by Oswald Chambers
We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened —Luke 24:21
Every fact that the disciples stated was right, but the conclusions they drew from those facts were wrong. Anything that has even a hint of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If I am depressed or burdened, I am to blame, not God or anyone else. Dejection stems from one of two sources— I have either satisfied a lust or I have not had it satisfied. In either case, dejection is the result. Lust means “I must have it at once.” Spiritual lust causes me to demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Himself who gives the answer. What have I been hoping or trusting God would do? Is today “the third day” and He has still not done what I expected? Am I therefore justified in being dejected and in blaming God? Whenever we insist that God should give us an answer to prayer we are off track. The purpose of prayer is that we get ahold of God, not of the answer. It is impossible to be well physically and to be dejected, because dejection is a sign of sickness. This is also true spiritually. Dejection spiritually is wrong, and we are always to blame for it.
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by A.W. Tozer
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing or your faith develops perseverance. James 1:2-3
The whole Bible and all past history unite to teach that battles are always won before the armies take the field. The critical moment for any army is not the day it engages the foe in actual combat; it is the day before or the month before or the year before. It is an old saying that the wars of England were won on the playing fields of Eton. The experience of hard training, tough competition and sportsmanship gained in their school years prepared the young men for real war when it came. Again that rule holds for all of us everywhere, even up on the high levels of spiritual warfare. It did not take Moses long to lead the children of Israel out through the Red Sea to deliverance and freedom; but his fittedness to lead them out was the result of years of hard discipline. It took David only a few minutes to dispose of Goliath; but he had beaten the giant long before in the person of the lion and the bear. Elijah faced a sulking King Ahab and stared him down in the name of Jehovah, but we must remember that his courage to stand before kings was the result of years spent in standing before the King of kings. Christ stood silent in the presence of Pilate and for our sake went calmly out to die. He could endure the anguish of the cross because He had suffered the pains of Gethsemane the night before; there was a direct relationship between the two experiences. One served as a preparation for the other.
by A.W. Tozer
by Vance Havner
“What lack I yet?” Matthew 19:20.
The rich young ruler had morals, manners and money. He would be welcomed readily into many churches today, with no questions asked. He would make a good “joiner,” but he would be a poor disciple.
Salvation is free but discipleship costs everything. Somehow, we have utterly lost sight of our Saviour’s drastic and often severe challenges to prospective disciples. Letting the dead bury the dead, denying self, hating loved ones, putting the hand to the plow—He used terms that demanded absolute obedience and unquestionable loyalty. Today we have tempered all this down and removed its sharp edge and have gathered a host of indifferent “joiners” who have not the faintest idea of what it means to “sell out” for Christ.
Jesus lost this prospect. The young man went away. Why didn’t our Lord take him on milder terms and later lead him into complete surrender? That is our techniques today, but Jesus was out for disciples, not “joiners.”
“What lack I yet?” Here is the painful lack in our churches, because it is the lack of so many of their members.
by Vance Havner
by J.C. Ryle
Let this also be written down on the tablet of your memory. No entrance into heaven, without the Spirit first entering your heart upon earth! No admission into glory in the next life without previous sanctification in this life! No Holy Spirit in you in this world—then no heaven in the world to come! You would not be fit for it! You would not be ready for it! You would not like it! You would not enjoy it! There is much use made in the present day of the word “holy.” Our ears are wearied with “holy church,” and “holy baptism,” and “holy days,” and “holy water,” and” holy services,” and “holy priests.” But one thing is a thousand times more important—and that is, to be made a really holy person by the Spirit. We must be made partakers of the Divine nature, while we are alive. We must “sow to the Spirit,” if we would ever reap life everlasting. (2 Peter 1:4; Gal. 6:8)
by J.C. Ryle
