Sermons & Devotionals by Utmost For His Highest

“At that day ye shall ask in My name …” John 16:26,27 "At that day ye shall ask in My name," i.e., in My nature. Not - "You shall use My name as a magic word," but - "You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me." "That day" is not a day hereafter, but a day meant for here and now. "... Read More

“And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing.” John 16:23 When is "that day"? When the Ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. In that day you will be one with the Father as Jesus is, and "in that day," Jesus says, "ye shall ask Me nothing." Until the resurrection life of Jesus is manifested in you... Read More

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” Hebrews 10:19 Beware of imagining that intercession means bringing our personal sympathies into the presence of God and demanding that He does what we ask. Our approach to God is due entirely to the vicarious ide... Read More

“I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” Acts 26:19 If we lose the vision, we alone are responsible, and the way we lose the vision is by spiritual leakage. If we do not run our belief about God into practical issues, it is all up with the vision God has given. The only way to be obedient t... Read More

“An horror of great darkness fell upon him.” Genesis 15:1 Whenever God gives a vision to a saint, He puts him, as it were, in the shadow of His hand, and the saint's duty is to be still and listen. There is a darkness which comes from excess of light, and then is the time to listen. Genesis 16 is an... Read More

“And the parched ground shall become a pool.” Isaiah 35:7 We always have visions, before a thing is made real. When we realize that although the vision is real, it is not real in us, then is the time that Satan comes in with his temptations, and we are apt to say it is no use to go on. Instead of th... Read More

“Come up hither, and I will shew thee things.” Revelation 4:1 An elevated mood can only come out of an elevated habit of personal character. If in the externals of your life you live up to the highest you know, God will continually say - "Friend, go up higher." The golden rule in temptation is - Go ... Read More

“Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8 Purity is not innocence, it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual sympathy with God. We have to grow in purity. The life with God may be right and the inner purity remain unsullied, and yet every now and again ... Read More

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” Ephesians 6:18 As we go on in intercession we may find that our obedience to God is going to cost other people more than we thought. The danger then is to begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting to a to... Read More

“Look unto Me, and be ye saved.” Isaiah 14:22 Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says - Look unto Me, and be saved. The great difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and it is His blessings that make it difficult. Troubles nearly always make us look to God; Hi... Read More

What man is he that feareth the Lord?" ” Psalms 25:12 What are you haunted by? You will say - By nothing, but we are all haunted by something, generally by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our experience. The Psalmist says we are to be haunted by God. The abiding consciousness of the life is ... Read More

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.” John 15:13,15 Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said - "I will lay down my life for Thy sake" and he meant it; his sense of the heroic was magnificent. It would be a bad thin... Read More

“Behold, He cometh with clouds.” Revelation 1:7 In the Bible clouds are always connected with God. Clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or providences, within or without our personal lives, which seem to dispute the rule of God. It is by those very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how ... Read More

“Seekest thou great things for thyself?” Jeremiah 14:5 Are you seeking great things for yourself? Not seeking to be a great one, but seeking great things from God for yourself. God wants you in a closer relationship to Himself than receiving His gifts, He wants you to get to know Him. A great thing ... Read More

“As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” John 20:21 A missionary is one sent by Jesus Christ as He was sent by God. The great dominant note is not the needs of men, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in work for God is behind, not before. The tendency to-day is to put th... Read More

“Lord, what shall this man do? . . What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” John 21:21,2 One of our severest lessons comes from the stubborn refusal to see that we must not interfere in other people's lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interferin... Read More

“If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” John 8:17 If you do not cut the moorings, God will have to break them by a storm and send you out. Launch all on God, go out on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and you will get your eyes open. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spen... Read More

“I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34 Never be sympathetic with the soul whose case makes you come to the conclusion that God is hard. God is more tender than we can conceive, and every now and again He gives us the chance of being the rugged one that He may be the tender One. If a ... Read More

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord.” Psalms 55:22 We must distinguish between the burden-bearing that is right and the burden-bearing that is wrong. We ought never to bear the burden of sin or of doubt, but there are burdens placed on us by God which He does not intend to lift off, He wants us to roll t... Read More

“Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” Luke 18:1 You cannot intercede if you do not believe in the reality of the Redemption; you will turn intercession into futile sympathy with human beings which will only increase their submissive content to being out of touch with God. In intercession you ... Read More