Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Devotional 141009

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thank God for the passing of storm; the whole nature has been refreshed. In the same token, a stormy experience in life could also be a refreshing moment for us. God sometimes used a storm to reveal our weaknesses or surface our accumulated dirt or sins, so that we can rebuild and restore. I am sure the kind of “storm” that Jesus used in His parable of “The Wise and Foolish Builders”(Matthew 7:24-27) is to serve the same purpose. So if your life is in the midst of storm, steadfast in Christ. If the storm is over, reexamine your life to see how you need to rebuild yourself on the foundation of Christ.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20). The basis of missionary appeals is the authority of Jesus Christ, not the needs of the heathen. We could look upon Our Lord as One Who assists us in our endeavor for God. Our Lord puts Himself as the absolute sovereign supreme Lord over His disciples. He does not say the heathen will be lost if we do not go; He simply says - " Therefore go and make disciples of all nations " Go on the revelation of My sovereignty; teach and preach out of a living experience of Me.

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go" (v. 16). If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him for myself, and how to get alone with Him; I must take time to worship the Being Whose Name I bear. "Come unto Me" - that is the place to meet Jesus. Are you weary and heavy laden? How many Christians are! We banish those marvelous words of the universal Sovereign of the world to the threshold of an after-meeting; they are the words of Jesus to His disciples.

"Go therefore. . . ." Go simply means live. Acts 1:8 is the description of how to go. Jesus did not say - Go into Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, but, "You shall be my witnesses" in all these places. He undertakes to establish the goings.

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you. . . "; that is the way to keep going in our personal lives. Where we are placed is a matter of indifference; God engineers the goings. "None of these things move me, neither I count my life dear unto myself . . ." That is how to keep going till we're gone.

Christian living is a testimony or witnessing. The key question is how do we conduct our living as followers of Christ? If we live according to what Christ has prescribed, we will make impact in the world like light and salt of the world. People will notice us just like a city being built on a hill that cannot be hidden. We are called to make impact in the world for the glory of God. If God has promised Abraham to bless him and his descendants, He will fulfill His promise to bless us according to His faithfulness. But God also wants us to become blessings for all nations too. In another word, His blessings for us are always for the sake of greater good. God expects us to make a difference in the world through His blessings for His children.

Being a blessed child, how do I conduct my life in according to His plan? The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12) spells out His prescription for an abundant life. But the eight “blessed living” attitudes are hard to be put to practice. Thus, we need the Holy Spirit to become our helper and enabler. You don’t go about to show how capable you are to discipline yourself in acquiring the blessed living. You are called to abide in Him just as the branches abide in the Vine, in order to bear fruits. Again, the bottom line is still your daily walk with Christ. Therefore, brothers and sisters, spend time to really meditate on the Word of God today.

Love you in His blessing,
Lawrence

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