We're in between studies.
As we draw near the end of another year, I'd really like us to consider where we've been and how far we've been brought by the Lord and His Spirit.
If you assess your life and find you've lacked in some areas, the answer is NOT to retreat deeper and further from God or your brothers in Christ. The answer is a renewal of your commitment to your God, your Savior, Your Lord, your Redeemer, and and of course, the lover of your soul!
The answer is also not to make "New Year's Resolutions" (as we all probably know). The answer is a RE-newal of our relationship and dedication and devotion and fellowship with our loving God!
I found the following excerpt from Oswald Chambers', "My Utmost For His Highest", October 22, and I thought it very encouraging, as well as a challenge for what's to come in our upcoming study through the book "The Calvary Road":
“I chose you…” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.
Consider a few of the themes in the paragraph above:
- "I chose you..." - Jesus chose YOU! (I know, right?)
- God has "gotten you".
- God has a purpose for choosing you (and it's not for your value, but for what He wants to do with you - in you and through you)
- God wants you to be His man!
- "We have to be in God's hand" to be useful to Him.
(see the full devotion here: https://utmost.org/submitting-to-god%E2%80%99s-purpose/
This is my challenge to my brothers in Christ, my fellow soldiers in this battle, and to myself.
Let's let God have His way in us!