The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections
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May 3
Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest
Ephesians 6:18
"…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…"
Let God Do His Work
Intercessory prayer is holy work, and Chambers reminds us that we must not let our sympathy become the steering wheel of our prayers. When we pray for others, our first concern is not their comfort, their relief, or our emotional reaction to their suffering. Our concern is God’s desire for their heart.
Intercession is asking God to draw a person into an awareness of Him — into surrender, into closeness, into the place where His will becomes their desire. When sympathy takes over, our prayers become biased. We begin praying for what we want for them, rather than what God is doing in them. And when that happens, the connection with God’s heart is lost.
Whenever someone is distant from God and He begins to work in their life, difficulty almost always follows. God uses pressure, disruption, and discomfort to soften the heart. Without that breaking, many people would never turn toward Him. I know this because it was my own story. Before I drew close to God, my spiritual and physical world shook. Everything felt like upheaval — but it all led me into alignment with Him.
Every painful season was part of the path God used to lead me to Himself. None of it was wasted. He prepared me along the way, shaping me through the very things I wanted to escape. And when the time was right, He brought me to the right place, in the right season, with a heart finally ready to come home — just like the prodigal son.
When we see someone suffering, our instinct is to step in and stop the pain. We want to say, “I cannot allow this to happen to them.” But Chambers warns us: that is the moment we risk stepping out of bounds. We may interfere with what God is doing. We may delay the very breakthrough He is preparing.
Most of us only turn to God when life becomes difficult. That was true of me. God’s strength is revealed in our weakness, and when we finally lean on Him, He gains access to our hearts in ways we never allowed before.
When I came to God with my fifty‑year burden and laid it at His feet, He lifted it. I don’t know when or how — it simply dissolved like fog in sunlight. That miracle opened a door in my heart. From there, He began guiding me back to the places I had abandoned. He brought me to my old blog. He stirred me to write again. He put Chambers’ book back into my hands — the one I had owned since the 1990s but could never bear to read. And before I realized what was happening, I was reading it daily and writing reflections. I had no idea it would tear me down and build me back up.
Then came the surrender of my will — something I had never done. That surrender opened a spiritual world I had searched for all my life without knowing what it was. God did it. I didn’t know how. I didn’t even know I needed it.
The same was true of the burden. God did it. I had no idea until the last minute what I needed to do with it. I could not carry it one more hour. When I laid it down, He lifted it. Completely. Quietly. Miraculously.
Nothing in my life compares to those two moments — except the One who gave them to me.
I never want to return to the life I had before. God has brought me too far, healed too much, and revealed too much of Himself. The old life has nothing for me now. I am walking in a new way, and by His grace, I intend to keep walking.
But this path was not easy. It was full of pain and heartache. I came to the end of myself before I surrendered everything. My heart had been hardened by the world, and I didn’t even know it. But the Lord broke through, and He is healing me daily.
That is how it usually works. And it is hard on the one being broken. When others see someone suffering, they may want to intervene — but that is when we must be careful not to get in God’s way. Interference can delay or even halt the work God is doing. The enemy knows this too, and he will try to prevent goodness from reaching the one God is pursuing.
God breaks us because He loves us. He breaks us with love. And He breaks us to heal us.
So do not step in too quickly. Do not interrupt His work. Everything God allows is for the good of those who love Him — and whom He loves.
Prayer
Lord, teach me to pray in step with Your heart.Keep me from praying out of fear, sympathy, or my own desire to rescue.
Help me trust Your wisdom in the lives of those I love.
Give me discernment to know when to step back and let You work,
and courage to intercede without interfering.
Break what needs breaking,
heal what needs healing,
and draw every wandering heart into Your presence.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Breath Prayer
Inhale: Lord, I trust Your work.Exhale: Your will, not mine.
Scripture References
Romans 8:26–27 — The Spirit intercedes according to God’s will.
1 John 5:14 — We ask according to His will, not ours.
Hebrews 12:6–11 — God disciplines those He loves; hardship produces righteousness.
James 1:2–4 — Trials produce maturity and endurance.
Do not interfere with God’s work
Matthew 16:23 — Peter tried to stop Jesus’ suffering; Jesus rebuked him for opposing God’s plan.
Isaiah 55:8–9 — God’s ways are higher than ours.
Surrender and brokenness
Psalm 51:17 — A broken and contrite heart God will not despise.
Luke 9:23 — Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Him
Galatians 2:20 — “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
Casting burdens on the Lord
Psalm 55:22 — Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you.
1 Peter 5:7 — Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.
God’s strength in our weakness
2 Corinthians 12:9 — His strength is made perfect in weakness.
Everything works for good
Romans 8:28 — All things work together for good for those who love God.
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