Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Devotional 130109

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. The weather is amazingly warm even though this may be the abnormal consequence of global warming problem. Some one asked me last night whether global warming is one of the sign of the end time. We are in the end time and we have enough signs to tell us that Jesus will come back at any time. Let’s not concern so much on the exact timing of His return. If Jesus did not want to disclose His timing, let’s not waste our time to predict as though we know better than our Lord Jesus. God wants us to be prepared at all time for His second coming. The way to do it is to draw close to the Lord. We will find more assurance of His presence when we enter into solitude time with Christ. Sometimes God will also use suffering to draw us closer to Him

When God gets us alone by affliction, heartbreak, or temptation, by disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted affection, by a broken friendship, or by a new friendship - when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are dumbfounded, and cannot ask one question, then He begins to explain His Truth to us. Watch Jesus Christ's training of the twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were confused. They constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly explained things to them; but they only understood after they had received the Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised, “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).

If you are going on with God, the only thing that is clear to you, and the only thing God intends to be clear, is the way He deals with your own soul. Your brother's sorrows and perplexities are an absolute confusion to you. We imagine we understand where the other person is, until God gives us a dose of the plague of our own hearts. There are whole tracts of stubbornness and ignorance to be revealed by the Holy Spirit in each one of us, and it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now, or are we taken up with little fussy notions, fussy comradeships in God's service, fussy ideas about our bodies? Jesus can explain nothing until we get through all the noisy questions of the head and are alone with Him.

If we don’t draw close to our Lord, we will naturally focus on our environment, which will only make us more fearful and confused. Let’s not give foothold to Satan by yielding to our worry, especially during this difficult down time of our economy. Instead, remember what the Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7-10, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Love you in the Lord,
Lawrence

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