Today I want to share "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers:
Whereby Shall I Know?
I thank Thee, O Father,…because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
unto babes. — Matthew 11:25
In spiritual relationship we do
not grow step by step, we are either there or we are not. God does not cleanse
us more and more from sin, but when we are in the light, walking in the light,
we are cleansed from all sin. It is a question of obedience, and
instantly the relationship is perfected. Turn away for one second out of
obedience, and darkness and death are at work at once.
All God’s revelations are sealed
until they are opened to us by obedience. You will never get them open by
philosophy or thinking. Immediately you obey, a flash of light comes. Let God’s
truth work in you by soaking in it, not by worrying into it. The only way you
can get to know is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. Obey God
in the thing He shows you, and instantly the next thing is opened up. We read
tomes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when one five minutes of drastic
obedience would make things as clear as a sunbeam. “I suppose I shall
understand these things some day!” You can understand them now. It is not study
that does it, but obedience. The tiniest fragment of obedience, and heaven
opens and the profoundest truths of God are yours straight away. God will never
reveal more truth about Himself until you have obeyed what you know already.
Beware of becoming “wise and prudent.”
The basic message here is that the Word of God CANNOT be understood mentally! It cannot be understood by simply studying ABOUT the Bible! We can study all of the history and read all of the commentaries ever written and never understand the Word of God! Joshua 1:8 tells it much more clearly:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.
It is in the obedience that true Wisdom and understanding come! Meditation of the Word allows Holy Spirit to make it clear to us HOW to obey the Word in our own uniquely different lives. When we DO the Word, then the Word becomes REAL to us! I also love that he says (above) that we CANNOT grow our relationship with God. We are either IN relationship with Him by the New Birth, or we are NOT in relationship at all! Once we receive JESUS as our Lord and Saviour, then we are immediately reborn in our spirit man into the image of God, with Holy Spirit living IN us! THAT is an unbreakable relationship! We can, after that, break our FELLOWSHIP with Him by getting involved with sin, not walking in love, walking in unforgiveness and bitterness or anything else that is contrary to His Word, but there is NOTHING that can EVER separate us from HIM and His great love for us! NOTHING!!! When WE break fellowship, we have been given 1 John 1:9 as our way back to close intimate fellowship! Don't continue for one minute out of fellowship when it is so clear and simple how to get back! Be a DOER of 1 John 1:9 and the Blood of JESUS which continually cleanses us from all sin, will give us back our confidence in who we are - IN HIM! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with "God So Loved The World":
Shalom in Him!
