The Oswald Project
Many of you, like myself, have loved and benefitted from Oswald Chamber's daily devotions, My Utmost For His Highest. First published in 1935, it has been translated into 39 languages and has sold more than 13 million copies. For years, I have journaled through Oswald's challenging daily discipleship devotionals, and now, through audio podcasting, I'm able to share his unique Scriptural insights in tandem with my personal reflections and teaching notes.
Episodes
There's a story of a farmer and his son out in the field on a sunny day with billowy white clouds above. Suddenly, the farmer's son pointed and said, "Look at that cloud formation, Dad! It formed the letters "GPC." I'm supposed to "Go Preach Christ! " So off he went into the countryside with just his Bible and the clothes on his back. About six months later, the dad saw his son walking up the lane, head down, and looking a little w...
For many Christians, the story of the rich young ruler is a familiar story. Jesus meets a Jewish young man of great wealth and self-confidence that his “doing good things” was sufficient to earn him God’s favor. But he had a question. How could he be confident that he had eternal life? And his assumption was that he had to “do something.” “What must I do” leads us to believe tha...
Surely, you've heard of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." You may have even thought it was a good idea from time to time. You know, someone steals 5 bucks from you, and you steal 5 bucks from them. Or better, you steal 10 bucks from them (just to teach them a lesson). Really?
Whoever heard of getting up, leaving a worship service and not coming back until I had tried to reconcile with someone who, as far as I knew, I had neither said nor done anything to offend them? Well, Jesus obviously thought it was worth bringing our attention to. Today, we're taking a deep dive into Matthew 5:23-24 from the Sermon on the Mount.
Jerusalem. The name conjures up thoughts of shepherds tending flocks and unparalleled technology, as well as images of a war-torn nation's never-ending fight for survival. For Jesus, Jerusalem meant the place of His destiny, where He would die, crucified on a Roman cross. His disciples were anxious to go with Jesus to Jerusalem, but little did they realize that Jesus, their teacher, was the one who would be sacrificed as this year'...
Master. Teacher, or slave, are not common expressions of the American church, relative to how we see Jesus, or how we see ourselves as Christians. But in the ancient world, the number one reason for salvery was indentured servants. This happend when a person hads a debt he could nto pay and said, "I can't pay you, so I'll serv you. I willingly present myself to you as a slave, if you will forgive my debt. Today, we will see in the ...
Christians view the many references to the Suffering Servant, found in Isaiah chapters 49-55, as a direct messianic prophecy fulfilled by Jesus Christ, as the atonement for sin. But without going into the many New Testament that validate this, today we’ll consider Oswald Chamber’s unique devotional ministry of making all things in Scripture relevant, in some meaningful way, to the life of the faithful, born again follow...
Hebrews 4:14 says that Jesus was "in all points" tempted as we are, yet without sin. How can that be if Jesus was not born with a sinful nature? Can He really understand every temptation we may go through?
Say the word "green," and people might think "money." Say the word "bat," and the word "baseball" comes to mind. Say the word "temptation." and the common definition might be "sin." But is it accurate to define temptation as sin?
The Bible does not prescribe any one way to pray. You can stand up, lie down, eyes closed, eyes open--there is no formula. But there are times for intense, private, one-on-one prayer, such as Jesus experienced in His 40 days in the desert and in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Oswald begins today's devotional with the penetrating question, "Have you renounced the hidden things of shame from your former life without Christ?" They are easy to hide because no one can see inside of our heart. Right? But God has called us to a higher standard. Oswald calls it "My utmost for His highest." In other words, our calling, as a new creation in Christ, is to live a life of Christian character so that simply "showing ...
“Even the very smallest thing that we allow in our lives that is not under the control of the Holy Spirit is completely sufficient to account for spiritual confusion, and spending all of our time thinking about it will still never make it clear. Spiritual confusion can only be conquered through obedience. As soon as we obey……….we have discernment.” Oswald Chambers
In today's devotion, it's been three years since the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry and the scene in John 13:13 that we call the Last Supper. Jesus had just finished washing the feet of His disciples, a menial task reserved for servants. The Bew Testament records 37 miracles of Jesus, but this is not identified as one of them. Far from adding to Jesus' celebrity status in people's eyes, washing feet doesn't qualify as miracle...
Not much is known about a disciple of Jesus named Nathaniel, but what we see in John 1:48 is significant. It's a story that reveals Jesus as the Messiah, the Savior who made the first move toward all lost sinners. People say, "I found God!" The last time I checked, God is not lost--but people are.
Here in 2 Corinthians 10:5, the "thoughts" Paul wants to take captive are not his own, but they belong to those who are misleading the Corinthian church, mainly false apostles, which Paul is determined to bring into submission to Christ. In other words, this verse is not just an individual command, telling you to police your own mind minute-by-minute; although that’s certainly something Paul would applaud, here in this ...
Sometimes, the Apostle Paul makes a statement that needs a little help to understand. Such is the case when in 2 Corinthians 10:5 he says, "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh." Uh? What's that? Well, Paul is just doing a play on words, using his accuser's misuse of the term "flesh" against them. You'll see what I mean as you listen to today's podcast.
A true follower of Jesus is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization:
“You are not your own.” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
To say, “I am not my own,” is to have reached a new level of spiritual maturity. The true nature of that maturity is evidenced by the deliberate giving up of myself to another Person, and that Person is Jesus Christ.
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.
Water. Human beings are composed of approximately 60% water. Water is essential for human life—and spiritual life. In today's devotion, we explore one of the most explosive moments in Jesus' ministry, which takes place on the last day of the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, and it's all about --water!
There’s a lot of confusion about joy and happiness. Some people think they are the same thing, but the Bible doesn’t see it that way. The fundamental difference between joy and happiness is that worldly happiness depends on personal pleasure, and more often than not, personal pleasure is found in things that require you to disobey God. That’s the attraction of sin. We sin because it is pleasurable. The enticement ...
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