Tag: oswald chambers

John 21:1-3 ” Afterward Jesus appeared again to His disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.”

The disciples were being tested and challenged in their faith…Jesus was no longer at their side instructing them, and they were now being forced to depend on what they had learned .  Even though Jesus had told them to,” stay in Jerusalem  and wait for the gift My Father promised.” (Acts 1:4)  Simon Peter reverted back to what he knew and felt confident and comfortable in…fishing.  We always need to be  careful when we go back to things of the past.  And we need to be ever questioning our motives for it.  Is it out of laziness, or insecurity, or consolation that we revert back to past things? One of my very favorite quotes from Oswald Chambers in his Devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest is, “Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been.”

Matthew 7: 13-14 ” Enter by the narrow gate…Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life…”

Living for Christ is hard…there’s no way around it.  The moment you say “Yes” to Jesus, the world labels you as “One of those crazy religious people”.  But it’s by those troubles we encounter that we learn perseverance and are forged into a willing vessel for God .  And with each difficulty, we go from wounded to winner.  As Oswald Chambers once said, “Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His Highest – our best for His glory?”  Yes, the way is narrow and filled with difficulties, but just look where it leads.

Hebrews 11:15-16 ” If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one.”

The Lord doesn’t want us to long for the past.  When we keep going back to the comfortable…the things from our past, we will never move forward.   God wants us rather to focus on His vision for today and the future in our life.  Oswald Chambers said it best, “Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been.”