Chambers Devotion

The Assigning of the Call

Sep

30

2011

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church . . . —Colossians 1:24

We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, “Here am I! Send me" Isaiah 6:8.
This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, “If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!” But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.
I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.

Tozer Prayer

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.  I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace.  I am ashamed of my lack of desire.  O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing,; I thirst to be made more thirsty still.  Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed.  Begin in mercy a new work of love within me.  Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away."  Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.

In Jesus name.

Amen.

Taken from "The Pursuit of God"

A.W. Tozer

Worship Today

I love this thought from William MacDonald. 

The fact that God has chosen some to be saved does not mean that He has chosen the rest to be lost.  The world is already lost and dead in sins.  If left to ourselves, all of us would be condemned eternally.  The question is, Does God have a right to stoop down, take a handful of already doomed clay, and fashion a vessel for beauty out of it?  Of course He does.  C.R. Erdman put it in right perspective when he said, “God’s sovereignty is never exercised in condemning men who ought to be saved, but rather it has resulted in the salvation of men who ought to be lost.”

The only way people can know if they are among the elect is by trusting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (1 Thessalonians 1:4-7).  God holds people responsible to accept the Savior by an act of the will.  In reproving those Jews who did not believe, Jesus placed the blame on their will.  He did not say, “You cannot come to Me because you are not chosen.”  Rather, He did say, “You are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:40)

The real question of a believer is not, does the sovereign God have the right to choose people to be saved?  Rather, it is, Why did He choose me?  This should make a person a worshiper for all eternity.

Yes, I think I agree!!

Fall

My week started with oatmeal for breakfast and walk before dawn.  It was so refreshing to watch the sun rise that I decided to walk again that night to watch the sun set.  That has been my daily routine this week and I can say I love it.   Three pounds later I feel pretty good. Thursday evening God provided this beautiful sun set.  The sky was ablaze.  It was breathtaking. 

Fall is my favorite season with the shorter days and brisk air.  As a poor football coaching family, fall provided free activities for my children.  School, football games, hay rides and church revivals kept us busy through out the season.  When Houston and Meagan were little, Friday nights consists of football games and 2am dinners.  Meagan would sleep on the bench seat as we ate.  Houston would never sleep.  He would go as along and as fast as we did.  Those days were short lived and fun.

Tomorrow will be the first time my family has been all together since December.  It will be a fast trip to OKC as we attend the Downs Syndrome Buddy Walk with my sweet granddaughter.  You want a sweet blessing-just hang out some special needs children.  You can never out love them.  What a blessing.  I sat with one of favorite girls tonight at the ballgame.  She was so excited to be sitting with me and she told me often! 

This summer I took an online biblical counseling class.  God ordained the circumstances and provided the funds to be able to take the class with a friend.  The class proved challenging as I learned about myself, God, and how He works in people's life.  I am praying for the funds to take a second class in February. 

Kolby is a senior this year.  Not sure where the years have gone.  God has been good to the Dilbeck's over the years.  His faithfulness is amazing.  I am married to an awesome man and have three wonderful kids.  Blessings are abundant even in the middle of the hard times and there have been many.

I hope you all have a great night.  Remember if we know the Lord this world is not our home.  We are Pilgrims who belong to another world.  Praise God, love Him, and I will see you tomorrow!

Chosen

People, young and old, will do many things to be included into a group.  We long to be liked and accepted.  Many times this desire runs out of control and we find ourselves participating in things that we would normally not want to do.  Girls will give up their virginity to find acceptance and love.  Guys will join gangs and participate in the killing of others to be accepted and thought of highly.  Men will speak the right words for approval but never follow through with the actions.  Women will wear the right clothing and make sure their children are behaving perfectly in the public eye, as they are dying inside to be noticed.  We all want to be accepted and to be esteemed.  We believe the lie that people will fulfill these desires.  The funny thing is we are all striving for the same thing.  The person you are trying to impress in also trying to impress someone else. What a vicious circle of unnecessary strife.

  I have a news flash for you!  This idol will NEVER work.

Those who cling to worthless idols

   turn away from God’s love for them. Jonah 2:8

Ephesians, my favorite book of the Bible, says in 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.  Spiritual Blessing-have you wondered like me what these blessing are? Let's read on...

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

 In love  he predestined us for adoption to sonship--through Jesus Christ,

in accordance with his pleasure and will—

We are chosen by God before the foundation of the world-what a blessing.  This amazing blessing needs to be chewed upon.  Do you realize who the Creator of the world is? The God of the universe.  The God who uses the earth as His footstool.  The God who measures the waters in the hollow of His hand.  The God who marks off the heavens and commands the waves to cease.  The God who holds the dust of the earth in a basket and who weights the mountains on the scales.  The God who knows the number of hairs on your head and the number of breathes in your lungs.  The Sovereign Lord who holds all things together by His power.

This God has CHOSEN you.  He chose you before the foundation of the world.  Before you were born He chose you.  Before you had your first thought, He chose you.  Before you could do your first good deed or your first sin, He chose you.  As this truth sets in, you are made free.  There is no need for self esteem, only God esteem, which is given freely.  He chose you to holy and blameless.  He adopted you.  He loves you-before you were created in your mother's womb. 

He has a purpose for you-to be holy and blameless in His sight.  Please don't let the striving begin here.  We are not make holy and blameless by our works.  Our Savior Christ Jesus makes us holy and blameless.  I don't understand how this works but when we trust and surrender our life to Jesus, we are made clean, holy, and blameless. 

God chose us and set us apart by His good pleasure.  It pleased God to extend His grace to us through His Son Jesus.  You are accepted and loved by Jesus.  This truth should make your heart bow in worship.  Bow before Him today, laying the worthless of idols of people worship at His feet and stand clothed in His righteousness.  Worship is all He desires from you!

Words Words Words

Words!  We hear and speak words from the time of our birth.  We study words in school to learn the definitions. We use the words in a sentence to understand their meanings.  Our lives are made up of words.  Words fill us from the songs we sing to the TV programs we watch.  We communicate with each other using words.  Words can bring healing to a hurting heart or be a dagger that destroys the heart.  I love words.  I enjoy listening to people speak words and I sometimes wonder if they even understand what they are saying.  Sometimes I have a mouth full of words that I later regret.  Other times I have no words and must sit in silence.  There are words I know the meaning of but cannot pronounce. But very seldom can I pronounce the words that I do not know the meaning.  What is a word anyway without a meaning? 

Over this past summer one word has captured my heart.  It has become a buzzword that my ears have been open to.  This word would come up in every conversation I had.  This word became heavy on my heart.  So heavy, that I had to stop and ponder the meaning of this word and how the Lord was using it my life.  The word is EXPECTATIONS and this is what I discovered.

We all have expectations of how we believe something should turn out. We plan in our hearts how we "expect" God or others to respond based on our behavior.  This is mostly on a subconscious level but I believe we all fall prey to this temptation.  Let me explain a little and begin with our expectations of people.  We plan in our mind and hearts how we believe a person will or should behave after we have done a specific act for them.  When this person does not respond as what we think and planned, we can become disappointed with them or with our self.  We have a preconceived mindset of how this should play out and when it takes on a different direction disappointment sets in and over time we can become disillusioned.  This happens with people but it happens with God as well. 

We are loving God, serving Him, being obedient, paying our tithe, teaching His people, living in the center of His will, so all this means our life should be a life of safety, luxury, and ease- right!  This is the expectation that our hearts (my heart) began to grab a hold of. When this expectation does not play out as we have it set up in our minds...disappointment and disillusions can come into play and a dark cloud of confusion begins to hang over our head. 

I found myself here last week- in a desperate situation of confusion.  I know spiritual confusion is usually an act of disobedience.  The problem was I was blind to the area of disobedience in my life.  But God in all His grace and mercy continued to bring this one word home to me. There were other words as well that began to prick my heart - sacrifice and thankfulness.  The prosperity gospel had begun to seep its way in to my thinking.  We may stay away from the blatant, "Name it and Claim it" but the underlining theme is what my heart desired to grab a hold of. 

As I pondered these words and attempted to put the puzzle pieces together, God reminded me of one word that was missing – repentance.  I had a heart attitude that needed to be changed. He reminded me of the many people throughout the bible whom were in the center of God’s will and their lives were NEVER a life of luxury, safety, and ease.  Look at the live of David, Paul, Moses, etc.  These men were in the center of God’s will, used mightily for Him, and yet their lives were full of blessings, struggles, and heartache.  God brought this home with me and applied the missing word repentance through a book called, “The Tale of Three Kings” by Gene Edwards.  This is a book on brokenness with the life of David, Saul, and Absalom. 

Words are important; listen closely.  Be obedient to God for the one purpose of loving Him, laying all expectation down.  He has given me eternal life, which is an opportunity to KNOW Him.  That is enough for me and I hope it is for you as well.

How To Find A Wife

The following is a blog posted by Jim Eliff on twitter.  I think it is worth posting here and I hope it makes all young woman and men stop to think and maybe consider what God's role is in your dating relationships.   I know you young ens will think I'm "old school."  It is true!  But I also believe this is biblical correct and will save you much grief in your sweet young lives.  Read, consider, and  ask the Lord what He sees in these truths.  I am thankful I know two young woman who follow these guidelines.  Both of you read this blog and you know who you are....I love you both! 

http://ccwtoday.org/article_view.asp?article_id=270

Blessings

I have experienced many blessings today.  The worship service this morning was incredible.  God showed up in power.  I was reminded tonight at the "Wake Up Call" simulcast that power is the only way God shows up.  There were two salvation's today.  One during the worship service and one today after the simulcast.  What a blessing to be a part of God's salvation.  It was funny: the girl tonight had to chase down the preacher to visit and ask questions regarding salvation.  The determination she showed in wanting to know Christ was convicting to me.  I wonder what lengths would you go through to know Christ.  If you know Him what lengths would you go through to follow Him in obedience?  It is time to stop discussing what we want to do and start being obedient.  It is quite easy to talk about prayer, evangelism, and service but the challenge comes when we quit talking and begin to put it into practice.  Have you noticed how we can have a full length discussion about prayer...how to pray, answers to prayer, power found in prayer but we fail to pray!  It appears we are content talking about the blessing of getting to know Christ but we are not willing to surrender our time in prayer.  Coming to God takes a pure heart and many times it is easier to talk about God instead of listening to Him talk to us about our sin. 

We see in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah realized and confessed his sin, God sent a seraphin with a hot coal to purify him.  I learned tonight in the simulcast that the coal blistered his lips.  When we confess our sin before our Lord it hurts.  It burns deep within our heart.  But God cleanses us, picks us up, wipes our tears, forgives our sins and sends us out to share all He has done for us.  You cannot share with others if you have not experienced God for yourself!   When you know forgiveness of your sin personally, you are able to give forgiveness to others freely.

Back to the blessings...Received encouragement through this mornings message that God is enough in our time of fear.  We reflected back ten years ago when the twin towers were hit by the planes.  We remembered and prayed for the families involved in the tragedy We prayed for the our service personal and thanked God for each of them.  It is a blessing to me to have a pastor who is willing to follow the Lord outside of the "box".  Many of us have an expectation of what a church service should look like and I am thankful at Southside, we can lay those preconceived ideas down and follow Christ as He leads-what a blessing.

Sunday School class was a blessing to me as well.   A friend returned to the Lord and us after staying away.  I witnessed three woman minister, encourage, and love her back to fellowship.  It is a  moment etched in my mind forever.  The grace in that room was powerful.  Have you watched someone minister out of the overflow of their hearts.  It is powerful! 

Yes, God only shows up in power and I got to witness and receive the blessings of that today!  But I am reminded again these blessing are to be poured out as an offering before the Lord.  For more on this see my September 3 post, "Pouring out the Water of satisfaction" by Oswald Chambers.  I think I must give this offering now.  Night everyone!

 

Majesty

I normally will put a song on my blog via YouTube.com but these lyrics by Dilrious are powerful, so I wanted to share without the instruments.  Savor the words and may they take root in your heart this morning.

Here I am humbled by Your Majesty,
Covered by Your grace oh friend.
Here I am knowing I'm a sinful man,
Covered by the blood of the Lamb.
Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine,
Since You laid down Your life,
The greatest sacrifice.

Majesty, Majesty.
Your grace has found me just as I am,
Empty handed but alive in Your hands.

Here I am humbled by the love that You give,
Forgiven so that I can forgive.
So here I stand,
Knowing that I am Your desire,
Sanctified by glory and fire.
And now I've found the greatest love of all is mine,
Since You laid down Your life,
The greatest sacrife.

Majesty, Majesty.
Your grace has found me just as I am,
Empty handed but alive in your hands.
Singing Majesty, Majesty.
Forever I am changed by Your love,
In the presence of Your Majesty.
Majesty.

We're singing Majesty, Majesty.
Your grace has found me just as I am,
And I'm nothing but alive in Your hands.
We're singing Majesty, Majesty.
Forever I am changed by Your love,
In the beauty of Your Majesty.
Majesty.

Written by Stu Garrard/Martin Smith 2003 Curious? Music UK

Evangelism A Way Of Life

Evangelism is not something to do; it is a way to live. 

Practical ideas of living out evangelism.  I desire to go on a foreign mission trip to share Christ. I am thankful for my friends who have sacrificed many things to live overseas as a missionary.  Not having the funds or the availability to go on a mission trip is no excuse to not evangelize.  

  Therefore, go and make disciples of all the peoples;

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands

I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20

In the Greek language "go" is an aorist participle, which means it takes on the mood of the command-making disciples.  Priscilla Shires states, "It could accurately be translated going.  In other words, the command to make disciples should be accomplished while believers are going about their business. As you are going make disciples in all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit."

Cool thought, as you live your life make disciples.  What keeps you busy during the day?  Work, school, family, etc.  Make a list of every person involved in your life on a weekly basis.  These are the people God has given you to "make disciples", "to teach all He has commanded". 

Start small, begin with your family and friends. Our relationships are not just for our enjoyment.  God has a bigger purpose in mind.  As I began listing the people in my life, I was amazed at how many people I have an influence over.  I want my life to matter and count worthy of God's commands.  We must live purposefully with the thought of making disciples as we walk this journey called life. 

The next practical thought is we must have something to say.  Do you ever feel that way.  I have nothing to give.  Many times that is because we do not know Christ.  We have not taken the time to interact with Him to know all He has done for us and what He desires to do in others lives.  You can only give away what has been given to you.  Start small again.  Find one area of blessing and expound on that area.  My one area is peace.  I have lived so many years without true peace, searching for meaning and the correct way to do life.  Jesus has given me peace and life.  I now have something to give away to others.  Pray.  Seek the Lord for your one thing and begin to give it away to the people God has so graciously placed in your life.

You are a blessing!  Live purposely making disciples today.

Prayers

Make God's words be the cry of your heart today.  He delights in answering!.

God, give me spiritual wisdom and insight so that I might grow in my knowledge of You  I ask my heart may be flooded with light so that I can understand this confident hope.  I also pray that I will understand the incredible greatness of God's power toward me who believe Christ Jesus.  Ephesians 1:17-19

Prayers

I wonder if you ever take time to pray for your own spiritual growth.  It is a discipline I feel is essential to grow spiritually.  God honors His word and He bestows blessings upon us as we seek Him. You can be confident He will answer when we take His word and ask him to teach, change, and make us into His image.
This is the first prayer I remember praying for myself.  God has answered and He continues to work these truths out in my life.  Over the next couple of days, I will list specific Scripture to begin praying for your own spiritual growth and the growth of others. So check back often.

Teach me your decrees, O Lord;
      I will keep them to the end.
 ³⁴ Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions;
      I will put them into practice with all my heart.
 ³⁵ Make me walk along the path of your commands,
      for that is where my happiness is found.
 ³⁶ Give me an eagerness for your laws
      rather than a love for money!
 ³⁷ Turn my eyes from worthless things,
      and give me life through your word.
 ³⁸ Reassure me of your promise,
      made to those who fear you.
 ³⁹ Help me abandon my shameful ways;
      for your regulations are good.
 ⁴⁰ I long to obey your commandments!
      Renew my life with your goodness
Psalm 119:33-40

Pouring Out The Water of Satisfaction-Chambers

He would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord —2 Samuel 23:16

What has been like “water from the well of Bethlehem” to you recently— love, friendship, or maybe some spiritual blessing ( 2 Samuel 23:16 )? Have you taken whatever it may be, even at the risk of damaging your own soul, simply to satisfy yourself? If you have, then you cannot pour it out “to the Lord.” You can never set apart for God something that you desire for yourself to achieve your own satisfaction. If you try to satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you. You must sacrifice it, pouring it out to God— something that your common sense says is an absurd waste.
How can I pour out “to the Lord” natural love and spiritual blessings? There is only one way— I must make a determination in my mind to do so. There are certain things other people do that could never be received by someone who does not know God, because it is humanly impossible to repay them. As soon as I realize that something is too wonderful for me, that I am not worthy to receive it, and that it is not meant for a human being at all, I must pour it out “to the Lord.” Then these very things that have come to me will be poured out as “rivers of living water” all around me (John 7:38). And until I pour these things out to God, they actually endanger those I love, as well as myself, because they will be turned into lust. Yes, we can be lustful in things that are not sordid and vile. Even love must be transformed by being poured out “to the Lord.”
If you have become bitter and sour, it is because when God gave you a blessing you hoarded it. Yet if you had poured it out to Him, you would have been the sweetest person on earth. If you are always keeping blessings to yourself and never learning to pour out anything “to the Lord,” other people will never have their vision of God expanded through you.