July 7

All Efforts of Worth and Excellence Are Difficult 

“Enter by the narrow gate … . Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life …” (Matthew 7:13–14).

If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in—it stirs us up to overcome. Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest—our best for His glory?

God saves people by His sovereign grace through the atonement of Jesus, and “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). But we have to “work out” that salvation in our everyday, practical living (Philippians 2:12). If we will only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we will find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then when a crisis does come we will find that our own nature, as well as the grace of God, will stand by us.

Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also something that requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of sonship. God’s grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life. And it is always necessary for us to make an effort to live a life of worth and excellence.

My Utmost for His Highest

Copyright © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. Original edition copyright © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All Rights reserved.

United States publication rights are held by Discovery House Publishers, which is affiliated with RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512.

  July 6

Visions Becoming Reality

“The parched ground shall become a pool …” (Isaiah 35:7).

We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.

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  July 5

Don’t Plan Without God 

“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5).

Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him—that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.

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    July 4

One of God’s Great “Don’ts”

“Do not fret—it only causes harm” (Psalm 37:8).

Fretting means getting ourselves “out of joint” mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say, “Do not fret,” but something very different to have such a nature that you find yourself unable to fret. It’s easy to say, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” (37:7) until our own little world is turned upside down and we are forced to live in confusion and agony like so many other people. Is it possible to “rest in the Lord” then? If this “Do not” doesn’t work there, then it will not work anywhere. This “Do not” must work during our days of difficulty and uncertainty, as well as our peaceful days, or it will never work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work for anyone else. Resting in the Lord is not dependent on your external circumstances at all, but on your relationship with God Himself.

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July 3

The Concentration of Personal Sin 

“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips …” (Isaiah 6:5).

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   July 2

The Conditions of Discipleship

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also … . And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me … . So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26–27, 33).

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  July 1

The Inevitable Penalty

“You will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (Matthew 5:26).

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June 30

                                                            Do It Now!

“Agree with your adversary quickly …” (Matthew 5:25).

In this verse, Jesus Christ laid down a very important principle by saying, “Do what you know you must do—now. Do it quickly. If you don’t, an inevitable process will begin to work ‘till you have paid the last penny’ (5:26) in pain, agony, and distress.” God’s laws are unchangeable and there is no escape from them. The teachings of Jesus always penetrate right to the heart of our being.

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 June 29

The Strictest Discipline

“If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:30).

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  June 28 

                                                  Held by the Grip of God

“I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me” (Philippians 3:12).

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