Oswald Chambers
1874 - 1917

      Oswald Chambers was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on July 24th, 1874, to Clarence and Hannah Chambers, the seventh of seven children. Years earlier, Hannah converted to Christ under the dynamic preaching of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Both she and Clarence were baptized by Spurgeon; and Clarence was one of the first students to enroll at Spurgeon’s Pastor’s College at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

      After accompanying his father to hear C.H. Spurgeon preach, Oswald surrendered his life to Christ, and was duly baptized by Rev. Briscoe. At Rye Lane Baptist, he faithfully attended Bible classes and prayer meetings. Anxious to apply his newly-acquired knowledge, he engaged in street evangelism and preached at missions.

      In 1895 he received an Art’s Master’s Certificate. Thereafter he pursued his education at the University of Edinburgh, where he excelled in rigorous classwork as well as successfully maintaining a balanced devotional life. Attending a gathering of the Christian Union, he heard Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission, preach winningly on the faithfulness of God, nudging Chambers yet further toward ministry. After much prayer, he surrendered to missionary service.

      On October 29th, 1917, Chambers, suffering severe pains in his abdomen, was rushed to a Red Cross hospital in Cairo where an emergency appendectomy was performed. Recovering somewhat, he relapsed from a blood clot, and died on November 15th, 1917.

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A Bond-Slave Of Jesus
      'I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' Galatians 2:20 These words mean the breaking of my independence with my own band and surrendering to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me up to the point three hundred and sixty-five times a ...read

Abandonment
      'Then Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee... .' Mark 10:28 Our Lord replies in effect, that abandonment is for Himself, and not for what the disciples themselves will get from it. Beware of an abandonment which has the commercial spirit in it - "I am going to give myself to God because I want to be d ...read

Acquaintance With Grief
      'A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.' Isaiah 53:3 We are not acquainted with grief in the way in which Our Lord was acquainted with it; we endure it, we get through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of life we do not reconcile ourselves to the fact of sin. We take a rational view of life and say that a ...read

After God's Silence - What?
      'When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days in the same place where he was.' John 11:6 Has God trusted you with a silence - a silence that is big with meaning? God's silences are His answers. Think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything analogous to those days in your life? Can ...read

After Obedience - What?
      And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side... ." ' Mark 6:45-52 We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We hav ...read

After Surrender - What?
      'I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.' John 17:4 Surrender is not the surrender of the external life, but of the will; when that is done, all is done. There are very few crises in life; the great crisis is the surrender of the will. God never crushes a man's will into surrender, He never beseeches him, He waits until th ...read

All Noble Things are Difficult
      Enter ye in at the strait gate . . because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way. . . (Matthew 7:13-14) If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all noble things are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it rouses us up to overcome. D ...read

All Noble Things Are Difficult
      'Enter ye in at the strait gate . . because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way...' Matthew 7:13-14 If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all noble things are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it rouses us up to overco ...read

Always Now
      'We ... beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.' 2 Corinthians 6:1 The grace you had yesterday will not do for to-day. Grace is the overflowing favour of God; you can always reckon it is there to draw upon. "In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses" - that is where the test for patience comes. Ar ...read

Am I Blessed Like This?
      Blessed are ..." ' Matthew 5:3-10 When we first read the statements of Jesus they seem wonderfully simple and unstartling, and they sink unobserved into our unconscious minds. For instance, the Beatitudes seem merely mild and beautiful precepts for all unworldly and useless people, but of very little practical use in the stern workaday ...read

Am I Carnally Minded?
      'Whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal?' 1 Corinthians 3:3 No natural man knows anything about carnality. The flesh lusting against the Spirit that came in at regeneration, and the Spirit lusting against the flesh, produces carnality. "Walk in the Spirit," says Paul, "and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of t ...read

Am I Convinced By Christ?
      'Notwithstanding in this rejoice not ... , but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.' Luke 10:19,20 Jesus Christ says, in effect, Don't rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to Me. The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service, to rejoice in the fact that God has u ...read

Am I Convinced By Christ?
      'Notwithstanding in this rejoice not ... , but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.' Luke 10:19,20 Jesus Christ says, in effect, Don't rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to Me. The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service, to rejoice in the fact that God has u ...read

Am I My Brother's Keeper?
      'None of us liveth to himself.' Romans 14:7 Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible for other souls spiritually before God? For instance, if I allow any private deflection from God in my life, everyone about me suffers. We "sit together in heavenly places." "Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it." When ...read

Amid A Crowd Of Paltry Things
      '... in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses.' 2 Corinthians 6:4 It takes Almighty grace to take the next step when there is no vision and no spectator - the next step in devotion, the next step in your study, in your reading, in your kitchen; the next step in your duty, when there is no vision from God, no enthusi ...read

Apprehended By God
      'If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended.' Philippians 3:12 Never choose to be a worker; but when once God has put His call on you, woe be to you if you turn to the right hand or to the left. We are not here to work for God because we have chosen to do so, but because God has apprehended us. There is never any thoug ...read

Approved Unto God
      'Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.' 2 Timothy 2:15 If you cannot express yourself on any subject, struggle until you can. If you do not, someone will be the poorer all the, days of his life. Struggle to re-express some truth of God to your self, and God ...read

Are You Discouraged In Devotion?
      'Yet lackest thou one thing; sell all that thou hast . . and come, follow Me.' Luke 18:22 "And when he heard this . . ." Have you ever heard the Master say a hard word? If you have not, I question whether you have heard Him say anything. Jesus Christ says a great deal that we listen to, but do not hear; when we do hear, His words are ...read

Are You Ever Disturbed?
      'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.' John 14:27 There are times when our peace is based upon ignorance, but when we awaken to the facts of life, inner peace is impossible unless it is received from Jesus. When Our Lord speaks peace, He makes peace, His words are ever "spirit and life." Have I ever received what Jesus sp ...read