Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thank God for beautiful sunshine in Burlingame. It was so foggy and wet in Daly City as I left the house. It made me sleepy even though I slept longer because our office is opened at ten on every Thursday. Let's meditate with Brother Chambers, who continued his devotional reading on the same verse that he had started yesterday.
"It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). The mystery of sanctification is that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to me, not gradually, but instantly when by faith I enter into the realization that Jesus Christ is made unto me sanctification. Sanctification does not mean anything less than the holiness of Jesus being made mine manifestly.
The one marvelous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfections of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh. Sanctification is "Christ in you." It is His wonderful life that is imparted to me in sanctification, and imparted by faith as a sovereign gift of God's grace. Am I willing for God to make sanctification as real in me as it is in His word?
Sanctification means the impartation of the Holy qualities of Jesus Christ. It is His patience, His love, His holiness, His faith, His purity, His godliness that is manifested in and through every sanctified soul. Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that was manifested in Him, and He manifests it in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation. Imitation is on a different line. In Jesus Christ is the perfection of everything, and the mystery of sanctification is that all the perfections of Jesus are at my disposal, and slowly and surely I begin to live a life of indescribable order and sanity and holiness: "Kept by the power of God."
Indeed we have nothing to boast of our holiness. We learned to strip ourselves to nothing but our relationship with God. And between ‘me’ and God, He imparts His holiness and the nature of Christ into our soul on a daily basis. We may not realize how the transformation takes place within us; when we look back after several years, we felt the difference in us. By God’s grace we grow and become more like Him. I agree with Chamber’s description: Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation.
If sanctification is our effort to become perfect, our lives will be miserable because we will always be in a stage of regrets and frustrations. We hate our weaknesses, our sinful nature, our helplessness, our hypocrisy, our impotency to the point of giving up to fight. Martin Luther was serious about his calling to be holy. He repented to his supervisor in the monastery as soon as he committed a sinful thought. It came to a point that his supervisor was tired of hearing his repentance. Finally he told this young Martin Luther, to go home and meditate on Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.” It is not by repentance we become holy, it is purely the grace of God. Of course, we have to do our part in stripping off the bondage of earthly relationship, so that we can become the disciple of Christ.
By stripping off the bondage of earthly relationship does not mean isolate yourself from Christian fellowship or from family. God does not make us an island or loner. He expects us to live in community and serves Him through community. But we learn to yield not to opinion of men but to the Word of God. Community could be stumbling. Religious institution could be corrupting. We learn to discern the difference between the opinion that is from God or from men. Just as Jesus reprimanded Peter who was out of good will to stop his teacher from going to the cross, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matt 16:23). Let the Holy Spirit continue to impart upon you the holiness of Christ each day.
Love you by His holiness,
Lawrence
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Devotional 220709
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I am not as fatigue as yesterday, even though I had the same amount of sleep. I need to spend more time to stay focus on the Lord and nourish my hope (not my worry) in Him. He is the one who cares not only my daily walk with Him but every other details of my life. He is the ultimate CEO at my work; He is the real Owner of my house; He is the personal Trainer of my life, He is my true Soul mate or Lover of my soul. He will indeed watch over me day in and day out. Praise the Lord!
"It is God's will that you should be sanctified" (1 Thessalonians 4:3a). In sanctification God has to deal with us on the death side as well as on the life side. Many of us spend so much time in the place of death that we get gloomy. There is always a battle royal before sanctification, always something that tugs with resentment against the demands of Jesus Christ. Immediately the Spirit of God begins to show us what sanctification means, the struggle begins. "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).
The Spirit of God in the process of sanctification will strip me until I am nothing but "myself," that is the place of death. Am I willing to be "myself" and nothing more? Am I willing to be with no friends, no father, no brother, no self-interest - simply ready for death for Christ? That is the condition of sanctification. No wonder Jesus said: "I came not to send peace, but a sword." This is where the battle comes, and where so many of us faint. We refuse to be identified with the death of Jesus on this point. "But it is so harsh," we may protest; "He cannot wish me to do that." Our Lord is harsh; and He does wish us to do that for our sanctification.
Am I willing to reduce myself simply to "me," determinedly to strip myself of all that my friends think of me, of all I think of myself, and to hand that simple naked self over to God? Immediately, He will sanctify me wholly, and my life will be free from earnestness in connection with every thing but God.
When I pray - "Lord, show me what sanctification means for me," He will show me. It means being made one with Jesus. Sanctification is not something Jesus Christ puts into me: it is Himself who lives in me. Just as Paul said, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). Once we invite Jesus into our house, He expects us to move out all the “precious” things that we have collected or stored from within, and give room for Him to be the new Master. When a groom receives his new bride into his house, he must be willing to change his former lifestyle and allow his wife to have a say in “house cleaning.” If a groom does not treasure his bride more than all his collections in the house, he is not ready to get married.
Many people don’t mind to enjoy “courtship” with Christ or God once a week or 1 hour a day. But when it means costing their lifestyle or their treasures to live with Christ, they will definitely hesitate. They don’t want to have serious commitment to this relationship. They just like to have a little dosage of “spirituality” to make them feel good about themselves. Unfortunately you cannot buy 15 minutes of Christianity whenever you feel like it. Just as you cannot buy 15 minutes of “marriage;” there is only prostitution but not marriage you can buy in such manner. To follow Christ involves a lifetime 24/7 commitments. You ‘cannot’ be His disciples if you are not willing to strip away all your earthly relational attachments; this kind of sanctification process will surely take a lifetime to realize and grow. Let’s encourage one another toward this calling to be the true follower of Christ.
Love you because of Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. I am not as fatigue as yesterday, even though I had the same amount of sleep. I need to spend more time to stay focus on the Lord and nourish my hope (not my worry) in Him. He is the one who cares not only my daily walk with Him but every other details of my life. He is the ultimate CEO at my work; He is the real Owner of my house; He is the personal Trainer of my life, He is my true Soul mate or Lover of my soul. He will indeed watch over me day in and day out. Praise the Lord!
"It is God's will that you should be sanctified" (1 Thessalonians 4:3a). In sanctification God has to deal with us on the death side as well as on the life side. Many of us spend so much time in the place of death that we get gloomy. There is always a battle royal before sanctification, always something that tugs with resentment against the demands of Jesus Christ. Immediately the Spirit of God begins to show us what sanctification means, the struggle begins. "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).
The Spirit of God in the process of sanctification will strip me until I am nothing but "myself," that is the place of death. Am I willing to be "myself" and nothing more? Am I willing to be with no friends, no father, no brother, no self-interest - simply ready for death for Christ? That is the condition of sanctification. No wonder Jesus said: "I came not to send peace, but a sword." This is where the battle comes, and where so many of us faint. We refuse to be identified with the death of Jesus on this point. "But it is so harsh," we may protest; "He cannot wish me to do that." Our Lord is harsh; and He does wish us to do that for our sanctification.
Am I willing to reduce myself simply to "me," determinedly to strip myself of all that my friends think of me, of all I think of myself, and to hand that simple naked self over to God? Immediately, He will sanctify me wholly, and my life will be free from earnestness in connection with every thing but God.
When I pray - "Lord, show me what sanctification means for me," He will show me. It means being made one with Jesus. Sanctification is not something Jesus Christ puts into me: it is Himself who lives in me. Just as Paul said, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). Once we invite Jesus into our house, He expects us to move out all the “precious” things that we have collected or stored from within, and give room for Him to be the new Master. When a groom receives his new bride into his house, he must be willing to change his former lifestyle and allow his wife to have a say in “house cleaning.” If a groom does not treasure his bride more than all his collections in the house, he is not ready to get married.
Many people don’t mind to enjoy “courtship” with Christ or God once a week or 1 hour a day. But when it means costing their lifestyle or their treasures to live with Christ, they will definitely hesitate. They don’t want to have serious commitment to this relationship. They just like to have a little dosage of “spirituality” to make them feel good about themselves. Unfortunately you cannot buy 15 minutes of Christianity whenever you feel like it. Just as you cannot buy 15 minutes of “marriage;” there is only prostitution but not marriage you can buy in such manner. To follow Christ involves a lifetime 24/7 commitments. You ‘cannot’ be His disciples if you are not willing to strip away all your earthly relational attachments; this kind of sanctification process will surely take a lifetime to realize and grow. Let’s encourage one another toward this calling to be the true follower of Christ.
Love you because of Christ,
Lawrence
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Devotional 210709
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I did not know why I was so sleepy this morning. I need to seek Him for more strength to face the challenge of today. Life is full of excitement. There are so much potential in us to be utilized for the blessing of others and our own fulfillment. The main thing is to focus; do one thing at a time. Prioritization is to identify the things that we need to accomplish in life in according to their importance. Make sure I don’t exhaust myself in doing just the urgent things but not the important things, or spinning the wheel on things without significant values.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to torture me by erecting a standard I cannot attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it. What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be - to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Savior before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal, which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man - the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility or inadequacy - I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says - Blessed are you! That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.
The problem with Christians today is similar to the Church of Laodicea. Jesus warned us of this church, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see” (Revelation 3:15-18). Jesus was referring to the hot spring of Laodicea. A hot spring is full of minerals that are good for healing purpose when it is hot. And when a hot spring completely cool down, with all the minerals settle down on the riverbed, the water becomes drinkable. A lukewarm hot spring is definitely useless; it cannot be used for healing or drinking. If a person drinks a lukewarm hot spring will vomit. That’s how our Lord Jesus describes a lukewarm church or Christian; it is useless in the Kingdom of God. And it will only make people vomit.
When God puts you in a inadequate situation, He wants you to realize how pitiful and poor you are, so that you would seek God for real satisfaction; to quench your thirst or feed your hunger. If you still feel that you are capable to run your life or independent from God, you will never be able to experience the joy of the Kingdom of God.
Love you by the power of His love,
Lawrence
Good morning. I did not know why I was so sleepy this morning. I need to seek Him for more strength to face the challenge of today. Life is full of excitement. There are so much potential in us to be utilized for the blessing of others and our own fulfillment. The main thing is to focus; do one thing at a time. Prioritization is to identify the things that we need to accomplish in life in according to their importance. Make sure I don’t exhaust myself in doing just the urgent things but not the important things, or spinning the wheel on things without significant values.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to torture me by erecting a standard I cannot attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it. What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be - to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Savior before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal, which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man - the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility or inadequacy - I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says - Blessed are you! That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.
The problem with Christians today is similar to the Church of Laodicea. Jesus warned us of this church, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see” (Revelation 3:15-18). Jesus was referring to the hot spring of Laodicea. A hot spring is full of minerals that are good for healing purpose when it is hot. And when a hot spring completely cool down, with all the minerals settle down on the riverbed, the water becomes drinkable. A lukewarm hot spring is definitely useless; it cannot be used for healing or drinking. If a person drinks a lukewarm hot spring will vomit. That’s how our Lord Jesus describes a lukewarm church or Christian; it is useless in the Kingdom of God. And it will only make people vomit.
When God puts you in a inadequate situation, He wants you to realize how pitiful and poor you are, so that you would seek God for real satisfaction; to quench your thirst or feed your hunger. If you still feel that you are capable to run your life or independent from God, you will never be able to experience the joy of the Kingdom of God.
Love you by the power of His love,
Lawrence
Monday, July 20, 2009
Devotional 200709
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It is totally His grace that we are active in His plan. The office is excited to anticipate the home coming of our missionary from Dubai who will join us for lunch. God will continue to raise up His church to reach all nations for Christ. And He desires His children to invest their lives toward the same goal both locally and globally. When we draw close to the Lord, we can almost know for sure that we will sense His passions for all nations. And because of this experience, Paul said, “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish” (Romans 1:14).
"Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:31). There is no thrill in walking; it is the test of all the stable qualities. To "walk and not be faint" is the highest reach possible for strength. The word "walk" is used in the Bible to express the character - "John looking on Jesus as He walked, said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’" There is never any thing abstract in the Bible, it is always vivid and real. God does not say - Be spiritual, but - "Walk before Me."
When we are in an unhealthy state physically or emotionally, we always want thrills. In the physical domain this will lead to counterfeiting the Holy Spirit; in the emotional life it leads to inordinate affection and the destruction of morality; and in the spiritual domain if we insist on getting thrills, on mounting up with wings, it will end in the destruction of spirituality.
The reality of God's presence is not dependent on any place, but only dependent upon the determination to set the Lord always before us. Our problems come when we refuse to bank on the reality of His presence. The experience the Psalmist speaks of - "Therefore will we not fear, though . . ." will be ours when once we are based on Reality, not the consciousness of God's presence but the reality of it - Why, He has been here all the time!
At critical moments it is necessary to ask guidance, but it ought to be unnecessary to be saying always - "O Lord, direct me here, and there." Of course He will! If our common-sense decisions are not His order, He will press through them and check; then we must be quiet and wait for the direction of His presence.
We seek the Lord only when we need His help for some issues beyond our control. We consulted ‘spiritual’ men and women, attempting to find God through them. But we did not ‘walk’ in accordance to what He expected. The psalmist said, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners…” (Psalm 1:1a). If we do not walk in the counsel of the wicked, we should then walk in accordance to the Word of God. That’s why the psalmist continued to say, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” (Psalm 1:2). If you delight or desire the Word of God, you don’t need to ask God or consult any ‘spiritual’ men and women from time to time, whether you are walking toward the right direction or not. The word of God becomes part of your value or operating system. When you have doubt whether you are doing the right thing, it could be the prompting of the Holy Spirit. You should stop and meditate on God’s word again. When you desire to do the right thing or ‘walk right’ before God, our Holy Spirit will surely guide you on the right path of Truth.
Have mercy on us O Lord. Help us to delight in your Word and meditate day and night!
Love you by His help,
Lawrence
Good morning. It is totally His grace that we are active in His plan. The office is excited to anticipate the home coming of our missionary from Dubai who will join us for lunch. God will continue to raise up His church to reach all nations for Christ. And He desires His children to invest their lives toward the same goal both locally and globally. When we draw close to the Lord, we can almost know for sure that we will sense His passions for all nations. And because of this experience, Paul said, “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish” (Romans 1:14).
"Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:31). There is no thrill in walking; it is the test of all the stable qualities. To "walk and not be faint" is the highest reach possible for strength. The word "walk" is used in the Bible to express the character - "John looking on Jesus as He walked, said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’" There is never any thing abstract in the Bible, it is always vivid and real. God does not say - Be spiritual, but - "Walk before Me."
When we are in an unhealthy state physically or emotionally, we always want thrills. In the physical domain this will lead to counterfeiting the Holy Spirit; in the emotional life it leads to inordinate affection and the destruction of morality; and in the spiritual domain if we insist on getting thrills, on mounting up with wings, it will end in the destruction of spirituality.
The reality of God's presence is not dependent on any place, but only dependent upon the determination to set the Lord always before us. Our problems come when we refuse to bank on the reality of His presence. The experience the Psalmist speaks of - "Therefore will we not fear, though . . ." will be ours when once we are based on Reality, not the consciousness of God's presence but the reality of it - Why, He has been here all the time!
At critical moments it is necessary to ask guidance, but it ought to be unnecessary to be saying always - "O Lord, direct me here, and there." Of course He will! If our common-sense decisions are not His order, He will press through them and check; then we must be quiet and wait for the direction of His presence.
We seek the Lord only when we need His help for some issues beyond our control. We consulted ‘spiritual’ men and women, attempting to find God through them. But we did not ‘walk’ in accordance to what He expected. The psalmist said, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners…” (Psalm 1:1a). If we do not walk in the counsel of the wicked, we should then walk in accordance to the Word of God. That’s why the psalmist continued to say, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” (Psalm 1:2). If you delight or desire the Word of God, you don’t need to ask God or consult any ‘spiritual’ men and women from time to time, whether you are walking toward the right direction or not. The word of God becomes part of your value or operating system. When you have doubt whether you are doing the right thing, it could be the prompting of the Holy Spirit. You should stop and meditate on God’s word again. When you desire to do the right thing or ‘walk right’ before God, our Holy Spirit will surely guide you on the right path of Truth.
Have mercy on us O Lord. Help us to delight in your Word and meditate day and night!
Love you by His help,
Lawrence
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The Point - a church of the Nazarene
It was a pleasant surprise to meet my good old friends at the worship. I did not expect to see them in the church. The parents of our god-son are mission workers in China, and a brother whom we discipled in college fellowship at Cumberland many years ago. He has a beautiful family right now. Praise the Lord!
It was an unique experience to preach at a Vietnamese Chinese Congregation in South San Jose. It is one of the 7 congregations of The Point - a church of the Nazarene. Thank God for using this congregation to reach many Cantonese speaking people in this valley. This church is indeed a church of all nations; they have members of 22 ethnic groups.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Devotional 170709
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thank God for giving us the resources to make life more comfortable and beautiful. We have the luxury in life that many people in this world do not have. We live in a world of choices. We can choose the kind of food or diet plan we prefer. We have luxury to choose the kind of car, house, clothes, shoes, hairstyle and furniture that we like. But in reality, many people do not share the same privilege in this world. Yes, the word “privilege” dawn on me while I was driving to work. Driving is a privilege that comes with responsibility; we must obey traffic laws. If we don’t our privilege of driving will be removed from us. In the same token, life is a privilege that comes with a responsibility we receive from God; we are to obey the principles that He spells out in the Bible. Otherwise, this privilege of life we enjoy so far will eventually be removed from us.
"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
Paul was a scholar and an orator of the first rank; he is not speaking out of hopeless humility; but saying that he would veil the power of God if, when he preached the gospel, he impressed people with his "excellency of speech." Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of Redemption, not by impressiveness of speech, not by wooing and winning, but by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of the Redemption comes through the preaching of the Gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher. The real fasting of the preacher is not from food, but rather from eloquence, from impressiveness and exquisite articulation, from everything that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God - "as though God did beseech you by us." He is there to present the Gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get anywhere near Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the Gospel will end in making me a traitor to Jesus; I prevent the creative power of His Redemption from doing its work.
Our Lord Jesus said, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:31-32). Our calling as followers of Christ is to lift up the name of our Lord Jesus, so that all men will be drawn to Him but not to us. We have a tendency as human being to draw people’s attention to ourselves to entertain our pride or self-centeredness. We feel good when people want to listen to our teaching or preaching. But when people focus their attention on us, they would have missed the real source of transformation and redemption in Christ. The line is so thin that we preacher can easily stumble by our own ego without we even aware of it. Have mercy on us O Lord! Constantly remind us of our sinful nature lest we would stumble others in our service to you. We have nothing to boast because ability and power, if we have any, are gifts from above. They are given to us for the purpose to lift up the name of Christ and His cross.
May God strengthen your walk with Him today! May your life continue to shine for Him, and the good deeds of your life will bring glory to our Heavenly Father!
Love you by His goodness,
Lawrence
Good morning. Thank God for giving us the resources to make life more comfortable and beautiful. We have the luxury in life that many people in this world do not have. We live in a world of choices. We can choose the kind of food or diet plan we prefer. We have luxury to choose the kind of car, house, clothes, shoes, hairstyle and furniture that we like. But in reality, many people do not share the same privilege in this world. Yes, the word “privilege” dawn on me while I was driving to work. Driving is a privilege that comes with responsibility; we must obey traffic laws. If we don’t our privilege of driving will be removed from us. In the same token, life is a privilege that comes with a responsibility we receive from God; we are to obey the principles that He spells out in the Bible. Otherwise, this privilege of life we enjoy so far will eventually be removed from us.
"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
Paul was a scholar and an orator of the first rank; he is not speaking out of hopeless humility; but saying that he would veil the power of God if, when he preached the gospel, he impressed people with his "excellency of speech." Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of Redemption, not by impressiveness of speech, not by wooing and winning, but by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of the Redemption comes through the preaching of the Gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher. The real fasting of the preacher is not from food, but rather from eloquence, from impressiveness and exquisite articulation, from everything that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God - "as though God did beseech you by us." He is there to present the Gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get anywhere near Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the Gospel will end in making me a traitor to Jesus; I prevent the creative power of His Redemption from doing its work.
Our Lord Jesus said, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:31-32). Our calling as followers of Christ is to lift up the name of our Lord Jesus, so that all men will be drawn to Him but not to us. We have a tendency as human being to draw people’s attention to ourselves to entertain our pride or self-centeredness. We feel good when people want to listen to our teaching or preaching. But when people focus their attention on us, they would have missed the real source of transformation and redemption in Christ. The line is so thin that we preacher can easily stumble by our own ego without we even aware of it. Have mercy on us O Lord! Constantly remind us of our sinful nature lest we would stumble others in our service to you. We have nothing to boast because ability and power, if we have any, are gifts from above. They are given to us for the purpose to lift up the name of Christ and His cross.
May God strengthen your walk with Him today! May your life continue to shine for Him, and the good deeds of your life will bring glory to our Heavenly Father!
Love you by His goodness,
Lawrence
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Devotional 160709
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I have a slow start this morning so that I can spend more time to meditate on God’s word at home. It is to my advantage to focus my energy on God then let my mind wandering uncontrollably; it will waste my time and energy on negative, fleshy or ungodly thoughts that will go against the knowledge of God. Once I warm up my wandering mind by submitting to God’s Word, I find my mind to be productive in the rest of my day. Indeed, our beautiful mind is too wonderful to be wasted…
"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him" (Matthew 7:11)? Jesus is laying down rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit. By the simple argument of these verses He urges us to keep our minds filled with the notion of God's control behind everything, which means that the disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Focus your mind with the idea that God is there. If once the mind is focused along that line, then when you are in difficulties it is as easy as breathing to remember - Why, my Father knows all about it! It is not an effort; it comes naturally when perplexities press. Before, you used to go to this person and that, but now the notion of the Divine control is forming so powerfully in you that you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit, and it works on this principle - God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, why should I worry?
There are times, says Jesus, when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but trust Him. God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural Father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the notion of the mind of God behind all things strong and growing. Nothing happens in any particular unless God's will is behind it; therefore you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but an attitude of mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. "Ask, and it shall be given to you."
This is a habit of a contemplatively lifestyle; you always maintain an inner connection with the Holy Spirit in your mind. Contemplation is meditation or reflection on the Word of God. The more you feed your mind with the Word of God, the more you can apply the Word of God in whatever situation you encounter in your daily life. Contemplation is not day dreaming, fantasizing or free flow of thought. It is a deliberate act of focusing on God and His attributes through meditating on His Words. When you constantly reflect your life in the light of God’s Word, your inner reaction on circumstances, attitude toward things and people, decision making process, value judgments and conception of plans for your future will all be guided by His Words. This kind of contemplative lifestyle will change the way you pray, you think, you listen, you speak; therefore it will directly affect your relationship with God and with people in general. You are becoming a Godly or Christ-centered person.
There is no short-cut in approaching this goal. It takes constant effort or relentless pursuit in building this contemplative lifestyle. But the good news is you are not alone. Our Lord Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to be our enabler. He is always there to provide us with the strength once we decide to embark the journey toward this goal. It was like the way God divide the Red Sea for Moses. God did not cause the miracle to happen until Moses deliberately acted out of obedience. Dear Holy Spirit, give us the eagerness to develop this kind of Godly lifestyle, and the strength to obey! Amen.
Love you with His passion,
Lawrence
Good morning. I have a slow start this morning so that I can spend more time to meditate on God’s word at home. It is to my advantage to focus my energy on God then let my mind wandering uncontrollably; it will waste my time and energy on negative, fleshy or ungodly thoughts that will go against the knowledge of God. Once I warm up my wandering mind by submitting to God’s Word, I find my mind to be productive in the rest of my day. Indeed, our beautiful mind is too wonderful to be wasted…
"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him" (Matthew 7:11)? Jesus is laying down rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit. By the simple argument of these verses He urges us to keep our minds filled with the notion of God's control behind everything, which means that the disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Focus your mind with the idea that God is there. If once the mind is focused along that line, then when you are in difficulties it is as easy as breathing to remember - Why, my Father knows all about it! It is not an effort; it comes naturally when perplexities press. Before, you used to go to this person and that, but now the notion of the Divine control is forming so powerfully in you that you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit, and it works on this principle - God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, why should I worry?
There are times, says Jesus, when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but trust Him. God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural Father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the notion of the mind of God behind all things strong and growing. Nothing happens in any particular unless God's will is behind it; therefore you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but an attitude of mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. "Ask, and it shall be given to you."
This is a habit of a contemplatively lifestyle; you always maintain an inner connection with the Holy Spirit in your mind. Contemplation is meditation or reflection on the Word of God. The more you feed your mind with the Word of God, the more you can apply the Word of God in whatever situation you encounter in your daily life. Contemplation is not day dreaming, fantasizing or free flow of thought. It is a deliberate act of focusing on God and His attributes through meditating on His Words. When you constantly reflect your life in the light of God’s Word, your inner reaction on circumstances, attitude toward things and people, decision making process, value judgments and conception of plans for your future will all be guided by His Words. This kind of contemplative lifestyle will change the way you pray, you think, you listen, you speak; therefore it will directly affect your relationship with God and with people in general. You are becoming a Godly or Christ-centered person.
There is no short-cut in approaching this goal. It takes constant effort or relentless pursuit in building this contemplative lifestyle. But the good news is you are not alone. Our Lord Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to be our enabler. He is always there to provide us with the strength once we decide to embark the journey toward this goal. It was like the way God divide the Red Sea for Moses. God did not cause the miracle to happen until Moses deliberately acted out of obedience. Dear Holy Spirit, give us the eagerness to develop this kind of Godly lifestyle, and the strength to obey! Amen.
Love you with His passion,
Lawrence
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