Tuesday, April 14, 2015


Inner Invincibility

04/14/2015

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me… —Matthew 11:29

“Whom the Lord loves He chastens…” (Hebrews 12:6). How petty our complaining is! Our Lord begins to bring us to the point where we can have fellowship with Him, only to hear us moan and groan, saying, “Oh Lord, just let me be like other people!” Jesus is asking us to get beside Him and take one end of the yoke, so that we can pull together. That’s why Jesus says to us, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Are you closely identified with the Lord Jesus like that? If so, you will thank God when you feel the pressure of His hand upon you.
“…to those who have no might He increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29). God comes and takes us out of our emotionalism, and then our complaining turns into a hymn of praise. The only way to know the strength of God is to take the yoke of Jesus upon us and to learn from Him.
“…the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Where do the saints get their joy? If we did not know some Christians well, we might think from just observing them that they have no burdens at all to bear. But we must lift the veil from our eyes. The fact that the peace, light, and joy of God is in them is proof that a burden is there as well. The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God living within the human spirit; it creates an inner invincibility.
If your life is producing only a whine, instead of the wine, then ruthlessly kick it out. It is definitely a crime for a Christian to be weak in God’s strength.
~ Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest


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6 comments:

  1. Jersey McJonesApril 15, 2015 at 1:05 AM

    Did you ever think to yourself, FreeThinke, "This whole religion thing is a pile of steaming nonsense?"

    JMJ


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FreeThinkeApril 15, 2015 at 8:13 AM

      Of course I didn't, Jersey. I find it benefits me –– and the people with whom I come into contact –– greatly to preserve, affirm, defend and expand my faith.

      Daily prayer in the hope of finding wisdom and serenity is a vitally important part of my life. Whenever I neglect it, and allow myself to get carried away by momentary distractions and irritating behavior on the part of others, I suffer proportionately.

      This has little to do with going to church regularly or making any outward show of piety, which too often is a form of vanity. Instead it is an INNER thing -- an earnest attempt to adjust the way one chooses to respond to whatever may happen in daily life.

      Being "religious" in the sense that I try to be is an eminently PRACTICAL thing.

      I highly recommend it.

      Delete
    2. SilverfiddleApril 16, 2015 at 2:43 PM

      Jersey,

      Did you ever think to yourself, Jersey, "This whole leftwing progressivism thing is a pile of steaming nonsense?"

      Delete
  2. FreeThinkeApril 16, 2015 at 3:51 PM

    Excellent question, SF. It never seems to occur to leftists that THEIR pet beliefs are just as much a "religion" as any of the many branches of the Christian, Moslem and Jewish faiths, etc.

    I've been drawn into many an ugly argument after asserting the claim that Marxism, Atheism, Fabianism, Statism, et al. are each just as much a "religion" as any of the many branches of Christianity, Islam or Judaism, etc.

    THEIR standard argument is that in order to qualify as a "religion" an organized system of belief must have at its core a SUPERNATURAL Being.

    Most of the dictionaries support that claim, but dictionaries, despite being very useful, rarely-if-ever explore any term or concept in depth.

    What is your reasoning for regarding Marxian –– or any man made ideological systems as "religion?"

    Mine is that the support of any and all ideologies requires FAITH.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SilverfiddleApril 17, 2015 at 9:14 AM

      Yes. My reasoning is the same. They have doctrines and orthodoxies that shall not be questioned. Most damnable, they ridicule those of us who believe in a higher power, yet they worship man and man-made ideologies.

      Delete
  3. FreeThinkeApril 16, 2015 at 8:07 PM

    I never saw a moor,
    I never saw the sea;
    Yet know I how the heather looks,
    And what a wave must be.
    I never spoke with God,
    Nor visited in heaven;
    Yet certain am I of the spot
    As if the chart were given.

    ~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

    ReplyDelete

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