I had to pause and think

How am I to pour out before the Lord the love I receive from others? There’s only one way: through the determination of my mind. People may do certain things for me which are humanly impossible to repay, things I could never accept if I didn’t know God. Since I do know him, I am able to accept others’ loving acts because I know that God will repay them so long as I give the thing back to him in my mind. I do this by saying, “This is too great and worthy for me; it’s not meant for a human being at all. I must pour it out.” The moment I commit something to the Lord, it will begin to flow in rivers of living water all around. If instead I hoard the love others give me, it will turn to poison. Love has to be transfigured by being poured out before the Lord.

Have you become bitter and sour because you have clutched one of God’s blessings for yourself? If instead you had poured it out to him, you would have been the sweetest person on earth. God wants to use you to enlarge other people’s horizons. Get into the habit of immediately giving back to him everything he gives to you, and he will make you an immeasurable blessing to others. #GodisGood #leadership #oswaldchambers #faith #believe #soccer #coaching

Powerful

The fullness of my life lies not in bodily health, not in external events, not in seeing God’s work succeed. It lies in the perfect understanding of God, and in the communion with him that Jesus himself had. The first thing that will upset this communion is the irritation that comes from trying to control my circumstances. The worries of this life, said Jesus, will choke the word of God (Mark 4:19). God’s aim is to get me beyond worry to the place where I will be his witness and proclaim who Jesus is. Everything God has done for me until now is the mere threshold of this deeper relationship with him. #GodisGood #leadership #oswaldchambers #faith #believe #soccer #coaching

Faith

Every time you venture out in the life of faith, you will find something which, from a commonsense standpoint, flatly contradicts your faith. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. They stand in the relation of the natural to the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ when your common sense fails? Can you venture heroically on his words when the facts of your life shout, “It’s a lie”? Up on the mountaintop with God, it’s easy to say, “I believe God can do anything.” But you have to come down from the heights into the valley and meet with facts that laugh ironically at your belief. #GodisGood #leadership #oswaldchambers #faith #believe #soccer #coaching

Do you see yourself in this way

“I have called you friends.” Our friendship with Jesus is based on the new life created in us, a life which has no connection with our old life. The new life is unutterably humble, unsulliedly pure, and absolutely devoted to God. When we enter into friendship with our Lord, we are called upon to show everyone we meet the love he has shown us. We must set aside our personal preferences and learn to love as God loves. Love, for God, is not sentimental. To love as God loves is the most practical thing for a disciple. Beware of letting natural inclinations hinder your walk in love. #GodisGood #leadership #oswaldchambers #faith #believe #soccer #coaching

Power in these words

We mistake defiance for devotion, telling God that we want to be abandoned to him, when really we just want to abandon our responsibilities. We refuse to take a spiritual inventory. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want when there’s something I haven’t paid for? Have I been asking God for liberty when I am withholding it from someone else? Is there someone I haven’t forgiven, someone to whom I haven’t been kind? #GodisGood #leadership #oswaldchambers #faith #believe #soccer #coaching

Thinking I am useful

The true character of the loveliness that counts for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is smug and self-righteous and unchristian. If I start looking for evidence of my own usefulness, I instantly lose the bloom of the Lord’s touch. “Whoever believes in me,” Jesus said, “rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38). If I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord. #GodisGood #leadership #oswaldchambers #faith #believe #soccer #coaching

Just sitting here

God intends for us to live a full-orbed life in Jesus Christ, a life defined by an unworrying oneness with him. But there are times when that life is attacked from the outside, when we find ourselves tumbling back into a habit of introspection we thought had gone. Self-consciousness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, because it produces a continual wrestling. Self-consciousness isn’t sin. It may be caused by a nervous temperament or by suddenly finding ourselves in new circumstances. But it’s never God’s will that we should be less than absolutely complete in him. Anything that disturbs our rest in him must be cured at once. #GodisGood #leadership #oswaldchambers #faith #believe #soccer #coaching

What do you think

Have you ever been in this place of speechless sadness? Has God’s word come to you about something you’re very rich in and told you to “sell everything you have” (Luke 18:22)? Perhaps you are rich in your temperament or in your personal relationships of heart and mind. Perhaps God has told you to give them up, and you haven’t done it. If so, you’ve often been speechless with sorrow. The Lord won’t plead with you, but every time he meets you on that point, he will repeat, “If you want to follow me, these are the conditions.#GodisGood #leadership #oswaldchambers #faith #believe #soccer #coaching

The word is always working

There was a reason Jesus let the ruler leave in this dejected state: our Lord knows perfectly well that once his word is heard, sooner or later it will bear fruit. The terrible thing is that some of us prevent it from bearing fruit in our present lives. I wonder what we will say when we do make up our minds to be devoted to him. One thing is certain: he will never shame us for our past refusals to hear him. #GodisGood #leadership #oswaldchambers #faith #believe #soccer #coaching

Take a moment

Never quench the Spirit, and do not despise him when he says to you, “Do not be blind about this thing anymore. You aren’t where you thought you were. Up until now I haven’t been able to reveal it to you, but I reveal it now.” When the Spirit disciplines you like this, let him have his way. Let him get you rightly related to God. ##GodisGood #leadership #oswaldchambers #faith #believe #soccer #coaching #leadership