“Has God’s Word ever come to you, pointing out an area of your life, requiring you to yield it to Him–maybe certain personal qualities, desires, and interests, or possibly relationships of your heart and mind? That is where the battle is truly fought–in the realm of your will before God. What Jesus says is difficult–it is only easy when it is heard by those who have His nature in them. Beware of allowing anything to soften the hard words of Jesus Christ.” –Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest
Yes, even now.
thedailylily.com 
What I am seeing as I read this is that to have His nature means a constant obedience, a no to self. If it’s hard to my hearing, then I must have a mountain of self. And also that His nature does not come by osmosis of just reading His word, or devotionals or mental ascent. It is a practical application of saying yes to what He says in the day to day living.
“…pointing out an area of your life, requiring you to yield it to Him–maybe certain personal qualities, desires, and interests, or possibly relationships of your heart and mind….” Aha!! One of the problems that arises from having yielded ‘ONE’ area of your life requested by the Lord…you find that that may NOT be the end of it. Oh no! There’s the next thing and the next and the next. We look with chagrin at what we are asked to sacrifice, sometimes…but Chambers writes that it should be ”easy” to those who have His nature. But it only ”seems” hard because man’s will is strong within him.
However, once we allow the nature of the Lamb of God to rise up within us where HE resides in our spirits by the Holy Spirit…and apply…obey His request to yield this thing that is hindering our growth, yield that thing that stands between communion with the Lord and us, the freedom that begins to be exhibited in our lives, [my life] is extraordinary and so worth relinquishing those flimsy, worldly baubles that we thought we could not live without, so to speak.
We have exchanged something of minor value for the costly. Amen!!
“…possibly relationships of your heart and mind? That is where the battle is truly fought–…” Yeah, get rid of those snake relationships. People running their tongues with their poison opinion of you and say they are praying, loving and supportive. They are like snakes after a rat.
“…only easy when it is heard by those who have His nature in them. Beware of allowing anything to soften the hard words of Jesus Christ.” I need to have only the nature of God in me. If I am mind wallowing in harmful relationship than I may be just the size for the snake to eat.
Sara, what a picture you paint that I don’t want to hang in my house.
Hmm, rats like trash, sewers and can carry a lot of diseases and snakes seem to love them…kind of reminds me of the opposites here: healthy relationship versus harmful: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!”
As I have been contemplating this teaching from Oswald Chambers I pause along the way to see if the weaver has threaded my thoughts for the lesson. I often find the weaver diligently at work and even see the glory of color in His work. Today, has been one of those times, I see, I hear and I connect to My Father’s Hand.
My first reading this am; “it seems In the fallow seasons of our lives, God is the gardener who assesses our branches, removes everything that may prevent us from producing fruit in the next season, and prepares us for the new season to come. However, the process of change can be painful.
The reward for the hard work of pruning comes with the first drops of rain that fall in the spring. Strengthened, the trees in my garden can focus their energies on new sappy green branches. Their life is renewed. Likewise, we can be strengthened by the changes God makes during our fallow seasons. God cares for us. God knows exactly what to remove and what to preserve so that we will bear fruit in the coming seasons.”
Samara L. Martins D’Armada Matos (Minas Gerais, Brazil)
I heard a testimony of a friend who was asked to give up a relationship of joy and love & tender teaching opportunities that she had with a friend’s two little girls that she was tending. He indicated to her that He had other plans for her for that time that she had spent with the little children. These little girls had become so dear to her that when the Lord spoke specifically to her heart she, at first, recoiled at the thought of giving them up and could not answer in a positive manner to the Lord. However, within a few days she acquiesced to His will and intentionally gave up her time with them although through tears.
Within days of her ”sacrifice” the Lord God arranged for her to be able to see the children and entertain them in her own home where she treated them with delights and joy in a birthday party she arranged for them.
But as an addendum to the story, God brought to her work place through another of God’s sovereign move in their lives…. strong Christians with twin…little girls whose parents are in ministry. And my friend now has a Christian co-worker with whom to fellowship and pray at break times and little twin girls to love, also, along with the others. I believe this all came about because my friend was willing to sacrifice to her Lord the joy and delight she had with her little friends. He added to her He enlarged her. He blessed her and He will use her in an even greater capacity than ever before. It just gets better and better when we obey Him. “Love & obey for there’s no other way.”
Now we are all rejoicing for such good fortune from the Lord God Almighty, Lamb of God.
A beautiful testimony. It has a twig of thought for me like Abraham and Isaac trust by doing not knowing the results. It gives your friend a name on the list of faithful. Congrats to her!
Good analogy, Sara. This kind of testimony also gives such encouragement to obey the Lord. He will always work for our good. And like the story of Abraham & Isaac, which is really representative of what Father God would do centuries later, sacrifice His only Son…..oh what great and awesome results for humanity came from the obedience and sacrifice of Christ Jesus!