Oswald Chambers Quotes & Sayings

Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses the conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God. — Oswald Chambers

If your life is producing only a whine, instead of the wine, then ruthlessly kick it out. It is definitely a crime for a Christian to be weak in God's strength. — Oswald Chambers

O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself." Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul's faith in God. Don't say, "I must explain myself," or, "I must get people to understand." Our Lord never explained anything - He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves. — Oswald Chambers

We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God through our own efforts. We must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we get there, our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us as long as we think we are sufficient in and of ourselves. We must enter into His kingdom through the door of destitution. — Oswald Chambers

If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea.
You have to get out past the harbor into the great dephts of God, and begin to know things for yourself ... beg in to have spiritual discernment.
Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been. — Oswald Chambers

The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. — Oswald Chambers

Do not forecast where the temptation will come; it is the least likely thing that is the peril. In the aftermath of a great spiritual transaction the "retired sphere of the leasts" begins to tell; it is not dominant, but remember it is there, and if you are not warned, it will trip you up. — Oswald Chambers

Obey God in the things he shows you, and instantly the next thing is opened up. God will never reveal more truth about himself until you have obeyed what you know already ... this chapter brings out the delight of real friendship with God. — Oswald Chambers

It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and "we are more than conquerors through Him ... " (Romans 8:37). — Oswald Chambers

God never tells us to give up things just for the sake of giving them up, but He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, namely, life with Himself. — Oswald Chambers

Every time we pray our horizon is altered, our attitude to things is altered, not sometimes but every time, and the amazing thing is that we don't pray more. — Oswald Chambers

Staleness is an indication that something in out lives is out of step with God. — Oswald Chambers

Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. — Oswald Chambers

If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God's purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. — Oswald Chambers

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

In times of prosperity we are apt to forget God; we imagine it does not matter whether we recognise Him or not. As long as we are comfortably clothed and fed and looked after, our civilisation becomes an elaborate means of ignoring God. — Oswald Chambers

When we preach the love of God there is a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals not first the love of God but the intense, blazing holiness of God, with His love at the center of that holiness. — Oswald Chambers

God expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. — Oswald Chambers

Our Lord never dictated to His Father, and we are not here to dictate to God; we are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. When we realise this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine to feed and nourish others. — Oswald Chambers

If we think of prayer as the breath of our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly. The blood flows and the breathing continues - we are not conscious of it but it is always going on. — Oswald Chambers

We think of prayer as a preparation for work, or a calm after having done work, whereas prayer is the essential work. — Oswald Chambers

It is not repentance that saves me;
repentance is the sign that I realize what God has done in Christ Jesus. — Oswald Chambers

God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my own character. Paul was not conscious of himself. He was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose--to proclaim the gospel of God. — Oswald Chambers

God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints. — Oswald Chambers

If I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. — Oswald Chambers

We will suffer a sharp painful disullisionment before we fully surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the fleshthat shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, the horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them. — Oswald Chambers

We lean to our own understanding, or we bank on service and do away with prayer, and consequently by succeeding in the external we fail in the eternal, because in the eternal we succeed only by prevailing prayer. — Oswald Chambers

If ever we are going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed; you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed. I wonder what kind of finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you, and you have been like a marble and escaped? — Oswald Chambers

One man or woman called of God is worth a hundred who have elected to work for God. — Oswald Chambers

It is impossible to get exhausted in work for God. We get exhausted because we try to do God's work in our own way. — Oswald Chambers

It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don't agree with us. — Oswald Chambers

By realizing the reality of our Prince within us, we are never bothered again by the fact that we do not understand ourselves, or that other people do not understand us. The only One who truly understands me is the One who made me and who redeems me ... It is a tremendous freedom to get rid of every kind of self-consideration and learn to care about only one thing - the relationship between our Prince and ourselves. — Oswald Chambers

I do not believe it is possible to exaggerate what she has been in the way of a Sacrament out here - God conveying His presence through the common elements of an ordinary life. — Oswald Chambers

God's training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. we have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we can get it wrong when we think of the afterwards. what men call training and preparation, God calls the end ... if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment is precious. — Oswald Chambers

Prayer imparts the power to walk and not faint. — Oswald Chambers

There is no joy in the soul that has forgotten what God prizes. — Oswald Chambers

If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. — Oswald Chambers

The path of peace for us is to hand ourselves over to God and ask Him to search us, not what we think we are, or what other people think we are, or what we persuade ourselves we are or would like to be, but 'Search me out, O God, explore me as I really am in Thy sight.' — Oswald Chambers

We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might ... " (Ecclesiastes 9:10). — Oswald Chambers

Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him. — Oswald Chambers

So many people believe in their beliefs, have faith in their faith, and are confident in their confidence. All of this is of no avail. It is our confidence in God that abides, faith in God that remains, and belief in God that lasts. — Oswald Chambers

Never make a principle out of your experience. Allow God to be as creative with others as He is with you. — Oswald Chambers

Eternal life is not a gift from God, eternal life is the gift of God. — Oswald Chambers

If we are abandoned to Jesus we have no ends of our own to serve. — Oswald Chambers

The battle of prayer is against two things in the earthlies: wandering thoughts and lack of intimacy with God's character as revealed in His word. Neither can be cured at once, but they can be cured by discipline. — Oswald Chambers

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve ... " Matthew 20:28 Jesus also said, "Yet I am among you as the One who serves" (Luke 22:27). Paul's idea of service was the same as our Lord's - " ... ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake" (2 Corinthians 4:5). We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry is called to be different and above other people. But according to Jesus Christ, he is called to be a "doormat" for others - called to be their spiritual leader, but never their superior. — Oswald Chambers

There is nothing more certain in Time or Eternity than what Jesus Christ did on the Cross. — Oswald Chambers

If we were never depressed we should not be alive; it is the nature of a crystal never to be depressed. — Oswald Chambers

Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . . .' " Matthew 16:24 Individuality is the hard outer layer surrounding the inner spiritual life. Individuality shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. We see it as the primary characteristic of a child, and rightly so. When we confuse individuality with the spiritual life, we remain isolated. This shell of individuality is God's created natural covering designed to protect the spiritual life. But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. — Oswald Chambers

The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:14 The picture our Lord described here is not that of a simple stream of water, but an overflowing fountain. Continue to "be filled" (Ephesians 5:18) and the sweetness of your vital relationship to Jesus will flow as generously out of you as it has been given to you. If you find that His life is not springing up as it should, you are to blame - something is obstructing the flow. Was Jesus saying to stay focused on the Source so that you may be blessed personally? No, you are to focus on the Source so that out of you "will flow rivers of living water" - irrepressible life (John 7:38). — Oswald Chambers

Being born of the Spirit means much more than we usually think. It gives us new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything through the never-ending supply of the life of God. — Oswald Chambers

Faith is not intelligent understanding, faith is deliberate commitment to a Person where I see no way. — Oswald Chambers

We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life "hidden with Christ in God" in our everyday human conditions. — Oswald Chambers

The one thing that remains is looking in the face of God for ourselves. — Oswald Chambers

In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as God gave Himself for us, without any calculations. The consequences of abandonment never enter into our outlook because our life is taken up in Him. — Oswald Chambers

Ask God for what you want, but you cannot ask if you are not asking for a right thing. When you draw near to God, you cease from asking for things."Your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him." Then, why ask? That you may get to know Him. — Oswald Chambers

We have to WORK OUT in the mechanical [physical] realm what Gods WORKS IN [us] in the mysterious [spiritual] realm. Beware of any spiritual emotion that you do not work out mechanically ... — Oswald Chambers

Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point
a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go more and more toward a slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest
our best for His glory. — Oswald Chambers

The call of God is a call according to the nature of God; where we go in obedience to that call depends entirely on the providential circumstances which God engineers, and is not of any moment. The danger is to fit the call of God into the idea of our own discernment and say, "God called me there." If we say so and stick to it, then it is good-bye to the development of the life of God in us. — Oswald Chambers

We are not built for ourselves, but for God. Not for service for God, but for God. — Oswald Chambers

The central thing about the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship to Himself, not public usefulness to men. — Oswald Chambers

When God gives a vision, transact business on that line, no matter what it costs. — Oswald Chambers

To believe is to commit. In the area of intellectual learning I commit myself mentally, and reject anything not related to that belief. In the realm of personal belief I commit myself morally to my convictions and refuse to compromise. But in intimate personal belief I commit myself spiritually to Jesus Christ and make a determination to be dominated by Him alone. — Oswald Chambers

Man is not God but hath God's end to serve, A master to obey, a course to take, Somewhat to cast off, somewhat to become. Grant this, then man must pass from old to new, From vain to real, from mistake to fact, From what once seemed good, to what now proves best. - Robert Browning — Oswald Chambers

Happiness is not a sign that we are right with God; happiness is a sign of satisfaction, that is all, and the majority of us can be satisfied on too low a level. — Oswald Chambers

Jesus Christ was made broken bread and poured-out wine for us, and He expects us to be made broken bread and poured-out wine in His hands for others. — Oswald Chambers

Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying, "I have sinned." The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes-a reflex action caused by self-disgust. — Oswald Chambers

Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. — Oswald Chambers

The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. — Oswald Chambers

One of the most amazing revelations of God comes to us when we learn that it is in the everyday things of life that we realize the magnificent deity of Jesus Christ. — Oswald Chambers

a full and overflowing life does not rest in bodily health, in circumstances, nor even in seeing God's work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the same fellowship and oneness with Him that Jesus Himself enjoyed. — Oswald Chambers

Angels cannot preach the gospel, only beings such as Paul and you and I can preach the gospel. — Oswald Chambers

Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself. Where does — Oswald Chambers

The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything is has to face without wavering. If we take this view, life becomes one great romance, a glorious opportunity for seeing marvelous things all the time.
God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power. — Oswald Chambers

We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something. — Oswald Chambers

A life of intimacy with God is characterized by joy. — Oswald Chambers

God cannot reveal anything to us if we have not His spirit. — Oswald Chambers

Some prayers are followed by silence (from God) because they are wrong, others because they are bigger than one can understand. It will be a wonderful moment for some of us when we stand before God and find that the prayers we clamored for in early days and imagined were never answered, have been answered in the most amazing way, and that God's silence has been the sign of the answer. — Oswald Chambers

I have to learn that the aim in life is God's, not mine. — Oswald Chambers

The spirit of God has the habit of taking the words of Jesus out of their scriptural setting and putting them into the setting of our personal lives. — Oswald Chambers

One of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God. — Oswald Chambers

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you ... (Acts 1:8) - not power as a gift from the Holy Spirit; the power is the Holy Spirit, not something that He gives us. — Oswald Chambers

I have learnt that I am me, that I can do the things that, as one might put it, me can do, but I cannot do the things that me would like to do. — Oswald Chambers

But the miracle of the redemptive reality of God is that the worst and the vilest offender can never exhaust the depths of His love. — Oswald Chambers

The greatest word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon — Oswald Chambers

Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. — Oswald Chambers

Sin is not weakness, it is a disease; it is red-handed rebellion against God and the magnitude of that rebellion is expressed by Calvary's cross. — Oswald Chambers

Once we see Jesus, the impossible things He does in our lives become as natural as breathing. — Oswald Chambers

Warning which needs to be repeated is that "the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches," and the lust for other things, will choke out the life of God in us (Matthew 13:22). — Oswald Chambers

Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. — Oswald Chambers

It is not obedience to a standard that matters to God, but the fulfillment of the highest standard by the Spirit that is within. Holiness and purity are not obedience to an actual law, but the unconscious natural characteristics of the indwelling Holy Spirit. No one can imitate either. This is why so many who have never experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit are so stern and unchristlike, and such sticklers for obeying the letter of the truth. These carnal Christians are not spiritual in God's sight. — Oswald Chambers

Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed. — Oswald Chambers

Now is the time for us to stop seeking our own satisfaction and to pour out our lives before HIM. — Oswald Chambers

It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we mistake panic for inspiration. — Oswald Chambers

In the spiritual domain, criticism is love turned sour. In a wholesome spiritual life there is no room for criticism. The critical faculty is an intellectual one, not a moral one. If criticism becomes a habit it will destroy the moral energy of the life and paralyse spiritual force. The only person who can criticise human beings is the Holy Spirit. — Oswald Chambers

Never allow anything to divert you from your insight into Jesus Christ. It is the true test of whether you are spiritual or not. To be unspiritual means that other things have a growing fascination for you. Since mine eyes have looked on Jesus, I've lost sight of all beside, So enchained my spirit's vision, Gazing on the Crucified. — Oswald Chambers

The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing but in God-likeness. — Oswald Chambers

The proof that our relationship is right with God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not. — Oswald Chambers

If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken-hearted, for we shall often meet with more ingratitude from men than we would from a dog; but if our motive is love to God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men. — Oswald Chambers

God makes us as broken bread and poured-out wine to please Him. Beware of competing calls once the call of God grips you. — Oswald Chambers