God's Guidelines for
Christian Thinking
Quotes from the Bible and Oswald Chambers
“
For the
weapons
e
of our warfare are not
carnal but
mighty in God
for pulling down strongholds,
casting down arguments and
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of
God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience
of Christ..." 2 Corinthians 10:4-5.
"In Philippians 4:8-9, Paul gives the rule for the thinking life of
the Christian. Have we ever given our brains the task of
concentrated thinking along this line? It is because we will not
bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ that
all the perplexities are
produced regarding methods of thinking that look like Christianity.
Strands are taken out of Jesus Christ’s teaching, the Bible is
exploited to agree with certain principles, but the Truth, our Lord
Jesus Christ, is ignored.
"If we base our thinking
on principles instead of on a Person we shall go wrong, no matter
how devout or honest we are. The one great truth to keep steadfastly
before us is the Lord Jesus Christ; He is the Truth. Only the whole
truth is the truth; any part of the truth may become an error. If
you have a ray of light on the truth, never call it the whole truth;
follow it up and it will lead you to the central Truth, the Lord
Jesus Christ. (BSG)
Oswald Chambers,
Devotional Bible, page 944
"Beloved, do not
think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as
though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the
extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory
is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are
reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit
of glory and of God rests upon you." 1 Peter 4:12-14
"It
is not easy to say that God is love when everything that happens
actually gives the lie to it. Everyone's soul represents some king of
battlefield. The point for each one is whether we will hang in, as Job
did, and say 'Though things look black, I will trust in God.'
"It is very easy to trust
in God when there is no difficulty, but that is not trust at
all. It is simply letting the mind rest in a complacent mood; but when there is sickness in house, when there
is trouble, when there is death, where is our trust in God....
"God has to deal with us on the death side as well as on the life
side. It is all very well to know in theory that there are things we
must not trust in, but another thing to know it in fact. When God
deals with us on the death side, He puts the sentence of death on
everything we should not trust in, and we have a miserable time until
we learn never anymore to trust in it, never anymore to look anywhere
else than to God. It sometimes happens that hardly a day passes
without God saying, 'Don't trust there, that is dead.'"
" Finally,
brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are
noble,
whatever things are just, whatever things are pure,
whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report; if there is any
virtue
and if there is
anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
Philippians 4:8, 9
Oswald
Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
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