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   Aug 21 Devotional Special The 3-Part Surrender Series Part One Surrender—In the Bible What the Bible Teaches About Surrender A Biblical Devotional on Surrender There is a sweetness in the surrendered life that cannot be found anywhere else — not in striving, not in self‑help, not in effort, not in emotion. It is the sweetness of Christ ruling where self once ruled. Scripture does not always use the word surrender , but it describes it with unmistakable clarity. The Bible teaches that the doorway to peace, joy, and spiritual power is the laying down of the will. Many believers live their entire Christian lives indwelt by the Spirit but never filled by the Spirit.  Scripture teaches that every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but not every believer is filled with the Spirit. Indwelling is constant — the Spirit lives in us as God’s unbreakable promise (John 14:...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections   Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page   Aug 21 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit . . ." The Quiet Work of God Today’s message from Chambers feels like it was written about my life. August 21 — The Ministry of the Unnoticed — rests on the verse, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” and reminds me that true spiritual character is quiet and unseen. Chambers says that conscious influence is pride, and that the moment I wonder whether I am useful to God, I lose His gentle touch. Jesus works in the ordinary places, in the unnoticed moments, and that is where He has been shaping me. The Lord has breathed on this ministry. In just eight months, it has received over 5,400 views, and more than 750 of those have come in the last fourteen days alone. That is not normal for a quiet devotional blog like this one. It is supernatural. I have not promoted this work, yet p...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections   Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page    Aug 20 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest Matthew 11:28 " . . . and I will give you rest" The Calm You Cannot Explain There was a moment in my life, long before surrender, when the Holy Spirit placed a calm inside me that I could not explain. I did not know the word for it then. I did not know it was “rest.” I only knew that everything inside me suddenly laid flat — no ripples, no waves, no panic. It was a supernatural calm, the kind that smooths the tarmac of your soul so you can walk through a moment without fear. I was standing in a kitchen in Boston while someone calmly described a future for me that would have taken my precious daughter from me and stripped me of my life. Yet inside me, I felt nothing but stillness. It told me, “Be quiet. Say nothing.” And I obeyed. That calm saved me. If I had spoken, things could have escalated and trapped me befor...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections   Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page   Aug 19 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me . . ." A Place Where Your Soul Can Breathe The invitation is from Jesus to all those that carry burdens, all who are weary, anyone who longs for that unexplainable "rest" you hear so much about in Scripture. Come to Him and receive it.  Rest is the supernatural calm Christ places inside you. It is the quiet confidence that He has your back, your front, and your side. He will take care of you. You stay completely calm inside because you are resting in Him. But sometimes something tries to disturb that rest. It may be a sudden thought, a misunderstanding, or a feeling that comes out of nowhere. It may be something small — but you feel it. The calm inside you ripples just a little. You sense your attention getting caught up in the noise. Whenever anything begins to disturb your rest w...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections   Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page   Aug 18 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest Luke 18:23 "When he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich" Devotion: Love for Jesus Alone The rich man loved his wealth so much that Jesus' words, "sell all that you have," hit him with deep discouragement, and he went away from Jesus struck speechless with sorrow. Jesus demands that we give it all up for Him. All of it. Everything that we are. Everything that we have. Everything we cling to and depend on. Everything that we own. Everything that has a grip on us has to go. He wants us just as we were when we were born, stripped down to only our very soul, standing naked and without before Him.  Our free will—it will cling to its freedom. It will fight this battle with or without you.  But if we truly mean what we say, we must follow Him in whatever way He leads. I was sixty‑eight, ...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections   Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page Aug 17 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest Luke 18:22-23 ". . . Jesus . . . said to him, 'You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have . . . and come, follow Me.' But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich" . . . And Come Follow Me The Lord woke me one night from a deep sleep with one loud word, "Complacent." I heard the same word again the next day from a coworker as we talked. The Lord  can speak louder than a whisper. I listened, I heard, I responded to His word. I ended up taking another job which lasted over 15 years.  When we hear Him speak to us, do we respond with action?  John 10:27 —  "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." Or are we discouraged?  Has He asked too much of us?  Chambers' message today speaks to us about the rich man. He went away very sorrowful. Bec...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections   Today's Devotional • Back to Home  Aug 16 A Testimony of Surrender Fully Surrendered To The Son When it comes to surrender, that is all there is on our part — surrender. Surrender all of you to Him… and He does all the rest. You just surrender. Yield every single part of yourself to His holy fire of sanctification. The Holy Spirit who dwells within you is the sanctifier. He will take each part of you in His loving hands and sanctify you — burning off everything that does not belong anymore. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit: God in Spirit within you. He is sanctifying you: working the very nature of Jesus Christ into your very nature. You just yield. Yield to Him whatever He brings to mind that needs to be yielded. Before surrender, I laid down a fifty‑year burden — the weight I had carried for most of my life. After surrender, the Holy Spirit began emptying the rest. One day, while I was writing...

The Quill and Me—Devotional Blog•Oswald Chambers Reflections   Today's Devotional • Back to Home Page Aug 16 Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest John 10:3 "He calls His own . . . by name . . ." Do You Know Him? For most of my life, I did not know Him — though He always knew me. He was with me, but I was not with Him. I ignored Him for 68 years, and my heart aches over that loss. Yet when I look back now, I can see His presence in my life, even though I was spiritually blind at the time. I had never heard the word surrender used in connection with Jesus Christ. When I was younger, I thought “giving your life to God” meant becoming a missionary or a nun, and I knew that wasn’t the life I wanted. I didn’t understand that surrender was something entirely different. Believing it meant going overseas or entering a religious order kept me from ever pursuing giving my life to Him. I searched for love in all the wrong places, not knowing what my heart was really longin...