Three More

 In my last writing, I shared three statements I'd written down in my prayer journal. Though I'd written an earlier piece for today, I felt impressed to save it for another time. I was drawn back to all those journal statements. As I went over them, three "spoke" more loudly than the rest. I share them with you today.

The first is once again from Chris Tiegreen. He says, "Most of us, somewhere deep inside, have a "bottom line." That is, there is a certain depth, length, width, or height that we'll go with Him, but not beyond. We have, usually unspoken and rarely admitted to, a bottom line with Jesus......This is seen in John 6. In this chapter, Jesus is making a demand upon His followers that called for an unconditional commitment to Him. Where He led, anywhere He led, they would go. No questions, no reservations, no resistance. They were His. Totally His. His own 12 stated that He asked a hard thing. How could anyone declare such loyalty? To this place, many more than the 12 had been following Him, but John 6:66 reads, "At this point, many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him." It is key that these were not onlookers. They were disciples. Jesus had exposed their bottom line. When they left, He turned to the 12 and asked if they would leave Him as well? Peter spoke for all, "Lord to whom would we go? You alone have the words that give eternal life." The majority of His "disciples" had reached their bottom line. Peter and the rest, the minority, had none. The majority and the minority. 2000 years later it has not changed in His church. The minority have given their entire heart and life to Him. The majority have not. They've reached their bottom line. To which group do you belong? Do you have a bottom line?

The second statement comes from Oswald Chambers. He says, "Wherever He puts us, our one great aun must be to pour out a wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work." This challenges all those who see themselves as His servants in ministry, and all who take the name of Jesus are such. It is not a difficult thing to begin to undertake a task, a ministry, a calling for Him. We begin well, but too often, the initial excitement wanes in the midst of the realities of that call, and of that work. We want results, and this is human, but results are not first and foremost what He has called us to and for. He has called us to faithfulness, first and always. He has not promised us abundant and visible fruit in that place. He has promised us His presence. He has also asked that we trust His purposes for us there. His Word exhorts us to do all that we do for Him with all of our strength and for His glory. His, not ours. Chambers, who led a school for the training of missionaries, often said it was not for the worker to question where His Lord placed Him. It was the workers' part to be faithful and obedient there. Chambers called this success. Vance Havner said that " there are no trivial assignments in the work of the Lord." Wherever we are, wherever you are, the place is not a trivial one, and it pleases and blesses His heart to see you faithful there.

The last statement is from a man named S.D. Gordon, who said, "Faith is blind to impossibilities and deaf to doubt." Can any of us envision what would be the result if the people of God lived in such faith? The apostle Paul wrote, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." One thing every follower of Christ can attest to is that the enemy will ceaselessly confront us with the impossibilities that we face. He will whisper all the "reasons" why what He has called us to cannot be accomplished. He can be, and too often is, very persuasive. So many have turned back because of the hardness of the way, of the giants and mountains that are encountered upon the way. When the 12 Hebrew spies were sent out to explore the land given them by God, 10 returned with reports laced with fear and doubt. They saw nothing but danger and difficulty. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, exhorted the people to go in and take possession of their promise. They were blind to the impossibilities and deaf to the doubts. Of the 12, only they would live to take possession of the promise. Somewhere in your life, I believe there is a promise He has given you. Is that promise prevailing, or have you yielded it to the whispers of the enemy? What keeps you from taking possession of all He has promised? Why do you keep putting off entering into the "land" He has given you?

Those three statements speak to my heart. I hope they speak to yours. He calls us ever forward, ever onward, ever upward. Let us surrender our bottom lines. Let us believe that we can thrive in the place He has given us, even if that place is a wilderness. Let us trust in the One who makes us blind and deaf to all the enemy would have us see and hear, that we may see all He has for us, and speaks to us right now. Here, where we are, with Him.

Blessings,

Pastor O