Devotional 100609

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It was a very unique feeling to have Loretta came to office with me. She volunteered to help me organize my bookshelves and sermon files. I had no time to organize my “stuff” (books, files and junks) since I moved them out from my church office last year. Thank God for giving Loretta a temporary break from her career, so that she can help me organize. Praise the Lord!

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Luke 11:9). "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives" (James 4:3). If you ask for things from life instead of from God, you ask with wrong motives, i.e., you ask from a desire for self-realization. The more you realize yourself the less will you seek God. "Seek and you will find. " Get to work, narrow your interests to this one. Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you only given an unenergetic cry to Him after some pain for moral setback? Seek, concentrate, and you will find.

"Behold, every one that thirsts, come to the waters." Are you thirsty, or complacently indifferent - so satisfied with your experience that you want nothing more of God? Experience is a gateway, not an end. Beware of building your faith on experience; the ringing note will come in at once, the disapproving note. You can never give another person that which you have found, but you can make him admire for what you have.

"Knock and the door will be opened to you. " "Draw close to God." Knock - the door is closed, and you will feel tremble as you knock. "Cleanse your hands" - knock a bit louder, you begin to discover you are dirty. "Purify your heart" - this is more personal still, you are desperately in earnest now - you will do anything. "Be afflicted" - have you ever been afflicted before God at the state of your inner life? There is no thread of self-pity left, but a heartbreaking affliction of amazement to find you are the kind of person that you are. "Humble yourself" - it is a humbling business to knock at God's door - you have to knock with the crucified thief. "To him that knocks, it shall be opened."

I believe Brother Chambers spelled out this process of “drawing close to God,” out of his personal experience. Many genuine seekers of God went through similar experiences in church history. It requires a sincere and desperate heart to embark the journey to draw close to God. Nevertheless, it does not mean God is too far beyond our reach. On a contrary, God is so near that we have easily ignored His existence within us. Once you realize your God dwells inside the inner compartment of your soul waiting for your visit, then you can identify that trembling feeling. You don’t know what to expect. You don’t know whether God will open the door for you after so many years of ignoring Him…

This process of drawing close to God may sound like a long one. But it could be twinkling of a moment – within a short period of time, your soul goes through this spiral of emotions or gymnastic reflects (A well traned gymnast can accomplish many highly difficult tumbling acts within a few seconds on floor exercise) of your mind. I wish I would have this kind of trembling experience everyday when I draw close to God. If I still do, it shows that I am still a God-fearing person. Otherwise, I become indifference toward God or any spiritual pursuit of Him in life.

Brothers and sisters, Please don’t take God for granted just as many people (including Christians) do in our culture and community. We could easily pick up the secular attitude and simply knock God in our “spiritual or religious” compartment, and worship Him only from outside the door. We just don’t want to converse with Him or see Him. We merely want to know He is still inside our secret hiding place, in case we need Him to help.

Remember. He is our hiding place, but not supposed to be left in our hiding place.

Love you because you are the apple of God’s eyes,

Lawrence