Devotional 090710

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Praise God for another beautiful day. I am leaving for Vancouver, Canada for a weekend ministry this afternoon. Pray that God will open doors for us to meet the kind of people who will partner with us in the gospel. Appreciate if you will remember me in your prayer. God is good and He is good to us all the time. I know I am not going out alone but with His companionship. I thank God for the privilege to watch Him at work globally.

Watch is the essential word in the Morning Prayer. A biblical trained ear hears a story in the word. Jacob, fleeing from his father-in-law Laban, was caught in Gilead. Laban thought he had been defrauded by Jacob; Jacob was sure he had been gypped by Laban. In Gilead, through argument and prayer, they came to an agreement. They set up an altar pillar and ate a covenantal meal before it. They named the pillar, “Watching Place.” They had spent twenty years watching each other suspiciously, watching for opportunities to take advantage of each other. Here they agreed to quit watching each other and let God watch them. Early in the morning the two old antagonists parted – Laban returned to Haran and Jacob entering Canaan where he still had to face the enmity of his brother Esau – with their morning prayer echoing across the Gilead hills: “The Lord watch between you and me, while we are absent one from the other.” Leaving the place of morning prayer and watching, the first things Jacob saw were the angels of God. He exclaimed, “This is God’s army!” (Gen 31).

The “Watching Place” is a borderline experience repeated as often as every morning. We watch to see what God will do with the assemblage of hopes and fears we set before Him. Morning prayer places us before the watchful God and readies us to enter the day watchful, watching our dangerous past recede, watching the dangerous day fill with God’s angels.

Indeed, every day is an adventure that requires “watchfulness.” Satan will put different road blocks and hidden attacks in our daily life path. Our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan need to be watchful at all time especially when they need to go into town or enemy’s territory. We need the same kind of watchfulness in our lives at all time. But most importantly, we need God to watch over us at all time, and we surrender to His guide as we venture out in life. Paul said in Ephesians 5:14-16, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

The way to “wake up from the dead” must first involve “putting to death our old self.” Once we recognize the root of our problem (our old sinful nature), and surrender our body to the molding of God, then we become watchful according to His agenda and guidance in life. By doing so, we walk in the light with the joy of Christ flowing through us. As we respond to His watching, we will make the most of every opportunity in life for His glory. In whatever business or challenge you face in life, you know His is watching.

Love you in Christ,
Lawrence