We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience. — 2 Corinthians 10:5–6

These verses point to the strenuous nature of Christian discipleship. Paul writes that he takes every thought captive, knowing that “every act of disobedience” to Christ will be punished. So much Christian activity today has never been disciplined in the way Paul describes; it has simply sprung into being on impulse. In our Lord’s life, every project was disciplined according to the will of his Father. There was not a single impulsive movement of the Son’s own will apart from his Father’s: “Whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19).

Think how different we are from the example set by Jesus. We start projects because we’ve had a vivid religious experience and felt the thrill of inspiration, not because we’re living in obedience to God’s will. We’d rather take impulsive action than be imprisoned and disciplined to obey Christ, because we overvalue practical work. Meanwhile, disciples who aren’t caught up in busywork and who do bring every project into captivity for the Lord are criticized and told they’re not sincere about God or souls.

True sincerity is found in obeying God, not in obeying the inclination to serve him; obeying an inclination is born of an undisciplined human nature. It’s inconceivable yet true that many Christians are motivated to work for God by their own human nature, a nature which has never been spiritualized by determined discipline.

We are prone to forgetting that, as Christians, we must be committed to Jesus Christ not only for salvation but for his point of view. We must commit ourselves to Jesus Christ’s view of God, of the world, of sin, and of the devil. When we do, we will understand that we have a responsibility to renew our minds, so that they may be transformed and brought into complete captivity for him.

Proverbs 6-7; 2 Corinthians 2

Wisdom from Oswald

There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them.
The Place of Help

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Rivers of living water . . . — John 7:38

A river touches places of which its source knows nothing. Jesus says that if we have received his fullness, it doesn’t matter how small the visible measure of our lives may be; out of us will flow rivers that will bless the farthest reaches of the earth. We have nothing to do with the outflow; it is the mighty work of God. God rarely allows a soul to see how great a blessing it is.

A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. It goes steadily along in its course, then comes to an obstacle and, for a while, is blocked. But it soon makes a pathway around. Or a river may drop out of sight for miles, then emerge again, broader and grander than ever. So it is with the Spirit of God.

Has an obstacle come into your life? Do you see God using others while you seem to be of no use? Keep paying attention to the source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all. Never focus on the obstacle or difficulty; the river is completely indifferent to anything in its path and will flow steadily through you when you remember to keep your sights on the source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ. Nothing—no emotion, no experience—must keep you from the one great source.

Think of the healing and far-flung rivers nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been awakening our minds to amazing truths, and each truth he awakens points to the wider power of the river he will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has nourished in you mighty torrents of blessings for others.

Psalms 148-150; 1 Corinthians 15:29-58

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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They were yours; you gave them to me. — John 17:6

A disciple is one in whom the Holy Spirit has forged this realization: “I am not my own.” To say “I am not my own” is to have reached a point of great spiritual nobility. If I am a disciple, I make a sovereign decision to give myself over to Jesus Christ. Then the Holy Spirit comes in to teach me his nature. He teaches me this not so that I’ll hold myself apart from others, like a showroom exhibit of holiness, but in order to make me one with my Lord. Until I am made one with him, he won’t send me out. Jesus Christ waited until after the resurrection to send his disciples to preach the gospel, because only then did the power of the Holy Spirit come upon them, enabling them to perceive who Jesus Christ was and to become one with him.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children . . . such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Jesus doesn’t say, “Such a person cannot be a good and moral individual.” He says, “Such a person cannot be one over whom I write the word mine.” Any of the relationships Jesus mentions may be a competitive relationship. I may prefer to belong to my father or my mother, to my spouse or to myself. If I do, Jesus says I cannot be his disciple. This doesn’t mean I won’t be saved; it simply means I won’t be his.

“You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). Our Lord makes his disciples his own possessions. He becomes responsible for them. The spirit the disciple receives isn’t the spirit of hard work or of doing practical things for Jesus. It’s the spirit of love and devotion, of being a perfect delight to him. The secret of the disciple is “I am entirely his, and he is carrying out his work through me.”

Be entirely his.

Psalms 143-145; 1 Corinthians 14:21-40

Wisdom from Oswald

We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L

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Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? — John 11:40

Every time you venture out in the life of faith, you will find something which, from a commonsense standpoint, flatly contradicts your faith. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. They stand in the relation of the natural to the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ when your common sense fails? Can you venture heroically on his words when the facts of your life shout, “It’s a lie”? Up on the mountaintop with God, it’s easy to say, “I believe God can do anything.” But you have to come down from the heights into the valley and meet with facts that laugh ironically at your belief.

Every time my program of belief is clear to my own mind, I will come across something that contradicts it. Let me say to myself, “I believe God will meet all my needs,” then my provisions run dry; I have no idea how they’ll be replenished. Then let me see whether I will go through the trial of faith or whether I will sink back to a lower level.

Faith must be tested. It can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict. What is your faith up against just now? Either the test will prove that your faith is right, or it will kill it. “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me” (Matthew 11:6). The supreme thing is confidence in Jesus. Believe steadfastly in him, and all you come up against will strengthen and develop your faith. There’s continual testing in the life of faith, and the last great test is death.

May God keep us in fighting shape! Faith is indescribable trust in God, trust which never dreams he will not stand by us.

Psalms 126-128; 1 Corinthians 10:19-33

Wisdom from Oswald

When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L

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Lord, teach us to pray. — Luke 11:1

Prayer isn’t part of natural human life. It’s often said that those who don’t pray will suffer; I question it. What suffers is the life of Christ inside them, because the life of the Son of God is nourished not by food but by prayer.

When we are born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born inside us. Whether we starve this life or nourish it through prayer is up to us. Our ordinary views of prayer—as a way of getting blessings for ourselves from God or of having an emotional experience—are not found in the Bible. The Bible views prayer as a way of getting to know God himself.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find” (Matthew 7:7). We grumble before God; we are apologetic or apathetic, but we ask very few things. Our Lord says, “Unless you change and become like little children” (18:3). What wonderful audacity a child has! The child of God goes to God with every concern and desire, ready to lay it all out before him and ask. We don’t do this unless we are at our wits’ end. Before then, we think asking is cowardly or weak. Praying in our moment of need isn’t cowardly; it’s the only way we can get in touch with the reality of God. Be yourself before God. Lay before him what you’re at your wits’ end about, the issue you know you can’t deal with yourself. As long as you are self-sufficient, you don’t need to ask him for anything.

It isn’t so much that prayer changes things as that prayer changes me, and then I change things. Prayer isn’t a question of altering external circumstances but of working wonders in our disposition. One of God’s amazing gifts is that prayer on the basis of the redemption has the power to entirely transform a person’s perspective.

Psalms 123-125; 1 Corinthians 10:1-18

Wisdom from Oswald

There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L

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Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. — John 12:35

Beware of not acting on what God shows you when you are up on the mountaintop with him. You have to obey the light you receive on high after you come back down into the valley. If you don’t, the light will turn to darkness. “If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23). The instant you brush aside an insight from God, you will begin to get dry rot in your spiritual life. Continually bring the truth out into your daily life. Work it out in everything you do. When you don’t, the light you’ve been given will prove a curse.

The most difficult kind of person to deal with is the one who has the smug satisfaction of recalling some past mountaintop experience, but who isn’t working out that experience in day-to-day life. If you say that you are sanctified, show it. The experience must be so genuine that it’s evident in your life. Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent. No matter how beautiful it sounds, it comes from the devil.

Theology has to work itself out in the most practical ways. “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees . . . you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). You must be more moral than the most moral being you know. You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you putting it to work in the practical issues of life? Every aspect of your life—physical, moral, and spiritual—is to be judged by the standard of the atonement of our Lord.

Psalms 120-122; 1 Corinthians 9

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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I indeed baptize you with water . . . but he . . . shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. — Matthew 3:11 kjv

Have I ever come to a place in my experience where I can say, “I indeed . . . but he”? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means. It means that “I indeed” am at an end; I can do nothing more. “But he” begins right there—he does what no one else can do.

“But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry” (Matthew 3:11). Am I prepared for his coming? Jesus cannot come to me as long as there’s something inside me blocking his way. It doesn’t matter whether the thing is bad or good, sin or something I consider a personal quality. When he comes, I must be prepared for him to drag everything into the light. Wherever I know I am unclean, he will put his feet. Wherever I think I am clean, he will withdraw them. Repentance doesn’t bring a sense of sin but a sense of total unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am completely helpless; I know that no part of me is worthy even to carry his sandals. Have I repented like that? Or do I have a lingering urge to defend myself? The reason God cannot come into my life is because I haven’t entered completely into repentance.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). John doesn’t speak of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience. He speaks of it as a work performed by Jesus Christ. The only conscious experience those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit ever have is a sense of being absolutely unworthy.

“I indeed” was unworthy, “but he” came, and a marvelous thing happened. Get to the place in the margin where he does everything.

Psalms 110-112; 1 Corinthians 5

Wisdom from Oswald

We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed.So Send I You, 1330 L

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Blessed are the poor in spirit. — Matthew 5:3

The New Testament notices things we completely overlook. When Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he is elevating a state which counts for nothing according to our standards—the state of being poor. Today’s preaching tends to emphasize dazzling, easily noticed qualities, like strength of will or beauty of character. We often hear preachers telling us to “decide for Christ,” placing the emphasis on our own effort and “goodness”—things our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for him. He asks us to yield to him, which is very different.

At the bedrock of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. What I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, Jesus says I am blessed; it’s through this poverty that I enter his kingdom. I can’t enter his kingdom as a “good” man or woman; I can enter only as a pauper.

The true character of the loveliness that counts for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is smug and self-righteous and unchristian. If I start looking for evidence of my own usefulness, I instantly lose the bloom of the Lord’s touch. “Whoever believes in me,” Jesus said, “rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38). If I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.

Who are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those without the slightest notion of their impact, those who radiated the unconscious loveliness of the Lord’s touch. We always know when Jesus is at work in someone’s life, because he produces something inspiring in the midst of the commonplace.

Psalms 107-109; 1 Corinthians 4

Wisdom from Oswald

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R

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And I will give you rest. — Matthew 11:28

Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to him at once and ask him to establish rest. Never allow anything that is causing dis-peace to remain. Treat every disturbance as something to wrestle against, not as something to endure. Say to the Lord, “Establish your consciousness in me.” Christ-consciousness will come, self-consciousness will go, and he will be all in all.

If you allow self-consciousness to continue, by slow degrees it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. The self-pitying person thinks along these lines: “No one understands me; I’m owed an apology; I have to keep making my point until other people accept it.” Leave other people alone. Ask the Lord to give you Christ-consciousness, and he will steady you until your completeness in him is absolute.

The complete life is the life of the child. The child of God is not conscious of the will of God, because the child is the will of God. When you are consciously conscious, something is wrong; it is the sick person who knows what health is. If you are consciously asking God, “What is your will?” it’s a sign that you have deviated, however slightly, from his will. The child of God never prays to be conscious that God answers prayer. The child of God is restfully certain that God always does answer prayer.

Never try to overcome self-consciousness using common sense. You will only succeed in strengthening it. You must do what Jesus says: “Come to me . . . and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Wherever Jesus comes, he establishes rest—the perfect rest of activity that is unconscious of itself.

Psalms 105-106; 1 Corinthians 3

Wisdom from Oswald

We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L

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

God intends for us to live a full-orbed life in Jesus Christ, a life defined by an unworrying oneness with him. But there are times when that life is attacked from the outside, when we find ourselves tumbling back into a habit of introspection we thought had gone. Self-consciousness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, because it produces a continual wrestling. Self-consciousness isn’t sin. It may be caused by a nervous temperament or by suddenly finding ourselves in new circumstances. But it’s never God’s will that we should be less than absolutely complete in him. Anything that disturbs our rest in him must be cured at once.

“Come to me.” You can’t cure self-consciousness by ignoring it; the only cure is to come to Jesus Christ. When we come to him and ask him to produce Christ-consciousness, he will do it, over and over again, until we learn to abide in him.

If your life in Christ is no longer whole, don’t refuse to face the problem. Beware of anything that splits up your oneness with him, whether it be the influence of friends or of circumstances. Beware of anything that makes you see yourself as separate from your Lord. Nothing is as important as keeping whole spiritually. The great solution is the simple one: “Come to me.” The depth of our reality—intellectually, morally, and spiritually—is tested by these words. In every matter in which we are not real, we will argue with God rather than come.

Psalms 103-104; 1 Corinthians 2

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

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He calls his own sheep by name. — John 10:3

Does he know me when I have failed to know him (John 20:11–16)? When Mary Magdalene saw Jesus outside his tomb, she didn’t recognize him. But he knew her: “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary’” (v. 16). The instant Mary heard her name, she cried out, “Teacher!”

Why was Mary weeping outside Jesus’s tomb? Not because she knew about Jesus, but because she had a personal history with her Lord. It is possible to know all about doctrine and not know Jesus. The soul is in danger when intellectual learning outstrips intimate touch with him. Doctrine was nothing more to Mary than grass beneath her feet. Any Pharisee could have made a fool of her doctrinally, but none could ridicule away the fact that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. And yet for Mary, Jesus’s blessings were nothing in comparison to himself.

Does he know me when I have stubbornly doubted (John 20:24–29)? Have I been doubting something about Jesus—an experience others testify to but which I haven’t had? The other disciples told Thomas that they’d seen Jesus, but Thomas doubted. “Unless I see . . . I will not believe” (v. 25). Thomas needed the personal touch of Jesus. When our Lord’s touch will come, or how it will come, we do not know. But when it does come, it’s indescribably precious. Jesus told Thomas, “Reach out your hand and put it into my side,” and Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (vv. 27–28).

Does he know me when I have selfishly denied him (John 21:15–17)? Peter had denied Jesus Christ three times, yet after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to Peter alone. He restored Peter in private, and then he restored him before the others. And Peter said, “Lord, you know that I love you” (v. 16).

Do I have a personal history with Jesus Christ? The one sign of discipleship is intimate connection with him, a knowledge of Jesus Christ that nothing can disturb.

Psalms 94-96; Romans 15:14-33

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

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You must be born again. — John 3:7

How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. . . . Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit’” (John 3:4–5). When someone dies to every self-righteous impulse, to their religion and their virtues and everything they’ve been leaning on apart from Jesus Christ, then they may be born of the Spirit and receive into themselves a life that was never there before. This new life manifests itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness.

“To all who did receive him . . . he gave the right to become children of God” (1:12). Is my knowledge of Jesus based on personal spiritual perception or on what I’ve heard others say? Do I have something in my life that connects me to Jesus Christ as my savior? The bedrock of any spiritual history must be personal knowledge. To be born again means that I see Jesus with my own eyes.

“No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (3:3). The new birth brings with it a new power of vision that enables me to discern God’s rule. Am I discerning it? Or am I merely hunting for miraculous signs of his kingdom? When I am born again, I see that his rule was there all along.

“No one who is born of God will continue to sin” (1 John 3:9). Have I stopped sinning, or am I merely trying to stop sinning? To be born of God means that I have received from him the supernatural power to stop sinning. The Bible never asks, “Should a Christian sin?” It says emphatically that no one born of God will continue to sin. The effect of the new birth in us isn’t simply that we receive the power to stop sinning; it’s that we actually stop sinning. First John 3:9 doesn’t mean that we can’t sin; it means that if we obey the life of God in us, we needn’t sin.

Psalms 91-93; Romans 15:1-13

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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Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you. — Hebrews 12:5

It’s very easy to quench the Spirit. We do it by despising the discipline of the Lord and by losing heart when he rebukes us. If we have a shallow experience of salvation and sanctification, we mistake the shadow for the reality when God disciplines us. We say, “Oh, that must be the voice of the devil.”

Never quench the Spirit, and do not despise him when he says to you, “Do not be blind about this thing anymore. You aren’t where you thought you were. Up until now I haven’t been able to reveal it to you, but I reveal it now.” When the Spirit disciplines you like this, let him have his way. Let him get you rightly related to God.

“Do not lose heart when he rebukes you.” We get into a bad mood with God and say, “Oh well, I can’t help it. I prayed about it, and it still didn’t turn out right. I’m through trying.” Think what would happen if we took this attitude about anything else in life!

Am I prepared to let God grip me by his power and do a work in me that is worthy of him? Sanctification isn’t my idea of what I want God to do for me; it’s God’s idea of what he wants to do for me. God has to bring me to the attitude of mind and spirit where I will let him sanctify me wholly, no matter the cost.

Psalms 89-90; Romans 14

Wisdom from Oswald

To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony

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Do not quench the Spirit. — 1 Thessalonians 5:19

The voice of the Spirit is as gentle as a zephyr, so gentle that unless you are living in perfect communion with God, you never hear it. The checks of the Spirit come in the most extraordinarily gentle ways, and if you are not sensitive enough to detect them, you will quench the Spirit, and your personal spiritual life will be harmed. His checks always come as a still small voice, so small that no one but the saint notices.

When you give testimony about your relationship with the Spirit, beware if you find yourself having to look back and say, “Once, many years ago, I was saved . . .” If you are walking in the light, there’s no need to reminisce. The past is transfused into the present wonder of communion with God. If you stop walking in the light in the present moment, you will become a sentimental Christian, living on memories of feelings. A hard, metallic note will creep into your testimony. Beware of trying to patch up a present refusal to walk in the light by recalling past experiences when you did. Whenever the Spirit warns you that something isn’t right, call a halt and rectify the situation, or else you will go on hurting him without knowing it.

Suppose God has brought you to a crisis, and you nearly go through it, but not quite. God will engineer the crisis again, but it won’t be as clear and as sharp to you as it was before. You will have less discernment from God and more humiliation at not having obeyed the first time. Go on grieving his Spirit, and a time will come when the crisis cannot be repeated, because you will have grieved the Spirit away.

Never sympathize with the thing that is grieving God. The thing must go; God has to hurt it until it does.

Psalms 87-88; Romans 13

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, 946 R

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You of little faith, why are you so afraid? — Matthew 8:26

When we are afraid, it’s easy to find ourselves praying the elementary panic prayers of those who don’t know God. But Jesus says we should never be afraid. Our Lord has a right to expect that those who name his name will rest in perfect confidence in him. God expects his children to have such faith that they are the reliable ones in any crisis, yet many of us tend to trust God only up to a point. We’re like the disciples who were in the boat with Jesus when the storm arose: we get to our wits’ end, convinced that God is asleep and that we’re going to drown (Matthew 8:24–25). When we think like this, we show God that we don’t have the slightest bit of confidence in him, nor in his governing of the world.

“He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm” (v. 26). What a pang of remorse must have shot through the disciples when they realized that, instead of relying on their Lord, they’d failed him. And what a pang will go through us when we realize that we could have produced joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in him, no matter what lay ahead.

There are times in life without storms or crises, times when doing our human best is enough. But when a crisis comes, we reveal instantly on whom we rely. If we’ve been learning to worship God and to trust him, the crisis will reveal that we can go to the breaking point without breaking our confidence in him.

God’s will is that we reach a place of perfect rest, a place of oneness with him. When we are one with God, we will be not only blameless in his sight but a deep joy to him.

Psalms 84-86; Romans 12

Wisdom from Oswald

It is not what a man does that is of final importance, but what he is in what he does. The atmosphere produced by a man, much more than his activities, has the lasting influence. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L

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Father, I thank you that you have heard me. — John 11:41

When the Son of God prays, he has only one consciousness: the consciousness of his Father. God always hears the prayers of his Son, and if his Son is formed in me, God will always hear my prayers. I have to make sure that the Son of God is manifested in my mortal flesh, through the indwelling Holy Spirit. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Is the Son of God getting his chance with me? Is the direct simplicity of his life being worked out in me? When I come in contact with the events of life as an ordinary human being, is the prayer of the eternal Son to his Father being prayed in me? “In that day you will ask in my name” (John 16:26). In which day? The day when the Holy Spirit has come to me and made me one with my Lord.

Ask yourself if Jesus Christ is being abundantly satisfied in your life, or if you’ve got your spiritual strut on. Never let common sense break in and push the Son of God to the side. Common sense is a gift that God gave human nature, but the gift that comes from his Son is supernatural sense. The Son detects the Father. Common sense has never once detected the Father, and never will. Don’t enthrone common sense.

Our ordinary wits never worship God unless they are transformed by his indwelling Son. We have to keep our mortal flesh in perfect subjection to him, letting him work through us moment by moment. Are we living in such dependence on Jesus Christ that his life is being manifested in us?

Psalms 77-78; Romans 10

Wisdom from Oswald

The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word.Disciples Indeed, 386 R

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The holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. — Luke 1:35

If I have been born again from above, the Son of God himself has been born into my mortal flesh. What was true of the virgin Mary in the introduction of God’s Son into this earth is true in every saved soul: the Son of God is born into us by the direct act of God.

As a child of God, I have to exercise the right of a child to always be face-to-face with my Father. Am I giving the Son’s holy innocence and simplicity and oneness with the Father a chance to manifest themselves in me? Am I continually responding with amazement to what my common sense tells me to do, saying to it, “Why are you trying to warn me off? Don’t you know that I have to be in my Father’s house?” Whatever my external circumstances, the holy, innocent, eternal Child within me must remain in contact with the Father.

Am I simple enough to identify myself with my Lord in this way? Is he getting his way with me? Is God realizing that his Son has been formed in me, or have I put the Lord to the side?

Oh, the uproar of these days! Everyone is clamoring—for what? For the Son of God to be put to death. There’s no room for the Son of God, no room for quiet, holy communion with the Father.

Is the Son of God praying in me, or am I dictating to him? Is he ministering in me as he did when he walked among us in the flesh? Is the Son of God in me going through his passion for his own purposes? The more one knows of the inner life of God’s most devoted servants, the more one sees God’s purpose: to “fill up . . . what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24). There is always more “filling up” to be done.

Psalms 74-76; Romans 9:16-33

Wisdom from Oswald

We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L

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Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house? — Luke 2:49

Our Lord’s childhood wasn’t immature adulthood. His childhood is an eternal fact, the permanent state of his relationship to his Father. Am I so identified with my Lord and Savior that I, too, am a holy, innocent child of God? Do I look upon life as a permanent state of dwelling in my Father’s house? Is the Son of God dwelling in his Father’s house inside me?

The abiding reality is God; he is not changeable or fleeting. Yet he makes his order known in fleeting moments. When we are saved, we receive the power and the privilege of exhibiting the redemption in the passing moments of our lives. But to do this, we must remain in contact with abiding reality. Am I always in contact with reality, or do I pray only when things have gone wrong? I have to learn to identify myself with my Lord in holy communion in ways I haven’t even thought of yet, to live out each moment going about my Father’s business within my Father’s house.

If I consider my individual circumstances, what do I see? Am I so identified with the life of the eternal Child of God that I, too, am simply his child, continually talking to him and realizing that all things come from him? Are the graces of his ministry working through me in my home, my business, and my community? Am I wondering why I’m going through the things I’m going through right now? It isn’t that I have to go through them; it’s that they have been chosen specifically for me by God’s providence, with an eye to my growth in grace.

Let God have his way, while you keep yourself in perfect union with him. The life our Lord lived on earth is to become your vital life. The way he worked and lived must be the way he lives in you.

Psalms 72-73; Romans 9:1-15

Wisdom from Oswald

To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R

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In that day you will ask in my name. — John 16:26

We are too much given to thinking of the cross as something we have to get through, imagining it simply as the gateway to our salvation. We have to realize that we get through the cross only to get into it. The cross should stand for one thing only: complete and absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our identification with the Lord is realized most strongly in prayer. Jesus said, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). Then why ask? So that you “may be one” as the Father and Son are one (John 17:22–23). Prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God.

If we think of prayer not as a oneness with God but rather as a way to get answers or blessings, we think wrongly. When we go to God for answers, we are bound to get irritated, because although God always responds, it isn’t always in the way we want. When a prayer seems to go unanswered, we must be careful not to blame someone else; that is a snare of Satan. If we look to God, we will find that there’s a reason which is a deep instruction for us, not for anyone else. We will see that our refusal to identify ourselves with our Lord in prayer is what has led to our irritation. We must remember that we are not here to prove that God answers prayer; we are here to be living monuments of his grace.

Have you, by the power of the cross, reached such oneness and intimacy with God that the only explanation for your life of prayer is Jesus Christ’s life of prayer? “In that day you will ask in my name.” You will be so identified with your Lord that there will be no distinction between his life and yours.

Psalms 70-71; Romans 8:22-39

Wisdom from Oswald

The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance.Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R

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