Spiritual Satisfaction

It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. … Our reach must exceed our grasp. … Paul said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on . . .” (Philippians 3:12). If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation. Oswald Chambers

How much deeper could we go if we were to decide good enough was not good enough? Without beating ourselves up, we must always desire just a little more of the Lord.

By spiritually satisfied Chambers means losing sight of the spiritual drought within and around us. We are not simply hungry for God, we are starving for God. If this is not so, it is because we have stuffed ourselves with the things that fill us, but that do not last or have eternal significance. “Our reach must exceed our grasp.” We must be attempting something for God that is beyond us. If you can do it in your power alone, reach for more.

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Explaining the Purposes of God

The lasting characteristic of a spiritual man is the ability to understand correctly the meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life, and the ability to explain the purposes of God to others. The overruling passion of his life is Jesus Christ. Whenever you see this quality in a person, you get the feeling that he is truly a man after God’s own heart (see Acts 13:22).

 Oswald Chambers
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Speaking for God – Part 2

Our hope for total God dependence remains, for now, a noble hope. We long for God’s Spirit to fill us and we long to speak inspired words, but too often, we speak from our own passions words that do not reflect God’s heart. This was the case with the great lawgiver Moses. He was a man of God, but he was not perfect.

As with you and me, he sometimes allowed his fury to speak and his own anger to show in inappropriate ways. Sometimes we charge forward without words when the Lord is far behind us calling to us. At such times, we are stumbling and full of self-pride. Then we utter meaningless phrases designed only to impress and draw praises to ourselves.

At the same time, we must speak and we must speak well. We must speak eloquently, but speaking well means speaking words of power, Spirit filled words, Biblical words. We must pepper our speech with scripture and salt or words with prayer. We must know that what we are saying is in keeping with His heart, and this we can know only when we know His word. Then we will utter words worth hearing. Before we speak, we must breathe out our own opinions and conceit, leaving room for His Spirit to fill us.

If we are genuinely interested in representing our Lord well, we might pray with Moses, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here” (Exodus 33:15, see also Exodus 34:9). Lord, if you will not speak through us, do not let us speak. If you will not write through us, do not let us write. If you do not go with us, we do not go.

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