Devotional 030809

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Our Lord is doing wonderful thing in shaping our lives each day. His plan is to make us holy through our daily struggle in life. We have struggle because we know what is good but our flesh tells us to do otherwise. Sometimes, this struggle could become very severe and we felt like totally helpless and defeated. Just as Paul said, “I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:23-24); it is usually in this kind of desperation and disappointment that, we experience the power of His grace, and we have deeper appreciation of what God’s mercy is all about.

"Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled" (Luke 18:31). Jerusalem stands in the life of Our Lord as the place where He reached the climax of His Father's will. "I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father who has sent me." That was the one dominating interest all through our Lord's life, and the things He met with on the way, joy or sorrow, success or failure, never deterred Him from His purpose. "He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem."

The great thing to remember is that we go up to Jerusalem to fulfill God's purpose, not our own. Naturally, our ambitions are our own; in the Christian life we have no aim of our own. There is so much said today about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament it is the aspect of God's compelling that is brought out. "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last." We are not taken up into conscious agreement with God's purpose; we are taken up into God's purpose without any consciousness at all. We have no conception of what God is aiming at, and as we go on it gets more and more vague. God's aim looks like missing the mark because we are too short sighted to see what He is aiming at.

At the beginning of the Christian life we have our own ideas as to what God's purpose is - 'I am meant to go here or there,' 'God has called me to do this special work'; and we go and do the thing, and still the big compelling of God remains. The work we do is of no account; it is so much scaffolding or primitive work compared with the big compelling of God. "He took unto Him the twelve," He takes us all the time. There is more than we have got at as yet.

There are so much more that God can use you for. You may either never could have imagined how much the Lord would use you, or you never want Him to consider using you at all. You just want to remain mediocre kind of Christian. But in God’s dictionary, there is no such thing as layman or mediocre Christian. There is either disciple of Christ or non-believer; children of God or children of the world. In the spiritual realm, there are those who belong to God and those who are under Satan’s domain. Paul made it clear to us in Romans 8:5-9, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires…You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” God has a Master Plan in terms of how to use you. You will not know the details of this Plan. As a matter of fact, you may not want to know because you may want to run away from it just like Prophet Jonah. All you need to do it to follow His call and do what you already knew. Once you set your mind to obey His Word on a daily basis, and boldly live accordance to the Spirit, He will use you for His glory beyond what you can imagine, and give you His joy to the fullest.

I have never imagined I would become a pastor in United States for so long. I would never have imagined I had opportunity to serve Him in different capacity throughout the world. I may have my “dream” in terms of what to accomplish in life. But His dream is much bigger and far-fetched simply because He is God and I am not. If I acknowledge and allow Him to be God in my life, then I will discover unexpected joy and new horizons in following Him. Let’s remind and encourage each other in walking on this path of obedience like Christ.

Love you in accordance to the Spirit,
Lawrence

Speaking at Career fellowship

It was wonderful to speak to the Career Fellowship tonight. I don't know how much my audience understand my message, I enjoyed spending time to share the Word of God with this group of lovely brothers and sisters. May God continue to bless this group to become vibrant witnesses for our Lord Jesus Christ.

Devotional 310709

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. God is always at work in our lives no matter where you are. I was glad to receive news from two brothers who are away from us in Los Angeles and Macau. They both are doing well and have settled down in their own apartments. Our newly wedded is enjoying their honeymoon with books. And our young pastor is living in a two bedrooms apartment feeling homesick. I am sure our Lord has blessings and lessons for both of them in days to come. I am enjoying my quiet time at home for my no pay leave. There are always a lot of works to do at home besides running errand. I need to prepare sermon for tonight and this Sunday as well.

"Let your endurance be a finished product, so that you may be finished and complete, with never a defect" (James 1:4, MOFFATT). Many of us are all right in the main, but there are some domains in which we are sloppy. It is not a question of sin, but of the odds and ends of our carnal life which are apt to make us sloppy. Carelessness or sloppiness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. There should be nothing sloppy, whether it is in the way we eat and drink, or in the way we worship God.

Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the external expression of that relationship must be right too. Ultimately God will let nothing escape, every detail is under His scrutiny. In numberless ways God will bring us back to the same point over and over again. He never tires of bringing us to the one point until we learn the lesson, because He is producing the finished product. It may be a question of impulse, and again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to the one particular point; or it may be mental wool-gathering or independent individuality. God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right.

We have been having a wonderful time this Session over the revelation of God's Redemption, our hearts are perfect towards Him; His wonderful work in us makes us know that in the main we are right with Him. "Now," says the Spirit, through James, "let your endurance be a finished product." Watch the careless bits - "Oh, that will have to do for now." Whatever it is, God will point it out with persistence until we are entirely His.

God deserves the best from us. Look at all the details in His creation. Even a little insect is carefully created for a certain function. Therefore, He expects perfection from us even though He knows we can never become perfect. Our post-modern culture uplifts carefree clothing or lifestyle but not sloppy on the presentations (matching colors and style from head to toe). Wedding for example is getting more sophisticated and expensive; young couples don’t mind to invest a lot of money and time to one day celebration. But they are sloppy or carefree on their daily habits in up keeping their marriage afterward. God expects us to approach perfection from inside out. With His gentle voice and loving methods, our God will put us through different lessons in helping us to grow out of our sloppiness in life.

As fellow members of His Body, we learn to hold each other accountable in dealing with our sloppiness. Of course, we need to do it in a tactful way and loving motive. We don’t use a teasing or harsh manner to point out other’s sloppy habit. We learn to remind others in private and sincere manner. And make sure we ask others to remind you when they see your sloppiness. By doing so, we are functioning truly like a body, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Cor 12:26-27). God will make you perfect. And He will perfect you through your Body life with other brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, don’t run away when you find it difficult to be under scrutiny or to change yourself to interact with “strangers,” see it as a way God wants to grow you from your sloppy lifestyle.

Love you in Christ,
Lawrence

Devotional 300709

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Can’t believe it is Thursday already. Time just flies by so fast that we can hardly catch up with it. While I was driving the younger foster kid to a summer camp pick up site, I suddenly remembered I did not sign his parental permission form. “O I forgot your permission form, what shall we do?” I asked. Then he said, “I don’t think they require permission form for college retreat!” Yes. He is a college student now. He is no longer a kid! Time really flies fast. You can’t stop it but you can only make good use of it. Help us Lord, to seize every moment of our time to enjoy our relationship with You, and fully utilize the potential and talents that You endowed in us for Your pleasure. Amen!

"Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man" (John 2:24-25). Disillusionment means that there are no more false judgments in life. To be undeceived by disillusionment may leave us cynical and unkindly severe in our judgment of others, but the disillusionment which comes from God brings us to the place where we see men and women as they really are, and yet there is no cynicism, we have no stinging, bitter things to say. Many of the cruel things in life spring from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts; we are true only to our ideas of one another. Everything is either delightful and fine, or mean and immoral, according to our idea.

The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way - if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him or her every ounce of perfection and righteousness, and when we do not get it we become cruel and bitter; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why Our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based on loyalty to God will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any person was so perfect, that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone.

I totally agree with Brother Chambers’ insight on our attitude toward human relationship. It has to be built upon our relationship with God. The greatest commandment is for us to love God with all our hearts and minds before we love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt 22:37). If we reverse the order, our relation with people will become disaster. Only when we love God wholeheartedly and drink from His love on a daily basis, we will find strength to love others with His love. If our hearts are not fed by His love, we will be hungry for human love or any kind of love, which will not truly fulfill our deepest thirst and hunger from within. As a result we jump from one person to the other or from one fellowship to the other, looking for love that only God can give. After many attempts and failure, we become despair and bitter, and we become cynical or critical toward people and fellowship. We are completely enslaved within our own illusions.

In order to break through from our illusions, we need to return to our basis: put God first in our lives and recognize the root problem of mankind without God. And then we work toward this goal to dwell in His love or abide in Christ. There is no shortcut to resolve our deep seated illusions, but to focus on building a genuine relationship with God. The way to differentiate the fake from the real dollar bill, according to a teller, is to spend more time looking at the genuine one. The way to get rid of the weeds in your lawn, according to a gardener, is to focus on growing the lawn in stead of removing the weeds. In the same token, the way to resolve illusion toward human relationship is to focus on building our loving relationship with Christ.

Love you through His love,
Lawrence

Devotional 290709

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thank God for another beautiful day in Burlingame. Many of our staff either on vacation or sick leave, the office is extremely quiet today. It is a perfect environment for meditation. Silence is gold only if you know how to enjoy the presence of God in it. It could be very noisy in silence; you would hear your own cravings or complains. But if you tune in to God, you will find yourself hearing the loving words of God through His gentle voice in silence. It is so soothing and sweet!

"Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen" (Revelation 1:7). In the Bible clouds are always connected with God. Clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or providences, within or without our personal lives, which seem to block us from seeing the glory of God and contradict with the true nature of God. Nevertheless, it is by those very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were no clouds, we should have no faith. "The clouds are but the dust of our Father's feet." The clouds are a sign that He is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow and bereavement and suffering are the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near without clouds; He does not come in clear shining.

It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials: through every cloud He brings, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in the cloud is to simplify our belief until our relationship to Him is exactly that of a child - God and my own soul, other people are just shadows. Until other people become shadows, clouds and darkness will come to me from time to time. Is my relationship with God getting simpler than ever it has been?

There is a connection between the strange providences of God and what we know of Him, and we have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in the light of our knowledge of God. Unless we can look at the darkest or blackest fact full in the face without damaging God's character, we do not yet know Him.

In their experience of witnessing the Transfiguration of Jesus on the Mount, the disciples recalled, “While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them…they fell facedown to the ground, terrified” (Matt 17:5-6). The disciples were frightened as they entered the cloud. Is there anyone else still in your cloud than Jesus alone? If so, your cloud will get thicker; you must get to the place like the disciples had experienced, “When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus” (v. 8).

Indeed, through suffering and hardship we came to know God better. On a contrary, when life is smooth and prosperous, we tend to ignore His presence. Yes, we still maintain our religious habit of attending church or Christian activities. But our desire to seek His face gradually fades away. We careless of what He wants from us, or have anything to do with us. We basically just want Him to be out of our complacent living. Jesus becomes one of the many alternatives or attractions in our lives. Even during hardship or sufferings, some people may still be looking at different alternative to save themselves or to resolve their problems. They become more “spiritual” or conscious in prayer as a way to buy out hardship or exchange “favors” from God. They are not really interested in God, but their own desires or the people whom they care a lot. Their clouds getting thicker and they don’t understand why. “I have prayed but I am still in the rut or get stuck!” Until they see God in the rut, or else they will still get stuck. This is truly a spiritual reality in life.

Love you because of His providence,
Lawrence

Devotional 280709

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It was good to have a day off yesterday to catch up with some personal business in life. Our plate seems to be always full with unfinished business more than we can handle. Imagine you try to put out fire that keeps growing around you. You know you can only do so much with your energy and your limited resource. You are not superman and you do need to take a break to recharge yourself with energy from above. That’s why “devotional break” is not a luxury or an ideal way of living. It is a necessity or essential rhythmus of life that you can’t live without. Your Heavenly Father is waiting to re-charge you with His love and strength.

“Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray... He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed” (Mark 6:45-51). It is understandable for us to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us to do certain things, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. But in spiritual reality, we must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We tend to think that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal in life; He is not. The question of where He leads us is actually insignificant. What we call the process, God calls the goal.

What is my dream of God's purpose for me? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unconfused, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working towards a particular finish for me (He works on my life tirelessly); His end is the process - that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.

God's training is for now, not to wait for a while. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the consequence of obedience; we interpret wrong when we try to think of the consequence. What we call training and preparation, God calls the goal of His purpose for us.

God's goal is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present: if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious.

Throughout church history, many devoted followers of Christ sought to practice the “sacrament of the present moment.” To them, their eagerness to plan for future, to prepare for future, and to control the outcome of future will cause them to miss the purpose of God for them in the present moment. Jesus asked us not to worry about the future (Matt 6:34). What we need to make sure is that we seek first His Kingdom and Righteousness now; we seize the current moment of life to be the kind of person God wants us to be, and to do the things for His glory in wherever He puts us in. Now is the moment He expects us to abide in Him, to see His work and to hear His voice. We don’t know what kind of lessons that He may give us tomorrow. He knows better and it is definitely not our business, to imagine and try to control the kind of purpose He has for us. Submission or obedience is the sacrament of the present moment.

Love you in this moment,

Lawrence

Devotional 270709

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It is good to take a break after a busy weekend though it was fruitful and enjoyable. It is always a joy to rekindle relationship with some brothers and sisters in Christ whom I have not met for awhile. Some were former members of CPCC and had transferred membership to Sunset Chinese Baptist Church for a long time. Some had stop attending church and now returned. The love of God is so faithful to all His children. He watches over us and relentlessly seeks out for us; He constantly urges us to return to His circle of love. How blessed we are to have a Heavenly Father who lives within and among us. Praise the Lord!

"If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own" (John 7:17). The golden rule for understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience. If a man wants scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity is his guide; but if he wants insight into what Jesus Christ teaches, he can only get it by obedience. If things are dark to me, then I may be sure there is something I will not do. Intellectual darkness comes through ignorance; spiritual darkness comes because of something I do not intend to obey.

No man ever receives a word from God without instantly being put to the test over it. We disobey and then wonder why we don't go on spiritually. “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you; leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift'” (Matt 5:23-24). The teaching of Jesus hits us where we live. We cannot stand as liar or hypocrite before Him for one second. He educates us down to the point of clearing our doubt or pretention. The Spirit of God uncovers the spirit of self-justification within us; He makes us sensitive to things we never thought of before.

When Jesus brings a thing home by His word, don't avoid it. If you do, you will become a religious hypocrite. Watch the things you try to avoid, and you will know why you do not go on spiritually. First go - at the risk of being thought fanatical you must obey what God tells you.

At the retreat I was given the topic of “Unity In The Gospel.” Gospel stands for reconciliation; it is reconciliation between men and God, and of course, men with men. Paul said, “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility” (Eph 2:14-16). God wants us to experience this new life in Christ, which is a life of reconciliation. And He also expects us to live out this gospel in among our world. Reconciliation is my life message and so as yours. It is easy to preach the gospel or to do a gospel presentation in words, in comparing to live out the gospel within our network of relationship. I am sure we all understand the difficulty involved. Sometimes, we may want to reconcile with others but they may not be willing or ready to forgive. Sometimes our pride may get in the way to initiate reconciliation, “I will forgive only if he initiates to say sorry.” Sometimes our initiation to reconcile may generate suspicion or unnecessary fantasy to others like an “ex-lover.”

There are many scenario of reconciliation that requires different methodology to approach it. The bottom line is: “take action immediately or do not procrastinate.” Seek God for wisdom in terms of how to reconcile with someone who has something against you. Basically, what our Lord wants us to know is that “ministry or work can wait, but reconciliation cannot wait.” Do not use work or ministry to cover up or bury our interpersonal problem. Face it squarely and deal with it immediately, no matter how difficult it may be. Do not give Satan a foothold by harboring bitterness within you. Our Lord Jesus had destroyed the barrier by the power of the cross. All we need to do is to obey His word, and seek His guidance to make peace. “Live in harmony with one another…Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Rom 12:16-18). This is the kind of Body life that will please God and attract people to Christ too. Amen?

Love you for His pleasure,
Lawrence