Monday, December 14, 2009

Devotional 141209

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thank God for beautiful sunshine after the storm. The air is very refreshing and the nature is greener after the rain. Praise God for His common grace for mankind. No matter whether we are rebellious or obedience, God displays His grace to us all. This kind of grace or blessing is something God wants His children to display in life. Jesus did not serve the poor or needy with the condition that they have to follow Him. He gives unconditionally. He blessed even those who persecuted or cursed Him. As we walk close to God, I am sure the Holy Spirit will transform our lives into Christ-like. After all, this is the goal of our spiritual formation to allow the statue of Christ to grow within us daily.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27). Whenever a thing becomes difficult in personal experience, we are in danger of blaming God, but it is we who are in the wrong, not God, there is some perversity somewhere that we will not let go. Immediately we do, everything becomes as clear as daylight. As long as we try to serve two ends, ourselves and God, there is confusion. The attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. When once we get there, there is nothing easier than living the saintly life; difficulty comes in when we want to seize the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own ends.

Whenever you obey God, His seal is always that of peace, the witness of an unfathomable peace, which is not natural, but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, wait till it does or find out the reason why it does not. If you are acting on an impulse, or from a sense of the heroic, the peace of Jesus will not witness; there is no simplicity or confidence in God, because the spirit of simplicity is born of the Holy Spirit, not of your decisions. Every decision brings a reaction of simplicity.

My questions come whenever I cease to obey. When I have obeyed God, the problems never come between me and God, they come as query to keep the mind going on with amazement at the revelation of God. Any problem that comes between God and myself springs out of disobedience; any problem, and there are many, that is alongside me while I obey God, increases my thrilled delight, because I know that my Father knows, and I am going to watch and see how He resolves this thing.

It is common that we blame God for whatever we have problem in life. Even though you do not explicitly complain against God, your grievance ultimately goes back to God. You may simply says, “Why does this thing happen to me or my family?” You did not mention God. But your grievance is against the One who is ultimately in control of the unknown future. God always bare the blame; He is our easy target. Family member is usually easy target for most people to dump their emotional garbage; they appear to be very calm and gentle in dealing with all kinds of problem at work. But once they return home they become easily agitated. In the same way, God become our easy target to dump our emotional garbage. Like loving parents, God understands His children’s frustration in life. He does not mind to listen to their grievances and anger. When all the yelling subsides, we will hear God’s gentle voice saying, “I understand your frustration. I am sorry that you have to go through the growing pain. I am here for you. I love you regardless.” This is the kind of peace that our Holy Spirit will offer us. He wants to give you the ultimate security in the whirlpool of life.

Love you in His peace,
Lawrence

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