Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. How wonderful it is to see beautiful sunshine again. The fog is finally gone and we are greeted and embraced by a warm sunny day. Thanks for your prayer for Loretta; she is offered a temporary position at the City. She will return to work in the same office next Monday. Let’s continue to pray for those who are still searching for job.
"Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink…" (Matthew 14:29-30). The wind was actually strong, the waves were actually high, but Peter did not see them at first. He did not consider them, he simply recognized his Lord and stepped out in recognition of Him, and walked on the water. Then he began to feel with the actual things, and down he went instantly. Why could not our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves as well as on the top of them? Neither could be done saving by recognition of the Lord Jesus.
We step right out on God over some things, then self-consideration enters in and down we go. If you are recognizing your Lord, you have no business with where He engineers your circumstances. The actual things are, but immediately you look at them you are overwhelmed, you cannot recognize Jesus, and the rebuke comes: "why did you doubt?" Let actual circumstances be what they may, you keep focusing on Jesus, and maintain complete reliance on Him.
If you debate for a second when God has spoken, it is all over. Never say - "Well, I wonder if He did speak?" Take action immediately; fling it all out on Him. You do not know when His voice will come, but whenever the realization of God comes in the faintest way imaginable, quickly abandon yourself to Him. It is only by abandonment that you recognize Him. You will only realize His voice more clearly by your unhesitant response to His call.
Sometimes God visits us in a most unexpected circumstances and timing. We thought we would encounter God while we pray or doing our devotional reading. We assume this is the only environment that we will encounter God. We reduce God to the size of our spiritual compartment. When we did not hear God during our devotion or worship time, we complained and concluded that He was not there or in existence. We fail to recognize God in our most boring or stormy situation in life. We did not pay attention to His presence during the non-religious activities or mundane part of life. Even if we did sense His presence, we hesitated to respond to His voice as though it was only your silly imagination. You definitely will not abandon yourself to such leading because it seems to be irrational or emotional. You feel like a religious fanatics or a jerk.
We may not have supernatural encounter with God like Peter had. But we would encounter stormy experience like Peter had. Where is Jesus in the midst of our stormy circumstances? I like the insight that I had learned from the revival meeting on Saturday night: 1) Jesus is praying for us – “he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” (Matt 14:23a). As Paul said, our sweet Holy Spirit is praying for us each day, “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” (Romans 8:26). 2) Jesus is drawing close to us – “Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake…” (Matt 14:25). The Holy Spirit will help us learn to rely on God at all times. 3) Jesus will come on board on boat – “those who were in the boat worshiped him” (Matt 14:33). Jesus wants to enter into communion with us at our stormy days. Draw close to Him by reading His Word and sensing His Work around you. When you sense His guidance on any given situation, learn to abandon yourself to Him in prayer and action. He is the One who can calm a stormy sea.
Love you by His “calming” strength,
Lawrence
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Devotional 170609
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. The stubborn fog reminded me of some stubborn bad habits of mine that never go away. My unhealthy eating habit, lack of exercise problem, negative thoughts on others and self-righteous attitude hover over me like Daly City fog, that seems never evaporate. But God’s grace is also stubborn to continue His work in me regardless. Praise the Lord!
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Matthew 7:1). Jesus says regarding judging - Don't. The average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual. Criticism is a part of the ordinary faculty of man; but in the spiritual domain nothing is accomplished by criticism. The effect of criticism is a dividing up of the powers of the one criticized; the Holy Spirit is the only One in the true position to criticize, He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into communion with God when you are in a critical temper; it makes you hard and bitter and cruel, and leaves you with the flattering unction that you are a superior person. Jesus says, as a disciple cultivate the uncritical temper. It is not done once and for all. Beware of anything that puts you in the superior person's place.
There is no getting away from the penetration of Jesus. If I see the mote in your eye, it means I have a beam in my own. Every wrong thing that I see in you, God locates in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself. Paul warned the Jewish leaders who bragged of their superior identity with God to act godly from inside out, “Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth – you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself ?” (Romans 2:17-21) Stop having a measuring rod for other people. There is always one fact more in every man's case about which we know nothing. The first thing God does is to give us a spiritual “spring-cleaning;” there is no possibility of pride left in a man after that. I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.
I thought “critical spirit or attitude” is a contemporary problem in Christian community. But according to Brother Chambers this also happened to Christian community hundred some years ago. I guess this is part of sinful nature of man; we tend to see ourselves better than others, we enjoy criticizing others but eager to cover up our sins and weaknesses. Now we came to know the Lord and learned the Truth, The Truth became our new and powerful “ammunition” to launch our “criticism” against others. We failed to recognize that God expects us to apply the Truth to ourselves.
To teach the Truth is good, but to criticize others in the name of the Truth is another issue. Christian community, who is so judgmental and critical, but yet silence on their own hypocrisy and weaknesses, turned off many pre-Christian friends. This kind of judgmental spirit also becomes a self-destructive force within the Body of Christ. When this negative spirit permeated into the very fabrics of the church, it caused all kinds of tensions and fight since the beginning of church history. It is very sad to see many vibrant churches split in the name of the Truth. When we do not take heel on this issue, we give foothold to Satan to detour or even destroy the very missions of the Church. After saying all these, I am the first one to be blamed because I am a critical individual by nature, and I have a tendency to turn the Body of Christ into a judgmental community. Have mercy on me O Lord. Cleanse me of my self-righteousness and stop me from spreading the spirit of criticism at whatever community that you put me in.
Love you by His mercy,
Lawrence
Good morning. The stubborn fog reminded me of some stubborn bad habits of mine that never go away. My unhealthy eating habit, lack of exercise problem, negative thoughts on others and self-righteous attitude hover over me like Daly City fog, that seems never evaporate. But God’s grace is also stubborn to continue His work in me regardless. Praise the Lord!
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Matthew 7:1). Jesus says regarding judging - Don't. The average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual. Criticism is a part of the ordinary faculty of man; but in the spiritual domain nothing is accomplished by criticism. The effect of criticism is a dividing up of the powers of the one criticized; the Holy Spirit is the only One in the true position to criticize, He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into communion with God when you are in a critical temper; it makes you hard and bitter and cruel, and leaves you with the flattering unction that you are a superior person. Jesus says, as a disciple cultivate the uncritical temper. It is not done once and for all. Beware of anything that puts you in the superior person's place.
There is no getting away from the penetration of Jesus. If I see the mote in your eye, it means I have a beam in my own. Every wrong thing that I see in you, God locates in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself. Paul warned the Jewish leaders who bragged of their superior identity with God to act godly from inside out, “Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth – you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself ?” (Romans 2:17-21) Stop having a measuring rod for other people. There is always one fact more in every man's case about which we know nothing. The first thing God does is to give us a spiritual “spring-cleaning;” there is no possibility of pride left in a man after that. I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.
I thought “critical spirit or attitude” is a contemporary problem in Christian community. But according to Brother Chambers this also happened to Christian community hundred some years ago. I guess this is part of sinful nature of man; we tend to see ourselves better than others, we enjoy criticizing others but eager to cover up our sins and weaknesses. Now we came to know the Lord and learned the Truth, The Truth became our new and powerful “ammunition” to launch our “criticism” against others. We failed to recognize that God expects us to apply the Truth to ourselves.
To teach the Truth is good, but to criticize others in the name of the Truth is another issue. Christian community, who is so judgmental and critical, but yet silence on their own hypocrisy and weaknesses, turned off many pre-Christian friends. This kind of judgmental spirit also becomes a self-destructive force within the Body of Christ. When this negative spirit permeated into the very fabrics of the church, it caused all kinds of tensions and fight since the beginning of church history. It is very sad to see many vibrant churches split in the name of the Truth. When we do not take heel on this issue, we give foothold to Satan to detour or even destroy the very missions of the Church. After saying all these, I am the first one to be blamed because I am a critical individual by nature, and I have a tendency to turn the Body of Christ into a judgmental community. Have mercy on me O Lord. Cleanse me of my self-righteousness and stop me from spreading the spirit of criticism at whatever community that you put me in.
Love you by His mercy,
Lawrence
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Devotional 160609
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. A grey sky cannot cover the glory of God for this day. We are the workmanship of God, and He wants to glorify Himself through this workmanship in us. Thus, let God freely work in and through your life today. Let Him have full control of your whole being simply because He is the Lover and Author of your soul.
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends… 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 15:13, 15). Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said - "I will lay down my life for your sake" and he meant it; his sense of the heroic was magnificent. It would be a bad thing to be incapable of making such a declaration as Peter made; the sense of our duty is only realized by our sense of the heroic. Has the Lord ever asked you - "Wilt you lay down your life for My sake?" It is far easier to die than to lay down the life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling. We are not made for brilliant moments, but we have to walk in the light of them in ordinary ways. There was only one brilliant moment in the life of Jesus, and that was on the Mount of Transfiguration; then He emptied Himself the second time of His glory, and came down into the demon-possessed valley. For thirty-three years Jesus laid out His life to do the will of His Father, and, John says, "We ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." It is contrary to human nature to do it.
If I am a friend of Jesus, I have deliberately and carefully to lay down my life for Him. It is difficult, and thank God it is difficult. Salvation is easy because it cost God so much, but the manifestation of it in my life is difficult. God saves a man and endues him with the Holy Spirit, and then says in effect - "Now work it out, be loyal to Me, while the nature of things around you would make you disloyal." "I have called you friends." Stand loyal to your Friend, and remember that His honor is at stake in your bodily life.
It is hard to “lay down” my life on a daily basis. It means yielding my personal rights, ego, preferences and opinions to God each day. We too used to do whatever we think is right. But I now learn to do whatever the Word of God said in the Bible. God did not force us to do what He wants. He wants us to exercise our “free will” to yield our “free will” to become His slave with joy and thanksgiving. It sounds ridiculous and paradoxical. But this is exactly our spiritual warfare from within: “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5b).
Our “every thought” used to revolve around our ego because we were all born to be narcissistic. In another word, we were born to think that the whole world exists to serve us but not the other way around. That’s why babies cry when they are hungry, thirsty and sleepy… They will not consider the needs of their parents and yield their rights to them. They demand their needs to be met right away, no matter how tired or busy their parents may be. Spiritual babies behave in similar ways. But as we mature in Christ (experience and treasure our friendship with Christ), we gradually change our attitudes and exercise self-control; we learn to yield our rights and submit to Christ on a voluntary basis.
Once we are in control of our desires and thoughts and submit them to Christ, we can have better control of our tongues in speaking words of edification and appreciation. Early church fathers recognized the significant need to control our tongues and make it submit to Christ: “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell… no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:4-9); “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29). It is not easy to control our tongues if we do not also control our thoughts and inner desires. And we will not control our thoughts and submit them to Christ if we do not enjoy and treasure our friendship with Christ. We don’t yield our free will out of fear of being punished; we don’t mind to even die for our liberty. But we are willing to die for those whom we love and treasure. That’s why you need to nourish this intimate relationship with Christ by enjoying His love and companionship each day.
Love you because we share this common Lover,
Lawrence
Good morning. A grey sky cannot cover the glory of God for this day. We are the workmanship of God, and He wants to glorify Himself through this workmanship in us. Thus, let God freely work in and through your life today. Let Him have full control of your whole being simply because He is the Lover and Author of your soul.
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends… 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 15:13, 15). Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said - "I will lay down my life for your sake" and he meant it; his sense of the heroic was magnificent. It would be a bad thing to be incapable of making such a declaration as Peter made; the sense of our duty is only realized by our sense of the heroic. Has the Lord ever asked you - "Wilt you lay down your life for My sake?" It is far easier to die than to lay down the life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling. We are not made for brilliant moments, but we have to walk in the light of them in ordinary ways. There was only one brilliant moment in the life of Jesus, and that was on the Mount of Transfiguration; then He emptied Himself the second time of His glory, and came down into the demon-possessed valley. For thirty-three years Jesus laid out His life to do the will of His Father, and, John says, "We ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." It is contrary to human nature to do it.
If I am a friend of Jesus, I have deliberately and carefully to lay down my life for Him. It is difficult, and thank God it is difficult. Salvation is easy because it cost God so much, but the manifestation of it in my life is difficult. God saves a man and endues him with the Holy Spirit, and then says in effect - "Now work it out, be loyal to Me, while the nature of things around you would make you disloyal." "I have called you friends." Stand loyal to your Friend, and remember that His honor is at stake in your bodily life.
It is hard to “lay down” my life on a daily basis. It means yielding my personal rights, ego, preferences and opinions to God each day. We too used to do whatever we think is right. But I now learn to do whatever the Word of God said in the Bible. God did not force us to do what He wants. He wants us to exercise our “free will” to yield our “free will” to become His slave with joy and thanksgiving. It sounds ridiculous and paradoxical. But this is exactly our spiritual warfare from within: “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5b).
Our “every thought” used to revolve around our ego because we were all born to be narcissistic. In another word, we were born to think that the whole world exists to serve us but not the other way around. That’s why babies cry when they are hungry, thirsty and sleepy… They will not consider the needs of their parents and yield their rights to them. They demand their needs to be met right away, no matter how tired or busy their parents may be. Spiritual babies behave in similar ways. But as we mature in Christ (experience and treasure our friendship with Christ), we gradually change our attitudes and exercise self-control; we learn to yield our rights and submit to Christ on a voluntary basis.
Once we are in control of our desires and thoughts and submit them to Christ, we can have better control of our tongues in speaking words of edification and appreciation. Early church fathers recognized the significant need to control our tongues and make it submit to Christ: “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell… no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:4-9); “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29). It is not easy to control our tongues if we do not also control our thoughts and inner desires. And we will not control our thoughts and submit them to Christ if we do not enjoy and treasure our friendship with Christ. We don’t yield our free will out of fear of being punished; we don’t mind to even die for our liberty. But we are willing to die for those whom we love and treasure. That’s why you need to nourish this intimate relationship with Christ by enjoying His love and companionship each day.
Love you because we share this common Lover,
Lawrence
Monday, June 15, 2009
Devotional 150609
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It is good to have a special no pay leave to rest and spend with the Lord. If you follow my blog, you know I had a busy weekend. I was tired and my voice exhausted after preaching in two services, fellowshiped with some brothers and sisters over a long lunch, and led worship at the revival meeting. I do need time to recuperate from all these excitements (excitement is exhausting too!) but my heart is filled with joy of thanksgiving, and recalling all my great experiences…
"Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love" (2 Peter 1:5-7). Through the promises of God, “you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires,” says Peter (v.4), now focus your attention to form habits, give diligence, and concentrate. "Add" means literally put on something new to your life. No man is born either naturally or supernaturally with character, he has to build up character. Nor are we born with habits; we have to form habits on the basis of the new life God has put into us. We are not meant to be illuminated versions, but the common stuff of ordinary life exhibiting the marvel of the grace of God. Hard work is the hallmark of character. The great hindrance in spiritual life is that we will look for big things to do. But "Jesus took a towel . . . and began to wash the disciples' feet."
There are times when there is no enlightenment and no thrill, but just the daily routine and common task. Routine is God's way of saving us between our times of inspiration. Do not expect God always to give you His thrilling experience, but learn to live in the field of hard work by the power of God.
It is the "adding" that is difficult. We say we do not expect God to carry us to heaven on flowery beds of ease, and yet we act as if we did! The tiniest detail in which I obey has all the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I do my duty, not for duty's sake, but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience the whole superb grace of God is mine through the Atonement.
In your “boring routine” of life, God is at work in a mysterious and quiet way. He used those to build up your character, provided that you choose to respond or react to God’s engineered circumstances in God’s way. To those of us in full time ministry, this temptation of seeking to do the great things for God is very common. Since we answered His call to serve God, of course, we expect to do the extraordinary things for Him. We expect to receive extraordinary power from Him. We expect to receive special insight from Him everyday. Even church members would assume that we, ministers, should have special line with God. God will give us more insight and feeding, so that we become leaders in the faith community. I don’t know about other full time workers, I don’t feel like we have special line with God, though we may be more conscious of God’s movement in our lives and in others. But it does not mean our lives are always “high or thrill” everyday. We have dull moment, frustrating and boring time like everybody. We go through similar training from God. That’s why we need to encourage each others. Let’s cheer each other up to pursue holiness and godly characters for His glory.
Love you in according to His training manual,
Lawrence
Good morning. It is good to have a special no pay leave to rest and spend with the Lord. If you follow my blog, you know I had a busy weekend. I was tired and my voice exhausted after preaching in two services, fellowshiped with some brothers and sisters over a long lunch, and led worship at the revival meeting. I do need time to recuperate from all these excitements (excitement is exhausting too!) but my heart is filled with joy of thanksgiving, and recalling all my great experiences…
"Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love" (2 Peter 1:5-7). Through the promises of God, “you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires,” says Peter (v.4), now focus your attention to form habits, give diligence, and concentrate. "Add" means literally put on something new to your life. No man is born either naturally or supernaturally with character, he has to build up character. Nor are we born with habits; we have to form habits on the basis of the new life God has put into us. We are not meant to be illuminated versions, but the common stuff of ordinary life exhibiting the marvel of the grace of God. Hard work is the hallmark of character. The great hindrance in spiritual life is that we will look for big things to do. But "Jesus took a towel . . . and began to wash the disciples' feet."
There are times when there is no enlightenment and no thrill, but just the daily routine and common task. Routine is God's way of saving us between our times of inspiration. Do not expect God always to give you His thrilling experience, but learn to live in the field of hard work by the power of God.
It is the "adding" that is difficult. We say we do not expect God to carry us to heaven on flowery beds of ease, and yet we act as if we did! The tiniest detail in which I obey has all the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I do my duty, not for duty's sake, but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience the whole superb grace of God is mine through the Atonement.
In your “boring routine” of life, God is at work in a mysterious and quiet way. He used those to build up your character, provided that you choose to respond or react to God’s engineered circumstances in God’s way. To those of us in full time ministry, this temptation of seeking to do the great things for God is very common. Since we answered His call to serve God, of course, we expect to do the extraordinary things for Him. We expect to receive extraordinary power from Him. We expect to receive special insight from Him everyday. Even church members would assume that we, ministers, should have special line with God. God will give us more insight and feeding, so that we become leaders in the faith community. I don’t know about other full time workers, I don’t feel like we have special line with God, though we may be more conscious of God’s movement in our lives and in others. But it does not mean our lives are always “high or thrill” everyday. We have dull moment, frustrating and boring time like everybody. We go through similar training from God. That’s why we need to encourage each others. Let’s cheer each other up to pursue holiness and godly characters for His glory.
Love you in according to His training manual,
Lawrence
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Closing of 4 days Revival Meetings
Praise God for a wonderful Revival meetings. The Lord has used 3 dynamic speakers to remind us His love in this dangerous world. God is in control. His love is always with us, and He wants to use us to be His channels of blessings to people around us.Preach in two worship servies on Missions
I was very grateful to be invited to preach at the Missions Sunday of Evangelical Free Church in San Francisco. I was especially glad to meet some of my old friends who served together with me before at Cumberland. Some of whom I have not met for over 20 years. What a wonderful reunion; we don't have to wait until we see each other in heaven. It is indeed a great blessing.Friday, June 12, 2009
Revival meeting at San Francisco
It was a great joy to worship the Lord with brothers and sisters from different churches in the Bay Area. I was glad to see so many young people also participated in this event. Praise the Lord!
The Annual revival meeting at San Francisco was blessed to have a senior preacher, Rev. Moses Yu, to teach us with the Word of God. It was amazing to witness how God has used this brother to preach His Word for last 70 years. In his 90 years of age, his voice was still powerful, his mind was still sharp, and he was still active in preaching the gospel throughout the world.
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