Devotional 260109

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Happy Chinese New Year! I pray that our Lord will grant you strength, endurance and faithfulness like ox that labors in field with whatever hardship and unpredictable weather. We definitely need this kind of stamina to sail through the economic tsunami of 2009. With our hope in Christ and the help from God, we know we can face all kinds of circumstances with ease and joy.

"If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:30) A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us if we are not simple. How are we going to be simple with the simplicity of Jesus? By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, obeying Him as He brings the word of God, and life will become amazingly simple. "Consider," says Jesus, "how much more your Father Who clothes the grass of the field will clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him." Every time we have gone back in spiritual communion it has been because we have conducted our lives as though we knew better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed the cares of the world to come in, and have forgotten the "much more" of our Heavenly Father.

"Behold the birds of the air" - their main aim is to obey the principle of life that is in them and God looks after them. Jesus says that if you are rightly related to Him and obey His Spirit that is in you, God will look after your 'feathers.'

"Consider the lilies of the field" - they grow where they are put. Many of us refuse to grow where we are put, consequently we take root nowhere. Jesus says that if we obey the life God has given us, He will look after all the other things. Has Jesus Christ told us a lie? If we are not experiencing the "much more," it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us, we are taken up with confusing considerations. How much time have we taken up worrying God with questions when we should have been absolutely free to concentrate on His work? Consecration means the continual separating of myself for one particular thing. We cannot consecrate once and for all. It is a life-long and daily process. Am I continually separating myself to consider God in every day of my life?

During this season of economic crisis, I believe God wants us to learn to depend on Him and experience Him as the Provider of life. Does your God know better? Is He more capable than you ever imagine? Will He be able to carry you through your financial difficulties? Will He keep His promises in the Bible? How would He want you to rejoice in simplicity of abidance in Him? Indeed, this is the season to practice our faith and our life as a community of faith – to love one another not only in words but in action.

Love you in His abundant joy,
Lawrence