The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision

. . . you may be partakers of the divine nature . . . —2 Peter 1:4

We are made “partakers of the divine nature,” receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God’s provision for us.

We say, however, “Oh, I can’t afford it.” One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us off without a penny! We think it is a sign of true humility to say at the end of the day, “Well, I just barely got by today, but it was a severe struggle.” And yet all of Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will reach to the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him.

Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision.

No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges— always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.

Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, “All my springs are in You” (Psalm 87:7).

If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you . . . may have an abundance . . .”              (2 Corinthians 9:8) — then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time.                                                                                                           Oswald Chambers / My Utmost for His Highest 5/16

-Stay in the center of God’s provision

-Take on the difficult thing

-Do it and do not look back

-Forgive always as the Lord forgave you.

Here’s a quote in which C. S. Lewis corrects some common errors about motivation, self-denial, and rewards –

“The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself.

“We are told to deny ourselves and take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.

“If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith .

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised to us in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a  holiday at the sea.

“We are far too easily pleased.”  C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.

When we withhold forgiveness we fore-go the day at the beach and remain where we sit forming the muddy mess of our lives into pies which we would never dream of eating or offering to another for we know these only appeal to our imagination, not to our reality.

Forgive. Live in reality. Set your mind on the infinite joy God has provided.

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more —John 6:66

When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must “walk in the light” of that vision (1 John 1:7). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t “walk in the light” of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the “heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, “Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?” You have to “walk in the light” of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the “heavenly vision,” do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— “. . . for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.

Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one whom either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.                                                                                Oswald Chambers / My Utmost for His Highest 12/29

Philippians 3:7-16

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord , for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Here is the work of grace. A gracious heart accounts all the world dung and dross to be conformable to Christ in His Sufferings. There is that much excellency and glory in the sufferings of Christ.  Evil of Evils ch. 42

When we receive Christ as savior and continue to doubt that we are truly forgiven, we engage in a debate wherein we “think differently” from that which God has clearly stated. We add human conditions and understanding onto the finished work of Christ. We choose to differ with Him on that which was and is His express purpose for coming to this earth, namely to offer Himself the perfect final sacrifice and  redeem us from our sins.

Believers must never engage in this type of mental disobedience. These are vain speculations which must be taken captive to obedience in Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Further when we refuse or attempt to justify our unwillingness to forgive those as Christ has forgiven us, we rebel directly against God. We put our self in the most dangerous of all places, where our sins cannot be forgiven.

Matthew 6:14-15

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

If you find yourself “thinking differently” than this, God will “make it clear it you”. The reality here is you are not even entitled to these pretentious arguments for there is not a speck of honesty or truth in them. But God loves you so much He will hear you out, take the whole mess you’ve created and “make it clear to you”.

As fast as you can, drop these vain speculations against the power and truth of God’s word.   As fast as you can obey God and forgive others as He has forgiven you.

Take God at His word.

Matthew 18:35 -Condemnation

³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

There is only liberty in one being, and He is Jesus Christ, the one who forgives sin. This parable is a description of His standard of forgiveness. We must either yoke ourselves to Christ on this standard or be in jeopardy of suffering daily with a spirit of wicked unforgiveness.

Matthew 6:14-15

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.          ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Ephesians 3:10-12 – Confidence

¹⁰ His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, ¹¹ according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sinfor us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We either live with the liberty of the dominance of Jesus Christ or we remain in our own world.  In liberty we draw others to Christ. In our own world we insist others believe what we believe.  In Christ there is power and life, in our world there is weakness and manipulation.

To call another a fool is to commit murder, to look with lust is adultery. These sins of the mind are immediately equated with the greater horrible act we never would think ourselves capable of committing. Jesus himself tells us better that we would be better to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand than remain in that state of thought.

We are also instructed that if we have anything against our brother or he against us as we go to pray that we should immediately leave to go make things right. Prayer and altar time “belong to God with all our reverence”

Wouldn’t we be justified to stay at an altar and pray?  But Jesus says get up and go, do it immediately without any hesitation. Why? Because every moment we hold the thought or withhold the forgiveness we take ownership the hurt feelings and the right to our self grows stronger and deeper in our hearts. That thought becomes something we believe we are entitled to and we begin to develop rationalizations and defense mechanisms to justly defend ourselves.

If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift—Matthew 5:23-24 

It is easy for us to imagine that we will suddenly come to a point in our lives where we are fully prepared, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished. In fact, it is a process that must be steadily maintained. It is dangerous to become settled and complacent in our present level of experience. The Christian life requires preparation and more preparation.

The sense of sacrifice in the Christian life is readily appealing to a new Christian. From a human standpoint, the one thing that attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense of the heroic, and a close examination of us by our Lord’s words suddenly puts this tide of enthusiasm to the test. “. . . go your way. First be reconciled to your brother. . . .” The “go” of preparation is to allow the Word of God to examine you closely.

Your sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit will detect in you is your nature that can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you. Do you have anything to hide from God? If you do, then let God search you with His light.        If there is sin in your life, don’t just admit it— confess it. Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?

Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you.                      You were looking for some big thing to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go. But behind that tiny thing lies the stronghold of obstinacy, and you say, “I will not give up my right to myself”— the very thing that God intends you to give up if you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. O.C.

You don’t have the “time” to wait. We are walking time bombs of lust, violence and murder; being consumed by that we despise, leaving destruction in our wake.  Time is never on your side, Christ is, and we must run to Him. When we find Him we must do as he says.

Forgiveness is the very heart of God the very core of His nature, the act which he specifically came to earth to carry out, then it follows that you have no room for debate, rationalization, putting up walls, defending yourself on this. Reject un-forgiveness out of hand. Pitch it as far and as fast as you can. Throw it off of you as if it was a venomous serpent. Then go immediately and make right the thing between you and the other person that brought all this about and give the glory to God.

Wrongs and harm may come against you by the words and actions of others but all sin is against God.  Which moral code of conduct did we set up in the heavens to instruct and deliver others from torment?  What was our divine plan to create a people capable of living at peace in fullness of life with us and having the capacity of possessing the divine nature as if they were our closest friend or relation? What was our plan written and handed down through the ages to lead, teach and guide others like a loving school master on the wonder and beauty of our nature and deep desire to save those from death?

Which sacrifice did we offer in the face of every rejection and every despicable insult to our eternal desire to simply be in love with those wrong doers? We did not create, reveal mercy, teach, love, guide or sacrifice for one soul. We do not own or have the right to begrudge one person for their sin.

Those are the acts of God. To the extent that any such thing is evident in us  it is a testimony of His mighty Spirit alive in us.

We tally the wrongs and own the grudge even though we have no basis to accuse others. He died for us while were sinners, casts our sins to the bottom of the deepest sea and separates us from sin as far as east from west even though He has every right to condemn for the smallest transgression.

God sees all events which ever have occurred or are occurring or ever will occur throughout all of what we call “time” as if they were on one single page. He sees them all at once and they all happening in what we call “now”.  God has one time reference and it is always “now”.  Because we live in the past, present and future existence of time we naturally tally and record the existence of dates and events as part of our reality. This is an illusion we use to justify withholding forgiveness. The wrong occurred at a certain “time” and at a certain “time” I may get around to processing my feelings about that event and resolving those feelings in a proper way. In the intervening passage of “time” I will be at liberty to examine the tally chart to determine the full weight or effect of the wrongs against me to equitably deal with the “situation”. Perhaps I will have “time” to confer with others on the subject to gain wisdom and insight of mutual benefit to me and the wrong doer. Stop this.  Forgive “now” because you have received forgiveness now and you have ask God for a forgiving spirit which you shall have now.

Agree with your adversary quickly . . . —Matthew 5:25

In this verse, Jesus Christ laid down a very important principle by saying, “Do what you know you must do— now. Do it quickly. If you don’t, an inevitable process will begin to work ’till you have paid the last penny’ (Matthew 5:26) in pain, agony, and distress.” God’s laws are unchangeable and there is no escape from them. The teachings of Jesus always penetrate right to the heart of our being.

Wanting to make sure that my adversary gives me all my rights is a natural thing. But Jesus says that it is a matter of inescapable and eternal importance to me that I pay my adversary what I owe him. From our Lord’s standpoint it doesn’t matter whether I am cheated or not, but what does matter is that I don’t cheat someone else. Am I insisting on having my own rights, or am I paying what I owe from Jesus Christ’s standpoint?

Do it quickly— bring yourself to judgment now. In moral and spiritual matters, you must act immediately. If you don’t, the inevitable, relentless process will begin to work. God is determined to have His child as pure, clean, and white as driven snow, and as long as there is disobedience in any point of His teaching, He will allow His Spirit to use whatever process it may take to bring us to obedience. The fact that we insist on proving that we are right is almost always a clear indication that we have some point of disobedience. No wonder the Spirit of God so strongly urges us to stay steadfastly in the light! (see John 3:19-21).

“Agree with your adversary quickly . . . .” Have you suddenly reached a certain place in your relationship with someone, only to find that you have anger in your heart? Confess it quickly— make it right before God. Be reconciled to that person— do it now! O.C.

 You will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny —Matthew 5:26

There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty.

Now you have been “thrown into prison, [and] . . . you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (5:25-26). Yet you ask, “Is this a God of mercy and love?” When seen from God’s perspective, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting— the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work. And the moment you realize that God’s purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter,” or, “I will be reconciled to that person now.”

These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to your heart.

If you find yourself asking, “I wonder why I’m not growing spiritually with God?”— then ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an “ought” behind it— the knowledge of knowing what we ought to do.  O.C.

O.C. Oswald Chambers / My Utmost for His Highest

Matthew 5:21-30

Murder

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,  is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

²³ “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

²⁵ “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶ Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Adultery

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery. ²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

To call another a fool is to commit murder, to look with lust is adultery. These sins of the mind are immediately equated with the greater horrible act we never would think ourselves capable of committing. Jesus himself tells us better that we would be better to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand than remain in that state of thought.

We are also instructed that if we have anything against our brother or he against us as we go to pray that we should immediately leave to go make things right. Prayer and altar time “belong to God with all our reverence”

Wouldn’t we be justified to stay at an altar and pray?  But Jesus says get up and go, do it immediately without any hesitation. Why? Because every moment we hold the thought or withhold the forgiveness we take ownership the hurt feelings and the right to our self grows stronger and deeper in our hearts. That thought becomes something we believe we are entitled to and we begin to develop rationalizations and defense mechanisms to justly defend ourselves.

If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift—Matthew 5:23-24 

It is easy for us to imagine that we will suddenly come to a point in our lives where we are fully prepared, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished. In fact, it is a process that must be steadily maintained. It is dangerous to become settled and complacent in our present level of experience.

The Christian life requires preparation and more preparation.

The sense of sacrifice in the Christian life is readily appealing to a new Christian. From a human standpoint, the one thing that attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense of the heroic, and a close examination of us by our Lord’s words suddenly puts this tide of enthusiasm to the test. “. . . go your way. First be reconciled to your brother. . . .” The “go” of preparation is to allow the Word of God to examine you closely.

Your sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit will detect in you is your nature that can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you. Do you have anything to hide from God? If you do, then let God search you with His light.

If there is sin in your life, don’t just admit it— confess it. Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?

Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you.

You were looking for some big thing to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go.

But behind that tiny thing lies the stronghold of obstinacy, and you say, “I will not give up my right to myself”— the very thing that God intends you to give up if you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. O.C.

 You don’t have the “time” to wait. We are walking time bombs of lust, violence and murder; being consumed by that which we despise, leaving destruction in our wake.  Time is never on your side, Christ is, and we must run to Him.      When we find Him we must do as he says.

Has God really forgiven me?

 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13

To forgive as the Lord forgave you means a lot more than releasing someone for the harm and hurt feelings they have caused you. To match up to His forgiveness we must so love the wrongdoer that we cannot stand to be separated from them by anything, including their own foolish, self-centered, misguided or even malicious acts.

His forgiveness states clearly that “I will take the punishment due to the wrongdoer upon myself, so that they may be restored.” In effect I will consider the full nature of the pain they have inflicted upon me and accept that as a worthy sacrifice for them to be restored.  I am willing be re-offended by them in my spirit as I take up  this consideration to the extent it is necessary to fully comprehend what they have done; and to see with total clarity how inescapable it is that I must forgive them.

This is redemptive; this is what we have received.

This is impossible without the deep and abiding love of God. Seek His love with all that is in you. Seek Him with a pure heart cleansed by obedience and submission to His will. This will not come easy. This is worth more than all the riches of this world. This is so priceless that God offered His son to be abused beyond earthly recognition and crushed, so that nothing on earth could ever stop you from attaining it.

The agony of  the garden showed us one thing. We can do nothing apart from our willing obedience to God’s plan and purposes as pursued and desired by us with a heart purified by sacrifice. Our hearts fail for trying to achieve purity, our only hope for God to impart His Spirit within us. From that point we can begin to learn what it really means to “obey”. It shall never be easy, but we never have wanted easiness, we’ve always longed for oneness with something. We just usually assumed it should be oneness with something less than God Himself. It can only be Him.

How pure must I be?

Oswald Chambers / My Utmost for Hid Highest

. . . unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven —Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to place within anyone who would let Him a new heredity that would have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is saying,

“If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind.” Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke.

Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as a child. The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption.

No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations— He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ’s salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature— He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.

My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.

What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such a violent reaction against it?… Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own.

But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too–for the argument depended on saying the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Thus, in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist – in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless, I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality – namely my idea of justice,  was full of sense.

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never have known it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

C.S. Lewis