Posted on 01/24/2007 3:20:30 AM PST by .30Carbine
The vision Paul had on the road to Damascus was not a passing emotional experience, but a vision that had very clear and emphatic directions for him. And Paul stated, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:15-19). Our Lord said to Paul, in effect, "Your whole life is to be overpowered or subdued by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine." And the Lord also says to us, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go . . ." (John 15:16).
When we are born again, if we are spiritual at all, we have visions of what Jesus wants us to be. It is important that I learn not to be "disobedient to the heavenly vision" - not to doubt that it can be attained. It is not enough to give mental assent to the fact that God has redeemed the world, nor even to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did a reality in my life. I must have the foundation of a personal relationship with Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim. He was brought into a vivid, personal, overpowering relationship with Jesus Christ. Acts 26:16 is tremendously compelling ". . . to make you a minister and a witness . . . ." There would be nothing there without a personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person, not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s. He saw nothing else and he lived for nothing else. "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).
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
Please, I would be honored.....
Good morning..
I am not good at posting articles, etc., in my younger days I use to write articles for the religious papers, associations, etc on drugs and drugs of abuse. They are still effective today. Now a old man I find myself relieving my past, guess this is normal and today, who would want o listen to a old man, be 71 on March 26.
I guess the more obscure ones when they happen are meant to be a reassurance that I am on the right path.
What Chambers says here is true of every vision given to man that we read of in the Bible; there is a Purpose for specific fulfillment in it, Perfect Reason why it is sent by God.
Jacob received a vision at Beth-el ("House of God"), but he did not interpret the vision rightly:
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."Because the interpretation of the vision was not an accurate one, idolatry was practiced at this place, at Bethel.When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."
Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."
~Genesis 28:10-22
When Jesus came He spoke of Jacob's vision and made plain what God meant in sending it to our patriarch; He declared its fulfillment in Himself:
He then added, "I tell you the truth,Jesus is the only Way - "stairway" - to heaven, to the House of God! No other "ladder" will reach, because no other Way began Above and came to earth as Jesus Himself did, amen, what Glory! All man's idolatrous attempts to ascend to God are ladders that fall far short of the goal at the top, but Jacob didn't know that yet.
you shall see heaven open,
and the angels of God ascending and descending
on the Son of Man."
~John 1:51
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.I love this chapter, and this truth; I am struck all anew as I read it this morning at the beauty and building up - line upon line, precept upon precept - that Jesus exemplifies of the Wisdom of God in this mighty truth-telling! All things begin in Jesus Christ; from Him we who are and remain "attached" as to a Vine, receive and bear and grow, and the fruit-producing life-flow of this clinging-remaining is love, friendship, joy...and with these, persecution...resulting in testimony, amen.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
". . . to make you a minister and a witness . . . ."
"So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then."
~Joshua 14:10b-11
We Kingdom Dwellers live completely outside the gates of this world: While the world, and America in particular, it seems, devalues the aged and promotes "retirement," we press on to obtain and to conquer in the Name of Jesus!
He's got work for you yet, Brother; there's always a reason why someone's life has been spared...even to be a BawBaw to a Jason...but I think there is more in the plan for you!
Please let us know how it went with the legal team yesterday.
And P.S. - my birthday is April 3rd - we share some traits, I think! (;
Oh, I couldn't agree more, and I'm so glad you said so!
Amen! That too is one of my favorites! Apart from Him, we can do nothing - literally, nothing.
"Love is not easy," You once told me,
"Watch me in the garden, and you will see
How Love is a struggle, hard and heavy,
When Love and our wants do not agree,
And the prayer on our lips is, 'Father, hear me!'
And we, hearing Him in Love, do not flee.
This is a sacrifice most pleasing."
Love is not easy - I understand, but know
When I am touched by the hand of loss and sorrow,
The road of hard choices where Love has me go,
You have walked that hard road, too and the shadows only show
There is light up ahead, where you vanquished the foe.
Help me to love, Lord.
~Knitting A Conundrum
Thank you so much for this lovely story! Oh indeed! may we become more childlike in our love for God and for one another - unhindered by desire of appearances, unrestrained by memory of hurt, unrestricted in generosity of heart and hugs, overflowing with the pure joy only children seem to know.
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