Today's "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers contains a very important lesson for born again, Spirit-filled believers!
Friendship With God
Shall I hide from Abraham that
thing which I do? — Genesis 18:17
Its Delights. This chapter
brings out the delight of real friendship with God as compared with occasional
feelings of His presence in prayer. To be so much in contact with God that you
never need to ask Him to show you His will, is to be nearing the final stage of
your discipline in the life of faith. When you are rightly related to God, it
is a life of freedom and liberty and delight, you are God’s will, and
all your commonsense decisions are His will for you unless He checks. You
decide things in perfect delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your
decisions are wrong He will always check; when He checks, stop at once.
Its Difficulties. Why did
Abraham stop praying when he did? He was not intimate enough yet to go boldly
on until God granted his desire, there was something yet to be desired in his
relationship to God. Whenever we stop short in prayer and say — “Well, I don’t
know; perhaps it is not God’s will” — there is still another stage to go. We
are not so intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as He wants us to
be — “That they may be one even as we are one.” Think of the last thing you
prayed about — were you devoted to your desire or to God? Determined to get
some gift of the Spirit or to get at God? “Your Heavenly Father knoweth what
things ye have need of before ye ask Him.” The point of asking is that you may
get to know God better. “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall
give thee the desires of thine heart.” Keep praying in order to get a perfect
understanding of God Himself.
His language is a little different than what most of us are used to, but the message is a powerful one! When we receive JESUS as Lord and Saviour we become a child of the Living God. Our 'relationship' is forever changed and we do NOT waver back and forth in relationship with Him. What wavers, if it does, is our FELLOWSHIP with Him! It is OUR responsibility to stay in intimate fellowship with HIM every day! HE never moves from us! The intimacy of our FELLOWSHIP with Him is determined by OUR choice! How much importance do YOU give to your time with JESUS? Our confidence in prayer and depth of faith depend on our consistent time spent in His Word and in intimate fellowship with Him through prayer, praise and worship and just straight up conversation with Him, as with any of our loved ones! When we do this consistently, we will become as familiar and confident in knowing His will as JESUS was! AND we will also have greater confidence that HE will correct any wrong thinking or perceiving on our part. THAT is a life of true freedom! Let's push on every day to get to that place of intimacy with HIM, and then stay there! AMEN! Here are Hillsong Kids with "My Best Friend":Shalom in Him!
