Posted on 01/05/2007 3:04:58 AM PST by .30Carbine
"And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ’Follow Me’ " (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, "Follow Me" (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, "Follow Me" (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first "Follow Me" was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).
Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. ". . . He breathed on them, and said to them, ’Receive the Holy Spirit’ " (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to "receive the Holy Spirit." "Receive the Holy Spirit"— the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 1910 Chambers married Gertrude Hobbs. They had one daughter, Kathleen, who still resides in London (as of 1992).
In 1911 he founded and became principal of the Bible Training College in Clapham, London, where he lectured until the school was closed in 1915 because of World War I. In October 1915 he sailed for Zeitoun, Egypt (near Cairo), where he ministered to Australian and New Zealand troops as a YMCA chaplain. He died there November 15, 1917, following surgery for a ruptured appendix.
My Utmost for His Highest, his best-known book, has been continuously in print in the United States since 1935 and in this, the last decade of the century, remains in the top ten titles of the religious book bestseller list with millions of copies in print. It has become a Christian classic. [from the flyleaf of the book]
Absolutely no flaming! These daily threads are intended to be devotional in nature. If a particular day's offering says nothing to you, please just go on and wait for the next day. Consider these threads a DMZ of sorts, a place where a perpetual truce is in effect and a place where all other arguments and disagreements from other times and places are left behind.
I can attest from personal experience that reading from Chambers daily will almost certainly change - not one's faith - but one's perspective of his/her own faith, and open up new vistas in your spiritual life. If - when - this happens to a reader of these threads, and they choose to share what has happened within them - we are treading on hallowed ground. Be respectful.
- Religion Moderator
"I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back."
Amen.
Awesome
Bible study bump.
I love words, especially God's Word, or especially words that apply to knowing our Father, His Son, the Holy Spirit, and awesome is in this category!
Chuck Swindoll of Insight for Living has been adamant on the subject of being highly discriminating and making infrequent use of this word in particular, and rightly so. I've heard him address the subject. While I agree with his admonition, because of the age in which I grew up, especially through the 80's I think, I tend to thoughtlessly apply the word as slang, using it where it is not actually applicable, much like the word cool or great.
Vision has rightly, IMO, used the word here. It is most applicable to our salvation!
So upon your use and study bump I went to my Barnhart's Dictionary of Etymology to further educate myself and give myself a training-reminder in the use of this good word (:
awe noun first usage probably before 1300 of Scandinavian source age, aghe, agi (Old Icelandic), ege (Old English) - meaning fear, terror.Sometime in the 1400's the form awe became common, and its usage in the adjective awful came soon after. As used here on our thread, the word awesome, as adjective, is first seen in 1598, formed from English awe (noun) plus the adjective-forming suffix -some:
Added to verbs -some means tending to; added to nouns it means causing; and to adjectives it adds the idea of to considerable degree.
Webster's: Awesome (adj.) -
inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, characterized by admiration, fear, wonder; showing extreme power, grand and sublime...
Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from Heaven above
With wisdom, power, and love
Our God is an awesome God!
~Rich Mullins
Awesome!
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