Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don't say, "I will endure this until I can get away and pray." Pray now - draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God's grace through prayer.
Oswald ChambersWhen we touch the foundation of the reality of the good news of God, we will never bother Him anymore with little personal complaints.
Oswald ChambersVery few of us know anything about loyalty to Christ -- For My Sake. It is that which makes the iron saint.
Oswald ChambersOne of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, 'What do you expect to do?' You don't know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing.......Hav e you been asking what God is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do. He reveals to you who he is.
Oswald ChambersGod gives us the vision, then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. Every vision will be made real if we will have patience. Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry.
Oswald ChambersA river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, "rivers of living water" will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even "to the end of the earth" regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be.
Oswald ChambersThe test of the life of a saint is not success, but faithfulness in human life as it actually is.
Oswald ChambersWhich are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those who had not the remotest notion that they were influencing us. In the Christian life, the implicit is never conscious, if it is conscious it ceases to have this unaffected loveliness which is the characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.
Oswald ChambersWe must get to the place of real solitude with Christ. He is our mountain-height and our sea-calm.
Oswald ChambersSome of us are like the Dead Sea, always taking in but never giving out, because we are not rightly related to the Lord Jesus.
Oswald ChambersNever allow the thought, 'I am of no use where I am.' You are certainly of no use where you're not.
Oswald ChambersThe inattentive, slovenly way we drift into the presence of God is an indication that we are not bothering to think about Him. Whenever our Lord spoke of prayer, He said, "Ask." It is impossible to ask if you do not concentrate.
Oswald ChambersIt is easy to turn our religious life into a cathedral for beautiful memories, but there are feet to be washed . . .
Oswald ChambersSin is not weakness, it is a disease; it is red-handed rebellion against God and the magnitude of that rebellion is expressed by Calvary's cross.
Oswald ChambersIf God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him.
Oswald ChambersIn the spiritual domain, criticism is love turned sour. In a wholesome spiritual life there is no room for criticism. The critical faculty is an intellectual one, not a moral one. If criticism becomes a habit it will destroy the moral energy of the life and paralyse spiritual force. The only person who can criticise human beings is the Holy Spirit.
Oswald ChambersLeave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.
Oswald ChambersGet into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.
Oswald ChambersToo often we treat prayer as the preparation for the work of the church. Do you not see? Prayer IS the work of the church.
Oswald ChambersAngels cannot preach the gospel, only beings such as Paul and you and I can preach the gospel.
Oswald ChambersWe trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only reason for the forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ...No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ...To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him.
Oswald ChambersWe should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them.
Oswald ChambersWe are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle.
Oswald ChambersNever water down the Word of God, but preach it in its undiluted sternness. There must be unflinching faithfulness to the Word of God, but when you come to personal dealings with others, remember who you are- you are not some special being created in heaven, but a sinner saved by grace.
Oswald ChambersThere is a vast difference between devotion to a person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause- He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself. To be a disciple is to be a devoted bondservant motivated by love for the Lord Jesus.
Oswald ChambersGod is not saving the world; it is done. Our business is to get men and women to realize it.
Oswald ChambersThe sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold.
Oswald ChambersAs Christians we are not out for our own cause at all, we are out for the cause of God, which can never be our cause. We do not know what God is after, but we have to maintain our relationship with Him whatever happens.
Oswald ChambersThe loadstar of a saint is God Himself, not estimated usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that count, not what we do for him.
Oswald ChambersBeware of giving over to mere dreaming when once God has spoken. Leave him to be the source of all your dreams and joys and delights, and go out and obey what He has said. If you are in love, you do not sit down and dream about the one you love all the time, you go and do something for him; and that is what Jesus Christ expects us to do. Dreaming after God has spoken is an indication that we do not trust Him.
Oswald ChambersNever water down or minimise the mighty Gospel of God by considering that people may be misled by certain statements. Present the Gospel in all its fullness and God will guard His own truth.
Oswald ChambersIf God allows you to be stripped of the exterior portions of your life, He means for you to cultivate the interior
Oswald ChambersThe true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing but in God-likeness.
Oswald ChambersThe author who benefits you most is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been dumbly struggling in you for utterance.
Oswald ChambersWe are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be.
Oswald ChambersThe Bible talks plentifully about joy, but it nowhere talks about a 'happy Christian.' Happiness depends on what happens; joy does not. Remember, Jesus Christ had joy, and He prayed 'that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.'
Oswald Chambers