Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. May this gorgeous day bring you great excitement and passion for living! Even though we should not allow the environment to dictate our feeling, we will certainly enjoy a beautiful day like we have today. The goal of spiritual formation should be to train our soul and spirit to submit under the work or leadership of God. But in practicality, this goal could be too profound or abstract for many Christians to understand.
"May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess 5:23b). What Paul said here, "Your whole spirit" is beyond the philosophy of Science and Psychology can explain. The great mystical work of the Holy Spirit is in the dim regions of our personality, which we cannot get at. Read the 139th Psalm; the Psalmist implies - "You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea; but, my God, my soul has further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature - You Who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot trace, dreams I cannot get at - my God, search me out."
Do we believe that God can garrison the imagination far beyond where we can go? "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin" - if that means in conscious experience only, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been made insensitive by sin will say he is not conscious of sin. Cleansing from sin is to the very heights and depths of our spirit if we will keep in the light as God is in the light, and the very Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirits. It is only when we are garrisoned by God with the awesome sanctity of the Holy Spirit, that spirit, soul and body are preserved in unspotted integrity, undeserving of censure in God's sight, until Jesus comes.
We do not allow our minds to dwell, as they should on these great massive truths of God. I believe the problem we usually have is to reduce God to the level that our imagination or reason can reach. We don’t allow God to be God. We can’t accept the awesome sanctity of the Holy Spirit to reach our spirit beyond our rational mind can comprehend. Have mercy on us O Lord! Give us the serenity or security to dwell in you, even though our mind cannot comprehend or fully grasp the way You work in our spirit and soul. It reminded me of what Jesus said to Nicodemus, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). Whoever is born of the Spirit inherits the DNA of the Spirit, and lives in accordance to the work of the Holy Spirit. We will see and hear the fruits of the Holy Spirit even though we can’t fully comprehend nor explain how He works. This is the kind of obedience by faith that the Bible talks about from day one. Hopefully we learn to allow this kind of ‘faith’ to lead our ‘reason’ in our daily walks with Christ.
Love you in accordance to the Spirit,
Lawrence
Friday, January 9, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Devotional 080109
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. What a wonderful morning we have! It is indeed a day worth living because of the new purpose we found in Christ. We don’t just survive for another day without knowing what it is for. We wake up to a new day with this new purpose of giving our best to His highest call. I don’t know what God may have prepared for me to encounter today. I just venture out with the determination to live my life to the fullest in accordance to the purpose that God has designed. The devotional of Oswald Chambers reminded us of what it means to give ourselves as living sacrifice each day.
"When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son…" (Genesis 22:9-10). This incident is a picture of the common mistake we make in thinking that the final thing God wants of us is the sacrifice of death. What God wants is the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Jesus did, viz., sacrifice our lives. Not - I am willing to go to death with Christ, but - I am willing to be identified with His death so that I may sacrifice my life to God. We seem to think that God wants us to give up things! God purified Abraham from this blunder, and the same discipline goes on in our lives. God nowhere tells us to give up things for the sake of giving them up. He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having - viz., life with Himself. It is a question of loosening the bands that hinder the life, and immediately those bands are loosened by identification with the death of Jesus, we enter into a relationship with God whereby we can sacrifice our lives to Him.
It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a "living sacrifice," to let Him have all your powers that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus. This is the thing that is acceptable to God. Paul said, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom 12:1-2). A living sacrifice is a renewed value system or priority in our daily life. We don’t just give up everything for Christ, without living our life fully for His purpose.
May you enjoy this day that the Lord has made for you…and let your Holy Spirit to renew your thought, your feeling and your desires. So that you may fully experience this new and abundant life that He has designed for you.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. What a wonderful morning we have! It is indeed a day worth living because of the new purpose we found in Christ. We don’t just survive for another day without knowing what it is for. We wake up to a new day with this new purpose of giving our best to His highest call. I don’t know what God may have prepared for me to encounter today. I just venture out with the determination to live my life to the fullest in accordance to the purpose that God has designed. The devotional of Oswald Chambers reminded us of what it means to give ourselves as living sacrifice each day.
"When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son…" (Genesis 22:9-10). This incident is a picture of the common mistake we make in thinking that the final thing God wants of us is the sacrifice of death. What God wants is the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Jesus did, viz., sacrifice our lives. Not - I am willing to go to death with Christ, but - I am willing to be identified with His death so that I may sacrifice my life to God. We seem to think that God wants us to give up things! God purified Abraham from this blunder, and the same discipline goes on in our lives. God nowhere tells us to give up things for the sake of giving them up. He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having - viz., life with Himself. It is a question of loosening the bands that hinder the life, and immediately those bands are loosened by identification with the death of Jesus, we enter into a relationship with God whereby we can sacrifice our lives to Him.
It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a "living sacrifice," to let Him have all your powers that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus. This is the thing that is acceptable to God. Paul said, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom 12:1-2). A living sacrifice is a renewed value system or priority in our daily life. We don’t just give up everything for Christ, without living our life fully for His purpose.
May you enjoy this day that the Lord has made for you…and let your Holy Spirit to renew your thought, your feeling and your desires. So that you may fully experience this new and abundant life that He has designed for you.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Devotional 070109
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thank God for the ‘present’ of today. Yesterday was history. Tomorrow is a myth. Only today is a ‘present or gift’ from our Creator God. That’s why we should treasure and fully enjoy today that our God has made for us. As long as we have breath on earth, let us use this gift to praise the Lord and live for His glory. Amen?
"Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? " (John 14:9) Our Lord Jesus did not say these words as a rebuke against Philip, or express His surprise by his question. Jesus is leading Philip on. The last One with whom we get intimate or draw close should be Jesus. Before Pentecost the disciples knew Jesus as the One Who gave them power to conquer demons and to bring about a revival on earth (see Luke 10:18-20). It was a wonderful intimacy, but there was a much closer intimacy to come when Jesus declared, " I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15). Friendship is rare on earth. It means identity in thought and heart and spirit. The whole discipline of life on earth is to enable us to enter into this closest relationship with Jesus Christ. We receive His blessings and know His word, but do we know Him as an intimate friend?
Jesus said, "It is expedient for you that I go away because I am going there to prepare a place for you." - in that relationship, so that He might lead them on. It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to step more intimately with Him. Fruit bearing is always mentioned as the manifestation of an intimate union with Jesus Christ: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:1-4).
When once we get intimate with Jesus we are never lonely, we never need sympathy, we can pour out all the time without being pathetic. The saint who is intimate with Jesus will never leave impressions of himself, but only the impression that Jesus is having unhindered way, because the last abyss or void of his nature has been satisfied by Jesus. The only impression left by such a life is that of the strong calm sanity that Our Lord gives to those who are intimate with Him.
That’s why it is to our advantage when we draw close to our Lord in our daily walks of life. He is always there to embrace us when we commit ourselves to enjoy ‘today’ with Him.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. Thank God for the ‘present’ of today. Yesterday was history. Tomorrow is a myth. Only today is a ‘present or gift’ from our Creator God. That’s why we should treasure and fully enjoy today that our God has made for us. As long as we have breath on earth, let us use this gift to praise the Lord and live for His glory. Amen?
"Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? " (John 14:9) Our Lord Jesus did not say these words as a rebuke against Philip, or express His surprise by his question. Jesus is leading Philip on. The last One with whom we get intimate or draw close should be Jesus. Before Pentecost the disciples knew Jesus as the One Who gave them power to conquer demons and to bring about a revival on earth (see Luke 10:18-20). It was a wonderful intimacy, but there was a much closer intimacy to come when Jesus declared, " I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15). Friendship is rare on earth. It means identity in thought and heart and spirit. The whole discipline of life on earth is to enable us to enter into this closest relationship with Jesus Christ. We receive His blessings and know His word, but do we know Him as an intimate friend?
Jesus said, "It is expedient for you that I go away because I am going there to prepare a place for you." - in that relationship, so that He might lead them on. It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to step more intimately with Him. Fruit bearing is always mentioned as the manifestation of an intimate union with Jesus Christ: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:1-4).
When once we get intimate with Jesus we are never lonely, we never need sympathy, we can pour out all the time without being pathetic. The saint who is intimate with Jesus will never leave impressions of himself, but only the impression that Jesus is having unhindered way, because the last abyss or void of his nature has been satisfied by Jesus. The only impression left by such a life is that of the strong calm sanity that Our Lord gives to those who are intimate with Him.
That’s why it is to our advantage when we draw close to our Lord in our daily walks of life. He is always there to embrace us when we commit ourselves to enjoy ‘today’ with Him.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Devotional 060109
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. My schedule was fully packed this morning. There was so much to catch up with in the office when full staff returned to work. God is merciful to give us a role in His Kingdom. We certainly do not deserve to be on His team. Yet, He chooses to us each one of us to fulfill His salvation plan on earth. Our calling as His children is to worship and love Him with all our being. There is no better way than to summarize the whole Law (Divine standard for Godly living) into one word – LOVE. That’s why to our Lord Jesus, the Greatest Commandment is to “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37, 39). And Jesus also said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34, 35).
Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself, it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others.
In the Old Testament, Bethel is the symbol of communion with God, while Ai is the symbol of the world. The Bible said, “From there Abraham went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the Lord.” Abraham built his tent and altar between the two. The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him. Rush is wrong every time, there is always plenty of time to worship God. Quiet days with God may be a snare. We have to build our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three stages in spiritual life - worship, waiting and work. Some of us go in jumps like spiritual frogs, we jump from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God's idea is that the three should go together simultaneously. They were always together in the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He was never haste though he was busy (his schedule was always packed). It is a discipline of life; there is no shortcut to attain to this goal.
May your life is balanced by your communion with God and active service in the world. Amen!
Love you because of His new commandment,
Lawrence
Good morning. My schedule was fully packed this morning. There was so much to catch up with in the office when full staff returned to work. God is merciful to give us a role in His Kingdom. We certainly do not deserve to be on His team. Yet, He chooses to us each one of us to fulfill His salvation plan on earth. Our calling as His children is to worship and love Him with all our being. There is no better way than to summarize the whole Law (Divine standard for Godly living) into one word – LOVE. That’s why to our Lord Jesus, the Greatest Commandment is to “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37, 39). And Jesus also said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34, 35).
Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself, it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others.
In the Old Testament, Bethel is the symbol of communion with God, while Ai is the symbol of the world. The Bible said, “From there Abraham went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the Lord.” Abraham built his tent and altar between the two. The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him. Rush is wrong every time, there is always plenty of time to worship God. Quiet days with God may be a snare. We have to build our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three stages in spiritual life - worship, waiting and work. Some of us go in jumps like spiritual frogs, we jump from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God's idea is that the three should go together simultaneously. They were always together in the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He was never haste though he was busy (his schedule was always packed). It is a discipline of life; there is no shortcut to attain to this goal.
May your life is balanced by your communion with God and active service in the world. Amen!
Love you because of His new commandment,
Lawrence
Monday, January 5, 2009
Devotional 050109
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Our Heavenly Father is good. He is a good Father/teacher. As a Creator, He knows each of our needs in terms of our growth as a person. He will not shape us uniformly but individually. Therefore, we cannot compare ourselves with others as though God is not fair in dealing with us than to others. He has individual plan for each one of us. He has special purpose in shaping us the way we are. And He will use us in according to the way He designs us to be, as long as we are willing to submit ourselves to His hand. God knows how fragile and weak we are when comes to fulfilling His Master Plan for mankind. Thus, He sent the Holy Spirit to be our Teacher/Encourager. Before Jesus empowered the disciples with the Holy Spirit, He said to them, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later" (John 13:36). It is true that the disciples would not be able to follow Jesus into martyrdom at that time – an ultimate self-denial, simply because it is beyond human nature. But when our Lord knew that we were ready for greater challenge after He bestowed His Spirit unto us, He would issue another call to us just like He did to Peter, "And when He had spoken this (the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God), He said to Peter, 'Follow Me!'" (John 21:19)
Three years before, Jesus had said to Peter, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (John 13:36) At that time, Peter had followed easily because the fascination of Jesus was upon him, he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him to do it. Then he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit, and now Jesus says again - "Follow me." There is no figure in front now saving the Lord Jesus Christ. The first "Follow Me" had nothing mystical in it; it was an external following. But now it is a following in internal martyrdom when Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18).
Between these times Peter had denied Jesus with oaths and curses, he had come to the end of himself and all his self-sufficiency, there was not one strand of himself he would ever rely upon again, and in his destitution he was in a fit condition to receive an impartation from the risen Lord. "He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit…’" No matter what changes God has formed in you, never rely upon them; build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our vows and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to carry them out. When we have come to the end of ourselves, not in imagination but really, we are able to receive the Holy Spirit. " Receive the Holy Spirit " - the idea is that of invasion. There is only one lodestar in the life now, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s not underestimate the role and power of our Holy Spirit within each one of us. He dwells in us for the purpose to empower our will and being in following Christ and to do His Will. Confess to Him of how much and how often we have ignored His presence. Surrender our will to Him so that He can shape us into the new being that He intended for us to be. May you continue to grow more like Him in the year to come.
Love you by the strength of our Holy Spirit,
Lawrence
Good morning. Our Heavenly Father is good. He is a good Father/teacher. As a Creator, He knows each of our needs in terms of our growth as a person. He will not shape us uniformly but individually. Therefore, we cannot compare ourselves with others as though God is not fair in dealing with us than to others. He has individual plan for each one of us. He has special purpose in shaping us the way we are. And He will use us in according to the way He designs us to be, as long as we are willing to submit ourselves to His hand. God knows how fragile and weak we are when comes to fulfilling His Master Plan for mankind. Thus, He sent the Holy Spirit to be our Teacher/Encourager. Before Jesus empowered the disciples with the Holy Spirit, He said to them, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later" (John 13:36). It is true that the disciples would not be able to follow Jesus into martyrdom at that time – an ultimate self-denial, simply because it is beyond human nature. But when our Lord knew that we were ready for greater challenge after He bestowed His Spirit unto us, He would issue another call to us just like He did to Peter, "And when He had spoken this (the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God), He said to Peter, 'Follow Me!'" (John 21:19)
Three years before, Jesus had said to Peter, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (John 13:36) At that time, Peter had followed easily because the fascination of Jesus was upon him, he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him to do it. Then he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit, and now Jesus says again - "Follow me." There is no figure in front now saving the Lord Jesus Christ. The first "Follow Me" had nothing mystical in it; it was an external following. But now it is a following in internal martyrdom when Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18).
Between these times Peter had denied Jesus with oaths and curses, he had come to the end of himself and all his self-sufficiency, there was not one strand of himself he would ever rely upon again, and in his destitution he was in a fit condition to receive an impartation from the risen Lord. "He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit…’" No matter what changes God has formed in you, never rely upon them; build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our vows and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to carry them out. When we have come to the end of ourselves, not in imagination but really, we are able to receive the Holy Spirit. " Receive the Holy Spirit " - the idea is that of invasion. There is only one lodestar in the life now, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s not underestimate the role and power of our Holy Spirit within each one of us. He dwells in us for the purpose to empower our will and being in following Christ and to do His Will. Confess to Him of how much and how often we have ignored His presence. Surrender our will to Him so that He can shape us into the new being that He intended for us to be. May you continue to grow more like Him in the year to come.
Love you by the strength of our Holy Spirit,
Lawrence
Friday, January 2, 2009
Devotional 020109
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I hope you had an enjoyable New Year day like I did; the weather was just so wonderful. It is also enjoyable to have a quiet and misty morning to begin my first day of work in 2009. To me, 2008 was indeed a year of transitional adventure. I was glad that God put me in a mental stage of inadequacy; every assignment was new lesson to explore more about my job and what this organization stands for. “Let me check with my boss” was my frequent reply to question related to my work. It was hard in the beginning to feel so dumb and ignorant. But after a while, I felt liberated from being always the “answering machine” that has to know what I am doing and “in control” at all time. Isn’t it what Christian life to be? We learn to “check with our God” before we can have confidence to know what to do next.
"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). Have you been "going out" to places in this way? If so, there is no logical statement possible when anyone asks you what you are going to do. I could identify with this passage, because it was how I felt call to step out of my comfort zone to obey His leadership. One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question - "What do you expect to do next?" You want to be in control of your future. But in reality, you do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder - you do not know what God is going to do next. Each morning when you wake up, it is to be a "going out" by faith, building in confidence on God. "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear " (Matthew 6:25) - take no thought for the things for which you did take thought before you "went out."
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He only reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you go out in surrender to Him until you are not surprised at anything He does in your life?
Suppose God is the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him - what an unnecessary worry is! Let the attitude of the life be a continual "going out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have an indescribable charm about it, which is a satisfaction to Jesus. You have to learn to go out of convictions, out of creeds, out of experiences, until so far as your faith is concerned, there is nothing between yourself and God.
Life is a never-ending adventure. Some may prefer high risk and other may prefer less. However, God will bring you surprise in life that you have least expected. Those are the times when God wants you to draw close to Him and trust Him more. No matter what 2009 may bring to you, I pray that you will grow in your relationship with Him and seek to obey His leadership.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. I hope you had an enjoyable New Year day like I did; the weather was just so wonderful. It is also enjoyable to have a quiet and misty morning to begin my first day of work in 2009. To me, 2008 was indeed a year of transitional adventure. I was glad that God put me in a mental stage of inadequacy; every assignment was new lesson to explore more about my job and what this organization stands for. “Let me check with my boss” was my frequent reply to question related to my work. It was hard in the beginning to feel so dumb and ignorant. But after a while, I felt liberated from being always the “answering machine” that has to know what I am doing and “in control” at all time. Isn’t it what Christian life to be? We learn to “check with our God” before we can have confidence to know what to do next.
"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). Have you been "going out" to places in this way? If so, there is no logical statement possible when anyone asks you what you are going to do. I could identify with this passage, because it was how I felt call to step out of my comfort zone to obey His leadership. One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question - "What do you expect to do next?" You want to be in control of your future. But in reality, you do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder - you do not know what God is going to do next. Each morning when you wake up, it is to be a "going out" by faith, building in confidence on God. "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear " (Matthew 6:25) - take no thought for the things for which you did take thought before you "went out."
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He only reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you go out in surrender to Him until you are not surprised at anything He does in your life?
Suppose God is the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him - what an unnecessary worry is! Let the attitude of the life be a continual "going out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have an indescribable charm about it, which is a satisfaction to Jesus. You have to learn to go out of convictions, out of creeds, out of experiences, until so far as your faith is concerned, there is nothing between yourself and God.
Life is a never-ending adventure. Some may prefer high risk and other may prefer less. However, God will bring you surprise in life that you have least expected. Those are the times when God wants you to draw close to Him and trust Him more. No matter what 2009 may bring to you, I pray that you will grow in your relationship with Him and seek to obey His leadership.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Thursday, January 1, 2009
New Year Devotional
Dear brothers and sisters,
Happy New Year! May this New Year bring you closer to the Lord and experience Him in a very intimate way. I wish to encourage you with the beginning chapter of our devotional by Oswald Chambers: "My eager desire and hope being that I may never feel ashamed, but that now as ever I may do honor to Christ in my own person by fearless courage." (Philippians 1:20)
My Utmost for His Highest. "My says eager desire and hope being that I may never feel ashamed." We shall all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus on the point He has asked us to yield to Him. Paul - "My determination is to be my utmost for His Highest." To get there is a question of will, not of debate nor of reasoning, but a surrender of will, an absolute and irrevocable surrender on that point. An overweening consideration for ourselves is the thing that keeps us from that decision, though we put it that we are considering others. When we consider what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He does not know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point; He does know. Shut out every other consideration and keep yourself before God for this one thing only - My Utmost for His Highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and for Him alone.
My Undeterredness for His Holiness. "Whether that means life or death, no matter!" (v.21.) Paul is determined that nothing shall deter him from doing exactly what God wants. God's order has to work up to a crisis in our lives because we will not heed the gentler way. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him, and we begin to debate; then He produces a providential crisis where we have to decide - for or against, and from that point the "Great Divide" begins.
If the crisis has come to you on any line, surrender your will to Him absolutely and irrevocably. God will put you in situation where we learn to surrender our will to Him so that we can experience Him in a most intimate way. We do not know how the economy may turn or when will it rebound this year. Regardless of how tomorrow may bring, let’s make this resolution to be our utmost for His Highest – not to settle with giving our minimum but our best for the Lord in accordance to His Will and His Word.
One of the most touching lessons I learnt from the Missions conference was how hundreds of missionaries from the West had committed their lives to serve God in China in the past two hundred years. Many gave their lives as well as their families’ in order to preach the gospel to our forefathers. They were nobles and highly educated people, yet they chose to leave their comfort zone, travel thousands of miles by boat, change their lifestyle and live among the poorest of the poor in China. They learnt our language, suffer rejections and hardship for only one reason: to be the utmost for His Highest or to do what Christ desires them to do. Many died without seeing the result at their live times. Yet the blood of these martyrs had primed the soil for the growth of Chinese churches today. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). When we are willing to surrender our will to live for His Highest, our lives will impact many lives in according to what He desires.
Love you because He first loved us,
Lawrence
Happy New Year! May this New Year bring you closer to the Lord and experience Him in a very intimate way. I wish to encourage you with the beginning chapter of our devotional by Oswald Chambers: "My eager desire and hope being that I may never feel ashamed, but that now as ever I may do honor to Christ in my own person by fearless courage." (Philippians 1:20)
My Utmost for His Highest. "My says eager desire and hope being that I may never feel ashamed." We shall all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus on the point He has asked us to yield to Him. Paul - "My determination is to be my utmost for His Highest." To get there is a question of will, not of debate nor of reasoning, but a surrender of will, an absolute and irrevocable surrender on that point. An overweening consideration for ourselves is the thing that keeps us from that decision, though we put it that we are considering others. When we consider what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He does not know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point; He does know. Shut out every other consideration and keep yourself before God for this one thing only - My Utmost for His Highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and for Him alone.
My Undeterredness for His Holiness. "Whether that means life or death, no matter!" (v.21.) Paul is determined that nothing shall deter him from doing exactly what God wants. God's order has to work up to a crisis in our lives because we will not heed the gentler way. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him, and we begin to debate; then He produces a providential crisis where we have to decide - for or against, and from that point the "Great Divide" begins.
If the crisis has come to you on any line, surrender your will to Him absolutely and irrevocably. God will put you in situation where we learn to surrender our will to Him so that we can experience Him in a most intimate way. We do not know how the economy may turn or when will it rebound this year. Regardless of how tomorrow may bring, let’s make this resolution to be our utmost for His Highest – not to settle with giving our minimum but our best for the Lord in accordance to His Will and His Word.
One of the most touching lessons I learnt from the Missions conference was how hundreds of missionaries from the West had committed their lives to serve God in China in the past two hundred years. Many gave their lives as well as their families’ in order to preach the gospel to our forefathers. They were nobles and highly educated people, yet they chose to leave their comfort zone, travel thousands of miles by boat, change their lifestyle and live among the poorest of the poor in China. They learnt our language, suffer rejections and hardship for only one reason: to be the utmost for His Highest or to do what Christ desires them to do. Many died without seeing the result at their live times. Yet the blood of these martyrs had primed the soil for the growth of Chinese churches today. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). When we are willing to surrender our will to live for His Highest, our lives will impact many lives in according to what He desires.
Love you because He first loved us,
Lawrence
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