Growing in Grace

The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher . -Luke 6:40 No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. . . A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. -Luke 6:43-45 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. -Luke 6:47-49 God saves men by His...

Read this tonight in "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. Am posting it so I'll remember. . . "(Jesus') life was an absolute failure from every standpoint except God's. But what seemed to be failure from man's standpoint was a triumph from God's standpoint, because God's purpose is never the same as man's purpose. Our real test is truly believing that God knows what He desires. The things that happen do not happen by chance - they happen entirely by the decree of God. God is sovereignly working out His own purposes. If we are in fellowship and oneness with God and recognize that he is taking us into His purposes, then we will no longer strive to find out what His purposes are. As we grow in the Christian life, it becomes simpler to us, because we are less inclined to say, "I wonder why God allowed this or that?" And we begin to see that the compelling purpose of God lies behind everything in life, and that God is divi...

. . what shall I say? "Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." John 12:27-28 As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour. We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them. Sorrow removes a great deal of a person's shallowness, but it does no...

"In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33 The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. . . " (Psalm 91:1, 10) - the place where you are at one with God. If you are a child of God, you will certainly encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." He is saying, "There is nothing for you to fear." The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of w...

Dennis and I read this devotion the other night in Oswald Chamber's book "My Utmost for His Highest". God's Purpose or Mine? He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side. . . Mark 6:45 We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to the great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God's purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself. What is my vision of God's purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithf...

". . . that you may know what is the hope of His calling. . ." Ephesians 1:18 Remember that you have been saved so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in your body (see 2 Corinthians 4:10). Direct the total energy of your powers so that you may achieve everything your election as a child of God provides; rise every time to whatever occasion may come your way. You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. You must "work out your own salvation" which God has worked in you already (Philippians 2:12). Are your speech, your thinking, and your emotions evidence that you are working it "out"? If you are still the same miserable, grouchy person, set on having your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you. God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly - "By my God I can leap over a wall" (Psalm 18:29). God ...

Dennis and I have been reading through Oswald Chamber's book "My Utmost for His Highest". We have found a lot of encouraging and thought provoking devotions. This one particularly spoke to us as we have faced our own "boisterous wind and high waves". The reason we have been able to endure it all is because we have continued to recognize Jesus and to trust Him with our circumstances. . . . Peter. . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid. . . Matthew 14:29-30 The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all, he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and “walked on the water.” Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be ...

My husband, Dennis, was diagnosed with colon cancer in August. It has been quite a journey and one we have shared openly with everyone we know. Before he went out on disability from his teaching job, Dennis was asked to speak in Chapel at school about his circumstances. He shared with the students that the faith he was exhibiting wasn't something that just appeared when he found out he had cancer; it was something that he had been developing over his lifetime. This ties in with my last post on having the enduring goal to look at life biblically. A devotion we read tonight in Oswald Chambers devotional "My Utmost for His Highest" spoke this very idea. As with many of Oswald Chambers thoughts, these are great words and worth sharing. "If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it st...