The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page May 1 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest 2 Corinthians 5:7 "We walk by faith, not by sight" Walking by Faith—Not Emotion Chambers reminds us that there are seasons when God’s presence feels close and unmistakable. But those moments are not meant to carry us. They are not the standard of the Christian life. When God begins to use us, He often leads us into quieter, hidden places where we do the work He gives us without carrying a glow about us and continually feeling inspired. We are not meant to live as if heaven must stay open for us to move. Nor are we meant to wait for a feeling, a sign, or a fresh moment of inspiration from God before we obey. God calls us to live as ordinary men and women in an ordinary world — but with a strength that comes from being born from above. Chambers warns that when we try to recreate past moments with God, or insist that He spea...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections  Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page Apr 30 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest 1 Corinthians 13:4   “Love suffers long and is kind…” The Love God Produces Chambers teaches that true love is spontaneous — it appears in our actions without our noticing, because it comes from the Holy Spirit, not from our own effort. We cannot make ourselves loving by saying, “I will be patient,” or “I will be kind.” That kind of self‑management only produces strain. The love Scripture describes does not begin in us. It begins in God. It is His love “poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” ( Romans 5:5 ). But here is the part many of us miss: that love does not flow freely until the Holy Spirit has full authority within us. He indwells every believer, but He does not override the will. As long as we are still governing ourselves — trying, striving, managing — His love cannot rule our responses. We pray for patience, but...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections  Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page Apr 29 My Testimony From Chaos To Christ My Testimony Begins The testimony that follows is the story of how Christ met me in the middle of chaos, lifted a lifelong burden, and led me into a surrender I didn’t know I needed. These past months have reshaped my spiritual life in ways I could never have imagined, and I felt led to share it for anyone who may be walking through their own season of confusion, striving, or spiritual exhaustion.  This is not a story of my effort, but of Christ’s intervention, His timing, and His unmistakable work in the hidden places of my heart. I share it because someone else may be standing where I once stood, searching for peace in all the wrong places, not knowing that surrender is the doorway. He has strengthened me, given my life purpose, lifted burdens and anxiety from my life, and my days and nights are filled with His peace, for I rest in H...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections  Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page Apr 29  Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest  1 John 3:2  "... it has not yet been revealed what we shall be ..." Certain of God, Not the Future Chambers teaches that the spiritual life is not built on knowing what comes next. It is built on trusting God when we do not know. Our natural instinct is to plan, predict, and secure the future, but the life of faith does not work that way. We are certain of God, but we are not certain of the path He will take us on. This uncertainty is not a failure of faith. It is part of walking with Him. We cannot imagine how we will handle situations we have never faced, and we are not meant to. God gives grace for the moment we are in, not for the moments we try to project ahead. Chambers calls this gracious uncertainty —a posture that expects God to come, but does not assume how He will come. When we abandon ourselves to Him and...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections  Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page Apr 28 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest Jeremiah 45:5 "I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go" The Life God Gives Chambers teaches that God gives us something far deeper than changed circumstances. He gives us an inner life that is held, steady, and secure in Him—no matter what our outward life looks like. Our responsibilities, pressures, and daily realities may stay the same, but the life God gives cannot be harmed by any of it. Surrender does not mean pretending to enjoy a hard outward life. God is not asking you to call hardship “good” or to settle for a life that feels heavy. You can long for change and pray for relief. That desire is not wrong. What God gives is the inner life you can live from while you walk through the outward life you have today. Your circumstances may not shift immediately, but your inner life become...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections  Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page Apr 27  Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest Jeremiah 45:5  “And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.” Seeking God Himself  Baruch’s Lament and God’s Answer Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe, was overwhelmed. He cried out: Jeremiah 45:3  “Woe is me now! for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.” Baruch was not simply tired of writing. He was crushed by the weight of the message, the danger surrounding him, and the cost of obedience. He lived in a time when judgment was falling on the nation. Jeremiah was hunted. Baruch was hunted with him. God answered Baruch: Jeremiah 45:4  “Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have pl...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections  Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page Apr 26 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest Genesis 22:2 "Take now your son ... and offer him ... as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."  Staying True to God   Chambers' title for this devotional is The Supreme Climb . It begins with the verse from Genesis 22:2, "Take now your son..." The day before this climb, God spoke to Abraham and told him to take his only son, Isaac, go to the land of Moriah, and offer Isaac there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which God would later direct him to.  Abraham believed God told him to kill his son.  For years, I believed God told Abraham to kill his son. That is how the passage always read to me — but I never understood the why behind the command. Why tell Abraham to kill Isaac when God told Abraham — through Isaac he would become a great nation? And why tell him t...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections  Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page Apr 25 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest 2 Timothy 4:2 "Be ready in season and out of season" A Posture Of Trust Readiness is not a mood . It is not a surge of inspiration. It is not the rare moment when everything in us feels aligned and spiritual. Scripture makes it clear that “the season” is not about time at all—it is about us. Paul is saying, Be ready whether you feel like it or not. If we only act when we feel inclined, most of us would never move. Spiritual maturity is not measured by how deeply we feel God’s presence, but by whether we remain faithful when we don’t. Chambers warns that one of the greatest traps for a Christian worker is becoming attached to our exceptional moments—those rare times when insight is sharp, energy is high, and obedience feels effortless. Those moments are gifts, not guarantees. They are not a standard we can demand from G...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections  Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page Apr 24 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest Luke 10:20  "Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you ..." Belonging Chambers reminds us that the greatest danger to the Christian worker is not worldliness or sin, but the desire for spiritual success. In our culture, success is measured by numbers — how many people attend, respond, or read. The higher the number, the more “effective” the work appears. But this is the world’s standard, not God’s. Scripture teaches that salvation and sanctification belong to God alone (Ephesians 2:8–9; Philippians 1:6). Our work is not to save souls, but to walk with those He has saved, helping them grow in Christ and yield their lives to Him. That is what Chambers’ writings have been doing in me — teaching me devotion, surrender, and a life hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3). Before beginning this blog, I was awakened...