The adjusting is always to a Person. You adjust your life to God. You adjust your viewpoints to be like His viewpoints. You adjust your ways to be like His ways. After you make the necessary adjustments, He will tell you what to do next to obey Him. When you obey Him, you will experience Him doing through you something only God can do.
First Adjust, then Obey
Describe at least one adjustment you have had to make in your thinking as you have studied this course. (One person might respond: “I had to accept the fact that I cannot do anything of kingdom value apart from God. Instead of doing things for God, I now am watching and praying to see what God wants to do through me.”)
Has God asked you to make a major adjustment to Him? Yes __ No __
lf so, briefly describe the required adjustment and your response.
lf so, briefly describe the required adjustment and your response.
Read the Following statements made by godly persons. Under each statement describe the kind of adjustment this person had made or was willing to make. In the first quote, for example, one adjustment David Livingstone was willing to make was to live in poverty as a missionary (in Africa) rather than to have riches as a physician in his homeland.
David Livingstone (medical missionary to Africa)—“I am a missionary, heart and soul. God Himself had an only Son, and He was a missionary and a physician. A poor, poor imitation I am, or wish to be, but in this service I hope to live. In it I wish to die. I still prefer poverty and missions service to riches and ease. This is my choice.”
Adjustment(s) ________________________________________
Adjustment(s) ________________________________________
Jim Elliot (missionary to Quichua Indians in South America)––“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Adjustment(s) ________________________________________
Adjustment(s) ________________________________________
Josephine Scaggs (longtime missionary to Africa) summed up commitment to knowing and doing God’s will with this verse: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Php 3:10).
Adjustment(s) ________________________________________
Adjustment(s) ________________________________________
Oswald J. Smith (missionary statesman of Canada)—“I want Thy plan, O God, for my life. May I be happy and contented whether in the homeland or on the foreign field; whether married or alone, in happiness or sorrow, health or sickness, prosperity or adversity—I want Thy plan, O God, for my life, I want it; oh, I want it!”
Adjustment(s) ________________________________________
Adjustment(s) ________________________________________
C. T. Studd (missionary to China, India, and Africa)—“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice is too great for me to give for Him.”
Adjustment(s) ________________________________________
Adjustment(s) ________________________________________
Some adjustments these Christians made or were willing to make include:
◦ David Livingstone considered the work of a missionary to Africa as a high honour, not a sacrifice.
◦ Jim Elliot was willing to give up earthly things for his heavenly reward. He was killed by South American Indians as he sought to spread the gospel.
◦ Josephine Scaggs depended on God’s enabling power to do His will.
◦ Oswald Smith so wanted God’s plan for his life that he was willing to be content with any pleasure or difficulty.
◦ C.T. Studd was willing to make any sacrifice for Jesus’ sake.
◦ Jim Elliot was willing to give up earthly things for his heavenly reward. He was killed by South American Indians as he sought to spread the gospel.
◦ Josephine Scaggs depended on God’s enabling power to do His will.
◦ Oswald Smith so wanted God’s plan for his life that he was willing to be content with any pleasure or difficulty.
◦ C.T. Studd was willing to make any sacrifice for Jesus’ sake.
Draw a star beside the quote that is the most meaningful to you. Then think about the level of commitment reflected in that quote. If you are willing to make a similar commitment to the lordship of Christ, spend time in prayer expressing your willingness to adjust your life to Him.
I have tried to help you understand that you cannot stay where you are and go with God in obedience to His will. Adjustments must come first. Then you can follow in obedience. In the remainder of this chapter we are going to be looking at the second and third points below:
Obedience requires Adjustments
1. You cannot stay where you are and go with God at the same time.
2. Obedience is costly to you and to those around you.
3. Obedience requires total dependence on God to work through you.
2. Obedience is costly to you and to those around you.
3. Obedience requires total dependence on God to work through you.
When you are willing to surrender everything to the lordship of Christ, you, like Elisha, will find that the costs of the adjustments are well worth the rewards of experiencing God. If you have not come to the place where you have surrendered all to His lordship, decide today to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him. (See Lk 9:23.)
Review today’s lesson. Pray and ask God to identify one or more statements or Scriptures that He wants you to understand, learn, or practice.
What does God want you to do in response to today’s study?
◦ God is interested in my absolute surrender to Him as Lord.
◦ I adjust to a Person.
◦ Adjustments are well worth the reward of experiencing God.
◦ The God who calls me is also the One who will enable me to do His will.
◦ I adjust to a Person.
◦ Adjustments are well worth the reward of experiencing God.
◦ The God who calls me is also the One who will enable me to do His will.
Henry T. Blackaby
No comments:
Post a Comment