Devotional 150409

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thank God for a relatively calm and balmy weather today. I was so concerned that the tree outside of my office window would fall down on our building when it was moved violently by the storm. It was purely God’s mercy for our existence on earth. As we prayed for missionary this morning, we were reminded once again that the Church of Christ needs revival before we can mobilize Christians to participate in the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many churches are too busy engaging herself in doing many good things but not the most important thing – the Great Commission. Church goes down hill when it undermines the Great Commission. Christians fails to enjoy the abundant life in Christ when they undermine the Great Commission. We don’t see the importance because we don’t think we need to obey God in everything He said or expects. Have mercy on us O Lord! We give foothold to Satan when we give excuse to ourselves not to live a 24/7 Christian life in accordance to Your Word. At the end of the day, we will suffer from our stupidity and stumble others along the way. We need to repent and renovate our hearts before the Lord once again.

"But the high places (idol worship) were not taken away out of Israel; nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days" (2 Chronicles 15:17). Asa was incomplete in his external obedience, he was right in the main but not entirely right. Beware of the thing of which you say - "Oh, that does not matter much." The fact that it does not matter much to you may mean that it matters a very great deal to God. Nothing is a light matter with a child of God. How much longer are some of us going to keep God trying to teach us one thing? He never loses patience. You say - "I know I am right with God"; but still the "high places" remain, there is something over which you have not obeyed. Are you protesting that your heart is right with God, and yet is there something in your life about which He has caused you to doubt? Whenever there is doubt, quit immediately, no matter what it is. Nothing is a mere detail.

Are there some things in connection with your bodily life, your intellectual life, upon which you are not concentrating at all? You are all right in the main but you are careless; there is a relapse on the line of concentration. You no more need a holiday from spiritual concentration than your heart needs a holiday from beating. You cannot have a moral holiday and remain moral, nor can you have a spiritual holiday and remain spiritual. God wants you to be entirely His, and this means that you have to watch to keep yourself fit. It takes a tremendous amount of time to be holy. Some of us expect to "reach the top spiritual shape" in about two minutes. It is definitely impossible. And there is no expressway to grow our obedience either. I wished I could have an extra-strength ‘spiritual pill’ that made me a mature Christian in a few minutes. Unfortunately there was no such kind of pill.

Neurologists said that our human brain needs 25 years to become fully developed. That’s why young people tend to do irrational and immature things. Hopefully, they will become more mature when they turn 25. If it takes 25 years for our brain to become fully developed, I wondered it takes how long for us to become mature in our faith. With the help from God, I believe the process could be shortened. But it requires our part to work with Him. God chooses not to coerce us into spiritual growth. He prefers to let us exercise our free will to grow in Him. Once we are willing to step into this spiritual journey with Christ, He can take us to higher ground more than we can imagine. The key is to submit to His leadership and enjoy our ride with Him.

May God strengthen your commitment in Him each day, so that you will give Him freedom to drive your life in order to explore new horizon for your spiritual growth each day.

Love you under His leadership,
Lawrence