Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)

I used to really think this was a great book. There are some entries that I still think are great, however, I'm finding myself increasingly frustrated with Chambers being somewhat heavy-handed with works-based doctrine. Unnervingly, he seems heavily rooted in Christian-perfectionism at times, and I find that downright depressing. Worse, Chambers overuses ellipses in his daily scripture quotations to the point at which he frequently has more to say about a verse than what quoted sentence show more fragment actually supports - context is important, and it is lost in this form of exegesis. show less

There have been so many days this year that Chambers was speaking directly to me! Admittedly, there have been days where the message was a little hard to follow or where we were crossways with our theology, but by and large, Chambers just had this gift for cutting through the worldly noise and getting to the heart of who God is and what He desires for us. Personally, his August writings were very impactful for me.

If You Will Ask: Reflections on the Power of Prayer by Oswald Chambers is a 1963 publication.

This is a thin volume focused on prayer written by Oswald Chambers who is best known for his devotional book, “My Utmost for His Highest”.

While not very long, the book really packs a punch. I've never read a book solely devoted to prayer, and Chambers brings out some truths that I’d never really considered before.

The reason I mention that is because, though I pray often, but I’ve never show more thought about how I approached it or what it cost God for me to pray- making me realize what a privilege it is to pray.

Chambers, though, well versed on the subject- with only a few exceptions, is mostly down to earth enough for anyone, no matter where they may be on their spiritual journey to understand his message.

There were a couple of passages in which I’d have to respectfully disagree, but overall, this is a very good place to start if you want to learn about prayer and its extreme importance in your daily walk with the Lord.

4 stars

*Very old book, but amazingly, it is available at a reasonable price in the Amazon Kindle store- at this writing. show less

My Utmost for His Highest is a devotional book. This means that each day has a small, easy-to-digest piece of theology attached to it. I’ve read many of these before, hardly ever in the way they’re intended (instead, I barrel through, doing months in a single day). While this may alter the outcome of what I get from the volume, I find this a more efficient way of reading many books in less time.

Nevertheless, I found some of Chambers’ points to be atypical of what I expected to see in a show more devotional. Many times he emphasized making disciples of men versus getting people to believe what you believe. I for one found this to be a breath of fresh air (albeit, one that is about 100 years old) among all the books and materials that are about converting to believe what you believe down to the last letter. I agree with Chambers in this light, as with Christianity, there is so much that is left to interpretation that is not vital for being a Christian. If there was some subtle nuance to getting Christianity “right,” it would devalue the importance of Jesus and make Christianity more akin to the card game Mao than the straightforward walk it is.

While I’m not a fan of devotionals (for the reason stated above), I did think that Chambers had some pretty good ideas that I think today’s Christian may find useful. show less