The "Go" Of Unconditional Surrender (Oswald Chambers)

"One thing thou lackest: . . come, take up the cross, and follow Me."

Mark 10:21

The rich young ruler had the master passion to be perfect. When he saw Jesus Christ, he wanted to be like Him. Our Lord never puts personal holiness to the fore when He calls a disciple; He puts absolute annihilation of my right to myself and identification with Himself - a relationship with Himself in which there is no other relationship. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation or sanctification, but with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. Very few of us know the absolute "go" of abandonment to Jesus.

"Then Jesus beholding him loved him." The look of Jesus will mean a heart broken for ever from allegiance to any other person or thing. Has Jesus ever looked at you? The look of Jesus transforms and transfixes. Where you are "soft" with God is where the Lord has looked at you. If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on your own way, certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, it is an indication that there are whole tracts of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.

"One thing thou lackest . . ." The only "good thing" from Jesus Christ's point of view is union with Himself and nothing in between.

"Sell whatsoever thou hast . ." I must reduce myself until I am a mere conscious man, I must fundamentally renounce possessions of all kinds, not to save my soul (only one thing saves a man - absolute reliance upon Jesus Christ) - but in order to follow Jesus. "Come, and follow Me." And the road is the way He went.

In Me (Streams In The Desert)

In Me

by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

From: Streams In The Desert

"In me . . . peace" (John 16:33). There is a vast difference between happiness and blessedness. Paul had imprisonments and pains, sacrifice and suffering up to the very limit; but in the midst of it all, he was blessed. All the beatitudes came into his heart and life in the midst of those very conditions.

Paganini, the great violinist, came out before his audience one day and made the discovery just as they ended their applause that there was something wrong with his violin. He looked at it a second and then saw that it was not his famous and valuable one. He felt paralyzed for a moment, then turned to his audience and told them there had been some mistake and he did not have his own violin. He stepped back behind the curtain thinking that it was still where he had left it, but discovered that some one had stolen his and left that old second-hand one in its place. He remained back of the curtain a moment, then came out before his audience and said: "Ladies and Gentlemen: I will show you that the music is not in the instrument, but in the soul."

And he played as he had never played before; and out of that second-hand instrument, the music poured forth until the audience was enraptured with enthusiasm and the applause almost lifted the ceiling of the building, because the man had revealed to them that music was not in the machine but in his own soul.

It is your mission, tested and tried one, to walk out on the stage of this world and reveal to all earth and Heaven that the music is not in conditions, not in the things, not in externals, but the music of life is in your own soul.

Rock Of Refuge And Safety

Greeting The Morning by Holly Cawfield

Every generation has faced difficult circumstances and Psalm 91 has been a strength and comfort throughout the centuries. The present conditions in the world whether economic, political or spiritual make this psalm as important as it has ever been.

When we shelter within the safety of the Lord, there is true rest because in spite of the ways in which we try to find refuge and safety in our homes or savings accounts or family, ultimately our only safe fortress is the Lord Himself.

Our trust in Him is never misplaced no matter what our circumstances. Psalm 91 is not a hollow thing but a bedrock of strength and hope based in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 91:
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare of the Lord; He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I am trusting Him.

For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from the fatal plague. He will shield you with His wings. He will shelter you with His feathers. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor fear the dangers of the day, nor dread the plague that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.

Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. But you will see it with your eyes; you will see how the wicked are punished.

If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you, no plague will come near your dwelling. For He orders His angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone. You will trample down lions and poisonous snakes; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet.

The Lord says, 'I will rescue those who love Me. I will protect those who trust in My name. When they call on Me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue them and honor them. I will satisfy them with a long life and give them My salvation.

Vision - Broken Road by Susan Boje

The scene opens up in Black and White, with no sound. I saw a totally devastated city, bombed out like you would see pictures of Berlin at the end of WW2. I watched a young woman (the only person in the picture) slowly picking her way along the broken and torn up road, going slowly so as not to get cut by debris. There was absolutely no other life around her and every single building was in wreckage.Interestingly enough the woman was very healthy, with only some dust on her clothes. She had on ballet type slippers and a scarf covering her hair.

Then the Lord said: This is my Bride----she is doing just fine, she is healthy and whole, just a bit dirty from the dust clinging to her feet. Every world and church structure has collapsed but my Bride is able to navigate the road, even if slowly, and she is coming to Me.

I could see some of the buildings---a restaurant, a gas station, a city hall and police station. She wasn't hungry so she didn't need to get food. She was walking so didn't need the gas. There was no other people around so she didn't need justice or protection. All she had to do was walk forward past the city to get a farm outside the city where all would be provided.

I then got a birds eye view of the city. Coming into the devastated city were people of every nation and tribe but as they entered the city they transformed into identical twins of the first woman.

The Lord said These are my bride, transformed into true unity. There identity is no longer in who they were but who I have made them into be for eternity. The strongest part of the vision was seeing how healthy the woman was. How calm and strong and confident she was.

It just encouraged to see we are going to "make it" regardless of the chaos around us.

Destiny Of Holiness (Oswald Chambers)

Don't be misled. Remember that you can't ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow!

Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.

So don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.

Galatians 6: 7-9

DESTINY OF HOLINESS

By Oswald Chambers

Ye shall be holy; for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16

Continually restate to yourself what the purpose of your life is. The destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness. Nowadays we have far too many affinities, we are dissipated with them; right, good, noble affinities which will yet have their fulfilment, but in the meantime God has to atrophy them. The one thing that matters is whether a man will accept the God Who will make him holy. At all costs a man must be rightly related to God.

Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe God can come into me and make me holy? If by your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it must reveal that I am unholy; but it also awakens an intense craving. God has one destined end for mankind, viz., holiness. His one aim is the production of saints. God is not an eternal blessing-machine for men; He did not come to save men out of pity: He came to save men because He had created them to be holy. The Atonement means that God can put me back into perfect union with Himself, without a shadow between, through the Death of Jesus Christ.

Never tolerate through sympathy with yourself or with others any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means unsullied walking with the feet, unsullied talking with the tongue, unsullied thinking with the mind - every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God. Holiness is not only what God gives me, but what I manifest that God has given me.