Day 82 "Turning the Corner"

Many of us may already be familiar with the daily Christian devotional entitled MY Utmost for His Highest, a collection of writings by Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

put together by his wife, Gertrude "Biddy" Chambers after Oswald Chambers died. Over the years, the devotional has sold over 13 million copies and has been translated into more than 32 languages.

This devotional is already considered a classic and considered a "must read" by many Christians throughout the world.

But to really get the most out of this devotional, it would help to understand the mindset and life of the man behind the writings. In 1993, Abandoned to God,

the life story of Oswald Chambers was released. There was a certain point in Chamber's life that he felt he turned the corner in his relationship with God and never looked back again. I was greatly encouraged by the reading of this biography and the insights it provided towards understanding Oswald Chambers. His life was characterized by living totally for God and allowing God to have free reign in and through his life. Below, I have provided a few key

points that I took away with me after reading the book.

"You ask a question about the baptism of the Holy Ghost-did I get there all at once, or easily? No, I did not. Pride and possession of the high esteem of many Christian friends

kept me out for long enough. But immediately I was willing to sacrifice all and put myself on the Alter, which is Jesus Himself, all was begun and done. Holiness is not an attainment at all, it is the gift of God, and the pietistic tendency is the introspection which makes me worship my own earnestness and not take the Lord seriously at all. It is a pious fraud which suits the natural man immensely. He makes holy, He sanctifies, He does it all. All I have to do is come as a spiritual pauper, not ashamed to beg, to let go of my right to myself and act on Romans 12:1-2. It is never 'Do, do and you'll be' with the Lord, but 'Be, be, and I will do through you.' It is a case of 'hands up' and letting go, and then entire reliance on him. P. 87

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"I see now that God was taking me by the light of the Holy Spirit and His Word through every ramification of my being. I knew no one who had what I wanted; in fact I did not know what I did want. But I knew that if what I had was all the Christianity there was, the thing was a fraud. "

"But the thought came-if you claim the gift of the Holy Spirit on the word of Jesus Christ and testify to it, God will make it known to those who knew you best how bad you are in heart. And I was not willing to be a fool for Christ's sake."

"But those of you who know the experience, know very well how God brings one to the

point of utter despair, and I got to the place where I did not care whether everyone knew how bad I was, I cared for nothing on earth, saving to get out of my present condition."

"I had no vision of God, only a sheer dogged determination to take God at His word and to prove this thing for myself."

"Either Christianity is a downright fraud, or I have not got hold of the right end of the stick. And then and there I claimed the gift of the Holy Spirit in dogged committal on Luke 11:13. Two days later I was speaking at a meeting and forty souls came out to the front. Did I praise God? No, I was terrified and left them to workers , and went to Mr. MacGregor and told him what had happened. He said, 'Don't your remember claiming the Holy Spirit as a gift on the word of Jesus, and that he said, "Ye shall receive power...?"

This is the power from on high.'"

"And like a flash something happened inside me, and I saw that I had been wanting power in my own hand, so to speak, that I might say- Look what I have by putting my all on the alter."

"Glory be to God, the last aching abyss of the human heart is filled to overflowing with the love of God. Love is the beginning, love is the middle, and love is the end. After he comes in, all you see is 'Jesus only, Jesus ever.' When you know what God has done for you, the power and the tyranny of sin is gone and the radiant, unspeakable emancipation of the indwelling Christ has come."

P. 85

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"But to the ones who have tasted God, how nothing on earth again can satisfy. Once we think with God, all the rest is far and sinks to a relative place."

P. 97

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"With all his emphasis on truth, Oswald was never content to affect the mind alone. His goal was to stir the will to act on sound principles of Scripture, so that people might demonstrate the love of Christ."

"Never compromise with those who water down the word of God to human experience, instead of allowing God to lift up our experience to His Word."

P. 107

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"I want to tell you a growing conviction with me, and that is that as we obey the leading

of the Holy Spirit, we enable God to answer the prayers of other people."

"I have the unspeakable knowledge that my life is the answer to prayers, and that God is blessing me and making me a blessing entirely of His sovereign grace and nothing to do with my merits, saving as I am bold enough to trust His leading and not the dictates of my own wisdom and common sense."

P. 109

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"One of the blessed things about this life is that a man carries his kingdom on the inside, and that makes the outside lovely."

P. 118

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"Oswald's approach to the future was simple, "Trust God and do the next thing."

P. 177

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"On the spacious South Inch were he had played as a boy, Oswald now mounted a platform in a huge tent to urge his countrymen to give up their rights to themselves to God and find satisfaction in His will."

P. 191

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"We are not called to be successful in accordance with ordinary standards, but in accordance with a corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying, becoming in that way what it never could be if it were to abide alone."

P. 209

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Reinstatement of Beliefs (By Oswald Chambers)

1) Redemption, and not Rationalism, is the basis of human life.

2) That the "soul saving passion" as an aim must cease and merge into the passion for Christ, revealing itself in holiness in all human relationships.

3) The Holy Spirit must be recognized as the sagacious Ruler in the saint's affairs, not

astute common sense.

4) That organization must be seen to be scaffolding raised by the organism, and must

never be allowed to take the place of the organism.

P. 248-249

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"Never mistake the organization for the organism; organization is a great necessity,

but not the end in itself. To live for any organization is a spiritual disaster."

P. 265

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"As the bombs continued to rain on London, she ("Biddy" Chambers) found strength through quietness and confidence in the Almighty. God was in control, and He would make His way plain."

P. 286

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In reading this book on Oswald Chambers, I saw that the turning point in Chamber's Christian walk came when he realized for himself that Jesus had done it all for him spiritually and that all of it was established in and done through love. The Christian life is lived by faith and by faith only. Performance, trying to persuade God by how we behave and act, has no place in the Christian walk if we are to live by the Holy Spirit. The grandeur of the Christian experienced comes to fruition when one is willing to surrender one's own will in order to submit to God's will and live out their life by the direction and leading of the Holy Spirit.

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"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. Romans 8:14

In his love, I'll see you tomorrow...

"Carpe Momentum in Love" (Seize the moment in love)