The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections

John 2:24–25 “Jesus did not commit Himself to them… for He knew what was in man.” Christ died so that we might have life. His death made way for the Holy Spirit — the Comforter — to come and dwell within us, teaching us all things. Without Christ’s sacrifice, this would not have been possible. Jesus came to set us free from sin and death. When we accept Him as our Savior, His Spirit comes to live within us. Our bodies become His temple. He is King of kings and Lord of lords — our sovereign God in every way. He came to earth as a baby, entrusting Himself to the world, and the world rejected Him. He was crucified at the hands of those He came to save. Yet He overcame the world. He rose on the third day, ascended to Heaven, and now sits at the right hand of the Father with all authority. When the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you, He entrusts Himself to your care — like a life that must be nurtured. He desires to grow in you. But He cannot grow unless you feed Him with Scriptu...

Luke 9:61 “And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell…”    For most of my life, I lived in the place Chambers describes — the place of “Yes, Lord… but.” Yes, Lord, but I’m afraid. Yes, Lord, but I don’t understand. Yes, Lord, but I’ve been left before. Yes, Lord, but I don’t know how to trust You. I didn’t realize how deeply that hesitation was rooted in me until the Lord brought back a childhood memory — a moment when I fell on a school playground, was hurt, and no one noticed. That day planted something in me: If I don’t take care of myself, no one will. I carried that belief into adulthood, and without knowing it, I carried it into my relationship with God. For years I believed I was unseen, unheard, and unnoticed — not just by people, but by God Himself. I didn’t understand His nearness. I didn’t know His voice. I didn’t recognize His watching over me. But He saw me even then. He saw every “Yes—But” I ever whispered. He saw eve...

Scripture: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” — Psalm 22:1 “But I am a worm, and not a man…” — Psalm 22:6 I heard something today that stopped me in my tracks. I wasn’t looking for it. I wasn’t studying it. It simply found me — a video of a woman explaining something I had never heard in all my years of walking with the Lord. She said that when Jesus cried out on the Cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He was quoting Psalm 22 — the Messianic psalm that describes crucifixion long before crucifixion existed. And then she focused on verse 6: “But I am a worm…” The Hebrew word there is not a regular worm. It is tôlāʿ — the crimson worm . And what this little creature does is almost unbelievable. The Crimson Worm’s Life — A Living Prophecy The mother crimson worm climbs up a tree or wooden post on purpose , knowing she will never come down alive. She attaches herself so firmly to the wood that she cannot be removed without tearing her body apar...

  John 16:26-27 "In that day you will ask in My name . . . for the Father Himself loves you . . ." In that day... Yesterday our devotional was about "that day." That day when you come to the realization that you no longer want to—or need to—keep asking God questions. Because you know in your heart that when it is time, God will reveal to you all that you need to know. Now Chambers takes us one level deeper into that day and tells us on that day we are going to pray in Jesus' name. Not because we are using his name like a magic word at the end of our prayer to get what we want from God—even though Jesus said, "Whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give you." But because we are already praying in His name whenever we pray. We are praying in His nature,  by the power and enabling baptism of the Holy Spirit within us. We have become one with God. And here is the beautiful part — the part I am living right now: When the Holy Spirit brings you int...

  "In that day you will ask Me nothing" John 16:23 In a surrendered believer's life there comes a day — "that day," as Chambers put it—when you simply stop asking God questions. As Jesus said in John 16:23, "In that day you will ask Me nothing."  There are no more questions because you have come to the realization that you do not need more information. You have within you the peace of God—a certainty within your soul that God will reveal what you need to know when it is time to know it. You no longer feel the need to ask about everything... because it is all in His hands. You have been there, done that, and it got you nowhere.  We cannot know the future—that is not God's design. We cannot change anything, we are not in control of anything, and we cannot hurry anything up nor slow anything down. We are on God's timeline. We are in His care, His hands, walking the path He designed. We fully trust Him, we are fully surrendered to Him, and we are ...

  Luke 24:49 ". . . tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high" Once our Lord Jesus Christ was glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world. Before Christ returned to the Father, the Holy Spirit's influence and power was at work in the world but He was not yet here in His indwelling presence. But now He is here—and He is here to stay. Everyone who believes on the Son of God receives the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God, He is the life of Christ in spirit form that indwells every believer. He is the evidence of the ascended Christ. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that Jesus is the Son of God and that we belong to Him... we are children of God. When you receive the Holy Spirit you are receiving the life of Christ within you. When you receive His life, you are receiving eternal life. Eternal life is not living forever, going to Heaven someday, or a long stretch of time. These are the results ...

  "Pray without ceasing . . ." 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Chambers says the way we think about prayer is all wrong. Prayer is not something that we have to plan to do at a certain time, in a particular place, or in a specific way. Prayer is something we can do all the time, like breathing.  We do not have to concentrate on our breathing—it simply happens. You can intentionally breath, yes, but if you do not think about it, your body continues to breath without your assistance. That is the way prayer in your life should be: unceasing thoughts of God throughout your day, a constant turning of your mind to the source of love and care that is keeping you. Once you turn your life over to God by surrendering your will to Him, the Holy Spirit does a new work inside of you. He will change you, and sometimes you will be completely unaware of it. The Holy Spirit does not change you completely overnight. This work is personal, it is deep and meaningful, it is holy. This will take time and ca...

  Genesis 13:9 "If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left." When Abram and Lot stood before the land, Abram had every right to choose first. He was the elder, the leader, and the one God had called. But instead of taking what was rightfully his, Abram stepped back and let Lot choose. Lot picked the greener pastures — the land that looked good, the land that seemed like the obvious blessing. But what looked like the best choice for Lot eventually led him near Sodom, a place of danger and destruction. What looked good was not good at all for Lot and his family. Chambers reminds us that when we begin to walk with God — when we start living by faith and obedience — many opportunities will open up before us. Some will look exciting. Some will look promising. Some will look like blessings. But that does not mean they are from God. Not everything that looks good is God's best. Abram surrendered his right to choose....

  Revelation 1:17 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.” There are moments when God reveals Himself in a way that is so overwhelming, so far beyond anything we have known, that our only response is to collapse before Him in awe . John knew Jesus; he walked with Him, leaned on Him, loved Him. Yet when he saw the ascended Christ in Revelation — radiant, majestic, beyond human comprehension — he fell at His feet "as dead." This is what Oswald Chambers calls "the delight of despair." It is not emotional despair, hopelessness, or darkness. It is the moment you finally see the truth: "In me — in my flesh — nothing good dwells." (Romans 7:18) And instead of crushing you, that realization becomes a delight — because it frees you from the exhausting burden of trying to be enough. It is the moment you stop pretending you're strong. The moment you stop trying to fix yourself. The moment you stop thinking you can manage your own spiritual life. "...

Learning to Put God First in a World Full of Distractions Matthew 6:25 "... do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on" Today Chambers digs deeper into the personal places of our lives — but truly, it is the Lord Jesus Himself who is doing the digging. Matthew 6:25 is part of the Sermon on the Mount, and Chambers reminds us: Do not take the pressure of your provision upon yourself. We are not meant to carry the weight of our own needs. We are not meant to worry about the practical details of our lives. We are meant to seek first the Kingdom of God — to put Him first in everything. Before you buy a new book… Before you plan a vacation… Before you make any decision at all… Put God first. Seek His approval. Seek His guidance. He may have other plans for you — and for your money, your time, your energy, your life. Matthew 13:22 tells us that “the cares of this world” choke the Word out of us. Not the...

"... that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You;  that they also may be one in Us . . ." John 17:21 Chambers says if you feel like you are isolated or alone... read John 17. This is the reason—because Jesus prayed for us, that we may be one with the Father as He is. The Father in Him, and Him in us. And God is answering His prayer.  God sometimes needs to get you alone with Him—to get you away from the cares, noise, and distractions of this world. When everything familiar is stripped away and every support you once leaned on is removed, it isn’t punishment. It’s invitation. In the quiet places where no one else can reach you, God can. He uses the stillness, the isolation, even the ache of it, to shape you, steady you, and draw you into the oneness Jesus prayed for. When God sets you apart, it’s because He is doing a work in you that requires your full attention — and your full surrender. Chambers asks, Are you helping God answer Jesus' prayer, or ...

  Matthew 6:33 "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" Jesus' teachings were revolutionary for the times in which He lived on this earth; they are even more so now. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness . . ." (Matthew 6:33).  We have already learned that we are not to worry about what we will eat or what we will wear but to live unanxiously before God just as the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. God's provisional care extends to us all. "Do not worry about your life... " (Matthew 6:25). Put God first in all things and everything you need will be provided for you. This is the most difficult discipline of the Christian life. But how do we actually live this way? I have not accomplished it yet. But I am working on it. I am not being ridiculous about it, I am still writing out a budget every month, but I am trying to put God first in everything.  So how would we acco...

  Some devotionals are written from study, but others are born in the middle of a storm. Before I ever wrote a word of this one, I lived it. I walked through days of restlessness, confusion, and heaviness I could not explain — and God used every moment of it to teach me how to steady my soul under His hand. What follows is not theory, but the truth He revealed to me as I endured it. Luke 21:19 — "By your patience possess your souls." Oswald Chambers writes that when Christ gives us new life, our spirit is reborn instantly — but our soul (our thoughts, emotions, reactions, habits) must be patiently brought under the rule of that new life. He says many of us stay at the doorway of the Christian life because we never learn to "possess" our soul — to take hold of our moods, our reactions, and our inner life with spiritual steadiness. We learn to express this new life in us, by forming the mind of Christ within. We do that by feeding the Holy Spirit the Word of God and ...