Quotes from Oswald Chambers

One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it.

Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine.

When it comes to taking the initiative against drudgery, we have to take the first step as though there were no God. There is no point in waiting for God to help us--He will not. But once we arise, immediately we find He is there.

Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me—sanctification is God's idea of what He wants to do for me.

Jesus bases everything on God-realization, while other teachers base everything on self-realization.

As soon as we abandon ourselves to God and do the task He has placed closest to us, He begins to fill our lives with surprises.

I must learn to identify myself closely with my Lord in ways of holy fellowship and oneness that some of us have not yet even begun to learn. "I must be about My Father's business"—and I must learn to live every moment of my life in my Father's house.

The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.

Jesus said, "Judge not, that you be not judged" (Matthew 7:1). He went on to say, in effect, "If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way." Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, "My God, judge me as I have judged others"? We have judged others as sinners—if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.

What line of thinking do my thoughts take? Do I turn to what God says or to my own fears? Am I simply repeating what God says, or am I learning to truly hear Him and then to respond after I have heard what He says?

Salvation and sanctification are the work of God's sovereign grace; our work as His disciples is to disciple lives until they are wholly yielded to God.

As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer. Whatever circumstances God may place you in, always pray immediately that His atonement may be recognized and as fully understood in the lives of others as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now, and pray for those with whom you come in contact now.

Jesus doesn't bring anything up from the wells of human nature--He brings them down from above.

The workshop of missionary munitions is the hidden, personal, worshipping life of the saint.

Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God.

God has only one intended destiny for mankind—holiness. His only goal is to produce saints.

I will never leave you"—not for any reason; not my sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never leave me? If I have not truly heard this assurance of God, then let me listen again.

We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment to Jesus Christ.

Lord God Omnipotent, how my soul delights to know that Thou dost care for sparrows and numberest the hairs of our head! Lord, breathe on me till I am in the frame of mind and body to worship Thee.

When our purpose is to seek God and to discover His will for us, daydreaming is right and acceptable. But when our inclination is to spend time daydreaming over what we have already been told to do, it is unacceptable and God's blessing is never on it.

But I must see to it that the Son of God is exhibited in my human flesh. "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19), that is, your body is the Bethlehem of God's Son.

Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34).

Sometimes it is not the difficulty of life but the drudgery of it that makes me think God will forsake me. When there is no major difficulty to overcome, no vision from God, nothing wonderful or beautiful—just the everyday activities of life—do I hear God's assurance even in these?

O Lord, I would seek Thy face now, but what avail is my seeking if Thou revealest not Thyself? Show me Thy face, O Lord. Keep me ever seeing Thee.