My Utmost for His Highest. “. . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed . . . .” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.

My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.

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January 1, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

New Year’s Resolutions Rolled into One

While praying and getting connected first thing this morning, I thought about my resolutions for the year; what I will “give up” and what I will resolve to do. …Be a better person, a better father, son, brother, friend. And of course I resolved to be a better Christian….

…….and then I was stopped in my tracks by a still small voice that reminded me I cannot become a better Christian……….. I cannot choose the higher road, I cannot do more. And in deference to Oswald Chambers, I cannot resolve and then deliver My Utmost for His Highest. I can try, I can make promises, and then I fail; sometimes at the small things and at other times at the very big things. But fail I will, nonetheless. I have a long, long history of these failures.

But I believe I can deliver My Utmost for His Highest when I simply present myself to Jesus and ask Him to live through me; when I ask God to change me from the inside out, to make me a man after His own heart.

And God says…..”It is My hope and plan for you to understand that you can do nothing apart from Me. It is not a partnership….where you do your part and I do mine; if you give Me your utmost I will then give you my highest. I gave you the highest, and He was brought lowest……there is no “your part, or your utmost”.  I do not want your work, your church attendance, or your help for your fellow man. I do not want your very best……I want you, all of you. And that occurs when you realize that the very best you can deliver cannot and does not measure up or justify the sacrifice of Jesus. Do not promise to do the work that can only be done by the Holy Spirit. Do nothing trying to earn my love, do nothing out of obligation or with your own effort.  

 Resolve to surrender…… and rejoice that the work in your life has already been done by Christ Jesus. Your utmost is to simply allow Me to deliver my highest in your life. All else will follow. Resolve to let Me be God in your life……

2 Corinthians…. 3:18 (MSG)  ^16-18Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.