Jun 24, 2013
A Muslim baby orphaned in battle, sold into child slavery, abused and forgotten, Khalida Wukawitz knew nothing of love. Miraculously still alive, as a young, devout Muslim woman she was sold into marriage, then victimized and battered. On the day she cried out to Jesus, her life of abuse and abandonment miraculously and instantly changed forever.
Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you… —Luke 10:20
Worldliness is not the trap that most endangers us as Christian workers; nor is it sin. The trap we fall into is extravagantly desiring spiritual success; that is, success measured by, and patterned after, the form set by this religious age in which we now live. Never seek after anything other than the approval of God, and always be willing to go “outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:13). In Luke 10:20, Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, and yet this seems to be the one thing in which most of us do rejoice. We have a commercialized view— we count how many souls have been saved and sanctified, we thank God, and then we think everything is all right.
Yet our work only begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation. Our work is not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace, and our work as His disciples is to disciple others’ lives until they are totally yielded to God. One life totally devoted to God is of more value to Him than one hundred lives which have been simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God, we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and those lives will be God’s testimony to us as His workers. God brings us up to a standard of life through His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that same standard in others.
Unless the worker lives a life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), he is apt to become an irritating dictator to others, instead of an active, living disciple. Many of us are dictators, dictating our desires to individuals and to groups. But Jesus never dictates to us in that way. Whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He always prefaced His words with an “if,” never with the forceful or dogmatic statement— “You must.” Discipleship carries with it an option.
by Oswald Chambers
Matthew 11:25-30
We have all experienced physical burnout—those times when we are tired from our many activities or difficulties that assail us. Even more painful is spiritual burnout—the weariness believers can feel from the pressure of trying to obey God, attend church faithfully, and spend time in daily prayer and Scripture reading. Just contemplating everything we think we must do for success in the Christian life can be overwhelming! The trouble is that we become spiritually burned out if we rely on our own strength.
When we experience spiritual fatigue, it’s often because of a wrong view of our faith. We find ourselves keeping a mental checklist of dos and don’ts, striving to please God with religious activities. That’s not freedom. The Christian life isn’t some formula whereby we modify our behavior to gain the Lord’s approval. God reached down and reconciled us to Himself the moment we asked Him into our hearts, so we already have His approval. True spiritual maturity involves a growing awareness that nothing we can do—no change in conduct or attempt to live up to regulations—will make us acceptable. Rather, we give up our inability and weakness, and instead live by faith. Then God’s omnipotence can carry us through life.
Think of God’s power as a river coursing through hilly terrain. We can hike, puffing and sweating, along the footpath, or we can simply ease into the water. We won’t have to expend energy because the power of the current will carry us all the way to our destination.
“Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?” (Isaiah 43:13)
This is one of the classic “archaisms” of the King James Version, where the English word “let” does not mean “allow” (as we now use the word), but almost the exact opposite. This particular English word was originally written and pronounced “lat” and was from the same Teutonic root as the word “late.” Thus, to our Old English ancestors, it meant essentially “make late,” or “hinder.” Note its similar use in the King James in Romans 1:13 and 2 Thessalonians 2:7.
However, the Hebrew word (shub) from which it is translated in the verse of our text is extremely flexible, being rendered no less than 115 different ways in the Old Testament, occurring about 1,150 times altogether, with the context controlling its meaning in any given case.
In this context, the great theme is that of God as omnipotent Creator and only Savior. The first occurrence of shub, however, is at the time of the primeval curse on the creation, implanted in the very dust of the earth because of Adam’s sin. To Adam, God had said: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19). Here, shub is twice rendered “return,” and this is the way it is most often translated in its later occurrences.
God therefore challenges every man: “When I work, who can return anything [or anyone] to its [or his] prior condition?” Though none can deliver out of His hand, or “make late” His work, He has promised to be our Savior, “and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:11, 25). When it is time for God to do His work—whether of creation or judgment or salvation—there is no one in all His creation who can “make it late”! HMM
Faith Grows with Use
Yet ye have not, because ye ask not. —James 4:2
It was a saying of George Mueller that faith grows with use. If we would have great faith we must begin to use the little faith we already have. Put it to work by reverent and faithful praying, and it will grow and become stronger day by day. Dare today to trust God for something small and ordinary and next week or next year you may be able to trust Him for answers bordering on the miraculous. Everyone has some faith, said Mueller; the difference among us is one of degree only, and the man of small faith may be simply the one who has not dared to exercise the little faith he has.
According to the Bible, we have because we ask, or we have not because we ask not. It does not take much wisdom to discover our next move. Is it not to pray, and pray again and again till the answer comes? God waits to be invited to display His power on behalf of His people. The world situation is such that nothing less than God can straighten it out. Let us not fail the world and disappoint God by failing to pray.
Lord, I know my faith needs to grow, so please help me to exercise what faith I have and anticipate that growth and stretching. Amen.
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Play the Man for God
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Romans 1:16
Evangelist George Whitefield was asked to preach at the fairgrounds in Marylebone Fields in London, where a Quaker gentleman had built a platform and pulpit for the occasion. Whitefield arrived after dark to find a vast crowd, but some of them had come to see the bare-fisted boxing matches taking place nearby. When George started preaching, the crowds flocked to him, and rough, bare-chested boxers marched in his direction to break up the meeting. To make matters worse, the Quaker’s pulpit tottered every time George moved or even gestured. Just when Whitefield was about to lose his nerve, his wife, Elizabeth, tugged on his clothing and called up to him, “George, play the man for God!” As a riot ensued, Whitefield kept preaching, his text from Romans 1:16.1
From the days of the Acts of the Apostles, opponents have tried to silence our witness. But when we are struck down for sharing the Gospel, we must get back up and speak with more boldness, just as the apostles did. We must be men and women for God.
I have come to you in the name of the Lord God of Hosts and I must and I will be heard. George Whitefield
Recommended Reading: Acts 5:17-21
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1
Because the will is master of the heart, it is important to realize that the root of all evil in human nature is the corruption of the will!
The thoughts and intents of the heart are wrong and as a consequence the whole life is wrong. Repentance is primarily a change of moral purpose, a sudden and often violent reversal of the soul’s direction.
The prodigal son took his first step upward from the pigsty when he said, “I will arise and go to my father.” As he had once willed to leave his father’s house, now he willed to return.
To love God with all our heart we must first of all will to do so. We should repent our lack of love and determine from this moment on to make God the object of our devotion. We should read the Scriptures devotionally and set our affections on things above and aim our hearts toward Christ and heavenly things!
If we do these things we may be sure that we shall experience a wonderful change in our whole inward life. Our emotions will become disciplined and directed. We shall begin to taste the “piercing sweetness” of the love of Christ.
The whole life, like a delicate instrument, will be tuned to sing the praises of Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood!
He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. SONG OF SOLOMON 2:4
Consider with me the appealing Old Testament story of the beautiful young woman in the Song of Solomon. Deeply in love with the young shepherd, she is also actively sought out by the king, who demands her favor. She remains loyal to the simple shepherd, who gathers lilies and comes to seek her and calls to her through the lattice.
In many ways, this is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus, of His love and care for His Bride, the Church. In the scriptural account, she does turn her loved one away with simple excuses. But condemned in heart, she rises to go out and search for him. As she seeks, she is asked: “What is he above others that you should seek him?” (see 5:9).
“Oh, he is altogether lovely,” she replies. “He came and called for me, and I had not the heart to go!” (see 5:16).
But at last she is able to confess, “I have found him whom my soul loveth!” (3:4).
He had been grieved but He was not far away. So it is with our Beloved—He is very near to us and He awaits our seeking!
Lord, You are “altogether lovely.” Thank You for pursuing the human race even in our state of unloveliness.
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