Today I want to share again from "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. I love sharing his devotional because he says some of the same things we have been taught, but he says them in a way of speaking that requires us to take the time to think about in order to really "get it"! That makes our study so much more thorough and intentional! Here is today's:
Is He Really Lord?
…so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I
have received of the Lord Jesus. — Acts 20:24
Joy means the perfect fulfilment of that for which I was created and
regenerated, not the successful doing of a thing. The joy Our Lord had, lay in
doing what the Father sent Him to do, and He says – “As My Father hath sent Me,
even so am I sending you.” Have I received a ministry from the Lord? If so, I
have to be loyal to it, to count my life precious only for the fulfilling of
that ministry. Think of the satisfaction it will be to hear Jesus say – “Well
done, good and faithful servant”; to know that you have done what He sent you
to do. We have all to find our niche in life, and spiritually we find it when
we receive our ministry from the Lord. In order to do this we must have
companied with Jesus; we must know Him as more than a personal Saviour. “I will
shew him how great things he must suffer for My sake.”
“Lovest thou Me?” Then – “Feed My sheep.” There is no choice of
service, only absolute loyalty to Our Lord’s commission; loyalty to what you
discern when you are in closest contact with God. If you have received a
ministry from the Lord Jesus, you will know that the need is never the call:
the need is the opportunity. The call is loyalty to the ministry you received
when you were in real touch with Him. This does not imply that there is a
campaign of service marked out for you, but it does mean that you will have to
ignore the demands for service along other lines.
I LOVE this! We KNOW from 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 that every born again believer is called to the full time ministry! Many will never have a 'pulpit' ministry, but ALL have a personal ministry of preaching the Good News of the Gospel to everyone in our own realms of influence! He will speak through each of us in our own individual and unique ways, in keeping with our personalities, gifts, and interests. YOU will reach people that I may never even know or see! The point of this lesson is that we should be committing ourselves to HIM for guidance and direction as to HOW to carry this out, and we should be doing so with a confidence that HIS Anointing is upon us to carry out HIS will, plan and purpose! That only comes from spending time in intimate fellowship with HIM and by meditating consistently on the Word! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with a great "get out and do it song" called "Go":
Shalom in Him!
