Devotional 080509

Dear brother and sister,
Good afternoon. My morning was packed with meetings. But I love to find time to meditate on the word of God whenever I could find time to do so. It is indeed for the well being of my inner being and for getting strength to face my daily lessons in life. Our whole being depends on God. Our Lord Jesus reminded Satan as He faced his temptation in the desert, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4). Yes, we cannot live without the nurturing of our God.

"Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth" (Revelation 3:10). Patience is more than endurance. A saint's life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and then the saint says - "I cannot stand any more." God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He let us fly. Trust yourself in God's hands. For what have you need of patience just now? Maintain your relationship to Jesus Christ by the patience of faith. "Though He slay me, yet will I wait for Him!"

Faith is not a pathetic sentiment, but healthy and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. You cannot see Him just now, you cannot understand what He is doing, but you know Him. Shipwreck occurs when we fail to maintain that mental self-assurance which comes from being established on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the heroic effort of your life; you cast yourself in total confidence on God.

God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us, now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him. There are spots where that faith has not worked in us as yet, places untouched by the life of God. There were none of those spots in Jesus Christ's life, and there are to be none in ours. "This is life eternal, that they might know You." The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we take this view, life becomes one great romance, a glorious opportunity for seeing marvelous things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.

Knowing the attributes of God should generate the kind of faith and commitment in Him, which will empower our confidence in facing all kinds of challenges in life. And we will never be satisfied regarding our knowledge of God. We can never understand the depth of His love nor His wisdom. We are going to spend eternity to understand how awesome and wonderful is our God. And let’s begin to explore a little bit of His greatness each day while we are living on earth. Those knowledge of His greatness will certainly nurture our inner power to handle life under all kinds of circumstances.

I remember asking our missionary in Dubai about the kind of message that may apply to his congregation there; many of them are construction workers who labored out in the desert under extreme hot weather (It was 40°C while we were there) for 12 hours a day. They were totally exhausted when we visited them at night. What kind of message would empower their daily walk with Christ at work? It was the love and healing power of God according to our missionary. It was the love of God who transforms their perspective in life and gives them patience to endure their daily suffering at work. That’s why they love to come to Bible study in the desert regardless of the opposition from their superior.

Hope you will spend your day to know Him more…

Love you in Christ,
Lawrence