NOTE: I find myself guilty of cutting and pasting much too often, rather than relying on what the Holy Spirit is speaking directly in my life and I've found myself going back time and again to today's devotional. This is something that Oswald Chambers obviously walked through. May we take this message to heart... Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth 2 Timothy 2:15 [b]If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can.[/b] If you dont, other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through Gods winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle, experiment, and rehearse your words to express Gods truth clearly. Then the time will come when that very expression will become Gods wine of strength to someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, "Im not going to study and struggle to express this truth in my own words; Ill just borrow my words from someone else," then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else. Always make it a practice to stir your own mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. Your position is not really yours until you make it yours through suffering and study. The author or speaker from whom you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didnt know before, but the one who helps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression, and speak it clearly and boldly.
_________________Ed Pugh