all or nothing

i believe jesus was very serious about wanting all or nothing.

the lukewarm is not pleasing. it is repulsive and rejected.

the peices of our lives that we hold onto with a tight grip are acting as an idol in between our surrender to him.

he doesn't want us to claim to be followers unless we're willing to hand over everything in our heart, mind and soul.

this is not a suggestion from him, he is very clear about it.


singing ...

Who compares to Your matchless beauty
What can equal Your warm embrace
Who could fathom such strength and glory
Who could rise up to take Your place

For, You are God

Who could show me a heart so faithful
What could give me a joy so deep
Who could open the gates of heaven
Only You have such love for me

So, I throw down my earthly idols
I remove them from my heart

I sing Jesus, You're the only God I come to
Jesus, You're the only rock I run to

When I think about the cross
And how You died for us And rose again to set us free
I sing Jesus, You're the only God
The only God for me

(lyrics by: Gary Sadler)



Last night I read old Oswald Chambers and God began preparing me for many things I would face today and reaffirms His call in this:

"Fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ." 1 Thessalonians 3:2

After sanctification it is difficult to state what your aim in life is, because God has taken you up into His purpose by the Holy Ghost; He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself - God has called me for this and that; you are putting a barrier to God's use of you. As long as you have a personal interest in your own character, or any set ambition, you cannot get through into identification with God's interests. You can only get there by losing for ever any idea of yourself and by letting God take you right out into His purpose for the world, and because your goings are of the Lord, you can never understand your ways.

I have to learn that the aim in life is God's, not mine. God is using me from His great personal standpoint, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him, and never say - Lord, this gives me such heart-ache. To talk in that way makes me a clog. When I stop telling God what I want, He can catch me up for what He wants without let or hindrance. He can crumple me up or exalt me, He can do anything He chooses. He simply asks me to have implicit faith in Himself and in His goodness. Self pity is of the devil, if I go off on that line I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. I have "a world within the world" in which I live, and God will never be able to get me outside it because I am afraid of being frost-bitten.

(photo above by David Sylvian)