'Oh, that doesn't matter much."
The fact that it does not matter much to you
may mean that it matters a great deal to God.
Nothing is a light matter with a child of God.
HOw much longer are some of us going
to keep God trying to teach us one thing over and over?
He never loses patience.
You say--"I know I am right with God";
but still those places in your life remain...
there is something over which you have not obeyed.
Are you protesting that your heart is right with God,
and yet there is something in your life
about which He has caused you to doubt?
Whenever there is doubt,
quit immediately, no matter what it is.
Perhaps you are all right in the main,
but in the rest you slip;
there is a relapse on the line of your concentration.
You no more need a holiday from spiritual concentration
than your heart needs a holdiay from beating.
You cannot have a moral holiday and remain moral,
nor can you have a spiritual holiday and remain spiritual.
God wants you to be entirely His."
--Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
This word from our morning devotions really encouraged us both to actively clear out everything that might come between us and the Lord, and to stay sharp on pursing Him.
We are blessed with continued relative peace here in Cap-Haitien...please keep praying for the people, for the peacemakers, and for the major issues we are facing (gas and food prices and shortages) to be improving.
We are also blessed (hang in there, Dad) to have picked up a little kitty today: Sophie. She was looking quite near death and was trembling with hunger, but as you can see from this picture, her little belly popped right out after we gave her some tuna. We've never seen such a sad looking kitten, but we think the Lord's blessed us with each other (we've missed our cat, and pets in general, so much!), and she'll look better in no time.
The rains are finally coming in again after quite a long stretch of almost no rain...pray it brings joy and peace to this dry and weary land!
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI read this devotional every day every year since I got it. I got it about 3 years ago. Where'd I get it? A certain Matt Ayars gave it to my husband, who let me borrow it at the time. That simple gift to Ricky really made a huge difference for me and others because I now give that book as a gift to others! THANK YOU :)
Aidan
You both are an inspiration...God Bless You and those you minister to!
ReplyDeleteHey matt and stacey...we're in Niger! Galmi! how fun to see old friends...and catch up on old friends via internet that's not normally available to us. anyway, i know the post is now old, but i've been catching up on all your posts since end of february this evening (june 4) and this one caught my eye because of the oswald chambers devotional you quoted...i remember that one so clearly! i used it as part of the reflection for prayer meeting that same night! how mind-boggling the way God works sometimes...reminding us that spiritually speaking we are all much closer than our physical "reality" would have us believe.
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