Dear brothers and sisters,
Good afternoon. I have returned from Africa and Toronto for over a week now. Praise God for not having jet lag at all. I was fully engaged in ministry immediately after my return. I had international board meeting and several preaching engagements that totally captured my attention. Thanks for many of you who have been praying for me. I sensed the providence of God throughout my trip and ministry back home. Please continue to support me in your prayer.
I have been meditating on Isaiah chapter 29 and 30 in the last couples of weeks. God reminded me to focus on the essential practices in life despite of all the religious activities I conducted.
This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it" (30:15). Salvation could be deliverance from any difficulty or evil scheme but not just deliverance from eternal condemnation. As we encounter uncertain future or challeneges, God reminded us to repent from our relying on our own wisdom or value system to handle things, but to rest or focus on God as our ultimate savior. Unless we give up trying to save ourselves, we will not experience God as our true savior. The psalmist said, "rest and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10a).
Another parallel warning that God gave me during the trip was to trust and be quiet before the Lord. These two attitudes or practices are essential in our daily encountering with God.
As I looked back to the all the trips that I made and "accomplishments" that God gave me, I was humbled and amazed with what God had done in and through me. None could finish a doctoral program in 15 months with heavy workload and busy traveling schedule. During those days, one thing I did not stop doing and you could testify to that was my spiritual journaling. It was a time to reflect on God's words and to receive power from above. My experience echoes what our Lord Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). I found it to be so true!! Our God is so faithful and true. Remember to walk closely with him each day for your own good. I will share with you more about my Africa trip in days to come... (see my slide show on my blog).
In Christ,
Lawrence
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Graduation Celebration
Dear brothers and sisters,
Thanks for your loving support. I celebrated my graduation on 4/30. When I looked back, it was indeed an amazing journey to finish my doctoral program in 15 months. I could never imagined myself doing so in the beginning. I had planned to finish within 4 years, or the shortest two and a half. But by God's grace, I finished early. One of the possible factors that might contribute to this accomplishment was my journal writing. Since I have developed this jorunaling habit for over 20 years, this might help in putting my thoughts on writing as I wrote my papers and dissertation. Morover, journaling also helps in concentration. This is a discipline that enables me to articulate my thoughts and interaction with the Holy Spirit. So, let me encouage you to do the same.
I will depart for Africa tomorrow morning. Please remember us in your prayer. This is an exploration trip to cover 3 countries (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) in Eastern Africa. Since 4 of us are traveling without a guide, we count on the Holy Spirit to protect and provide us. Our field director waits for us in Uganda. We hope to establish a non-profit organization in that part of the world. Please pray for wisdom as I will contact some government official and legal professional in exploring this possibility. Once we become a registered organization in Uganda, it will become a platform for us to apply visa for future M workers into Africa.
I will not be able to write during this whole trip. I pray that God will continue to motivate you to draw close to Him each day for your own growth and nurishment.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Devotional reading 280411
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. By God's grace, I recovered from jetlag sooner than before. Again, thanks for your prayer. While I was driving to office this morning, I recalled a unified theme being preached by various speakers at London conference, which is "to be real from inside out." This theme became the central message from the Holy Spirit at the conference. These speakers had submitted their sermon outlines ahead of time, and without comparing notes with one another they gave the same emphasis. Yes, in order to seize "the opportunity of this time," we need to seek the lives of obedience under the Lordship of Christ. Dr. George Murray, our last speaker of the conference said, "Great Commission begins with lordship of Christ because Jesus siad, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me...therefore go and make disciples of all nations.'" Without obedience there will be no spiritual revival. Without spiritual revival there will be no Great Commission. A lot of time, we want God to be involved in our plan for ministry and life. But He prefers us to be involved in His plan. We focus so much on what "we want" to accomplish for Christ instead of obeying to what "He wants" to accomplish through us. And the life of obedience is to be expressed in our daily living as a person, and our interaction with other beings in our daily context - to be a real and genuine follower of Christ.
Our first speaker of the conference quoted a phrase from one of another speakers who said in other occasion, "life should be our sermon, and daily living should be our pulpit." Renewal or revival, therefore, should be starting with our genuine relationship with the Triune God on a daily basis. It does not matter how much one knows about the Bible. What matters is how much one obeys the teaching of the Bible. Another speaker echoed, "many Christians ended their lives with many good wishes without being put into practice." They knew what God had intended for their lives, and wished to be involved in His glorious plan for their lives, but they ended their lives with nothing but regrets. Unfortunately, this is a life description of many Christians. We hope to summarize our lives with an inscription on our tombstone as "a good and faithful servant of God." But in reality, many of the inscription on Christian tombstone is "wished to be a good and faithful servant of God."
Have mercy on us O Lord! Help us to be obedience to your plan for our lives and finish well. Let's encourage each other to practice what we preach or know.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. By God's grace, I recovered from jetlag sooner than before. Again, thanks for your prayer. While I was driving to office this morning, I recalled a unified theme being preached by various speakers at London conference, which is "to be real from inside out." This theme became the central message from the Holy Spirit at the conference. These speakers had submitted their sermon outlines ahead of time, and without comparing notes with one another they gave the same emphasis. Yes, in order to seize "the opportunity of this time," we need to seek the lives of obedience under the Lordship of Christ. Dr. George Murray, our last speaker of the conference said, "Great Commission begins with lordship of Christ because Jesus siad, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me...therefore go and make disciples of all nations.'" Without obedience there will be no spiritual revival. Without spiritual revival there will be no Great Commission. A lot of time, we want God to be involved in our plan for ministry and life. But He prefers us to be involved in His plan. We focus so much on what "we want" to accomplish for Christ instead of obeying to what "He wants" to accomplish through us. And the life of obedience is to be expressed in our daily living as a person, and our interaction with other beings in our daily context - to be a real and genuine follower of Christ.
Our first speaker of the conference quoted a phrase from one of another speakers who said in other occasion, "life should be our sermon, and daily living should be our pulpit." Renewal or revival, therefore, should be starting with our genuine relationship with the Triune God on a daily basis. It does not matter how much one knows about the Bible. What matters is how much one obeys the teaching of the Bible. Another speaker echoed, "many Christians ended their lives with many good wishes without being put into practice." They knew what God had intended for their lives, and wished to be involved in His glorious plan for their lives, but they ended their lives with nothing but regrets. Unfortunately, this is a life description of many Christians. We hope to summarize our lives with an inscription on our tombstone as "a good and faithful servant of God." But in reality, many of the inscription on Christian tombstone is "wished to be a good and faithful servant of God."
Have mercy on us O Lord! Help us to be obedience to your plan for our lives and finish well. Let's encourage each other to practice what we preach or know.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Mission update 260411
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thanks for your prayer support. I had a fruitful trip in London. It was the first Mission conference for Chinese churches in England and Europe. I had opportunity to meet many Chinese Christians and pastors from different countries in Europe. It was an eyes opening experience to find out how God was at work in many Chinese communities throughout Europe. Even though the Chinese churches in general did not feel like they were ready to send out missionaries, many came to pick up our magazines and enquire about our mission fields. Pray that the Lord will revive the Chinese churches in Europe for His mission.
Europe (UK included) is considered to be mission field for Chinese churches. Many churches do not have full time pastors. Among all the Chinese churches in UK, there were less than 5 full time English ministers to serve their second generations. There is indeed a big need for English youth minister in Chinese church. However, a new UK homeland security policy made it harder for religious workers or students from going into the country. They are very tight on granting work visa for religious workers and student visa for seminarians. We need to pray for spiritual revivval in many Christian nations in Europe. Pray that their leaders (including their royal family members) will take their relationship with God more seriously.
I did not sleep well last night because of jetlag. It is therefore difficult for me to focus in meditation and prayer. Pray that I will recover soon. My next trip is a short one to Portland, Oregon. Afterward, I will be leaving for three countries in East Africa in May, and Toronto, Canada as well. Appreciate your prayer for my health and travel...
In Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. Thanks for your prayer support. I had a fruitful trip in London. It was the first Mission conference for Chinese churches in England and Europe. I had opportunity to meet many Chinese Christians and pastors from different countries in Europe. It was an eyes opening experience to find out how God was at work in many Chinese communities throughout Europe. Even though the Chinese churches in general did not feel like they were ready to send out missionaries, many came to pick up our magazines and enquire about our mission fields. Pray that the Lord will revive the Chinese churches in Europe for His mission.
Europe (UK included) is considered to be mission field for Chinese churches. Many churches do not have full time pastors. Among all the Chinese churches in UK, there were less than 5 full time English ministers to serve their second generations. There is indeed a big need for English youth minister in Chinese church. However, a new UK homeland security policy made it harder for religious workers or students from going into the country. They are very tight on granting work visa for religious workers and student visa for seminarians. We need to pray for spiritual revivval in many Christian nations in Europe. Pray that their leaders (including their royal family members) will take their relationship with God more seriously.
I did not sleep well last night because of jetlag. It is therefore difficult for me to focus in meditation and prayer. Pray that I will recover soon. My next trip is a short one to Portland, Oregon. Afterward, I will be leaving for three countries in East Africa in May, and Toronto, Canada as well. Appreciate your prayer for my health and travel...
In Christ,
Lawrence
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Devotional readings 041211
Dear brothers and sisters, Good morning. I have been reading the book of Isaiah for my personal devotion while I was traveling in China. The Prophet was called to ministry during a critical time in his country. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne (Isaiah 6:1)… It was during a major transition in the political arena of his country that Isaiah saw the throne of God in his vision. God chose to call His people to serve Him while the environment was most unstable and fearful. Nobody knew what the future might hold when a king died. Was the king murdered or died of natural cause? Could the new king provide political stability for the country? Would enemies take advantage of the transition to attack our country? It was during the most unstable time of his life that Isaiah heard the calling of God, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Isaiah immediately said, “Here am I. Send me!” We are in a unstable and fearful time too. Natural disasters and political uprising in the Middle East are upsetting people all over the world. None can tell what the future may hold for us. Will the economy recover? Will the environment be contaminated by nuclear radioactivity from Japan? It is during this time of turmoil that we should focus more on the throne of God instead of on our environment. Instead of figuring out a backup plan to secure our future, it may be time to listen to what God have in mind for our world today. God for sure has a plan for this historical moment of time. He has a plan for His church and definitely a plan for His people like you and me. The question is whether His people are willing to listen to Him and answer His call. It is usually during the most difficult time in life that people will be more in tune to God. In helpless desperation people turn to God for a way out. God uses this moment to call people to repent and bring awakening to people’s souls. But whom shall God send? And who will go for God to fulfill His plan? I pray that God will raise up a new generation of Kingdom workers to meet this challenge. Indeed, a revival is going on among the college students and young professionals in China today. Many came to know the Lord, and many dedicated themselves to serve Him in whatever capacity. God is going to bless the world through them. And you can be a channel of His blessings for the world too! Listen and focus on His throne… Share in His precious love with you, Lawrence
Friday, March 11, 2011
Devotional reading 110311
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I can’t believe it is Friday again. Time really flies and we should better take good use of the opportunity that He gives us each day. No matter what kind of responsibility that God has appointed you to do today, do it as a sacramental worship to the Lord with love and joyfulness. God never forsakes you even though you may go through tough time in life like those who suffer in natural disaster in Japan. Pray that God will comfort those who lost their loved ones in Japan’s earthquake and tsunami. There are many missionaries station in that earthquake zone. Pray that Christians and the church in Japan will do whatever to help victims from this natural disaster. Seize this moment when you still have today to fulfill God’s purpose for your life, because nobody knows whether tomorrow will come or not.
A person’s religious experiences can probably be understood best in term of the way that person perceives the divine, and allows it to work in his/her life. As I have suggested, there are three main kinds of these experiences—the sacramental, the contemplative, and those giving an inner perception of the divine in images. The most common and widespread of these experiences are the sacramental ones in which the divine comes into focus directly through some element of the outer, physical world. In the Communion, for instance, a person has the outer experience of receiving the bread and wine, and at the same time may experience receiving Christ inwardly.
It is easy to look down on the original forms of sacramental experience as primitive, and consider it quite unconscious to project the inner, spiritual reality upon outer things…The great Christian sacraments, beginning with baptism, have offered a new step of breaking off from one’s old life and entering into a new relation with God. For Catholics and also many liturgical Protestants the Commune or Eucharist is the continuing place of renewal where the divine touches humanity. The bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ; m partaking of them one actually shares the life of the Risen Christ. For the average Protestant the Bible itself has some of the sesame sacramental power. While most non-liturgical Protestants have shied away from the obviously sacramental, the Bible is literally seen as the congealed thought of God, and if this is accepted, one may then be in touch with God Himself. Total and absolute authority are often given to the words and ideas of the Bible, and thus authority is sometimes projected upon the one who preaches them, which sometimes causes explosive situations. In these churches there is an absence of sacramental action and this gap is only partly filled by services of prayer and great music.
Human beings do not outgrow their need to use sacramental experience. This should be clear to anyone who has ever fallen in love and known the power of projection. Suddenly to one in love another person appears luminous and carries all value and meaning. Poetry often flows, even from those who never before wrote poetry. As Plato originally pointed out, physical love lead to an appreciation of the beauty of spirit of another human being, and then on to worship of God Himself. Thus falling in love can in a sense be a sacramental experience of the divine.
Equally, anyone who has nursed a full-blown hatred or anger can understand how well projection works. Another person seems ns to become the very devil. One need not even know the person to feel the revulsion…People who project this evil onto others believe that the worst that can be done to them is fully justified, because the purpose of harming them is only to eliminate evil in the world. Even so, projection is an important function of the human psyche. So long as we do not think that what we are projecting is necessarily real in the outer world, this is one way of coming into contact with the forces that work from within, so that we can tap some of their power and even begin to learn about these forces.
Even the most conscious people find that some of their meaning and power comes to them through projection. There is great value in these religious experiences, in which spiritual reality is projected upon seemingly inanimate matter. By providing the religious community with its rituals, they offer continuity and stability to religious life. The group itself is held together and given energy by their experiences in common. Psychologically a person is safer in this experience than in many of the others because it is a religious experience that is brought down to a power level that humans can manage easily. Yet there are some real dangers when sacramental experience is seen as the only valid kind of religious expression. In The Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, the Scotch writer James Hogg turned one possibility into a delightful satire. His single-minded hero found himself among the elect of God and proceeded to act as God’s instrument to eliminate the non-elect by murder, beginning with his step-mother.
I believe the extreme form of fundamentalism begins from this form of sacramental type of religious experience. This is how cult begins. When a group of worshippers project their absolute love and devotion to a person, who is considered to be the only true messenger of God, they will do whatever irrational things or perform even immoral behavior without hesitation. Suicidal bombers from extreme Islamic group are typical example. To them, these suicidal acts of hurting others are acts of sacramental worship or ways to project their ultimate devotion to God. And this is definitely dangerous. Satan likes to turns blessing into curse. When worshippers do not discern their religious experiences in sacramental worship, they will become gullible to Satan’s scheme. Let’s not flow the baby out with the bath water. Sacramental worship is a valid religious experience. It is one of the ways to express our love and devotion to God. We should enjoy it as a gift from above but watchful at the same time, in case Satan will sow seeds of deception.
You probably will not hear from me for a long time since I will be on my mission trip around the globe (Asia, Europe and Africa) for next two months. Please pray for journey’s mercy and open doors for ministry in new fields like East Africa. I pray that you will continue to walk with the Lord and digest the materials that I shared with you so far. If time allows in between trips, I will still drop you my devotional reading. May God bless your daily encounter with your Lover.
In Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. I can’t believe it is Friday again. Time really flies and we should better take good use of the opportunity that He gives us each day. No matter what kind of responsibility that God has appointed you to do today, do it as a sacramental worship to the Lord with love and joyfulness. God never forsakes you even though you may go through tough time in life like those who suffer in natural disaster in Japan. Pray that God will comfort those who lost their loved ones in Japan’s earthquake and tsunami. There are many missionaries station in that earthquake zone. Pray that Christians and the church in Japan will do whatever to help victims from this natural disaster. Seize this moment when you still have today to fulfill God’s purpose for your life, because nobody knows whether tomorrow will come or not.
A person’s religious experiences can probably be understood best in term of the way that person perceives the divine, and allows it to work in his/her life. As I have suggested, there are three main kinds of these experiences—the sacramental, the contemplative, and those giving an inner perception of the divine in images. The most common and widespread of these experiences are the sacramental ones in which the divine comes into focus directly through some element of the outer, physical world. In the Communion, for instance, a person has the outer experience of receiving the bread and wine, and at the same time may experience receiving Christ inwardly.
It is easy to look down on the original forms of sacramental experience as primitive, and consider it quite unconscious to project the inner, spiritual reality upon outer things…The great Christian sacraments, beginning with baptism, have offered a new step of breaking off from one’s old life and entering into a new relation with God. For Catholics and also many liturgical Protestants the Commune or Eucharist is the continuing place of renewal where the divine touches humanity. The bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ; m partaking of them one actually shares the life of the Risen Christ. For the average Protestant the Bible itself has some of the sesame sacramental power. While most non-liturgical Protestants have shied away from the obviously sacramental, the Bible is literally seen as the congealed thought of God, and if this is accepted, one may then be in touch with God Himself. Total and absolute authority are often given to the words and ideas of the Bible, and thus authority is sometimes projected upon the one who preaches them, which sometimes causes explosive situations. In these churches there is an absence of sacramental action and this gap is only partly filled by services of prayer and great music.
Human beings do not outgrow their need to use sacramental experience. This should be clear to anyone who has ever fallen in love and known the power of projection. Suddenly to one in love another person appears luminous and carries all value and meaning. Poetry often flows, even from those who never before wrote poetry. As Plato originally pointed out, physical love lead to an appreciation of the beauty of spirit of another human being, and then on to worship of God Himself. Thus falling in love can in a sense be a sacramental experience of the divine.
Equally, anyone who has nursed a full-blown hatred or anger can understand how well projection works. Another person seems ns to become the very devil. One need not even know the person to feel the revulsion…People who project this evil onto others believe that the worst that can be done to them is fully justified, because the purpose of harming them is only to eliminate evil in the world. Even so, projection is an important function of the human psyche. So long as we do not think that what we are projecting is necessarily real in the outer world, this is one way of coming into contact with the forces that work from within, so that we can tap some of their power and even begin to learn about these forces.
Even the most conscious people find that some of their meaning and power comes to them through projection. There is great value in these religious experiences, in which spiritual reality is projected upon seemingly inanimate matter. By providing the religious community with its rituals, they offer continuity and stability to religious life. The group itself is held together and given energy by their experiences in common. Psychologically a person is safer in this experience than in many of the others because it is a religious experience that is brought down to a power level that humans can manage easily. Yet there are some real dangers when sacramental experience is seen as the only valid kind of religious expression. In The Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, the Scotch writer James Hogg turned one possibility into a delightful satire. His single-minded hero found himself among the elect of God and proceeded to act as God’s instrument to eliminate the non-elect by murder, beginning with his step-mother.
I believe the extreme form of fundamentalism begins from this form of sacramental type of religious experience. This is how cult begins. When a group of worshippers project their absolute love and devotion to a person, who is considered to be the only true messenger of God, they will do whatever irrational things or perform even immoral behavior without hesitation. Suicidal bombers from extreme Islamic group are typical example. To them, these suicidal acts of hurting others are acts of sacramental worship or ways to project their ultimate devotion to God. And this is definitely dangerous. Satan likes to turns blessing into curse. When worshippers do not discern their religious experiences in sacramental worship, they will become gullible to Satan’s scheme. Let’s not flow the baby out with the bath water. Sacramental worship is a valid religious experience. It is one of the ways to express our love and devotion to God. We should enjoy it as a gift from above but watchful at the same time, in case Satan will sow seeds of deception.
You probably will not hear from me for a long time since I will be on my mission trip around the globe (Asia, Europe and Africa) for next two months. Please pray for journey’s mercy and open doors for ministry in new fields like East Africa. I pray that you will continue to walk with the Lord and digest the materials that I shared with you so far. If time allows in between trips, I will still drop you my devotional reading. May God bless your daily encounter with your Lover.
In Christ,
Lawrence
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Devotional reading 090311
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I took 6 medical injections in preparing for my trip to Africa on Monday, and my immune system reacted “well” against those incoming “viruses” from flu and yellow fever shots. I felt symptoms of flu like body ache, fever and sore throat (Loretta had running nose too). They were not as severe as regular flu but uncomfortable. As a result, I need to take sick leave and stay home to rest for two days. We both recovered well this morning. Praise the Lord!!
Silence unbinds a person from ordinary perceptions and attitudes and offers a fresh look at life and reality, r. By giving us in the West a new perspective on the ideas we have inherited, it can bring us a vision of the world and humanity as more than just materialistic. Silence can open a door on a new dimension of reality. It is like finding a trap door or a secret passage, giving a way out of our usual, ego-dominated existence. Sleep often has somewhat the same effect. Sleep can separate us from the world of space and time in two different ways. Sleep can provide a dreamless rest which releases tension and recharges life and this in itself is a tremendous gift, bringing courage and energy to start on a new day. Then there is the sleep which leads one into dreaming and so into an existence which is experienced as outside of space and time.
Here the rules of our ordinary existence do not apply. The dreamer can be two different people at the same time, expanding or contracting time to fit the circumstances of the dream, merging one place into another or changing locations as if space were no problem. Logic and rationality no longer apply. And yet there is so much meaning in this strange movement of images that it can even show us the very meaning of our lives.
In sleep one automatically goes from outer physical sensations to a peaceful state. What happens in sleep seems so easy and natural that the person who has trouble sleeping is even considered sick. Yet one can also go from the outer physical world to the peaceful, quiet state while awake, by consciously deciding enter into it in meditation. There are much the same physiological effects in both sleep and the meditative state, as well as almost the same sense of a person’s losing life in order to gain it. Then there is the flood of images that in well-up in the same way in the psyche whenever one becomes completely still, whether in sleep or through a conscious, directed movement into the inner realm in meditation. Mystics of every tradition speak of the images that flood in upon one during silence, and in sleep much the same thing happens at least four to seven times a night in dreams.
Whether a person is willing to look at dreams at all depends upon whether one can see any meaning in them or not. In meditation one also has a choice—to pay attention to the images that arise within and see where they lead, or to dismiss them as meaningless, or as a dangerous distraction, and then return to utter and undisturbed stillness. In the latter case, one steps into a state which no words or images seem to describe.
Are the images of sleep and meditation a snare and a delusion, or do they lead us further and further into meaning? This is one basic question which faces the individual who learns to be silent, and the answer will determine the kind of religious practice that person takes up and follows. It is my suggestion that few things are much more important for the development of our religious matter how extraordinary it becomes—than knowing the images that arise within us and meditating upon them.
Many bible characters saw divine visions, and believed in dreams as some means through which God spoke to mankind. To them, those images or messages were as audible and visible like the way physical seeing and hearing. They anticipated that God would speak to them, just as Prophet Habakkuk described his “mystical” experience in the first verse of chapter two, “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” Habakkuk looked with anticipation what God would say to him and how he would converse with Him in silence. I believe many Christians would think Habakkuk to be extreme if not cultic by expecting God to speak to him directly. But he is not alone. New Testament characters like Apostle Paul saw vision and heard angels several times (Acts 9:4-7; 22:7-9; 18:9-11; 22:17; 23:11 and 27:23), and the entire book of Revelation was what Apostle John heard and saw. We believe those images and records from John to be true revelation from God. And they were revealed to John through his meditation in silence.
Meditation and spiritual dreams were like lost arts in Christian spiritual exercises. We read books that are records of other people’s meditative journals, but not hearing from the primary source - God Himself. If theology is prayer language, commentaries and other spiritual books are definitely language of meditation and silence. If we don’t have time to rest or still, in no way we can communicate with God and experience His cleansing power from inside out. We need some good sleep to recharge our body. And we need some good silence to recharge our souls, so that we can become blessings to the world around us. So, enjoy your day of conversation with God in wherever you are now…
With Love in Him,
Lawrence
Good morning. I took 6 medical injections in preparing for my trip to Africa on Monday, and my immune system reacted “well” against those incoming “viruses” from flu and yellow fever shots. I felt symptoms of flu like body ache, fever and sore throat (Loretta had running nose too). They were not as severe as regular flu but uncomfortable. As a result, I need to take sick leave and stay home to rest for two days. We both recovered well this morning. Praise the Lord!!
Silence unbinds a person from ordinary perceptions and attitudes and offers a fresh look at life and reality, r. By giving us in the West a new perspective on the ideas we have inherited, it can bring us a vision of the world and humanity as more than just materialistic. Silence can open a door on a new dimension of reality. It is like finding a trap door or a secret passage, giving a way out of our usual, ego-dominated existence. Sleep often has somewhat the same effect. Sleep can separate us from the world of space and time in two different ways. Sleep can provide a dreamless rest which releases tension and recharges life and this in itself is a tremendous gift, bringing courage and energy to start on a new day. Then there is the sleep which leads one into dreaming and so into an existence which is experienced as outside of space and time.
Here the rules of our ordinary existence do not apply. The dreamer can be two different people at the same time, expanding or contracting time to fit the circumstances of the dream, merging one place into another or changing locations as if space were no problem. Logic and rationality no longer apply. And yet there is so much meaning in this strange movement of images that it can even show us the very meaning of our lives.
In sleep one automatically goes from outer physical sensations to a peaceful state. What happens in sleep seems so easy and natural that the person who has trouble sleeping is even considered sick. Yet one can also go from the outer physical world to the peaceful, quiet state while awake, by consciously deciding enter into it in meditation. There are much the same physiological effects in both sleep and the meditative state, as well as almost the same sense of a person’s losing life in order to gain it. Then there is the flood of images that in well-up in the same way in the psyche whenever one becomes completely still, whether in sleep or through a conscious, directed movement into the inner realm in meditation. Mystics of every tradition speak of the images that flood in upon one during silence, and in sleep much the same thing happens at least four to seven times a night in dreams.
Whether a person is willing to look at dreams at all depends upon whether one can see any meaning in them or not. In meditation one also has a choice—to pay attention to the images that arise within and see where they lead, or to dismiss them as meaningless, or as a dangerous distraction, and then return to utter and undisturbed stillness. In the latter case, one steps into a state which no words or images seem to describe.
Are the images of sleep and meditation a snare and a delusion, or do they lead us further and further into meaning? This is one basic question which faces the individual who learns to be silent, and the answer will determine the kind of religious practice that person takes up and follows. It is my suggestion that few things are much more important for the development of our religious matter how extraordinary it becomes—than knowing the images that arise within us and meditating upon them.
Many bible characters saw divine visions, and believed in dreams as some means through which God spoke to mankind. To them, those images or messages were as audible and visible like the way physical seeing and hearing. They anticipated that God would speak to them, just as Prophet Habakkuk described his “mystical” experience in the first verse of chapter two, “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” Habakkuk looked with anticipation what God would say to him and how he would converse with Him in silence. I believe many Christians would think Habakkuk to be extreme if not cultic by expecting God to speak to him directly. But he is not alone. New Testament characters like Apostle Paul saw vision and heard angels several times (Acts 9:4-7; 22:7-9; 18:9-11; 22:17; 23:11 and 27:23), and the entire book of Revelation was what Apostle John heard and saw. We believe those images and records from John to be true revelation from God. And they were revealed to John through his meditation in silence.
Meditation and spiritual dreams were like lost arts in Christian spiritual exercises. We read books that are records of other people’s meditative journals, but not hearing from the primary source - God Himself. If theology is prayer language, commentaries and other spiritual books are definitely language of meditation and silence. If we don’t have time to rest or still, in no way we can communicate with God and experience His cleansing power from inside out. We need some good sleep to recharge our body. And we need some good silence to recharge our souls, so that we can become blessings to the world around us. So, enjoy your day of conversation with God in wherever you are now…
With Love in Him,
Lawrence
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