Hello everyone,
This is a devotional I read today by Oswald Chambers and thought I share with u all.
THE OFFERING OF THE NATURAL
"Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman." Galatians 4:22
Paul is not dealing with sin in this chapter of Galatians, but with the relation of the natural to the spiritual. The natural must be turned into the spiritual by sacrifice, otherwise a tremendous divorce will be produced in the actual life. Why should God ordain the natural to be sacrificed? God did not. It is not God's order, but His permissive will. God's order was that the natural should be transformed into the spiritual by obedience; it is sin that made it necessary for the natural to be sacrificed. Abraham had to offer up Ishmael before he offered up Isaac. Some of us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural. The only way in which we can offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is by presenting our bodies a living sacrifice. Sanctification means more than deliverance from sin, it means the deliberate commitment of myself whom God has saved to God, and that I do not care what it costs. If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life will mock at the life of the Son of God in us and produce a continual swither. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves, physically, morally or mentally. "I wasn't disciplined when I was a child." You must discipline yourself now. If you do not, you will ruin the whole of your personal life for God. God is not with our natural life while we pamper it; but when we put it out in the desert and resolutely keep it under, then God will be with it; and He will open up wells and oases, and fulfill all His promises for the natural.
It has been a blessing and joy to be able to attend and serve in the youth camp. Now, the question that lies ahead is "what is next?" Many basics of the Life in Christ have been taught and many in which convicted our hearts to change so that we can re-tune and re-focus ourselves to the Lord. The moments we had in camp were great but after that, do we think we have attained it already? Do you think so? NO! That is really when we fall! (Phil 3:12: Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.)
Are we going to live and draw on the experiences we had during the camp to last through till the next time we have camp again? We must never ever live on experiences because they will never last. Cling upon God and look to Him alone(not mountain top experiences) for all other ground is sinking sand! The bible teaches us to forget the things behind us and press towards the goal in which God have placed before us. (Phil 3:13-14: Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.) And how are we supposed to do that? It is through the disciplines we have learnt in camp. But firstly, have we offered ourselves totally to God that He alone is the one we are sold out completely to? (1 Cor 6:20: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.) If we are not dying daily to ourselves and are trying to serve the Lord with our talents and many other sacrifices, there is no point. That is not what the Lord wants.
Well, certainly we are going back to the real world once again. As we are thrown back into the world from the amazingly wonderful environment we shared in SFMS from 5-9 Dec 2005, let's prepare ourselves for what is ahead. Our worldly friends, the wicked world and old sinful desires that we have committed to forsake during camp. There will not be many followers of Christ and daily sermons from pastor to remind us to do right and correct us like we had in youth camp, we will be alone with the Lord watching only most of the time. Will we turn out to be losers and come back next year wanting the same kind of revival we yearned for? Here comes the real test. We can come to church and seem fine and alright to all, but deep down in our hearts, we know how rebellious we are if we have allowed ourselves to be swallowed back into the vanity of what this world offers. Are we going to run the race with God as our Lord and only focus? Are we going to discipline ourselves to wait upon the Lord and serve Him or are we going to violate the rules because we are going to be caught up with the issues of life, neglecting being still before the Lord to hear His voice leading? (2 Tim 2:4-5: No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.) He bought us. He enlisted us. Both for a purpose. And that is always for the glory of the Lord and to please Him. Always remember, it's never ever about us but Him who deserves our all!
This is a devotional I read today by Oswald Chambers and thought I share with u all.
THE OFFERING OF THE NATURAL
"Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman." Galatians 4:22
Paul is not dealing with sin in this chapter of Galatians, but with the relation of the natural to the spiritual. The natural must be turned into the spiritual by sacrifice, otherwise a tremendous divorce will be produced in the actual life. Why should God ordain the natural to be sacrificed? God did not. It is not God's order, but His permissive will. God's order was that the natural should be transformed into the spiritual by obedience; it is sin that made it necessary for the natural to be sacrificed. Abraham had to offer up Ishmael before he offered up Isaac. Some of us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural. The only way in which we can offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is by presenting our bodies a living sacrifice. Sanctification means more than deliverance from sin, it means the deliberate commitment of myself whom God has saved to God, and that I do not care what it costs. If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life will mock at the life of the Son of God in us and produce a continual swither. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves, physically, morally or mentally. "I wasn't disciplined when I was a child." You must discipline yourself now. If you do not, you will ruin the whole of your personal life for God. God is not with our natural life while we pamper it; but when we put it out in the desert and resolutely keep it under, then God will be with it; and He will open up wells and oases, and fulfill all His promises for the natural.
It has been a blessing and joy to be able to attend and serve in the youth camp. Now, the question that lies ahead is "what is next?" Many basics of the Life in Christ have been taught and many in which convicted our hearts to change so that we can re-tune and re-focus ourselves to the Lord. The moments we had in camp were great but after that, do we think we have attained it already? Do you think so? NO! That is really when we fall! (Phil 3:12: Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.)
Are we going to live and draw on the experiences we had during the camp to last through till the next time we have camp again? We must never ever live on experiences because they will never last. Cling upon God and look to Him alone(not mountain top experiences) for all other ground is sinking sand! The bible teaches us to forget the things behind us and press towards the goal in which God have placed before us. (Phil 3:13-14: Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.) And how are we supposed to do that? It is through the disciplines we have learnt in camp. But firstly, have we offered ourselves totally to God that He alone is the one we are sold out completely to? (1 Cor 6:20: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.) If we are not dying daily to ourselves and are trying to serve the Lord with our talents and many other sacrifices, there is no point. That is not what the Lord wants.
Well, certainly we are going back to the real world once again. As we are thrown back into the world from the amazingly wonderful environment we shared in SFMS from 5-9 Dec 2005, let's prepare ourselves for what is ahead. Our worldly friends, the wicked world and old sinful desires that we have committed to forsake during camp. There will not be many followers of Christ and daily sermons from pastor to remind us to do right and correct us like we had in youth camp, we will be alone with the Lord watching only most of the time. Will we turn out to be losers and come back next year wanting the same kind of revival we yearned for? Here comes the real test. We can come to church and seem fine and alright to all, but deep down in our hearts, we know how rebellious we are if we have allowed ourselves to be swallowed back into the vanity of what this world offers. Are we going to run the race with God as our Lord and only focus? Are we going to discipline ourselves to wait upon the Lord and serve Him or are we going to violate the rules because we are going to be caught up with the issues of life, neglecting being still before the Lord to hear His voice leading? (2 Tim 2:4-5: No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.) He bought us. He enlisted us. Both for a purpose. And that is always for the glory of the Lord and to please Him. Always remember, it's never ever about us but Him who deserves our all!
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