Dear brothers and sisters,
Good afternoon. I was extremely busy with meeting after meeting as soon as I had finished our staff morning prayer time. I literally had no break in between to check my email nor write my journal until now. But the day was very fruitful. Praise the Lord!
The devotion I read this morning came out of the story of how Abraham sacrificed his only beloved son, Isaac. After Abraham learned to obey God’s ultimate command in his life, God said, "I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me" (Genesis 22:16-18). Abraham has reached the place where he is in touch with the very nature of God, he understands now the Reality of God.
"My goal is God Himself . . .At any cost, dear Lord, by any road." "At any cost, by any road" means nothing self-chosen in the way God brings us to the goal. There is no possibility of questioning when God speaks if He speaks to His own nature in me; prompt obedience is the only result. When Jesus says - "Come," I simply come; when He says - "Let go," I let go; when He says - "Trust in God in this matter," I do trust. The whole working out is the evidence that the nature of God is in me.
God's revelation of Himself to me is determined by my character, not by God's character.
"'This is because I am mean, God’s ways so often look mean to me." By the discipline of obedience I get to the place where Abraham was and I see Who God really is. I never have a real God until I have come face to face with Him in Jesus Christ, then, I know that "in all the world, my God, there is none but You, there is none but You." The promises of God are of no value to us until by obedience we understand the nature of God. We read some things in the Bible three hundred and sixty-five times and they mean nothing to us, then all of a sudden we see what God means, because in some particular we have obeyed God, and instantly His nature is opened up. "All the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen." The "yes" must be born out of obedience; when by the obedience of our lives we say "Amen" to a promise, then that promise is ours.
The lesson of obedience is truly difficult for us but essential for our transformation as a child of God. The test of faith may make us angry with God at time. We know that He is not a nice God even though He is good at all time. No matter how difficult our lives may be today, we know by faith that God means to bless us through it. We learn to obey with a cheerful heart.
Have a blessed evening.
Love you in the name of Christ,
Lawrence
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Preached at Crosspoint Chinese Church
Thank God for a chance to preach at 3 worship services of Milpitas Crosspoint Chinese Church. And it was my privilege to pray for commissioning their first short term mission team to Central America. I treasured the opportunity to preach at their new Mandarin Service as well.Friday, November 14, 2008
Devotional 141108
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. There is no better way to experience God than to live our day with an obedient heart; discern what God wants us to learn in every encountering that He puts in our way. The most demanding or difficult customer, boss or coworker that suddenly knocked on our door could be a God sent ‘angel’ to test our faith or to shape our character. With an obedient heart and devoted soul, we seek to experience His love in all circumstances. Paul said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword” (Rom 8:35)? The answer of course is none of the above. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. If this is our conviction, then we are courageous to face all kinds of difficulties or difficult persons that may come our way. With this in mind, let’s look at what Oswald Chamber shared in his walk with Christ.
We have to be so one with God that we do not continually need to ask for guidance. The servant of Abraham had this kind of conviction in God, when he was sent to look for a wife for Isaac in Abraham’s hometown, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives" (Genesis 24:27). Sanctification means that we are made the children of God, and the natural life of a child is obedience - until he wishes to be disobedient, then instantly there is the intuitive detachment. In the spiritual domain the intuitive detachment is the warning of the Spirit of God. When He gives the warning, we have to stop at once and be renewed in the spirit of our mind in order to make out what God's will is. If we are born again of the Spirit of God, it is the abortion of piety to ask God to guide us here and there. "The Lord has led me," and on looking back we see the presence of an amazing design, which, if we are born of God, we will credit to God.
We can all easily see God in exceptional things, but it requires the culture of spiritual discipline to see God in every detail in regular days. Never allow the interruption or unexpected thing that happens to you as anything less than God's appointed order, and always be ready to discover the Divine designs in anywhere and in any encountering.
Beware of confining yourself to certain routines or consistency to your convictions instead of being devoted to God. ‘I shall never do the things that I am not used to do’ - in all probability you will have to, if you are a saint. There never was a more inconsistent Being on this earth than Our Lord (Jesus did not confine himself to every religious routines or traditions on earth), but He was never inconsistent to His Father. The one consistency of the saint is not to a principle (or to a tradition), but to the Divine life. It is the Divine life, which continually makes more and more discoveries about the Divine mind. It is easier to be a fanatic than a faithful soul, because there is something amazingly humbling, particularly to our religious hypocrisy, in being loyal to God.
To be honest with you, it is not easy to practice this kind of teaching that Chambers described, or follow the footstep of Christ according to the way he walked on earth. Jesus challenged the religious institution, religious practices and traditions of his days. He walked a tight rope of being perceived radical and devotional at the same time in his earthly life. The ‘conservatives’ accused Him of being too liberal for not conforming to their traditions, while the ‘seculars’ embraced Him as their rebel’s leader. In another word, he walked on a lonely journey that pleased none but God His Father. This kind of devout life requires a lot of assurance from the Lord and genuine devotional practice; that dares to be difference from the world not for the sake of being difference. If this is not the work of God, none can truly conduct a life of saint accordingly. Have mercy on us O Lord! We desire the life of Christ to grow within us.
Love you not according to the world but Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. There is no better way to experience God than to live our day with an obedient heart; discern what God wants us to learn in every encountering that He puts in our way. The most demanding or difficult customer, boss or coworker that suddenly knocked on our door could be a God sent ‘angel’ to test our faith or to shape our character. With an obedient heart and devoted soul, we seek to experience His love in all circumstances. Paul said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword” (Rom 8:35)? The answer of course is none of the above. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. If this is our conviction, then we are courageous to face all kinds of difficulties or difficult persons that may come our way. With this in mind, let’s look at what Oswald Chamber shared in his walk with Christ.
We have to be so one with God that we do not continually need to ask for guidance. The servant of Abraham had this kind of conviction in God, when he was sent to look for a wife for Isaac in Abraham’s hometown, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives" (Genesis 24:27). Sanctification means that we are made the children of God, and the natural life of a child is obedience - until he wishes to be disobedient, then instantly there is the intuitive detachment. In the spiritual domain the intuitive detachment is the warning of the Spirit of God. When He gives the warning, we have to stop at once and be renewed in the spirit of our mind in order to make out what God's will is. If we are born again of the Spirit of God, it is the abortion of piety to ask God to guide us here and there. "The Lord has led me," and on looking back we see the presence of an amazing design, which, if we are born of God, we will credit to God.
We can all easily see God in exceptional things, but it requires the culture of spiritual discipline to see God in every detail in regular days. Never allow the interruption or unexpected thing that happens to you as anything less than God's appointed order, and always be ready to discover the Divine designs in anywhere and in any encountering.
Beware of confining yourself to certain routines or consistency to your convictions instead of being devoted to God. ‘I shall never do the things that I am not used to do’ - in all probability you will have to, if you are a saint. There never was a more inconsistent Being on this earth than Our Lord (Jesus did not confine himself to every religious routines or traditions on earth), but He was never inconsistent to His Father. The one consistency of the saint is not to a principle (or to a tradition), but to the Divine life. It is the Divine life, which continually makes more and more discoveries about the Divine mind. It is easier to be a fanatic than a faithful soul, because there is something amazingly humbling, particularly to our religious hypocrisy, in being loyal to God.
To be honest with you, it is not easy to practice this kind of teaching that Chambers described, or follow the footstep of Christ according to the way he walked on earth. Jesus challenged the religious institution, religious practices and traditions of his days. He walked a tight rope of being perceived radical and devotional at the same time in his earthly life. The ‘conservatives’ accused Him of being too liberal for not conforming to their traditions, while the ‘seculars’ embraced Him as their rebel’s leader. In another word, he walked on a lonely journey that pleased none but God His Father. This kind of devout life requires a lot of assurance from the Lord and genuine devotional practice; that dares to be difference from the world not for the sake of being difference. If this is not the work of God, none can truly conduct a life of saint accordingly. Have mercy on us O Lord! We desire the life of Christ to grow within us.
Love you not according to the world but Christ,
Lawrence
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Devotional 131108
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thank God for another beautiful day; birds came back to sing and dance on the tree outside of my office window. How pleasant it is to be alive! But most importantly, how pleasant it is to know why I am alive, because God creates all things for a purpose. “See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you…(Matt 6:28-30)? Let’s enjoy this precious life in accordance to His design, so that our lives will truly reflect the glory of His Son Jesus Christ.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). We have to battle through our moods into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus, to get out of the hole-and-corner business of our experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says that Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meanness of the miserable faith we have - I haven't had this and that experience! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims - that He can present us faultless before the throne of God, unutterably pure, absolutely rectified and profoundly justified. Stand in implicit adoring faith in Him; He is made unto us "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." How can we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! Our salvation is from hell and eternal condemnation, and then we talk about making sacrifices!
We have to get out into faith in Jesus Christ continually; not a prayer meeting Jesus Christ, nor a book Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, Who is God Incarnate, and Who ought to strike us to His feet as dead. Our faith must be in the One from whom our experience springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute abandon of devotion to Himself. We never can experience Jesus Christ, nor ever hold Him within the compass of our own hearts, but our faith must be built in strong emphatic confidence in Him.
It is along this line that we see the rugged impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All our fears are wicked, and we fear because we will not nourish ourselves in our faith. How can any one who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! It ought to be an absolute praise of perfectly irrepressible, triumphant belief.
We are indeed indebt to our loving Heavenly Father, who created us in according to the image of His Son, and saved us while we were still rebellious sinners. He gave us a new start when He covered us with the holiness of Christ, which implies a new identity with a renewed purpose of living. My son was a field medic serving with the US Marines in Iraq. He observed how the Marine uniform could make an ordinary teenager to become an invincible and brave soldier. I hope it is equally true to us, the soldiers of Christ. We become a new person with a new identity simply because we have been covered or dressed by the holiness of Christ. This holiness is not just to avoid and refrain from sins and evil desires. The holiness of Christ is also an active or passionate participation in the goodness and purpose of God for mankind. And this is the reason for our living today. Amen?
Love you because of the holiness of Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. Thank God for another beautiful day; birds came back to sing and dance on the tree outside of my office window. How pleasant it is to be alive! But most importantly, how pleasant it is to know why I am alive, because God creates all things for a purpose. “See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you…(Matt 6:28-30)? Let’s enjoy this precious life in accordance to His design, so that our lives will truly reflect the glory of His Son Jesus Christ.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). We have to battle through our moods into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus, to get out of the hole-and-corner business of our experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says that Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meanness of the miserable faith we have - I haven't had this and that experience! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims - that He can present us faultless before the throne of God, unutterably pure, absolutely rectified and profoundly justified. Stand in implicit adoring faith in Him; He is made unto us "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." How can we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! Our salvation is from hell and eternal condemnation, and then we talk about making sacrifices!
We have to get out into faith in Jesus Christ continually; not a prayer meeting Jesus Christ, nor a book Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, Who is God Incarnate, and Who ought to strike us to His feet as dead. Our faith must be in the One from whom our experience springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute abandon of devotion to Himself. We never can experience Jesus Christ, nor ever hold Him within the compass of our own hearts, but our faith must be built in strong emphatic confidence in Him.
It is along this line that we see the rugged impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All our fears are wicked, and we fear because we will not nourish ourselves in our faith. How can any one who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! It ought to be an absolute praise of perfectly irrepressible, triumphant belief.
We are indeed indebt to our loving Heavenly Father, who created us in according to the image of His Son, and saved us while we were still rebellious sinners. He gave us a new start when He covered us with the holiness of Christ, which implies a new identity with a renewed purpose of living. My son was a field medic serving with the US Marines in Iraq. He observed how the Marine uniform could make an ordinary teenager to become an invincible and brave soldier. I hope it is equally true to us, the soldiers of Christ. We become a new person with a new identity simply because we have been covered or dressed by the holiness of Christ. This holiness is not just to avoid and refrain from sins and evil desires. The holiness of Christ is also an active or passionate participation in the goodness and purpose of God for mankind. And this is the reason for our living today. Amen?
Love you because of the holiness of Christ,
Lawrence
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Devotional 121108
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. The overcast weather gave me a calm and serene feeling. It is like wrapping myself with a warm blanket at home, and meditating on God’s word with a cup of hot coffee...But I am actually meditating God’s words in my office right now. I already had my coffee and a prayer session with my coworkers. I just enjoy myself to be in His loving arms while I work.
"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). What idea do you have concerning the salvation of your soul? The experience of salvation means that in your real life things are really altered, you no longer look at things as you used to (attitude change and paradigm shift); your desires are new, old things have lost their power. One of the touchstones of experience is - Has God altered the thing that matters to you? If you still crave after the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born from above; you are juggling with yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the alteration manifest in your daily life and reasoning, and when the crisis comes you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing alteration that is the evidence that you are a saved soul.
What difference has my salvation and sanctification made in my life? For instance, can I stand in the light of 1 Corinthians 13 in regards to love, or do I have to shuffle? The salvation that is worked out in me by the Holy Spirit emancipates me entirely, and as long as I walk in the light as God is in the light, He sees nothing to censure because His life is working out in every particular aspect of my life, not to my consciousness, but deeper than my consciousness.
I fully agree with Brother Chambers that God is constantly at work in our lives, when we choose to walk in the light as He is in the light. We don’t consciously change our mindset but simply focus on Christ and His teachings daily. When crisis knocks on our door, our reaction will amaze us how we have grown in our new creature in Christ. Jesus made it clear at the end of His Sermon on the Mount, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matt 7:24-27). Testing will come upon our lives in different size and shape. But God uses them to accomplish one very important goal, which is to nurture us into a new creature in Christ.
I hope you and I will continue to abide in Him and seek to obey His words, so that whatever beat against our house, we will still stand firm in our ground.
Love you in according to 1 Corinthians 13,
Lawrence
Good morning. The overcast weather gave me a calm and serene feeling. It is like wrapping myself with a warm blanket at home, and meditating on God’s word with a cup of hot coffee...But I am actually meditating God’s words in my office right now. I already had my coffee and a prayer session with my coworkers. I just enjoy myself to be in His loving arms while I work.
"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). What idea do you have concerning the salvation of your soul? The experience of salvation means that in your real life things are really altered, you no longer look at things as you used to (attitude change and paradigm shift); your desires are new, old things have lost their power. One of the touchstones of experience is - Has God altered the thing that matters to you? If you still crave after the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born from above; you are juggling with yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the alteration manifest in your daily life and reasoning, and when the crisis comes you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing alteration that is the evidence that you are a saved soul.
What difference has my salvation and sanctification made in my life? For instance, can I stand in the light of 1 Corinthians 13 in regards to love, or do I have to shuffle? The salvation that is worked out in me by the Holy Spirit emancipates me entirely, and as long as I walk in the light as God is in the light, He sees nothing to censure because His life is working out in every particular aspect of my life, not to my consciousness, but deeper than my consciousness.
I fully agree with Brother Chambers that God is constantly at work in our lives, when we choose to walk in the light as He is in the light. We don’t consciously change our mindset but simply focus on Christ and His teachings daily. When crisis knocks on our door, our reaction will amaze us how we have grown in our new creature in Christ. Jesus made it clear at the end of His Sermon on the Mount, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matt 7:24-27). Testing will come upon our lives in different size and shape. But God uses them to accomplish one very important goal, which is to nurture us into a new creature in Christ.
I hope you and I will continue to abide in Him and seek to obey His words, so that whatever beat against our house, we will still stand firm in our ground.
Love you in according to 1 Corinthians 13,
Lawrence
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Devotional 111108
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It is indeed my distinct privilege to participate in God’s global missions; to support our missionaries and to mobilize Chinese churches to actively participate in God’s salvation plan globally. But it does not mean the journey is rosy and easy. I discovered a lot of issues involved in mission mobilization. It is somewhat like the way a government recruits and dispatches troops to battlefields overseas; it requires a lot of management skills in different areas because it involves many issues and concerns. Nevertheless, we have a Commander in Chief that is all knowing, all-powerful and all loving. He possesses all kinds of resources and creative strategies to accomplish His goal. As a matter of fact, the victory has been won. We just need to clean up the mess and conquer the stubborn resistances that are still active underground. Paul reminded us well in 2 Cor 10:3-5, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Remember, there is no civilian or bench warmer in the Kingdom of God; every member of God’s Kingdom is enlisted to active duty to fight this Spiritual warfare, even though some may be dispatched to a foreign soil. Don’t indulge yourself in a layback attitude, because it is definitely not from the Spirit of God but from the Evil One.
“God said to Abraham, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’” (Genesis 22:2). If we were in Abraham’s position, we might argue that even though God's command for me was to ‘take now your son,’ He might not necessarily mean ‘immediately.’ It is extraordinary how we normally debate! We know a thing is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it at once. To climb to the height that God shows, it should never be procrastinated; it must be done now. The sacrifice must go through in will before it is put into action.
“Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about” (v. 3). It is the wonderful simplicity of Abraham! When God spoke, he did not consult with flesh and blood. Beware when you want to consult with flesh and blood; you are seeking your own sympathies, your own insight, anything that is not based on your personal relationship to God. These are the things that normally compete with and hinder your obedience to God.
On the other hand, we must recognize that Abraham did not choose the sacrifice. Always guard against ‘self-chosen service’ for God; self-sacrifice may be a mental disease or pathetic behavior. If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential order of God for you is a hard time of difficulty, go through with it, but never choose the scene of your martyrdom. God chose the suffering for Abraham, and Abraham made no complain; he went steadily through it. If you are not abiding in Him, it is easy for you to raise your fists against God. You must go through the suffering before you have any right to pronounce a verdict against it, because in the suffering you learn to know God better. God is working for His highest ends until His purpose and man's purpose become one.
God has a special assignment for each one of us who serve in His Kingdom. And His interest is not so much on the assignment we accomplish for Him on earth, but how the assignment may shape and prepare us to be the kind of member for His eternal Kingdom. Let’s encourage each other to abide intimately in Him, to serve faithfully in our roles, and to respond promptly to His call for His special assignment for us each day.
Love you because we serve in the same platoon,
Lawrence
Good morning. It is indeed my distinct privilege to participate in God’s global missions; to support our missionaries and to mobilize Chinese churches to actively participate in God’s salvation plan globally. But it does not mean the journey is rosy and easy. I discovered a lot of issues involved in mission mobilization. It is somewhat like the way a government recruits and dispatches troops to battlefields overseas; it requires a lot of management skills in different areas because it involves many issues and concerns. Nevertheless, we have a Commander in Chief that is all knowing, all-powerful and all loving. He possesses all kinds of resources and creative strategies to accomplish His goal. As a matter of fact, the victory has been won. We just need to clean up the mess and conquer the stubborn resistances that are still active underground. Paul reminded us well in 2 Cor 10:3-5, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Remember, there is no civilian or bench warmer in the Kingdom of God; every member of God’s Kingdom is enlisted to active duty to fight this Spiritual warfare, even though some may be dispatched to a foreign soil. Don’t indulge yourself in a layback attitude, because it is definitely not from the Spirit of God but from the Evil One.
“God said to Abraham, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’” (Genesis 22:2). If we were in Abraham’s position, we might argue that even though God's command for me was to ‘take now your son,’ He might not necessarily mean ‘immediately.’ It is extraordinary how we normally debate! We know a thing is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it at once. To climb to the height that God shows, it should never be procrastinated; it must be done now. The sacrifice must go through in will before it is put into action.
“Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about” (v. 3). It is the wonderful simplicity of Abraham! When God spoke, he did not consult with flesh and blood. Beware when you want to consult with flesh and blood; you are seeking your own sympathies, your own insight, anything that is not based on your personal relationship to God. These are the things that normally compete with and hinder your obedience to God.
On the other hand, we must recognize that Abraham did not choose the sacrifice. Always guard against ‘self-chosen service’ for God; self-sacrifice may be a mental disease or pathetic behavior. If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential order of God for you is a hard time of difficulty, go through with it, but never choose the scene of your martyrdom. God chose the suffering for Abraham, and Abraham made no complain; he went steadily through it. If you are not abiding in Him, it is easy for you to raise your fists against God. You must go through the suffering before you have any right to pronounce a verdict against it, because in the suffering you learn to know God better. God is working for His highest ends until His purpose and man's purpose become one.
God has a special assignment for each one of us who serve in His Kingdom. And His interest is not so much on the assignment we accomplish for Him on earth, but how the assignment may shape and prepare us to be the kind of member for His eternal Kingdom. Let’s encourage each other to abide intimately in Him, to serve faithfully in our roles, and to respond promptly to His call for His special assignment for us each day.
Love you because we serve in the same platoon,
Lawrence
Monday, November 10, 2008
Devotional 101108
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I enjoyed this cool sunny weather as a fresh start of aother new week, especially knowing that God has a great plan for my life each day. Isn’t it wonderful to be the children of God? Amen. We know because of His faithfulness that He will be with us till the end of the world. Our Lord Jesus has promised us, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:18-20). I wish we were all ready and excited for the second coming of Christ, just as Beijing had been excited and fully prepared for the Olympic just couples of months ago. If we were so excited for this temporal glory that came and gone in history, imagine how much joy we should have in preparing for the eternal glory of the New Heaven and the New Earth to come. The more I dwell on that picture of our eternal glory, the more I can identify with Paul’s conviction, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18). Through this promise of God, I hope and you and I can find strength to deal with all kinds of challenges in lives and at work today.
"We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them (difficulties and persecutions because of our faith)" (1 Thessalonians 3:2-3). As a matter of fact, after sanctification it is difficult to state what your goal in life is anymore, because God has taken you up into His purpose by the Holy Spirit; He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself – ‘God has called me for this and that;’ you are putting a barrier to God's use of you. As long as you have a personal interest in your own character, or any set ambition for your life, you cannot get through into identification with God's interests. You can only get there by losing for ever any idea of yourself and by letting God take you right out into His purpose for the world, and because your goings are of the Lord, you can never understand your ways.
I have to learn that the goal in life is God's, not mine. God is using me from His great personal standpoint, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him, and never say – ‘Lord, this gives me such heartache.’ To talk in that way makes me a clog in God’s plan. When I stop telling God what I want, He can catch me up for what He wants without any hindrance. He can crumple me up or exalt me; He can do anything He chooses. He simply asks me to have complete faith in Himself and in His goodness. Self-pity or inferiority complex is from the devil, if I continue to dwell on that mindset I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. If I dwell in a ‘small world’ within the world in which I live, God will never be able to get me outside it because I am afraid of being frostbitten; therefore, I continue to stay within the 'warmth' of my comfort zone. By doing so, I waste the wonderful gift of life that God has given to me; I have not truly lived.
I hope you will surrender your life to your Master’s hand, knowing that He has a great plan for your life in fulfilling His glorious purpose. I do not know what lies ahead of my life tomorrow, I only want to make sure that I allow Him to take control of my life today.
Love you in according to Christ’ passion,
Lawrence
Good morning. I enjoyed this cool sunny weather as a fresh start of aother new week, especially knowing that God has a great plan for my life each day. Isn’t it wonderful to be the children of God? Amen. We know because of His faithfulness that He will be with us till the end of the world. Our Lord Jesus has promised us, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:18-20). I wish we were all ready and excited for the second coming of Christ, just as Beijing had been excited and fully prepared for the Olympic just couples of months ago. If we were so excited for this temporal glory that came and gone in history, imagine how much joy we should have in preparing for the eternal glory of the New Heaven and the New Earth to come. The more I dwell on that picture of our eternal glory, the more I can identify with Paul’s conviction, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18). Through this promise of God, I hope and you and I can find strength to deal with all kinds of challenges in lives and at work today.
"We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them (difficulties and persecutions because of our faith)" (1 Thessalonians 3:2-3). As a matter of fact, after sanctification it is difficult to state what your goal in life is anymore, because God has taken you up into His purpose by the Holy Spirit; He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself – ‘God has called me for this and that;’ you are putting a barrier to God's use of you. As long as you have a personal interest in your own character, or any set ambition for your life, you cannot get through into identification with God's interests. You can only get there by losing for ever any idea of yourself and by letting God take you right out into His purpose for the world, and because your goings are of the Lord, you can never understand your ways.
I have to learn that the goal in life is God's, not mine. God is using me from His great personal standpoint, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him, and never say – ‘Lord, this gives me such heartache.’ To talk in that way makes me a clog in God’s plan. When I stop telling God what I want, He can catch me up for what He wants without any hindrance. He can crumple me up or exalt me; He can do anything He chooses. He simply asks me to have complete faith in Himself and in His goodness. Self-pity or inferiority complex is from the devil, if I continue to dwell on that mindset I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. If I dwell in a ‘small world’ within the world in which I live, God will never be able to get me outside it because I am afraid of being frostbitten; therefore, I continue to stay within the 'warmth' of my comfort zone. By doing so, I waste the wonderful gift of life that God has given to me; I have not truly lived.
I hope you will surrender your life to your Master’s hand, knowing that He has a great plan for your life in fulfilling His glorious purpose. I do not know what lies ahead of my life tomorrow, I only want to make sure that I allow Him to take control of my life today.
Love you in according to Christ’ passion,
Lawrence
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