Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. The tree outside my window is bearing new leaves. It is so green and lovely. Thank God for giving me such a beautiful environment to meditate on His Word. It is truly a treat to abide in Him and to serve Him each day. All work involve some kind of difficulty and frustration, because things may not happen to the way we want, and people may not cooperate with us in according to what we expect. As long as we know that God put us in our work for His purpose, then we will enjoy His presence and seek to grow from our hardship in life. One of the ministries that you can do in your workplace is to pray for your coworkers. You may pray for them without them even aware of it. Or you may ask them how you can pray for them. Once the Lord moves you to pray for a person or coworker, you need to dive into this person’s life with the Holy Spirit, in order to let the Spirit of God show you what and how to pray for this particular person. Therefore, don't just say a ritual prayer, but quiet before the Lord and seek His prayer for this person.
"If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that" (1 John 5:16). If we are not watchful of the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other folks are failing, and we turn our discernment into the mock of criticism instead of into intercession on their behalf. The revelation is made to us not through the intensity of our minds, but by the direct penetration of the Spirit of God, and if we are not watchful of the source of the revelation, we will become criticizing centers and forget that God says - "…he should pray and God will give him life. " Take care lest you play the hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right before you worship God yourself.
One of the subtlest burdens God ever puts on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning other souls. He reveals things in order that we may take the burden of these souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them, and as we intercede on His line, God says He will give us "life for them that sin not unto death." It is not that we bring God into touch with our minds, but that we awaken ourselves until God is able to convey His mind to us about the one for whom we intercede.
Is Jesus Christ seeing the fruits of His labor in our soul? He cannot unless we are so identified with Him that we are awakened to see from His perspective about the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so whole-heartedly that Jesus Christ will be abundantly satisfied with us as intercessors!
Honestly, intercessory ministry is a hard work. It requires commitment on our part to play the role. Intercessors need to stay close to the Lord. He or she needs to be sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in prayer. Sometimes, intercessors serve as spiritual shield for the people whom they pray for. Sometimes, Satan will turn his attack from the person to the intercessor. Unless he stops the prayer of intercessors, Satan cannot accomplish his scheme on his target. Therefore, intercessory ministry is a spiritual warfare. But with the Holy Spirit as our commander (He is our ultimate Intercessor), we don’t need to be afraid. We just need to stay close to Him and echo His prayer in our prayers. Then God can accomplish His salvation plan on earth.
I need intercessors for my ministry. I know Satan will do whatever he can to detour my focus or destroy the fruits of my labor. Pray that I will learn the lesson of faith, and servant hood in supporting His mission work both locally and globally.
Love you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Lawrence
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Devotional 300309
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I thank God for another beautiful day to be in His service. ‘Arise my soul, let’s come to worship our Creator God, who wants to mold us to be like His Son this day. Let’s enjoy this day that He wants us to walk and talk with Him.’ This is the Day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Our Lord desires His children to fully enjoy their relationship with Him and with one another each day. He expects us to love and care for one another, even though we may feel weird to draw close to other Christians; it is true that Christians are weird ‘recovering sinners.’ We are not totally transformed yet. We will have sinful relapses from time to time, and our motives about relationship may not be totally Godly or sanctified. That’s why God expects us to pray for one another and spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24).
"The Lord saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene (intercede or pray); so His own arm worked salvation for him, and His own righteousness sustained him" (Isaiah 59:16). The reason many of us leave off praying and become stubborn towards God is because we have only a sentimental interest in prayer. It sounds right to say that we pray; we read books on prayer, which tell us that prayer is beneficial, that our minds are quieted and our souls uplifted when we pray; but Isaiah implies that God is amazed at such thoughts of prayer among His people.
Worship and intercession must go together, the one is impossible without the other. Intercession means that we rouse ourselves up to get the mind of Christ about the one for whom we pray. Too often instead of worshipping God, we construct statements as to how prayer works. Are we worshipping or are we in dispute with God - "I don't see how you are going to do it." This is a sure sign that we are not worshipping. When we lose sight of God we become stubborn and rigid. We toss our own petitions at God's throne and dictate to Him as to what we wish Him to do for us. We do not worship God, nor do we seek to form the mind of Christ within us. If we are stubborn towards God, we will become stubborn towards other people.
Are we so worshipping God that we stir ourselves up to seek Him so that we may be brought into contact with His mind about the ones for whom we pray, instead of just saying a few words of prayer for the person according to what we want? Are we living in a holy relationship to God, or are we stubborn and rigid?
"But there is no one interceding properly" - then be that one yourself, be the one who worships God and who lives in holy relationship to Him. Get into the real work of intercession, and remember it is a work, a work that requires every power to accomplish. Preaching the gospel may have a snare; intercessory prayer has none.
I find this teaching on prayer is so true from my own experience. We have a tendency to pray for others without first listening to God in a worshipful attitude. We don’t know how to pray for others as Paul said in Romans 8:26-27, “but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.” Therefore, we want to echo His prayer or pray according to His will instead of ours. This requires silence of our inner desires and casual thoughts on how and what to pray. We need to wait, watch and wrestle in prayer. Wait for God’s word to come upon us as we intend to pray. Watch God’s guidance and circumstances that He reveals to us about that prayer. Wrestle with our soul to stay focus and obedience to His will in our prayers. For instance, you usually will not pray for suffering to come upon a person whom you intercede. But the Holy Spirit may want you to pray accordingly, so that God will use the suffering to shape this person’s character. It is hard to intercede in such a way when this person is your beloved friend or family member.
I am sure Peter meant good when he stopped his Master from preparing for the cross. But this human thinking or reaction was not according to the Will of God for Christ. Therefore, Jesus rebuked Peter by using a very strong word, “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). Do you pray for others according to God or to the mind of men?
Love you according to the mind of Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. I thank God for another beautiful day to be in His service. ‘Arise my soul, let’s come to worship our Creator God, who wants to mold us to be like His Son this day. Let’s enjoy this day that He wants us to walk and talk with Him.’ This is the Day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Our Lord desires His children to fully enjoy their relationship with Him and with one another each day. He expects us to love and care for one another, even though we may feel weird to draw close to other Christians; it is true that Christians are weird ‘recovering sinners.’ We are not totally transformed yet. We will have sinful relapses from time to time, and our motives about relationship may not be totally Godly or sanctified. That’s why God expects us to pray for one another and spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24).
"The Lord saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene (intercede or pray); so His own arm worked salvation for him, and His own righteousness sustained him" (Isaiah 59:16). The reason many of us leave off praying and become stubborn towards God is because we have only a sentimental interest in prayer. It sounds right to say that we pray; we read books on prayer, which tell us that prayer is beneficial, that our minds are quieted and our souls uplifted when we pray; but Isaiah implies that God is amazed at such thoughts of prayer among His people.
Worship and intercession must go together, the one is impossible without the other. Intercession means that we rouse ourselves up to get the mind of Christ about the one for whom we pray. Too often instead of worshipping God, we construct statements as to how prayer works. Are we worshipping or are we in dispute with God - "I don't see how you are going to do it." This is a sure sign that we are not worshipping. When we lose sight of God we become stubborn and rigid. We toss our own petitions at God's throne and dictate to Him as to what we wish Him to do for us. We do not worship God, nor do we seek to form the mind of Christ within us. If we are stubborn towards God, we will become stubborn towards other people.
Are we so worshipping God that we stir ourselves up to seek Him so that we may be brought into contact with His mind about the ones for whom we pray, instead of just saying a few words of prayer for the person according to what we want? Are we living in a holy relationship to God, or are we stubborn and rigid?
"But there is no one interceding properly" - then be that one yourself, be the one who worships God and who lives in holy relationship to Him. Get into the real work of intercession, and remember it is a work, a work that requires every power to accomplish. Preaching the gospel may have a snare; intercessory prayer has none.
I find this teaching on prayer is so true from my own experience. We have a tendency to pray for others without first listening to God in a worshipful attitude. We don’t know how to pray for others as Paul said in Romans 8:26-27, “but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.” Therefore, we want to echo His prayer or pray according to His will instead of ours. This requires silence of our inner desires and casual thoughts on how and what to pray. We need to wait, watch and wrestle in prayer. Wait for God’s word to come upon us as we intend to pray. Watch God’s guidance and circumstances that He reveals to us about that prayer. Wrestle with our soul to stay focus and obedience to His will in our prayers. For instance, you usually will not pray for suffering to come upon a person whom you intercede. But the Holy Spirit may want you to pray accordingly, so that God will use the suffering to shape this person’s character. It is hard to intercede in such a way when this person is your beloved friend or family member.
I am sure Peter meant good when he stopped his Master from preparing for the cross. But this human thinking or reaction was not according to the Will of God for Christ. Therefore, Jesus rebuked Peter by using a very strong word, “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). Do you pray for others according to God or to the mind of men?
Love you according to the mind of Christ,
Lawrence
Sunday, March 29, 2009
A day of fun filled worship
It is a great day of worshiping God at Christ Church of Bay Area and outdoor to appreciate the creation of God. How nice it is to go to Nature and meditate on the attribute of God, while you enjoy some fresh air and beautiful sunshine.Friday, March 27, 2009
Devotional 270309
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It is Friday again! I can’t wait to meet many of you tonight at fellowship to update you on my missions. And it is a privilege to serve Him on Sunday as guest speaker at Christ church of the Bay Area again. This week is my turn to lead staff prayer meeting. Our devotional reading came to the eleven chapter of Luke, where Jesus taught His disciples on prayer. I focused not on the Lord’s Prayer but on a comment that our Lord made in the middle of the chapter, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you" (Luke 11:34-36). To me, your eyes mean your vision or focus; what you desire and focus in life. My insight is: What you focus defines who you are. The Lord’s Prayer wants to sharpen my focus on God’s kingdom and His presence as the highest priority in life. When I sincerely seek God’s kingdom and His will, the power of the Holy Spirit will transform and strengthen my character. The more I pray according to the focus of His prayer, the more I become like Christ, in terms of His attitude and values. If we don’t pray on such focus, our prayer will become an extension of our self-centeredness. We keep on telling God what we want and hope for in prayer, and these things could be totally irrelevant to God and His Kingdom. When we focus on the light as He is the Light within us, we will be ‘completely lighted up.’ Therefore, by seeking His Kingdom and His will each day, we will truly become the Light of the world.
“Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1b). An elevated mood can only come out of an elevated habit of personal character. If in the externals of your life you live up to the highest you know, God will continually say - "Friend, go up higher." The golden rule in temptation is - Go higher. When you get higher up, you face other temptations and characteristics. Satan uses the strategy of elevation in temptation, and God does the same, but the effect is different. When the devil puts you into an elevated place like the way he put Jesus on top of the temple, he makes you twist your idea of holiness beyond what flesh and blood could ever hear, it is a spiritual acrobatic performance, you are just on the edge and dare not move; but when God elevates you by His grace into the heavenly places, instead of finding a pinnacle to cling to, you find a great table-land where it is easy to move.
Compare this week in your spiritual history with the same week last year and see how God has called you up higher. We have all been brought to see from a higher standpoint. Never let God give you one point of truth, which you do not instantly live up to. Always work it out, keep in the light of it.
Growth in grace is measured not by the fact that you have not gone back, but that you have an insight into where you are spiritually; you have heard God say "Come up higher," not to you personally, but to the insight of your character. In another word, God wants to grow our character each day.
"Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" God has to hide from us what He does until by personal character we get to the place where He can reveal it to you. Are you ready for God to show you the things that He has hidden from you before?
You will encounter Satan’s temptation as you grow to His likeness. “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me’” (Matt 4:8-9). You need to be careful when people start looking up to you or respect you. It is another testing time of your character in Christ. Not that you should avoid being example of the flock or being light of the world because it is what Christ expects us to do. But Satan will target his attack on our ‘inner motive or drive.’ Do you do good to earn respect and admiration of the world, or you do it simply out of obedience to do His will? The way Jesus dealt with Satan’s ultimate temptation was to re-focus His worthiness NOT on how much he could accomplish or own, but on God alone, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Matt 4:10). Hope you can find time to meditate on His words and evaluate your own life over this weekend.
Love you because He first loves us,
Lawrence
Good morning. It is Friday again! I can’t wait to meet many of you tonight at fellowship to update you on my missions. And it is a privilege to serve Him on Sunday as guest speaker at Christ church of the Bay Area again. This week is my turn to lead staff prayer meeting. Our devotional reading came to the eleven chapter of Luke, where Jesus taught His disciples on prayer. I focused not on the Lord’s Prayer but on a comment that our Lord made in the middle of the chapter, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you" (Luke 11:34-36). To me, your eyes mean your vision or focus; what you desire and focus in life. My insight is: What you focus defines who you are. The Lord’s Prayer wants to sharpen my focus on God’s kingdom and His presence as the highest priority in life. When I sincerely seek God’s kingdom and His will, the power of the Holy Spirit will transform and strengthen my character. The more I pray according to the focus of His prayer, the more I become like Christ, in terms of His attitude and values. If we don’t pray on such focus, our prayer will become an extension of our self-centeredness. We keep on telling God what we want and hope for in prayer, and these things could be totally irrelevant to God and His Kingdom. When we focus on the light as He is the Light within us, we will be ‘completely lighted up.’ Therefore, by seeking His Kingdom and His will each day, we will truly become the Light of the world.
“Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1b). An elevated mood can only come out of an elevated habit of personal character. If in the externals of your life you live up to the highest you know, God will continually say - "Friend, go up higher." The golden rule in temptation is - Go higher. When you get higher up, you face other temptations and characteristics. Satan uses the strategy of elevation in temptation, and God does the same, but the effect is different. When the devil puts you into an elevated place like the way he put Jesus on top of the temple, he makes you twist your idea of holiness beyond what flesh and blood could ever hear, it is a spiritual acrobatic performance, you are just on the edge and dare not move; but when God elevates you by His grace into the heavenly places, instead of finding a pinnacle to cling to, you find a great table-land where it is easy to move.
Compare this week in your spiritual history with the same week last year and see how God has called you up higher. We have all been brought to see from a higher standpoint. Never let God give you one point of truth, which you do not instantly live up to. Always work it out, keep in the light of it.
Growth in grace is measured not by the fact that you have not gone back, but that you have an insight into where you are spiritually; you have heard God say "Come up higher," not to you personally, but to the insight of your character. In another word, God wants to grow our character each day.
"Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" God has to hide from us what He does until by personal character we get to the place where He can reveal it to you. Are you ready for God to show you the things that He has hidden from you before?
You will encounter Satan’s temptation as you grow to His likeness. “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me’” (Matt 4:8-9). You need to be careful when people start looking up to you or respect you. It is another testing time of your character in Christ. Not that you should avoid being example of the flock or being light of the world because it is what Christ expects us to do. But Satan will target his attack on our ‘inner motive or drive.’ Do you do good to earn respect and admiration of the world, or you do it simply out of obedience to do His will? The way Jesus dealt with Satan’s ultimate temptation was to re-focus His worthiness NOT on how much he could accomplish or own, but on God alone, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Matt 4:10). Hope you can find time to meditate on His words and evaluate your own life over this weekend.
Love you because He first loves us,
Lawrence
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Devotional 260309
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Time flies when you are having fun in life! Yes, you may disagree to say that ‘I am not having fun but work like a dog each day to put out fire or meeting deadlines at work.’ But this all depends on your choice of attitude and mindset. When you handle life and all it involves with a renewed mindset that you are serving your Heavenly Father who also goes to work with you each day, then you may deal with workload and demanding boss with different attitude. The work environment remains stressful and difficult, but you can bring sunshine into your work place because of this renewed mindset. You may not necessarily enjoy what you do at work. But you can always enjoy working together with your Heavenly Father who is interested in you and your work at all time. As a matter of fact, it was Him who put you there for a purpose. The question is: Do you see Him at work in you and with you each day?
"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Purity is not innocence; it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual compassion with God. We have to grow in purity. The life with God may be right and the inner purity remains unblemished, and yet every now and again the bloom on the outside may be polluted. God does not shield us from this possibility, because in this way we realize the necessity of maintaining the vision by personal purity. If the spiritual bloom of our life with God is getting impaired in the tiniest degree, we must leave off everything and get it put right. Remember that vision depends on character - the pure in heart see God.
God makes us pure by His sovereign grace, but we have something to look after, this bodily life by which we come in contact with other people and with other points of view, it is these that are vulnerable to contamination. Not only must the inner sanctuary be kept right with God, but the outer courts as well are to be brought into perfect accord with the purity God gives us by His grace. The spiritual understanding is blurred immediately the outer court is contaminated. If we are going to retain personal contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean there are some things we must avoid to do or to think, some legitimate things we must avoid to touch.
A practical way of keeping personal purity unblemished in relation to other people is to say to yourself - That man, that woman, perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend, that relative, perfect in Christ Jesus!
It is hard to remain pure in heart and unblemished in our relationship with people nowadays, when mass media bombard us with all kinds of images and messages that try to attract our attentions and corrupt our mind. We can’t bury our head under the soil like ostrich in face of attack. We can only turn to the Holy Spirit for help. We should train our soul to desire spiritual walk with Christ; develop appetite for healthy humor and fun; crave for knowledge of Truth and so forth. Of course, stay away from obvious temptations by all means. Make sure you don’t respond to Satan’s challenge to enter a fight with him alone. Once you enter into Satan’s arena (filthy websites and materials for instance) thinking that you are strong enough to withstand its temptation, you are doomed to loss and fail. Don’t fall into such foolish and childish snares.
Let’s pray for one another and spur one another to seek His goodness and holiness. Transparency and purity always go hand in hand. Once you develop the habit of hiding your sins and avoiding honest relationship with people, you open the door for Satan to creep into your life to cause significant damage down the road. Let’s serve as watchman or mirror for one another from time to time.
Love you because we are ONE in Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. Time flies when you are having fun in life! Yes, you may disagree to say that ‘I am not having fun but work like a dog each day to put out fire or meeting deadlines at work.’ But this all depends on your choice of attitude and mindset. When you handle life and all it involves with a renewed mindset that you are serving your Heavenly Father who also goes to work with you each day, then you may deal with workload and demanding boss with different attitude. The work environment remains stressful and difficult, but you can bring sunshine into your work place because of this renewed mindset. You may not necessarily enjoy what you do at work. But you can always enjoy working together with your Heavenly Father who is interested in you and your work at all time. As a matter of fact, it was Him who put you there for a purpose. The question is: Do you see Him at work in you and with you each day?
"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Purity is not innocence; it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual compassion with God. We have to grow in purity. The life with God may be right and the inner purity remains unblemished, and yet every now and again the bloom on the outside may be polluted. God does not shield us from this possibility, because in this way we realize the necessity of maintaining the vision by personal purity. If the spiritual bloom of our life with God is getting impaired in the tiniest degree, we must leave off everything and get it put right. Remember that vision depends on character - the pure in heart see God.
God makes us pure by His sovereign grace, but we have something to look after, this bodily life by which we come in contact with other people and with other points of view, it is these that are vulnerable to contamination. Not only must the inner sanctuary be kept right with God, but the outer courts as well are to be brought into perfect accord with the purity God gives us by His grace. The spiritual understanding is blurred immediately the outer court is contaminated. If we are going to retain personal contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean there are some things we must avoid to do or to think, some legitimate things we must avoid to touch.
A practical way of keeping personal purity unblemished in relation to other people is to say to yourself - That man, that woman, perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend, that relative, perfect in Christ Jesus!
It is hard to remain pure in heart and unblemished in our relationship with people nowadays, when mass media bombard us with all kinds of images and messages that try to attract our attentions and corrupt our mind. We can’t bury our head under the soil like ostrich in face of attack. We can only turn to the Holy Spirit for help. We should train our soul to desire spiritual walk with Christ; develop appetite for healthy humor and fun; crave for knowledge of Truth and so forth. Of course, stay away from obvious temptations by all means. Make sure you don’t respond to Satan’s challenge to enter a fight with him alone. Once you enter into Satan’s arena (filthy websites and materials for instance) thinking that you are strong enough to withstand its temptation, you are doomed to loss and fail. Don’t fall into such foolish and childish snares.
Let’s pray for one another and spur one another to seek His goodness and holiness. Transparency and purity always go hand in hand. Once you develop the habit of hiding your sins and avoiding honest relationship with people, you open the door for Satan to creep into your life to cause significant damage down the road. Let’s serve as watchman or mirror for one another from time to time.
Love you because we are ONE in Christ,
Lawrence
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Devotional 250309
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. The Spring like weather finally arrived. How beautiful the Nature has become; green trees, blue sky and colorful wide flowers are outside of my window. I finally set my foot on the hiking trail outside of my office yesterday. I surprised my coworker for initiating the walk after lunch. It was only 20 minutes walk from the park nearby along the Bay. The weather was fine and the scenic trail was gorgeous. I hope to use it more often for my meditation and prayer walk. This exercise is definitely good for both my physical and spiritual health. Please pray for me that I will be a good steward of God’s resources for my life.
“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete” (John 3:29). Goodness and purity ought never to attract other’s attention to themselves, they ought simply to be magnets to draw to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing towards Him, it is not holiness of the right order, but an influence that will awaken inappropriate affection that lead souls away from the Truth of God. A beautiful saint may be a hindrance if he does not present Jesus Christ but only what Christ has done for him. He will leave the impression - "What a fine character that man is!" That is not being a true friend of the Bridegroom; I am increasing all the time, but He is not.
In order to maintain this friendship and loyalty to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful of our moral and vital relationship to Him than of any other thing, even of obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey; the only thing to do is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, to see that nothing interferes with that intimate relationship with Him. Only occasionally do we have to obey. When a crisis arises we have to find out what God's will is, but the greater part of the life is not conscious obedience but the maintenance of this relationship - being the friend of the Bridegroom. Christian work may be a means of detouring the soul's concentration on Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, we may try to play God, and may work against Him while we use His weapons.
I appreciate Chamber’s insight on the priority of our relationship with the Bridegroom. It reminded me of the story of The Prodigal Son in Luke 15. We usually paid attention to how the father loved his prodigal son even though he wasted all his money. But the story ends with the older son who was furious of what his father did to his brother. This older brother was obedient and faithful to his father. But he lacked compassion for his brother. I believe this big brother symbolizes the religious leaders and Pharisees of Jesus’ time. They were obedient to the Law in every single detail. Yet they forgot the fact that their Law Giver was a God of relationship and compassion. Since God is a God of relationship, He will treasure our relationship with Him each day. God wants our obedience derives from our intimate relationship with Him. We don’t use our obedience to show off; to make people appreciate how godly and devoted we are. If this is the case, then we are increasing but He is not. Have mercy on us O Lord. Help us to stay focus on our Bridegroom; listen to Him and rejoice with Him each day.
Love you because the Bridegroom loves you,
Lawrence
Good morning. The Spring like weather finally arrived. How beautiful the Nature has become; green trees, blue sky and colorful wide flowers are outside of my window. I finally set my foot on the hiking trail outside of my office yesterday. I surprised my coworker for initiating the walk after lunch. It was only 20 minutes walk from the park nearby along the Bay. The weather was fine and the scenic trail was gorgeous. I hope to use it more often for my meditation and prayer walk. This exercise is definitely good for both my physical and spiritual health. Please pray for me that I will be a good steward of God’s resources for my life.
“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete” (John 3:29). Goodness and purity ought never to attract other’s attention to themselves, they ought simply to be magnets to draw to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing towards Him, it is not holiness of the right order, but an influence that will awaken inappropriate affection that lead souls away from the Truth of God. A beautiful saint may be a hindrance if he does not present Jesus Christ but only what Christ has done for him. He will leave the impression - "What a fine character that man is!" That is not being a true friend of the Bridegroom; I am increasing all the time, but He is not.
In order to maintain this friendship and loyalty to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful of our moral and vital relationship to Him than of any other thing, even of obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey; the only thing to do is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, to see that nothing interferes with that intimate relationship with Him. Only occasionally do we have to obey. When a crisis arises we have to find out what God's will is, but the greater part of the life is not conscious obedience but the maintenance of this relationship - being the friend of the Bridegroom. Christian work may be a means of detouring the soul's concentration on Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, we may try to play God, and may work against Him while we use His weapons.
I appreciate Chamber’s insight on the priority of our relationship with the Bridegroom. It reminded me of the story of The Prodigal Son in Luke 15. We usually paid attention to how the father loved his prodigal son even though he wasted all his money. But the story ends with the older son who was furious of what his father did to his brother. This older brother was obedient and faithful to his father. But he lacked compassion for his brother. I believe this big brother symbolizes the religious leaders and Pharisees of Jesus’ time. They were obedient to the Law in every single detail. Yet they forgot the fact that their Law Giver was a God of relationship and compassion. Since God is a God of relationship, He will treasure our relationship with Him each day. God wants our obedience derives from our intimate relationship with Him. We don’t use our obedience to show off; to make people appreciate how godly and devoted we are. If this is the case, then we are increasing but He is not. Have mercy on us O Lord. Help us to stay focus on our Bridegroom; listen to Him and rejoice with Him each day.
Love you because the Bridegroom loves you,
Lawrence
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Devotional 240309
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It was my turn to lead the staff prayer meeting this morning. Our devotional reading was on chapter 8th of Luke. I chose to focus on the one who was possessed by a legion of demons. His whole life was filled with fears. He was afraid to live or mingle with people. He preferred to live alone in the cemetery – a land for dead people. The demons were also fearful for another reason, they were not afraid of death (they were active among the dead) but the eternal judgment of Abyss. And these demons also knew who had authority over the Abyss – that is the Son of God. Therefore they preferred to enter into the pigs then to be punished in eternal hell of Abyss. When this man finally ‘in his right mind’ to realized the one who had authority over the Abyss was a God who loved him, he was no longer afraid…he even volunteer to travel with Jesus to serve other people. But Jesus assigned him to return home to restore his life and reconcile with his inner circle again. We live in a fearful land and a fearful time. We want to be delivered from all kinds of fear and worries. But only when we fully acknowledge that our ultimate fear should be of our loving God, we can’t have a fresh new beginning in life.
"He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). If you become a necessity to a soul, you are out of God's order. As a gospel worker, your great responsibility is to be a friend of the Bridegroom. When once you see a soul being shaped by the work of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been in the right direction, and instead of putting out a hand to prevent the suffering or inner struggles, pray that they grow ten times stronger until there is no power on earth or in hell that can hold that soul away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to play God, we come in and prevent the work of God; and say - "This and that must not be done in such a way." Instead of proving ourselves to be loyal friends of the Bridegroom, we put our sympathy in the way, and the soul will one day say - "That one was a thief, he stole my affections from Jesus, and I lost my vision of Him in my life because of his or her interruption."
Beware of rejoicing with a soul in the wrong thing, but see that you do rejoice in the right thing. “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:29-30). This is spoken with joy and not with sadness - at last they are to see the Bridegroom! And John says this is his joy. It is the absolute attitude of the worker not to take away other’s attention from the Bridegroom, he should be fading away and never thought of again.
Watch for all you are worth until you hear the Bridegroom's voice in the life of another. Never mind what difficulties it brings, what upsets, and what crumbling of health you may experience, rejoice with divine laughter when once His voice is heard. You may often see Jesus Christ shatter a life before He saves and reform it again. Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword… anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:34-39). Sometimes God allows suffering to shape up a person’s life. Don’t try to rescue a person too fast if God’s hand is working in his or her life. Unfortunately, we don’t learn unless we hit rock bottom. I hope this country learn her lesson through this economic devastation; she needs to recognize the root problem is in her pride and greed. This nation and this world need to return to God and follow the guidance of His Word. Let’s start with His church and His children like you and me.
Love you in accordance to His word,
Lawrence
Good morning. It was my turn to lead the staff prayer meeting this morning. Our devotional reading was on chapter 8th of Luke. I chose to focus on the one who was possessed by a legion of demons. His whole life was filled with fears. He was afraid to live or mingle with people. He preferred to live alone in the cemetery – a land for dead people. The demons were also fearful for another reason, they were not afraid of death (they were active among the dead) but the eternal judgment of Abyss. And these demons also knew who had authority over the Abyss – that is the Son of God. Therefore they preferred to enter into the pigs then to be punished in eternal hell of Abyss. When this man finally ‘in his right mind’ to realized the one who had authority over the Abyss was a God who loved him, he was no longer afraid…he even volunteer to travel with Jesus to serve other people. But Jesus assigned him to return home to restore his life and reconcile with his inner circle again. We live in a fearful land and a fearful time. We want to be delivered from all kinds of fear and worries. But only when we fully acknowledge that our ultimate fear should be of our loving God, we can’t have a fresh new beginning in life.
"He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). If you become a necessity to a soul, you are out of God's order. As a gospel worker, your great responsibility is to be a friend of the Bridegroom. When once you see a soul being shaped by the work of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been in the right direction, and instead of putting out a hand to prevent the suffering or inner struggles, pray that they grow ten times stronger until there is no power on earth or in hell that can hold that soul away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to play God, we come in and prevent the work of God; and say - "This and that must not be done in such a way." Instead of proving ourselves to be loyal friends of the Bridegroom, we put our sympathy in the way, and the soul will one day say - "That one was a thief, he stole my affections from Jesus, and I lost my vision of Him in my life because of his or her interruption."
Beware of rejoicing with a soul in the wrong thing, but see that you do rejoice in the right thing. “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:29-30). This is spoken with joy and not with sadness - at last they are to see the Bridegroom! And John says this is his joy. It is the absolute attitude of the worker not to take away other’s attention from the Bridegroom, he should be fading away and never thought of again.
Watch for all you are worth until you hear the Bridegroom's voice in the life of another. Never mind what difficulties it brings, what upsets, and what crumbling of health you may experience, rejoice with divine laughter when once His voice is heard. You may often see Jesus Christ shatter a life before He saves and reform it again. Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword… anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:34-39). Sometimes God allows suffering to shape up a person’s life. Don’t try to rescue a person too fast if God’s hand is working in his or her life. Unfortunately, we don’t learn unless we hit rock bottom. I hope this country learn her lesson through this economic devastation; she needs to recognize the root problem is in her pride and greed. This nation and this world need to return to God and follow the guidance of His Word. Let’s start with His church and His children like you and me.
Love you in accordance to His word,
Lawrence
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