Trusting the Sovereignty of God

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God." Romans 8:28.

"It is only the loyal soul who believes that God engineers circumstances. We take such liberties with our circumstances, we do not believe God engineers them, although we say we do; we treat the things that happen as if they were engineered by men.

"To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, and that is to our Lord. Suddenly God breaks up a particular set of circumstances, and the realization comes that we have been disloyal to Him by not recognizing that He had organized them. We never saw what He was after, and that particular thing will never be repeated all the days of our life. The test of loyalty always comes just there. If we learn to worship God in the trying circumstances, He will alter them in two seconds when He chooses.....

"We will be loyal to work, to service, to anything, but do not ask us to be loyal to Jesus Christ.... Our Lord is dethroned more emphatically by Christian workers than by the world. God is made a machine for blessing men, and Jesus Christ is made a Worker among workers.

"The idea is not that we do work for God, but that we are so loyal to Him that He can do His work through us—‘I reckon on you for extreme service, with no complaining on your part and no explanation on Mine.’ God wants to use us as He used His own Son.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

1Cor 9:20 - 27

1Co 9:20 To the Jews I became like a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became like a man under the law, in order to win those under the law (although I myself am not under the law). 

1Co 9:21 To those who do not have the law I became like a man who does not have the law, in order to win those who do not have the law (although I am not free from God's law, but am under the law of Christ). 

1Co 9:22 To the weak I became weak in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some of them. 

1Co 9:23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel in order to have a share in its blessings. 

1Co 9:24 You know that in a race all the runners run but only one wins the prize, don't you? You must run in such a way that you may be victorious. 

1Co 9:25 Everyone who enters an athletic contest practices self-control in everything. They do it to win a wreath that dies, but we to win one that never dies. 

1Co 9:26 That is the way I run, with a clear goal in mind. That is the way I box, not like someone punching the air. 

1Co 9:27 No, I keep on beating my body and making it my slave so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified. 

The clarity given by the Holy Spirit

Pentecost gave me the key to the Scriptures. It has kept my feet in all the slippery places of all sorts of criticism. The things that are stumbling blocks to so many are stepping stones to me. The inexplicable becomes plain when we recognize the presence and law of the Spirit. It balances scholarship, and gives discernment beyond all human learning. Indeed, learning without the Holy Spirit blinds men to the realities of divine truth. The man who thinks he can know the Word of God by mere intellectual study is greatly deceived. Spiritual truth is spiritually discerned.

- Samuel Chadwick -