I had other plans at first, but I MUST share this with you today instead! From "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers:
My kingdom is not of this world. — John 18:36
The great enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ in the present day is the conception of practical work that has not come from the New Testament, but from the Systems of the world in which endless energy and activities are insisted upon, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God comes not with observation;…for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you,” a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives in the shop window. It is the innermost of the innermost that reveals the power of the life.
We have to get rid of the plague of the spirit of the religious age in which we live. In Our Lord’s life there was none of the press and rush of tremendous activity that we regard so highly, and the disciple is to be as His Master. The central thing about the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship to Himself, not public usefulness to men. It is not its practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College, its whole strength lies in the fact that here you are put into soak before God. You have no idea of where God is going to engineer your circumstances, no knowledge of what strain is going to be put on you either at home or abroad, and if you waste your time in over-active energies instead of getting into soak on the great fundamental truths of God’s Redemption, you will snap when the strain comes; but if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in God on the un-practical line, you will remain true to Him whatever happens.
This is TRULY one of the most serious problems in the church today! Remember that Jesus HIMSELF said this in Matthew 22:37-38:37 And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). 38 This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment. AMP
BEFORE we do any "work" for Him, we MUST make sure that HE is OUR #1 priority! Without that vital intimate fellowship with Him, we are basically useless to anyone! You CANNOT walk in the power of God without knowing the Source of that power! Paul said THIS in Philippians 3:10:
10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], AMP
Make knowing and loving HIM your first priority every day and then let HIM lead, guide and direct you to and through the "work" that He has for you to do. There is really no other way to successfully fulfill your calling and ministry. Here is Hillsong Worship with a new song called "One Thing":
Shalom in Him!
