• Foggy Ideas

    I read this in a devotional this morning. I hope that it is an encouragement to you.


    Some people feel discouraged because they have to struggle to understand what God is saying to them. Even focusing on the Bible requires persistent and energetic work to understand it. But such struggle is not inappropriate; it is natural and right. Struggling to understand is normal. A truism of life is that in its most important moments we don’t have the foggiest idea of what we are doing. Our ignorance is partly for our own good. Did you really know what was happening when you entered the university or military training, got married or brought a child into the world? In some vague sense you did, but you also had little idea of what it meant in the long run. If you had understood all that it meant at the time, you probably would not have had the courage to proceed. Then you would have missed out on much good that has come to you through those events.

     Dallas Willard and Jan Johnson, Hearing God through the Year: A 365-Day Devotional (Westmont, IL: IVP Books, 2015).


    1. Jesus can be trusted

      As I write this post, I have to admit that I'm a little embarrassed because it has been so long since I've added to my "travel journal." It's not that I haven't been traveling with Jesus, but I've felt like I've have had so little to say. I've allowed the circumstances of 2020 to overwhelm me. I've allowed the busyness of life to be an excuse.


      During my devotional time today I read these sobering and encouraging words from F.B. Meyer:


      We must not weep because the future is unknown. “Jesus we know, and he is on the throne.” We must trust our own future to Christ without fear or tears of foreboding. The Lamb who shed his blood to redeem may be trusted to order and perfect that which concerneth us.

       F. B. Meyer, Through the Bible Day by Day: A Devotional Commentary, vol. 7 (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1914–1918), 186.


      If your struggling today, wondering if God knows what he's doing or if he's lost control, take heart in the fact that Jesus, the Lamb of God, has this moment and every moment to come in his hand right now and forever. His plans, purposes, and designs are being worked out, even if we can't discern it with our eyes or comprehend it with our minds.


      Keep your faith in Jesus! He alone can be trusted!

      1.  — Edited

        Jesus is the truth!

        Here's an excellent insight from F.B. Meyer,

        "Where God’s spirit is mightily at work, Satan is not far away."
         F. B. Meyer, Through the Bible Day by Day: A Devotional Commentary, vol. 6 (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1914–1918), 46.

        I want to encourage you this day not to be discouraged or confused by Satan as you hotly pursue to follow Christ and allow him to live his life through you. The enemy is bent on harming you and deceiving you. He does not want you to experience the life that is yours in Christ Jesus. I think he takes special delight in attacking you when you are living in intimate connection with our Lord. If he thinks he can get you to believe that you are going through a difficult period because you somehow don't measure up or that following Jesus is more trouble than it's worth (or some similar lie), he will try.

        Troubles are not indicative of God's displeasure. In fact, they may be proof of exactly the opposite--they may simply be attacks from Satan designed to get you to take your eyes off of Jesus and the truth.

        Cling to these words from Jesus, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Remember that the truth will dispel the lie. Jesus is the truth!

        1. This is even more apropos now. I have a friend whose elderly parents wondered if the Corona virus was God's punishment. Sadly, she didn't have an answer for them. Thanks for posting truth!

      2.  — Edited

        Advent perspective

        As we prepare to enter into the Advent season, it would be good for all of us (beginning with and including me) to heed these profound words from Oswald Chambers,


        Beware of posing as a profound person; God became a Baby.

         Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).

        1. The witness of obscure but Spirit-led lives

          I was challenged and encouraged by this word from F.B. Meyer:


          The voice of the Church has testified to the living Christ, not arguing but attesting; and to each word of testimony the Holy Spirit has borne assenting witness. Christian apologetics are of less importance than the witness of obscure but Spiritled lives.

           F. B. Meyer, Through the Bible Day by Day: A Devotional Commentary, vol. 5 (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1914–1918), 217–218.


          Apologetics can be used as a wonderful tool, but a Spirit-led life still speaks a stronger word.

          1. The unheeded secret

            These words need no commentary, rather they need heeding:


            You have no idea of where God is going to engineer your circumstances, no knowledge of what strain is going to be put on you either at home or abroad, and if you waste your time in over-active energies instead of getting into soak on the great fundamental truths of God’s Redemption, you will snap when the strain comes; but if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in God on the un-practical line, you will remain true to Him whatever happens.

             Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).


            1. Five minutes of drastic obedience

              This is great teaching from Oswald Chambers on how we come to know God and spiritual truth. I encourage you to take it to heart and act upon it. It will revolutionize your spiritual life.


              All God’s revelations are sealed until they are opened to us by obedience. You will never get them open by philosophy or thinking. Immediately you obey, a flash of light comes. Let God’s truth work in you by soaking in it, not by worrying into it. The only way you can get to know is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. Obey God in the thing He shows you, and instantly the next thing is opened up. We read tomes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when one five minutes of drastic obedience would make things as clear as a sunbeam. ‘I suppose I shall understand these things some day!’ You can understand them now. It is not study that does it, but obedience. The tiniest fragment of obedience, and heaven opens and the profoundest truths of God are yours straight away. God will never reveal more truth about Himself until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming “wise and prudent.”

               Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).


              1. Be not afraid!

                This morning I read the account about the boat trip that the disciples took without Jesus following the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:16-21). If you are familiar with that event, then you know that a terrible storm erupted and was preventing them from reaching their destination. Jesus walked upon the water, caught up with them, and eventually entered the boat. John records "and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading" (21).


                I love these insights from F.B. Meyer based on that passage:


                He knew when he pressed the disciples into the boat, that the night would be full of storm, but he did not hesitate to expose them to its peril; he was conscious of his ability to turn that storm to the highest use by coming to their help. His advent is often delayed, but he always comes. Delays are not denials. He is as near in the storm as though already in the boat. The storm-waves are his pathway. Be not afraid!

                 F. B. Meyer, Through the Bible Day by Day: A Devotional Commentary, vol. 5 (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1914–1918), 191.


                Trust in Jesus today. Trust his leading in your life. Don't be afraid when the storms of life assail you; Jesus is near and he will see you through!

                1. The secret of a Christian

                  I'm very challenged by this statement from Oswald Chambers:


                  The secret of a Christian is that the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the experience of this works out in the practical details of life, not in times of communion with God.

                   Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).


                  Lord, cause your supernatural life to be made natural in me and be evident to all I encounter this day. Amen.

                  1. Prayer changes me

                    Here is the third (and final) installment on prayer from Oswald Chambers:


                    It is not so true that “prayer changes things” as that prayer changes me and I change things. God has so constituted things that prayer on the basis of Redemption alters the way in which a man looks at things. Prayer is not a question of altering things externally, but of working wonders in a man’s disposition.

                     Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).


                    King Jesus, mercifully change our perspective on prayer from primarily seeking change on the outside to being changed ourselves. Work your wonders in our lives so that they become more aligned with your will and purposes. Alter us so that we see things from your perspective. Amen.