Monday, May 2, 2016

Shalom,

Today I want to share a portion from "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers

The Passion Of Patience

Though it tarry, wait for it. — Habakkuk 2:3
Patience is not indifference; patience conveys the idea of an immensely strong rock withstanding all onslaughts. The vision of God is the source of patience, because it imparts a moral inspiration. Moses endured, not because he had an ideal of right and duty, but because he had a vision of God. He “endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible.” A man with the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue; he is devoted to God Himself. 
“Though it tarry, wait for it.” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. “What shall I render unto the Lord?” said the Psalmist. “I will take the cup of salvation.” We are apt to look for satisfaction in ourselves — “Now I have got the thing; now I am entirely sanctified; now I can endure.” Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.” If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing; if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of relaxation spiritually.

I LOVE this exhortation to keep REACHING for more of HIM! If we are EVER satisfied with our fellowship with HIM, then we have reached a point where stagnation WILL set in and then we will begin to backslide. The rest of the statement above that was made by Paul from Philippians 3 is here:
12 Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own. 13 I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

There is a very great difference between being content and being satisfied. If I am content in my intimate fellowship with Him, then I have no fear, but great anticipation for each time I can be alone in His presence! I learn more about Him, His thoughts and His Word everyday! If I am satisfied, then I am mistakenly believing that I have already received everything I need from my fellowship with Him and I will stop reaching and stretching and inquiring of Him. Do you see how dangerous that satisfaction can be? Challenge yourself to learn something new about Jesus every day! As you do, you will come to understand HIM, and Paul tells us in Philippians 3:10 that when we come to know Jesus better, we will know and understand His power and be better able to operate in it! AMEN! Here is Hillsong Young and Free with "Face To Face":



Shalom in Him!