Come As You Are - I always need this reminder...

'Word for Today' By: http://www.ucb.co.uk/index.cfm?itemid=88

05 May 2008 Come as you are'Follow me, and I will make you...' Matthew 4:19

Understand this: Jesus doesn't invite us to follow Him because we believe in Him. He invites us to follow Him because He believes in us! He says, 'Follow me and I will make you...' He knows what we can become when His grace touches our lives. Matthew, a Jew, collected taxes for the Romans who enslaved his people. In their eyes he was lower than scum, yet Jesus called him and he ended up writing the first book in the New Testament. When Nathanael was invited to meet Jesus, he was downright sceptical. '"Can...any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip saith unto him, "Come and see"' (John 1:46). Even after three years of exposure to His miracles and messages, they still had doubts. Check how often He says to them, 'O ye of little faith...why do you not believe? ...If only you believed you would see.' Knowing they were anxious about what would happen when He left them and went back to Heaven, Jesus said, 'I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter [the Holy Spirit], that he may abide with you for ever' (John 14:16). The Greek word for comforter is paracletos which means 'one who comes alongside to help.' There will never be a day when you won't need God's help! So, come as you are. Come with your self-righteous or sordid past. Come with your halo or your hang-ups. Come, even though you wonder if He can do what He promises. Let His power and presence rub off on you. What do you have to lose? You've tried your way and it didn't work, now try His way. Come. You won't be disappointed!

My Utmost For His Highest Daily Davortional By: Oswald Chambers
http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php

May 5, 2008
Judgment and the Love of God

The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God . . . —1 Peter 4:17
The Christian servant must never forget that salvation is God's idea, not man's; therefore, it has an unfathomable depth. Salvation is the great thought of God, not an experience. Experience is simply the door through which salvation comes into the conscious level of our life so that we are aware of what has taken place on a much deeper level. Never preach the experience— preach the great thought of God behind the experience. When we preach, we are not simply proclaiming how people can be saved from hell and be made moral and pure; we are conveying good news about God.
In the teachings of Jesus Christ the element of judgment is always brought out— it is the sign of the love of God. Never sympathize with someone who finds it difficult to get to God; God is not to blame. It is not for us to figure out the reason for the difficulty, but only to present the truth of God so that the Spirit of God will reveal what is wrong. The greatest test of the quality of our preaching is whether or not it brings everyone to judgment. When the truth is preached, the Spirit of God brings each person face to face with God Himself.
If Jesus ever commanded us to do something that He was unable to equip us to accomplish, He would be a liar. And if we make our own inability a stumbling block or an excuse not to be obedient, it means that we are telling God that there is something which He has not yet taken into account. Every element of our own self-reliance must be put to death by the power of God. The moment we recognize our complete weakness and our dependence upon Him will be the very moment that the Spirit of God will exhibit His power.