Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Today is my last no pay leave for this month and hopefully it is the end of our no pay leave policy. No matter how the economy may turn, God’s promise will never change. He promises us, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). We are called to live out this promise, so that the whole world may experience the real peace on earth.
"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:11). What was the joy that Jesus had? It is an insult to use the word happiness in connection with Jesus Christ. The joy of Jesus was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of Himself to His Father, the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do. "I delight to do Your will." Jesus prayed that our joy might go on fulfilling itself until it was the same joy as His. Have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce His joy to me?
The full flood of my life is not in bodily health, not in external happenings, not in seeing God's work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the communion with Him that Jesus Himself had. The first thing that will hinder this joy is the critical annoyance in reacting to circumstances. The cares of this world, said Jesus, will choke God's word. Before we know where we are, we are caught up in the shows of things. All that God has done for us is the mere threshold; He wants to get us to the place where we will be His witnesses and proclaim Who Jesus is.
Be rightly related to God, find your joy there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Be a centre for Jesus Christ to pour living water through. Stop being self-conscious, stop being a sanctified moralist, and live the life hid with Christ. The life that is rightly related to God is as natural as breathing wherever it goes. The lives that have been of most blessing to you are those who were unconscious of it.
When you constantly consider what not to do in life, you squeeze out the joy of abiding in Christ. Yes, we will make mistake and we will react to situation not as godly as we wished. We just go to Christ and tell Him how helpless we are in sanctifying by our own strength. Those mistakes just confirm that fact that you need Christ to strengthen you in life. And you resume to your focus on the holiness of Christ and God’s love. There is no point to beat a dead horse or severely criticize a person who is the chief of all sinners. Jesus knew who we are, and He chose to love us regardless. He re-assured Apostle Paul this very important fact, “In all these things (personal weaknesses and hardship in life) we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39). We held on to this unconditional love of Christ, and pursue the beautiful characters of Christ in us. Rejoice in Him always because we are more than conquerors through Him.
This is the kind of “spirituality” that has been permeating the lives of all saints in church history. And this is the kind of spirituality that our Holy Spirit will continue to nurture within the community of saints today. God choose to use this kind of saints to impact the world throughout history. You are fellow saints in Christ no matter you like this title or not. There is only one God, one Christ, one Holy Spirit and one kind of saint – the one whom Christ has brought with a high price, and put on earth for His purpose to demonstrate God’s mercy for all men and women. Treasure your lives in Christ and enjoy your walk with Him each day, because this is His plan for you to be His witnesses of God’s love.
Love you because of Christ,
Lawrence
Showing posts with label Meditated with Utmost for the Highest at home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meditated with Utmost for the Highest at home. Show all posts
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Devotional 240809
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I thank God for a wonderful weekend to be with my family. We had some quality time to talk and share throughout the trip. I wished we had more time to spend with one another, especially with my son and two foster children. Today I am on call for my Jury Duty, and need to help my foster kid move back to Berkeley again. See if I will become the ‘chosen’ juror.
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" (Matthew 7:9) The illustration of prayer that Our Lord uses here is that of a good child asking for a good thing. We talk about prayer as if God heard us regardless of the fact of our relationship to Him, like His general grace for all: “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). Never say it is not God's will to give you what you ask, don't sit down and faint, but find out the reason, turn up the indicator. Are you rightly related to your wife, to your husband, to your children, to your fellow-students - are you a "good child" there? "0 Lord, I have been bad-tempered and cross the line, but I do want spiritual blessing." You cannot have it; you will have to do without until you come into the attitude of a good child.
We mistake disobedience for devotion; arguing with God for abandonment. We will not look at the indicator. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want when there is something I have not paid for? Have I been asking God for liberty while I am withholding it from someone who belongs to me? I have not forgiven someone his trespasses; I have not been kind to him; I have not been living as God's child among my relatives and friends. Make sure you don’t forget the golden rule, “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (7:12).
I am a child of God only by regeneration, and as a child of God I am good only as I walk in the light. Prayer with most of us is turned into religious boredom; it is a matter of emotion, mystical communion with God. Spiritually we are all good at producing fogs. If we turn up the indicator, we will see very clearly what is wrong - that friendship, that debt, that temper of mind. It is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then, Jesus says - "Everyone that asks receives."
In prayer, God speaks and reminds us of what we need to shape up in life. We seldom pay attention to what God has to say through prayer, but focus only on what we want from Him; we don’t really ask for Him but ask for the things we desire apart from Him. Once we seriously focus on Him for a few seconds, His words will penetrate into our hearts and make us remember, reflect or repent. We can either ignore Him by moving on our lives without Him, or we pause and interact with Him in an intimate way. This is how we nurture our relationship with God or how we walk with Christ each day. Our heavenly Father is always watching over us and waiting to interact with us. He will not force His way in but wait for our invitation. Our way of inviting Christ into our live is by focusing on Him or worshipping Him. Have mercy on us O Lord. We too used to do our own things and make our own decisions without seeking you at all. Help us to be Christ-conscious. Remind us to invite you to take control of our lives from time to time, because this is the way we receive blessings from you. Amen.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. I thank God for a wonderful weekend to be with my family. We had some quality time to talk and share throughout the trip. I wished we had more time to spend with one another, especially with my son and two foster children. Today I am on call for my Jury Duty, and need to help my foster kid move back to Berkeley again. See if I will become the ‘chosen’ juror.
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" (Matthew 7:9) The illustration of prayer that Our Lord uses here is that of a good child asking for a good thing. We talk about prayer as if God heard us regardless of the fact of our relationship to Him, like His general grace for all: “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). Never say it is not God's will to give you what you ask, don't sit down and faint, but find out the reason, turn up the indicator. Are you rightly related to your wife, to your husband, to your children, to your fellow-students - are you a "good child" there? "0 Lord, I have been bad-tempered and cross the line, but I do want spiritual blessing." You cannot have it; you will have to do without until you come into the attitude of a good child.
We mistake disobedience for devotion; arguing with God for abandonment. We will not look at the indicator. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want when there is something I have not paid for? Have I been asking God for liberty while I am withholding it from someone who belongs to me? I have not forgiven someone his trespasses; I have not been kind to him; I have not been living as God's child among my relatives and friends. Make sure you don’t forget the golden rule, “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (7:12).
I am a child of God only by regeneration, and as a child of God I am good only as I walk in the light. Prayer with most of us is turned into religious boredom; it is a matter of emotion, mystical communion with God. Spiritually we are all good at producing fogs. If we turn up the indicator, we will see very clearly what is wrong - that friendship, that debt, that temper of mind. It is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then, Jesus says - "Everyone that asks receives."
In prayer, God speaks and reminds us of what we need to shape up in life. We seldom pay attention to what God has to say through prayer, but focus only on what we want from Him; we don’t really ask for Him but ask for the things we desire apart from Him. Once we seriously focus on Him for a few seconds, His words will penetrate into our hearts and make us remember, reflect or repent. We can either ignore Him by moving on our lives without Him, or we pause and interact with Him in an intimate way. This is how we nurture our relationship with God or how we walk with Christ each day. Our heavenly Father is always watching over us and waiting to interact with us. He will not force His way in but wait for our invitation. Our way of inviting Christ into our live is by focusing on Him or worshipping Him. Have mercy on us O Lord. We too used to do our own things and make our own decisions without seeking you at all. Help us to be Christ-conscious. Remind us to invite you to take control of our lives from time to time, because this is the way we receive blessings from you. Amen.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Devotional 140509
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. My throat feels much better even though I still have some lingering cough. His grace is always sufficient for us. Our well being depends on Him always. Illness reminds us that we are not invincible and we are just human being. We learn to accept our limitation, but at the same time recognize the invincible power of God within us. We are not God. But the Holy Spirit lives within this finite body of ours in order to give us strength to live for His glory. Amen?
"We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:10). We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life. Do I manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of "myself" apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy the disagreeable is the keen enthusiasm of letting the life of the Son of God manifest itself in me. No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say - "Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee in this matter," and instantly the Son of God will press to the front, and there will be manifested in my human life that which glorifies Jesus.
There must be no debate. The moment you obey the light, the Son of God presses through you in that particular; but if you debate you grieve the Spirit of God. You must keep yourself fit to let the life of the Son of God be manifested, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is. The thing that ought to make the heart beat is a new way of manifesting the Son of God. It is one thing to choose the disagreeable, and another thing to go into the disagreeable by God's engineering. If God puts you there, He is amply sufficient.
Keep your soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on memories; let the word of God be always living and active in you. Once we look back to our days in the bondage of sins and lust, we give foothold to Satan to plant a seed of doubt within us. Immediately, Satan will make us compare with pre-Christian friends around us, and he will say to you, “Look at their lifestyle. They have more fun than you…why bother to manifest the life of Christ in you. Forget it! After all, you will never be like Christ. Why bother to try and fight a losing battle in you? Give in to your nature and entertain your flesh. Be true to your human nature – you are a sinner. You will never be a saint…Just quit trying!” Does it sound familiar to you? I went through those kinds of trial before. From time to time, Satan will attempt to convince me again to yield to my nature. The spiritual battle never ends.
But praise God for His loving mercy. Our Holy Spirit knows our weakness; He will always come to our rescue provided that we yield to Him as He offers His hands to us. Paul testified, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will” (Rom 8:26-27). The more we focus on what our Holy Spirit is working within us, the easier we become in our struggle with our flesh. Our God is much powerful than Satan, even though Satan will try to convince us otherwise. You can always choose to listen to God instead.
Love you according to His prayer,
Lawrence
Good morning. My throat feels much better even though I still have some lingering cough. His grace is always sufficient for us. Our well being depends on Him always. Illness reminds us that we are not invincible and we are just human being. We learn to accept our limitation, but at the same time recognize the invincible power of God within us. We are not God. But the Holy Spirit lives within this finite body of ours in order to give us strength to live for His glory. Amen?
"We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:10). We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life. Do I manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of "myself" apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy the disagreeable is the keen enthusiasm of letting the life of the Son of God manifest itself in me. No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say - "Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee in this matter," and instantly the Son of God will press to the front, and there will be manifested in my human life that which glorifies Jesus.
There must be no debate. The moment you obey the light, the Son of God presses through you in that particular; but if you debate you grieve the Spirit of God. You must keep yourself fit to let the life of the Son of God be manifested, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is. The thing that ought to make the heart beat is a new way of manifesting the Son of God. It is one thing to choose the disagreeable, and another thing to go into the disagreeable by God's engineering. If God puts you there, He is amply sufficient.
Keep your soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on memories; let the word of God be always living and active in you. Once we look back to our days in the bondage of sins and lust, we give foothold to Satan to plant a seed of doubt within us. Immediately, Satan will make us compare with pre-Christian friends around us, and he will say to you, “Look at their lifestyle. They have more fun than you…why bother to manifest the life of Christ in you. Forget it! After all, you will never be like Christ. Why bother to try and fight a losing battle in you? Give in to your nature and entertain your flesh. Be true to your human nature – you are a sinner. You will never be a saint…Just quit trying!” Does it sound familiar to you? I went through those kinds of trial before. From time to time, Satan will attempt to convince me again to yield to my nature. The spiritual battle never ends.
But praise God for His loving mercy. Our Holy Spirit knows our weakness; He will always come to our rescue provided that we yield to Him as He offers His hands to us. Paul testified, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will” (Rom 8:26-27). The more we focus on what our Holy Spirit is working within us, the easier we become in our struggle with our flesh. Our God is much powerful than Satan, even though Satan will try to convince us otherwise. You can always choose to listen to God instead.
Love you according to His prayer,
Lawrence
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