Devotional 270809

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Praise God for His miraculous provisions and thank you for your prayer, the financial condition of our organization has improved. Our no pay leave (NPL) policy will be terminated next month; earlier than we originally anticipated. So, today and next Monday will be my last two NPL days for August. And I was so happy to wake up to a bright sunny morning in Daly City. Without any hesitation, I went out to jog right away; something I have never done since I moved to Daly City more than ten years ago. And by the time I came back, the fog rolled back in again. I learned to seize the moment and do the right thing when opportunity is available.

"You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going" (John 12:35). Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mount with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. "If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness!" The second you waive the question of sanctification or any other thing upon which God gave you light, you begin to get dry rot in your spiritual life. Continually bring the truth out into actuality; work it out in every domain, or the very light you have will prove a curse.

The most difficult person to deal with is the one who has the arrogant satisfaction of an experience to which he can refer back, but who is not working it out in practical life. If you say you are sanctified, show it. The experience must be so genuine that it is shown in the life. Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent; it came from the pit, no matter how beautiful it sounds.

Theology must work itself out in the most practical relationships. "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees . . ." said Our Lord, i.e., you must be more moral than the most moral being you know. You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you running it out into the practical issues of your life? Every bit of your life, physical, moral and spiritual is to be judged by the standard of the Atonement of Christ.

Only dead people stop growing. Some growth is desirable and some isn’t; we don’t want our body grow sideway like bearing a “spare tie” on our waist. We want our growth to be balanced and healthy. In the same way, our spiritual growth needs to be monitored on a regular basis. Or else Satan will take over our heart (control center of our reason, emotion and will) when we leave our heart on an auto mode (whatever!). King Solomon said in his proverbs, “Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it” (Pro 4:23). At work, we know we need to guard our heart; to be alert of what need to be done and what not to be done. Some of us give our best to our work and want to see our desirable results. However, when comes to our walk with God or our personal well being, our attitude is just “whatever.” Your carelessness will have undesirable consequences. I grow weeds (undesirable vegetation) in my backyard when I am careless about my gardening. What kind of spiritual garden you have in your heart today? Don’t give up when it becomes a jungle of weeds. Once you start working on it, you will be amazed how fast you can have a fresh new garden again, because our Holy Spirit will partner with you on the side. Call on Him today to start working on your spiritual garden. You will enjoy spending time in your garden when you begin to pay attention to its growth.

Love you in Christ,
Lawrence