Holy Week thoughts <3
Today my office view has been upgraded as we are enjoying a trip to the sun and sand.
We looked for a local church to attend yesterday. I confess we don’t always try to do that when traveling, but since it was Palm Sunday we had the extra push to do this and we are so glad we did.
Interestingly the sermon series they are on is the Sermon on the Mount. This also happens to be the small devotional topic I pulled from the many stacks at home to bring with me. The study I brought is written by Oswald Chambers and first was a part of his lectures to the students at God’s Bible School in Cincinnati in 1907.
Eleven years before my father was born just across the river and down a ways.
And yet his words that I am reading meshed beautifully with the sermon on fasting and prayer and giving in quiet and humble ways. They are as relevant as they were on the first hearing by those students over over a century ago. Because truth is always truth.
So for today, I will share a few thoughts gleaned from what I have read thus far.
In the first chapter, Chambers emphasizes several points that are so important for us to remember.
#1. The Christian Life is made authentic when the Holy Spirit indwells the one who receives Christ as Savior and Lord.
#2. Any time we study God’s word, whether we understand or not at the time, it is not wasted. It may move from our conscious mind to the subconscious mind, and then when we encounter situations where Christ’s teachings need to be applied, the Spirit brings that to the forefront.
#3. It is at this point that we have the choice to obey or disobey. If we choose to obey, the Spirit gives us strength and power to do what we cannot do in and of ourselves.
#4. Our focus in studying and applying God’s word must always be on God and not on others.
#5. I am being reminded why I read My Utmost for His Highest regularly every year for many years. I have underlined and rewritten numerous quotes already, but here is a good one to end our time together:
“Whenever the Holy Spirit sees a chance to glorify Jesus Christ, He will take your whole personality and simply make it blaze and glow with personal passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus.”
Oswald Chambers, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount; God’s Character and the Believer’s Conduct, Discovery House Publishers, 1960, page 17
I think of some of the saints the Lord has blessed me with along my own journey. I think of their shining faces as they shared some tidbit God had showed them that morning. I think of their love and care for me and our family as they prayed for us and encouraged us. All to the glory of our Savior.
I have seen God’s love in action through others, and I am so very thankful.
Blessings friends and hopefully more to share tomorrow <3