It was for the sake of the Name that they went out. — 3 John 1:7

Our Lord has told us how our love for him should manifest itself: “Do you love me?” he asks. “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). Our Lord is saying, “Identify yourself with my interests in other people,” not “Identify me with your interests in other people.” This kind of love has a specific character. It’s defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8: “Love is patient, love is kind . . .” It is the love of God expressing itself. Other expressions of love are merely sentimental. The love of God is able to stand up to the most practical tests.

“It was for the sake of the Name that they went out.” The Holy Spirit fills my heart with the love of God and sends that love through me to everyone I meet. It enables me to remain loyal to the Name, even though every commonsense fact declares that Jesus Christ has no more power than the morning mist. This loyalty is the supernatural work of redemption, worked in me by the Holy Spirit.

The key to the missionary’s devotion is being attached to nothing and no one except our Lord himself. This doesn’t mean being separated from the outside world; our Lord was always in the world, among ordinary people and things. His detachment was entirely on the inside, where he was attached only to God. Avoiding the world is often a sign of a secret, inner attachment to the very things we’re setting out to avoid. The missionary has no such attachments. His or her soul is kept concentratedly open to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. The men and women our Lord chooses to send out as his missionaries, though they are made of ordinary human stuff, have a dominating devotion to him, formed by the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 53-55; 2 Thessalonians 1

Wisdom from Oswald

There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.Our Brilliant Heritage

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They will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. — John 14:12

Prayer doesn’t prepare us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work. We think of prayer as a commonsense exercise of our higher powers, as something that gets us ready to do God’s work. In the teaching of Jesus Christ, prayer is the miracle of the redemption at work in me—a miracle which, by the power of God, produces the miracle of the redemption in others: “I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” (John 15:16). It’s true that my prayer produces lasting fruit, but I must remember that it is prayer based on the agony of the redemption, not on my agony.

Prayer doesn’t prepare us for battle; prayer is the battle. It doesn’t matter where we are nor how God has engineered our circumstances; our duty is to pray. Never allow the thought, “I’m of no use where I am.” You certainly can be of no use where you’re not. Wherever God has dumped you down, pray to him—pray all the time. Most of us won’t pray unless it gives us a thrill, which is the most intense form of spiritual selfishness. We have to work according to God’s direction; and he says, simply, pray.

“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38 kjv). There’s nothing thrilling about a laboring person’s work, but it is the laboring person who makes the conceptions of the genius possible. In the same way, the laboring disciple makes the conceptions of the Master possible. You may not see the fruits of your prayer immediately, but from God’s viewpoint there are results all the time. What an astonishment it will be to find, when the veil is lifted, how many souls have been reaped by you simply because you were in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 50-52; 1 Thessalonians 5

Wisdom from Oswald

No one could have had a more sensitive love in human relationship than Jesus; and yet He says there are times when love to father and mother must be hatred in comparison to our love for Him.  So Send I You, 1301 L

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Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. — Matthew 9:38kjv

The key to the problems that arise in missionary work lies in God’s hand, not humanity’s. The key isn’t hard work or common sense. It isn’t education or medical aid. It isn’t even evangelizing. The key is prayer.

“Pray ye therefore . . .” We are challenged by the difference between our human view of prayer and the Lord’s. From our point of view, prayer is completely impractical and absurd. From our Lord’s point of view, prayer is the only thing that makes sense. We say, “It’s ridiculous to think that God is going to change things in answer to prayer!” This is exactly what Jesus Christ says God will do.

“. . . into his harvest.” Jesus Christ owns the harvest that is produced by distress and by conviction of sin. This is the harvest we must pray that laborers will be sent to reap. This harvest isn’t located in a particular place; it isn’t directed at certain people. There are no nations or tribes in Jesus Christ’s outlook, only the world. How many of us have learned to pray without respect to persons, only with respect to a person, Jesus Christ? Too often we lose sight of Jesus Christ, becoming distracted by our own agendas. People all around us are ripe to harvest, and we don’t even notice; we just go on wasting our Lord’s time in over-energized activities. Suppose a crisis of faith comes in your father’s life, in your sister’s life: Are you there as a laborer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ? Or do you say, “I have special work to do! I don’t have time to deal with my brother.” No Christian has special work to do. Christians are called to be Jesus Christ’s own, disciples who don’t dictate to their master. Our Lord doesn’t call us to special work; he calls us to himself. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,” and he will engineer your circumstances and send you out.

Isaiah 47-49; 1 Thessalonians 4

Wisdom from Oswald

Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R

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He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. — 1 John 2:2

The key to the missionary’s message is the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Take any phase of Christ’s work—the healing phase, the teaching phase, the saving and sanctifying phase. There’s nothing limitless about any of these. But “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)—that is limitless, and that is the missionary’s message. A missionary is one who has soaked in this revelation and has made it the basis of his or her appeal.

The key to the missionary’s message isn’t Jesus Christ’s kindness and goodness. It’s the great limitless significance of the fact that “he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” The missionary’s message isn’t patriotic. It has no allegiance to nations or to individuals. It’s meant for the whole world. When the Holy Spirit comes in, he doesn’t consider personal preferences. He simply brings everyone he touches into union with Jesus Christ.

A missionary is one who is wedded to Jesus Christ’s own message. A missionary has no desire to proclaim a personal point of view, only to proclaim the Lamb of God. It’s easier to share personal stories of salvation. It’s easier to be a devotee of divine healing, or of a special type of sanctification, or of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Paul didn’t say, “Woe to me if I do not preach what the gospel has done for me.” He said, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). What is the gospel? Only this: “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Isaiah 45-46; 1 Thessalonians 3

Wisdom from Oswald

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption

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All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. — Matthew 28:18–19

The basis of the missionary’s work is the authority of Jesus Christ, not the needs of the unsaved. We tend to view our Lord as someone who assists us in our projects. Jesus Christ puts himself as the absolute sovereign over his disciples. Jesus doesn’t say that other people’s salvation depends on us, that if we don’t preach the gospel, the unsaved will be lost. He simply tells us to “go and make disciples of all nations.” That is, “Go on the revelation of my sovereignty; teach and preach out of a living experience of me.”

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened” (Matthew 11:28). Before I can go, I must learn how to come. If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know him for myself first. I must know how to get myself alone with him. I must take time to worship the Being whose name I bear. Am I weary and burdened, as so many missionaries are? Then, says Jesus, “Come to me.” We banish these marvelous words to the footnotes when they are the main text. They are the words of the universal sovereign of the world, the words of Jesus to his disciples.

“Therefore go.” “Go” simply means “live.” The description of how to go is found in Acts 1:8: “Be my witnesses.” To live bearing witness to Jesus is to fulfill your mission as his disciple. He will organize your goings himself.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you . . .” (John 15:7). This is the description of how to keep going in your personal life. Where God places you is a matter of indifference. God engineers your goings, while you remain steadfast in him. That is the way to keep going until you’re gone.

Isaiah 43-44; 1 Thessalonians 2

Wisdom from Oswald

The fiery furnaces are there by God’s direct permission. It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances; we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them.The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 674 R

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Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. — Matthew 11:28

Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus? As long as we have even the tiniest bit of spiritual rebellion inside of us, we long for God to ask us to do something grand and important. Instead, he tells us to do something infinitely simple: “Come.”

Think of all the things you won’t come to the Lord about. If you want to know how spiritually real you are, test yourself with these words: “Come to me.” In every degree to which you are not real, you will argue rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; you will do anything rather than present yourself, just as you are, to your Lord.

“Come to me.” When you hear these words, you know that a change must happen inside you before you will come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do. He will show you that you must take an axe to the thing that is preventing you from getting through to the Lord. You will never get any further until you do. The Holy Spirit will locate the one unmovable thing in you, but he won’t budge it unless you let him.

How often have you come to God with your requests and had the feeling that you’d achieved your goal, only to come away with nothing? And yet all the time, God has stood with outstretched hands, not only to take you but so that you will take him. Think of the invincible, unconquerable, untiring patience of Jesus as he says, “Come to me.”

Isaiah 30-31; Phil 4

Wisdom from Oswald

The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

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God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. — 2 Corinthians 5:21

Sin is a fundamental relationship. It isn’t wrongdoing; it’s wrong being. Sin is deliberate and emphatic independence from God. The Christian religion bases everything on the radical, singular nature of sin. Other religions deal with sins; the Bible alone deals with sin. The heredity of sin in humankind was the first thing Jesus Christ addressed. Because we have ignored this in our preaching, the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.” The revelation of the Bible isn’t that Jesus Christ took upon himself our sins, but that he took upon himself the heredity of sin, which no human being can touch. God made his Son to “be sin” so that any sinner could “become the righteousness of God.”

The Bible reveals that our Lord bore the sin of the world by identifying himself with sin, not by sympathizing with it. He deliberately took the whole massed sin of humankind and placed it on his own shoulders; he bore that sin in his own being. By doing this, he redeemed all of humanity, rehabilitating it and putting it back where God designed it to be. Now, thanks to what Jesus Christ did on the cross, anyone can enter into union with God.

Human beings cannot redeem themselves. Redemption is God’s work, and it is work that has already been done; it’s finished and complete. How individuals experience redemption is a question of their individual choices. A distinction must always be made between the revelation of redemption, which applies equally to all, and the conscious experience of salvation in an individual’s life.

Isaiah 28-29; Philippians 3

Wisdom from Oswald

The emphasis to-day is placed on the furtherance of an organization; the note is, “We must keep this thing going.” If we are in God’s order the thing will go; if we are not in His order, it won’t. Conformed to His Image, 357 R

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. . . called to be his holy people. — 1 Corinthians 1:2

Thank God for the sight of all you haven’t yet become. God has called you to be one of his holy people, you’ve had the vision of what he wants, but you aren’t there yet by any means.

God calls his children to the mountaintop and gives them a vision. Then he sends them down into the valley of everyday life, the valley where the vision will be put to the test. It’s in the valley that most of us turn back, because it’s there that we must prove whether or not we’ll be the chosen ones. We aren’t quite prepared for the blows that must come if we’re going to be turned into the shape of the vision. Are we willing to be hammered into shape by God’s hand? The hammering always comes in commonplace ways, through the circumstances and people we encounter in our daily lives.

There are times when we know God’s purpose for us, times when he’s given us a vision and we see it clearly. Whether this vision will be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to bask in the memory of the vision, we’ll be of no use in the ordinary stuff of human life. We have to learn to live in reliance on what we saw in the vision—not in ecstasies and conscious contemplation of God, but living our ordinary lives in light of the vision. We must do this until the vision becomes a reality. Every bit of the training God is putting us through is leading us to this goal. Learn to thank God for making his demands known.

The little “I am” always sulks when God says, “Do.” Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in the face of the great “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). God must dominate our lives. Isn’t it startling to realize that he knows where we live? That he knows the burrows we crawl into? He’ll hunt us up like a lightning flash. No human being knows human beings as God does.

Isaiah 20-22; Ephesians 6

Wisdom from Oswald

Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.
The Place of Help

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“If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” — Mark 9:22

After every period of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they are, where it is neither beautiful nor poetic nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the drudgery of the valley—but it’s in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. When we are on the mountaintop, we see the glory of God, but we cannot live for it. Only in the depths of the valley, in the realm of humiliation, do we discover our true worth to God; only there is our faithfulness revealed.

Most of us can do all sorts of difficult things when we are filled with a sense of heroism. But this is only because of the natural selfishness of our hearts, our desire to be useful and adored. God wants us to relinquish the heroic frame of mind. He wants us to live in the valley according to our personal relationship to him.

“Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain. . . . And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses” (Mark 9:2, 4). After witnessing the vision of Elijah and Moses, Peter wanted to stay up on the mountain. But Jesus took him and the other disciples back down into the valley, the place where the meaning of the vision would be explained.

“‘If you can’? . . .” Look back at your own experience, and you will find that until you learned who Jesus was, you were skeptical of his power. When you were on the mountaintop, you could believe anything. But what about when you were up against facts in the valley? You may be able to give testimony about your miraculous spiritual experiences, but what about the thing that is humiliating you just now? The last time you were on the mountain with God, you saw that all power in heaven and earth belonged to Jesus. Will you see it now in the valley?

Isaiah 14-16; Ephesians 5:1-16

Wisdom from Oswald

Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.
Disciples Indeed

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After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain. — Mark 9:2

We’ve all had times on the mountain, when we’ve seen from God’s viewpoint and have wanted to stay on high. But God will never allow this. The test of our spiritual life lies in our ability to keep the vision God gives on the mountain in our sights as we descend. If we only have the power to rise, something is wrong.

It’s a great thing to be up on the mountain with our Lord, but he only takes us up with him for one reason—so that we may go down again into the valley and lift up those around us. We aren’t built for the mountains and the dawns and the breathtaking views; they are for moments of inspiration, nothing else. We’re built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff of daily life. That is where we have to prove our mettle.

Spiritual selfishness always wants to get back to the mountaintop. When we are spiritually selfish, we are always claiming that of course we’d live like angels—if we could stay on high. We have to learn that moments of exaltation are exceptional. They have meaning in our life with God, but we have to make sure that spiritual selfishness doesn’t cause us to want them all the time.

We tend to think that everything that happens is meant to teach us something. A mountaintop experience isn’t meant to teach us anything; it’s meant to make us something new. God wants our experiences to develop our character.

When it comes to spiritual matters, there’s a great trap in asking, “What’s the point of this?” It isn’t for us to know the point. The moments on the mountaintop are rare, and they are meant for something in God’s own purpose.

Isaiah 11-13; Ephesians 4

Wisdom from Oswald

The Bible does not thrill; the Bible nourishes. Give time to the reading of the Bible and the recreating effect is as real as that of fresh air physically. Disciples Indeed, 387 R

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I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions. — Colossians 1:24

The call of God is utterly unique. We think we are answering God’s call when we devote ourselves to spiritual service, but once we get into a right relationship with him, we see how wrong we’ve been. When God calls, he calls us to something we’ve never dreamed of before. In one radiant, flashing moment, we see what he wants us to do—to “fill up” in our flesh “what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions”—and we are riveted with a terrific pain.

The call of God has nothing to do with personal holiness. It’s about being made broken bread and poured-out wine. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed; you cannot drink whole grapes. But God can never crush those who resist the fingers he uses to do it. Those fingers may belong to someone we dislike, or to some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit. We think, “If only God would use his own fingers to crush me, and do it in some special, heavenly way!” We have to learn that we cannot choose the scene or the means of our martyrdom.

I wonder what kind of fingers God has been using to squeeze you. Have you been hard as a marble and escaped? If God had persisted in squeezing you while you were still unripe, the wine would have been remarkably bitter. If you wish to be a person whom God can easily crush, you must allow his presence to govern every element of your natural life and to break those elements in his service.

We have to be rightly related to God before we can be broken in his hands. Keep right with him, let him do with you as he likes, and you will find that he is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit his other children.

Isaiah 9-10; Ephesians 3

Wisdom from Oswald

The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. Biblical Ethics, 99 R

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If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift . . . and be reconciled to them. — Matthew 5:23–24

Jesus tells us that we should leave our gift at the altar if we remember, when we get there, that our brother or sister has something against us. He doesn’t say that every time we come to the altar we should begin, with a morbid sensitivity, to dredge up thoughts of possible problems with our brother or sister. “If you . . . remember” means “If the Spirit of God brings something to your conscious mind.” The Holy Spirit makes us sensitive to things we never thought of before. Never object to the intense sensitivity of the Spirit of God in you when he is educating you down to the scruple.

“First go and be reconciled to them” (Matthew 5:24). Our Lord’s command is simple: go back the way you came; go the way the Spirit of God indicates to you when you are at the altar; go to the person who has something against you, keeping an attitude of mind and a temper of soul that make reconciliation as natural as breathing. Jesus doesn’t mention the other person. He says, “You go.” There’s no question of your rights. The hallmark of the disciple is the ability to waive personal rights and obey the Lord Jesus.

“Then come and offer your gift” (v. 24). The process is clearly marked. First, you arrive at the altar in a heroic spirit of self-sacrifice. Then comes a sudden inspection by the Holy Spirit, followed by the sense of conviction that stops you in your tracks. You go back, tracing the way of obedience to the word of God and constructing an unblamable attitude of mind and temper toward the one you’ve wronged. Finally, you return to the altar, ready to make a glad, simple, unhindered offering of your gift to God.

Isaiah 1-2; Galatians 5

Wisdom from Oswald

The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1459 R

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Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem.” — Luke 18:31

In our natural life, our ambitions change as we grow and mature. In our Christian life, the goal is given to us at the beginning: we start with Christ and we end with him; the beginning and the end are the same. Disciples live this out in their willingness to follow Jesus wherever he leads. We think the aim of the Christian life is to be useful or to win converts. The disciple is useful and does win converts, but this isn’t the aim. The aim is to do the will of God by following Jesus when he says, “We are going up to Jerusalem.”

In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where he reached the climax of his Father’s will upon the cross. Unless we go with Jesus to Jerusalem, we will have no companionship with him. Nothing ever discouraged our Lord on his way to Jerusalem. He didn’t hurry through the villages where he was persecuted or linger in the villages where he was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned him away from his purpose: to go up to Jerusalem.

“The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40 kjv). If Jesus Christ is our master, then the same things that happened to him as he went to his Jerusalem will happen to us as we go to ours. Works of God will be manifested through us; people will be blessed. One or two of these people will show gratitude; the rest will show ingratitude. No matter what, we must let nothing deflect us from going up to our Jerusalem.

“They crucified him there” (23:33). The cross is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that happening is the gateway to our salvation. Those who follow Jesus Christ do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace, they end in glory. In the meantime, our watchword is “I, too, go up to Jerusalem.”

Song of Solomon 1-3; Galatians 2

Wisdom from Oswald

The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.Not Knowing Whither, 901 R

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You are those who have stood by me in my trials. — Luke 22:28

It’s true that Jesus Christ is with us in our trials, but are we with him in his? “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66). Many of us stop going with Jesus the moment we have our first spiritual experience. We are so amazed by what our Lord has done for us that our experience of it becomes our focus, and though we continue to wear his badge, we take our sights off him. The trials of Jesus continued throughout his earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. At certain times, it’s easy to stand by Jesus. But watch out when God shifts your circumstances. Are you standing by Jesus when the world turns against him, or are you siding with the world, the flesh, and the devil? Are you going with Jesus in the life you are living now?

We have the idea that we should shield ourselves from some of the things God brings around us. Never! God engineers our circumstances, and whatever they may be, we have to face them while abiding with him in his trials. His trials do not test our human nature; they test the life of the Son of God inside us. Remember that the honor of Jesus Christ is at stake in your life. Are you remaining loyal to the Son of God when his life in you is under attack?

Do you continue to go with Jesus? The way lies through Gethsemane, through the city gate, outside the camp. The way lies alone. It continues until there is no trace of a footstep left, only the voice: “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19).

Ecclesiastes 1-3; 2 Corinthians 11:16-33

Wisdom from Oswald

The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R

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For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way . . . yet he did not sin. — Hebrews 4:15

Until we are born again, the only temptation we understand is the kind mentioned in the book of James: “Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed” (1:14). After we are born again and become Jesus’s brothers and sisters, we are lifted into a different realm, where we begin to face the kinds of temptation our Lord faced during his human lifetime. Before our spiritual rebirth, our Lord’s temptations and ours moved in different spheres. His were the temptations of God-as-man, while ours were merely the temptations of man.

Once the Son of God was formed inside us through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit began to detect certain of Satan’s temptations—temptations which we, on our own, could never recognize. Satan doesn’t tempt believers to sin; he tries to lure us away from what has been put into us by our spiritual rebirth, in the hopes that we’ll no longer be of value to God. He tempts us to change our point of view, so that we’ll no longer see things from Christ’s perspective. Only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil.

What happens in temptation is that an outside power comes to test the things we hold dear within us, the things that define our personality. This explains the way in which our Lord was tempted. Within his person, he held the fact that he was to be the king of humankind and the savior of the world, and these are precisely what Satan came to test him on. Jesus went through the temptation and “did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15), emerging from the battle with his personality intact. If we will commit ourselves to him, his Spirit will take us through every temptation in the same way, and we will emerge from the battle victorious.

Proverbs 30-31; 2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Wisdom from Oswald

Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.Biblical Psychology, 199 R

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No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. — 1 Corinthians 10:13

The word temptation is hardly ever used correctly. We speak of temptation as a sin, but it isn’t. It’s an inherent part of human nature, something every one of us inevitably faces. Temptation isn’t something we can escape; it’s essential to a full-orbed human life. Many of us, however, suffer temptations we have no business suffering—lowly temptations that afflict us because we have refused to let God lift us to a higher plane. On a higher plane, we would still face temptations, but they would be of a completely different order. If God hasn’t lifted me higher, I can be sure it’s because I continue to yield to a lower temptation.

My disposition on the inside—that is, the makeup of my personality—determines what I am tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the nature of the one tempted and reveals the possibilities of that nature. Each of us has our personal inclinations, but temptation itself is the common inheritance of humanity. I have to watch out if I find myself thinking that no one else has ever been tempted as I am tempted, that no one has ever gone through what I’m going through.

Am I baffled by temptation? Do I have trouble understanding whether the thing tempting me is right or wrong? This is normal, for a time. When I first begin my walk in faith, I may be tempted by things which are generally considered good, but which fall short of highest and best. Temptation promises a shortcut to what I seek, but it will never get me there. The key is to keep my sights firmly set on the highest—on God himself—and let what is merely good pass me by, however tempting it may be to follow it. Though God will not save me from temptation, he has promised to help me in its midst: “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

Proverbs 27-29; 2 Corinthians 10

Wisdom from Oswald

The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R

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When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. — Matthew 6:6

It’s impossible to conduct your life as a disciple without setting aside definite times for secret prayer. The main idea of the life of faith is “My eyes on God, not on people.” When you pray, your motive shouldn’t be to be known as one who prays. Go into an inner chamber—a place where no one will know you are praying—then shut the door and talk to God in secret. Have no motive other than to know your Father in heaven.

“Do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7). God is never impressed by earnestness. It isn’t because we go to him with an earnest desire to be heard that he hears us. He hears us on the basis of the redemption; only because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross are we able to approach God in prayer. If Jesus Christ has been formed inside us by spiritual rebirth, he will press forward in our minds and change our attitude about prayer. No longer will we be driven by commonsense concerns for our lives. No longer will we go to God to get our earthly desires met. We’ll go in order to get into perfect communion with him.

“Everyone who asks receives” (7:8). We pray pious nonsense, without putting our will into it. Then we say that God doesn’t answer our prayers. But we haven’t asked for anything! “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). Asking means willing ourselves to ask for those things which are in keeping with the God whom Jesus Christ revealed; if we are remaining in him, this is exactly what we’ll do. Whenever Jesus talked about prayer, he talked about it with the simplicity of a child. We complicate things and argue with God. We say, “Yes, Lord, but . . .” Jesus said, simply, “Ask.”

Proverbs 25-26; 2 Corinthians 9

Wisdom from Oswald

We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” So Send I You, 1325 R

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“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. — Matthew 20:22

Sometimes in our life with God, there is spiritual confusion. At such times, it’s no use saying there shouldn’t be confusion. Confusion isn’t a question of right and wrong. It’s a question of God taking you down a path you don’t understand. The only way you’ll get at what God wants is to keep going through the confusion until you reach clarity.

The hiding of his friendship. “Suppose you have a friend . . .” (Luke 11:5). Jesus tells the story of a man who seemed not to care for his friend. Sometimes, Jesus says, that is how your heavenly Father will appear. In your confusion, you will think he’s an unkind friend, but he is not. Don’t give up. Remember, Jesus is the one who said, “Everyone who asks receives” (Matthew 7:8).

The shadow on his fatherhood. “Which of you fathers . . .” (Luke 11:11). Jesus says there are times when your Father will appear like an unloving father, but he is not. If a shadow covers the face of your Father just now, rest in confidence that he will ultimately reveal his purposes and will justify himself in everything he has permitted. Often even love itself has to wait in pain and tears for the blessing of fuller communion.

The strangeness of his faithfulness. “In a certain town there was a judge . . .” (Luke 18:2). At times, Jesus says, your Father will look like an unjust judge, but he is not. Stand firm in the belief that what Jesus says is true, and remember that God has bigger issues at stake than the particular things you ask. The time is coming, Jesus says, when we shall see perfectly clearly. Then the veil will be lifted, the shadows will disappear, the confusion will go, and we will begin to understand the friendship, the fatherhood, and the faithfulness of God with regard to our own lives.

Proverbs 13-15; 2 Corinthians 5

Wisdom from Oswald

The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. Biblical Ethics, 99 R

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Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. — John 13:14

Ministering as opportunity surrounds us doesn’t mean choosing our surroundings; it means ministering wherever God places us. The characteristics we manifest now, in our immediate surroundings, show God what we’ll be like in other surroundings.

It takes all of God’s power in me to do commonplace things in the way God would do them. When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, he was performing work of the most menial and commonplace kind, yet the way he performed it made it holy. Can I use a towel in the way Jesus used a towel? Towels and dishes and all the other ordinary stuff of life reveal what I’m made of more quickly than anything else. It takes God Almighty in me to do my chores in the way they ought to be done.

“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15). Watch the kind of people God brings around you. You will be humiliated to discover that this is his way of revealing to you the kind of person you’ve been to him. He is telling you to treat the people in your life as he has treated you. “Oh,” you say, “I’ll treat people as I should when I’m out ministering in the world.” That would be like trying to produce the munitions of war in the trenches; you’d be killed while you were doing it.

We have to go the second mile with God. Some of us get worn out in the first ten yards, because God compels us to go where we cannot see the way. “I’ll wait to obey until I get nearer the big crisis,” we say. We have to obey now. If we don’t practice walking steadily in the little things, we will do nothing in the crisis.

Proverbs 10-12; 2 Corinthians 4

Wisdom from Oswald

Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.
Biblical Psychology

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I saw you while you were still under the fig tree. — John 1:48

We imagine that we’ll rise to the occasion when a big crisis comes along. But a big crisis only reveals what we’re made of; it doesn’t put anything new into us. Are you telling yourself that you’ll do what’s necessary if God gives the call? You won’t—not unless you’re already rising to the occasion. You have to be the real thing with God before the big event, in the workshop of your private life with him.

Every day, God is giving you small, seemingly insignificant things to do, things which may go entirely unnoticed by the world. If you don’t believe God has engineered these things and therefore you aren’t using them as opportunities for worship, you’ll be revealed as unfit when the crisis comes. Crises always reveal character.

A private worshipping relationship with God is the great essential of spiritual fitness. The time will come when you have to step out from “under the fig tree”—out from your sheltered, private place—and go forth into the glare and the crowd. If you haven’t been worshipping in private, as the occasion arises, you’ll find you have no value to God in the outside world. But if you have been worshipping in private, you will be ready when God sends you out, because in the unseen life—the life no one saw but God—you’ve become perfectly fit. When the strain arrives, God will know he can rely on you.

Do you think you have no time for worshipping or praying or reading the Bible? Do you say to yourself, “I can’t be expected to live a worshipful life in the circumstances I’m in right now; my opportunity hasn’t come yet. When it does, of course I’ll be ready”? You won’t be. If you haven’t been worshipping where you are right now, as the occasion arises, then in the crisis you’ll be useless to yourself and an enormous hindrance to those around you. The workshop of the disciple’s life is the hidden, personal time spent worshipping God.

Proverbs 8-9; 2 Corinthians 3

Wisdom from Oswald

Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L

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