Sermons & Devotionals by Utmost For His Highest

“But we trusted … and beside all this, to-day is the third day …” Luke 24:21 Every fact that the disciples stated was right; but the inferences they drew from those facts were wrong. Anything that savours of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If depression and oppression visit me, I am to blame;... Read More

“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 An average view of the Christian life is that it means deliverance from trouble. It is deliverance in trouble, which is very different. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High…there s... Read More

“Jesus did not commit Himself unto them for He knew what was in man.” John 2:24-25 Disillusionment means that there are no more false judgments in life. To be undeceived by disillusionment may leave us cynical and unkindly severe in our judgment of others, but the disillusionment which comes from Go... Read More

“And as they followed, they were afraid.” Mark 10:32 At the beginning we were sure we knew all about Jesus Christ, it was a delight to sell all and to fling ourselves out in a hardihood of love; but now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is on in front and He looks strange: "Jesus went before them and ... Read More

“What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.” Matthew 10:27 At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God's han... Read More

“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalms 46:10 Tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the ... Read More

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.” Matthew 6:6 The main idea in the region of religion is - Your eyes upon God, not on men. Do not have as your motive the desire to be known as a praying man. Get an inner cha... Read More

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48 Our Lord's exhortation in these verses is to be generous in our behaviour to all men. In the spiritual life beware of walking according to natural affinities. Everyone has natural affinities; some people we like and ot... Read More

“No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him.” John 6:44 When God draws me, the issue of my will comes in at once - will I react on the revelation which God gives - will I come to Him? Discussion on spiritual matters is an impertinence. Never discuss with anyone when God spe... Read More

“I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” 1 Corinthians 9:22 A Christian worker has to learn how to be God's noble man or woman amid a crowd of ignoble things. Never make this plea - If only I were somewhere else! All God's men are ordinary men made extraordinary by the... Read More

“By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing … that in blessing I will bless thee… .” Genesis 22:15-19 Abraham has reached the place where he is in touch with the very nature of God, he understands now the Reality of God. "My goal is God Himself . . . At any cost, d... Read More

“Come unto Me.” Matthew 11:28 Is it not humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things we will not come to Jesus Christ about. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words - "Come unto Me." In every degree in which you are not real, you will dispute rath... Read More

“In whom we have … the forgiveness of sins.” Ephesians 1:7 Beware of the pleasant view of the Fatherhood of God - God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That sentiment has no place whatever in the New Testament. The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous trag... Read More

“I have called you friends.” John 15:15 We never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we abandon in every particular. Self-surrender is the most difficult thing - I will if…I Oh, well, I suppose I must devote my life to God. There is none of the joy of self-sacrifice in that. As soon as we do abando... Read More

“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Matthew 5:3 Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard I can not attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier with... Read More

“The Lord … hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight.” Acts 9:17 When Paul received his sight, he received spiritually an insight into the Person of Jesus Christ, and the whole of his subsequent life and preaching was nothing but Jesus Christ - "I determined not to know anything among you, ... Read More

“It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” 1 John 3:2 Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We imagine that we have to reach some end, but that is not the nature of spiritual life. The nature of spiritual life is that we are ce... Read More

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: . . Let not your heart be troubled.” John 14:27 Whenever a thing becomes difficult in personal experience, we are in danger of blaming God, but it is we who are in the wrong, not God, there is some perversity somewhere that we will not let go. Immed... Read More

“Ye cannot serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:19 Have you the slightest reliance on anything other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural virtue, any set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any particular in this new proposition which God has put before you? That is what t... Read More

“A conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.” Acts 24:16 God's commands are given to the life of His Son in us, consequently to the human nature in which His Son has been formed, His commands are difficult, but immediately we obey they become divinely easy. Conscience is that faculty in... Read More