because it is more blessed to give than to receive: He gave me this moment in time, prayers continuing all night for this woman, and the blessing of knowing that unworthy as I am, because He has called me, sanctified and justified me (making me a useful vessel even in my unfinished state, because I contain HIM), He also GLORIFIES. This is Scriptural Truth that I now have a greater understanding of because of what He did yesterday. It was ALL HIM. She was Him, I was Him, the day was Him, the person on the other end of her phone was Him, the love within me was Him, her incredible sorrow and need was Him, and our union, our intense and unimaginable unity in that moment, that was HIM. Amen.
I hope I have written this in such a way that you feel some of what I felt, that is, Almighty God, Incarnate in His Body on the earth.
More than we can ask or even imagine. The Kingdom is already ours. Amen again!
O! Lord and God and King and Comforter! Justifier and Redeemer! Thank You! Show us Thy Glory!!!
GOODMORNING AND GRACE TO ALL BRETHREN!
"Mighty to save."
- Isaiah 63:1
By the words "to save" we understand the whole of the great work of
salvation, from the first holy desire onward to complete sanctification.
The words are multum in parro: indeed, here is all mercy in one word.
Christ is not only "mighty to save" those who repent, but he is able to
make men repent. He will carry those to heaven who believe; but he is,
moreover, mighty to give men new hearts and to work faith in them. He is
mighty to make the man who hates holiness love it, and to constrain the
despiser of his name to bend the knee before him. Nay, this is not all the
meaning, for the divine power is equally seen in the after-work. The life
of a believer is a series of miracles wrought by "the Mighty God." The
bush burns, but is not consumed. He is mighty to keep his people holy
after he has made them so, and to preserve them in his fear and love until
he consummates their spiritual existence in heaven. Christ's might doth
not lie in making a believer and then leaving him to shift for himself;
but he who begins the good work carries it on; he who imparts the first
germ of life in the dead soul, prolongs the divine existence, and
strengthens it until it bursts asunder every bond of sin, and the soul
leaps from earth, perfected in glory. Believer, here is encouragement. Art
thou praying for some beloved one? Oh, give not up thy prayers, for Christ
is "mighty to save." You are powerless to reclaim the rebel, but your Lord
is Almighty. Lay hold on that mighty arm, and rouse it to put forth its
strength.
Does your own case trouble you? Fear not, for his strength is sufficient
for you.
Whether to begin with others, or to carry on the work in you, Jesus is
"mighty to save;" the best proof of which lies in the fact that he has
saved you.
What a thousand mercies that you have not found him mighty to destroy!
C.H.SPURGEON
SOLI DEO GLORIA!
I enjoy these reflections, AG. This one puts me in mind of a comment by Archimandrite Sophrony who spent time at Mount Athos and was a spiritual child of + Silouan the Athonite:
"The Holy Spirit comes when we are receptive. He does not compel. He approaches so meekly that we may not even notice. If we would know the Holy Spirit we need to examine ourselves in the light of the Gospel teaching, to detect any other presence which may prevent the Holy Spirit from entering into our souls. We must not wait for God to force Himself on us without our consent. God respects and does not constrain man. It is amazing how God humbles Himself before us. He loves us with a tender love, not haughtily, not with condescension. And when we open our hearts to Him we are overwhelmed by the conviction that He is indeed our Father. The soul then worships in love."
In the spirit of your candid post I'll share this.. first to you and to others also..
Had a dream last night.. In the dream.. Was this question; Why this huge Universe?.. This huge universe that mankind could practically never visit.. We even cannot practically visit much if anything in this galaxy.. We can barely get around in this solar system.. i.e. the Moon, Mars etc..
So why this vast Universe?.. Even light travels so SLOW it takes (we hear) millions or even billions of earth years to even get to us.. from distant Stars and Whatever's.. So at light speed .travel here(universe) would not be very practical..
Unless light speed was one thing, spirit speed was entirely another.. much, much faster.. Then "WE", as spirits, "stuff" would be possible.. What "stuff"?.. Well in this dream, it was merely visiting Gods Kingdom, you know, this Universe.. One group here, another there, yet another group another place.. Group? What group.?. groups of spirits.. Spirits grouped together for an adventure.. a traveling adventure.. traveling at spirit speed.. How fast is that?.. dunno.. it was a dream..
Anyway, in the dream, my mind considered the possibility of other reasons for groups to travel this vast Universe.. Maybe tending this Universe as a Garden.. You know the reality of the metaphor of the Garden of Eden come to fruitition.. and thats what the Garden of Eden was, a germ of thought, for the future.. Anyway it was a dream but a good dream.. I liked it..
Made me consider, if I were a spirit (at that time) given say, some powers that I don't have now, much like I was given this present body I have.. What could I do, with others, having the same or even different powers, with THIS Universe.. Not limited by mans puny body.. But having a new body with far more power(s).. Maybe:
1) Remodel planets to be life sustainable systems..
2) Tend as caretakers, future life forms created by God..
3) or just visit these long neglected places God made but have never been fully appreciated..
Many options could be "thunk up", but it was a groovey dream, Wouldn't you say?.. Somehow I doubt that God would even want to be praised and stroked for eternity.. like some think of God.. God personally, needs no praise he knows who he is.. He didn't tell Adam and Eve to stroke him, but be fruitfully and multiply.. Praiseing God with the odd praise may be tolerated though.. from the overflow of joy.. LoL..
I woke saying to myself; Is God COOL or WHAT?..
Playing harps and riding clouds seems quite silly..
Thanks. Blessings to you!
Praise God!!! Thank you so very much for your testimony and blessing. May God abundantly bless you, dear misty4jc.
Thank you so much for the beautiful Spurgeon devotion!
Thank you so much for sharing that quote and your insights!
Lurkers might find it interesting that some Jewish mystics see the firmament not as a geometric location but rather as a boundary between the physical and spiritual - and further that the boundary is the speed of light.
It is an interesting thought because why should the speed of light be the limiting constant of perceptible space/time?
It is also interesting when one considers the import: that the spiritual "there" is actually here. Distance and proportion - and time itself - are manifestations of space/time but do not limit the spirit.
You're quite welcome! May God bless you and your loved ones!
I think those situations are rather easy for most people. What I find difficult is feeling compassion for people that I have a natural, unsolicited antipathy towards. Whatever that chemistry thing is that makes two people not like each other.
I believe that it is that person who God is asking me to feel compassion for; real compassion, not some pefunctory, general prayer for their welfare. I think I have a tendency to dehumanize those I'm at odds with, and that God wants me to reject this dehumanization. When I use the term dehmanization I don't use it as the liberals use it, I mean it to mean that I've relegated this person I oppose to a status that is inferior to mine, even if it is in the smallest of degree or detail.
To be capable of this kind of disinterested compassion is very difficult for me. One of my defects is to give way to my antipathies, and I've not been able to summon genuine compassion for those I'm at odds with but a couple of times, and I'm not that young. But each time it happened, what accompanied it was a sense of being uplifited and unchained.
Indeed AG.. and further that geometry being concerned with shape may be a qualia of the human experience and maybe even mathematics and physics themselves.. The spirit should not even need shape.. except when dealing with humans..
Hard to even conceive of a state that don't need shape.. The spirit is all about oneness even at-one-ment(atonement).. In total atonement there is no longer two but one.. i.e. "I and father are one..-Jn 10;30".. There may be many things we deem common on this planet in this paradigm that are totally unneeded by the spirit or in spirit.. Like, shape, gender, language, money and more, and all the things that revolve about those things.. which is pretty much the total experience here in this paradigm.. this human experience..
Been years, or has taken years, for my personal "christianity" to lose its unique shape.. Still some shape is present but daily my experience with christ is losing a definite shape.. Can't fake it either.. You're either shaped a certain way, as a christian, or you ain't.. This post could sound funny to very shaply christians bit not to those that have lost a measure of SHAPE..
HOORAY!!! The whole post was so encouraging, alpha-8-25-02! Thank you.
“How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given. So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heav’n. No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.”
~Phillips Brooks, "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
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