God is faithful, even if we’re not

“In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfil the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing.”

- Ezra 1:1

In the book of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, all of the sins of the kings of Judah and Israel, which also caused their own kingdoms to sin was recorded. And because of the sins these kingdoms has committed, their citizens were exiled to Assyria as God’s punishment to them, and have lived there for a long time. But in the first chapter of the book of Ezra, it was told that sometime after the exile, God moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia and used Him to allow the people of Judah and Israel to return to Judah and rebuild the temple of the Lord. This event has clearly shown that even though the people of Judah and Israel has been unfaithful to the Lord their God, and has rebelled against Him, God is still faithful and will always make a way for His people.

In the current times, we must know as Christians that this faithfulness that God has shown to Judah and Israel has never faded. Up until this very moment, God is still faithful to His own people – which is now, the believers of Christ – us Christians.

Now as Christians, we may have times in our lives where we have fallen into temptation and has become disobedient to God even though we are already born again, and in these times, we might have felt that God has left us and has let Satan take control of our lives as a punishment to us – but this is wrong. Of course, every action we make has its own consequence, and it’s just normal for us to be punished because of the sins we made. But we must know that this doesn’t mean that God has delivered us into the hands of the devil. If we think like that in those times, then we may have forgotten the fact that God is always faithful!

The fact that God is always faithful and will never forsake us is something that many backsliders has forgotten after they committed a sin. They went away and hid in shame because they are afraid of condemnation and they think that they wouldn’t be forgiven again, which is incorrect. I believe, the reason why they ran away from being a Christian was because they didn’t have a solid grasp of this very personality of God.

So with this, it has been revealed to me that it is very essential for every believer to grasp this personality of God so that we could continue on the journey we are taking in this Christian life. We should never lose our faith, hope, and trust in the Lord for He remains faithful forever, and will always give us a second chance every time we fall.

Original link for the photo: http://sweta25.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/second-chance.jpg

Unfaithfulness – Pride in success

“But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.”

- 2 Chronicles 26:16, NIV

In 2 Chronicles 26, it was told that King Uzziah learned the fear of God from Zechariah and have sought the Lord during the time Zechariah was alive. Because King Uzziah sought the Lord, God gave him success in all the wars he fought, for God Himself helped him. He was so successful that he also became famous to other nations, and he and all Judah was blessed in every way – and this is because the king sought God. But also, because of his success, he then had pride in himself. This pride led him into doing the job of the priests – which is to burn incense for the Lord. He then became angry when the priests confronted him and raged against them, but because of his action, God has punished him and made him a leper.

In this event, God reminded me of the situation I had with my family. I may not be the most consistent man in seeking the Lord, but still, God has blessed me because I seek Him. And one of the greatest blessing I had was my job. I have become successful, I could say with this job that He gave me. I am earning money and I am actually the one who provides money for our family – for now – so that we would have food to eat. This is since my mom and dad doesn’t have jobs anymore. In this situation that we had in our family, God made me realize here that like King Uzziah who took pride in his success, so it is with me, for I took pride in the job that God has given me.

I have to confess. I actually felt like I have the burden of giving to my family so that we would have food on our table, this is since I am now the bread-winner. But God told me here that it is not my job to be the provider or to feed my family (though giving financial support to my family is part of honoring them), for God said that it is Him who was feeding our family and not me! God told me that this is why He was called the “Great Provider”!

Now because of this revelation, I realized that like King Uzziah who took the job of the priests, I was also taking the job of God by thinking that I am the one who actually provides for our family. And just like King Uzziah who was called unfaithful when he took the job of the priests, I didn’t realize that I was also acting unfaithfully because of taking God’s job of providing. And Lord, I repent to this action of unfaithfulness.

Another thing that was revealed to me in here why God doesn’t want us to do the job that isn’t ours was that He don’t want us to be burdened. It is simply because of our pride that we became burdened – and I testify to this. God told me that what we only need to do is to trust Him with full humility and let Him do His job! We don’t need to be burdened by the things we shouldn’t do. What we only need to do is to continue on doing the job that He gave us, and trust Him on His job for us! We should fully depend on Him and not on our success, especially on the things we don’t have control on. We must know that God has control in everything and trust Him in every way.

Original link for the photo: http://jesusfootprints.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/14026015_c15_-_2_chronicles_26_15_-_uzziah_offers_incense_to_the_lord_in_the_temple.jpg

Harvest in great distress

“For a long time Israel was without true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.”

-2 Chornicles 15:3-4, NIV

In 2 Chronicles 15, Azariah said that Israel, for a long time, was without a true God – and that started when King Rehoboam reigned in Judah and King Jeroboam in Israel. The Israelites had sinned greatly because of what the kings of Judah and Israel has introduced to the people prior to King Asa’s reign. They have worshiped false gods and forgot the real living God, who delivered the fathers of Israel out of the hands of Egypt, and had helped them overcome the inhabitants of the “promised land”. And because of this sin, the Judah and Israel was in great distress for a very long time.

But in the time of King Asa’s reign, he has done what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord. Not just because he didn’t do any evil in the eyes of God, but also because he has led all Judah to go back into worshiping the real living God when he commanded all of the people to seek the Lord their God and to obey all of His commands. And because of this, whole Judah was given rest from their distress.

When I was observing this event, it came into my mind that our world today was in the same situation as Judah and Israel when they were in distress. It’s very easy to tell, this world has been for a long time without a true God. All men in this world had become worldly, everyone is seeking for their own satisfaction. The men of this world has made their own desires their god, they have done evil in the eyes of the Lord like what the Israelites did prior King Asa’s reign. No one is seeking the real living God – the God who created this world. And this causes this world we are living in today to be in great distress.

Still, many are just waiting for this world to be given rest from this distress, but I believe nothing will happen if no one will move. Now God has revealed to me that it is us Christians who should be doing the move. We Christians must be like King Asa and imitate what he did to whole Judah – for we are His chosen leaders. We must help the people of this world draw nearer to God – to seek Him and to obey Him! We must continue to do our calling – to win souls and make disciples, for this is the only way that this world will be given rest from its distress!

We shouldn’t get tired from this calling, even though we think it would be hard to win this world for our Lord Jesus Christ, for we are the only hope of this world. We shouldn’t give up for we know that we would be rewarded in our hard work – just like what Azariah spoke to King Asa (2 Chornicles 15:7). We must continue to harvest and believe that there is greater harvest in this great distress.

Original link for the photo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Manual_harvest_in_Tirumayam.jpg

Christians: The Lord’s mighty men

“…they [David’s mighty men], together with all Israel gave his [David’s] kingship strong support to extend it over the whole land, as the Lord has promised.”

-1 Chronicles 11:10, NIV

In 1 Chronicles 11:10-47, some of the remarkable exploits of the chiefs of David’s mighty men were mentioned. Those who were mentioned there are Jashobeam, who killed 300 men in one encounter, Eleazar who was with David when they struck the Philistines in the middle of the field at Pas Dammum, Abishai who also killed 300 men and became the commander of the three mighty men, and Abishai who killed 2 of Moab’s best men, a lion, a an Egyptian who stands 7½ feet tall. It was also said that when David was longing to drink water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem to get water, three of the chiefs risked their lives to get it, but David did not drink it as his men risked their lives to get it. In verse 10, it was also said that these chiefs of David’s mighty men (and all those who were not mentioned) played a very vital role for David to extend his kingship over the whole land of Israel as they became a strong support to him.

When I was observing this, it was revealed to me that like King David who has his mighty men, the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ also has His mighty men – and that us, Christians. And like the mighty men who became a very strong support for King David to extend his kingship throughout the land of Israel, we too should become a strong support to the Lord Jesus Christ and help Him extend His kingship all throughout the world. And we must know as Christians that this is what we are called for– we are called to win the whole world and make disciples for Him.

Another thing that was revealed to me in here was that David’s mighty men were known for overcoming their enemies in their own exploits. Now as the Lord Jesus Christ’s mighty men, we, too, should become overcomers. We Christians are facing our own journeys and are fighting against different enemies, but as mighty men, we should overcome these enemies in order for us to help the Lord Jesus Christ extend His kingship all throughout the world. We could not serve our purpose as mighty men if we don’t overcome our enemies in our own exploits. We could never win the world for our Lord if we live as lose against the enemies we have in our spiritual lives!

Now, if we really want to become a great support to our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, then we should be known as overcomers like David’s mighty men. “Losing”, “backsliding” or “stopping” should never be in our vocabulary. We must know that we could never become overcomers if our minds set on losing. We should have a mindset of a winner and an overcomer. As mighty men, we should know that there are no other ways for us but to move forward and continue to win and overcome! This is how we Christians should be. This how we could become a great support in order for the Lord Jesus Christ to extend His kingship to the whole world. This how to become one of the Lord’s mighty men.

Now the question for us Christians is – are we now living like one of the mighty men of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we helping our Lord in extending His kingship? Are we overcoming all our enemies in our spiritual life? If not, then we should better start moving like real mighty men.

Original link for the photo: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LFU0rs_XgCU/TvkWx_XePzI/AAAAAAAABd8/w2jbrJPT6_E/s1600/david+mighty+men.jpg

Giving to God: The test of heart and integrity

“I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.”

-1 Chronicles 29:17, NIV

In Chapter 29 of 1 Chronicles, David gave all of his resources for building the temple of God – even his own personal treasures (1 Chronicles 29-2-3). David also asked the whole assembly of Israel, “Who are willing to consecrate themselves with the Lord?” – Then the family leaders, officers of Israel, commanders, and the king’s officials also gave willingly for building the temple of God. Now, because the leaders had given willingly, the people greatly rejoiced. And after this, David prayed in front of the assembly.

In David’s prayer, he said that everything that they gave only came from God. That everything they have provided for building the temple of God also came from the very hand of God. David also said in his prayer that God tests the heart and is pleased with integrity – but what is the connection between here between “giving to God”, “testing of heart”, and “integrity”?

When I was pondering on this, God revealed to me that in “giving”, He is testing both our “hearts” and our “integrity”. How? Well first, let’s look at the connection between “giving” and our “hearts”. We, being humans, have our own personal lives. We use the resources/money we have buying things that will satisfy our wants and needs, and we are not reluctant when we do this – that is because we value our own satisfaction. But when giving tithes and offerings for the work of the church, what is the condition of our heart? Are we willing to give like when we are willing to spend our money and resources just to satisfy our cravings? If we are not as willing, then there is a problem with our heart. We may say that we love God, but when we are reluctant in giving, we are just lying to ourselves.

Second is the test of our “integrity”. Now how is our integrity being tested in giving? Let’s define integrity first. Integrity is found on a man who holds on into a principle, giving his whole self and heart into it, and without compromising. Our integrity is being seen depending on how much we give, and on how whole our heart is when we give, because in this, we could know if we are giving our all or not. Once we are reluctant in giving, we don’t give our all – we start to compromise. Our heart then feels heavy because of guilt of not giving our all. But if we give our all, we wouldn’t feel guilt, but joy instead, like what the people of Israel felt when the leaders gave to the Lord wholeheartedly.

So as Christians, if we really want to say that “we love God”, then we must show it in giving. And in giving, we must always remember that we should give wholeheartedly – giving our all to the Lord and for His kingdom.

Shalom!

Original link for the photo: http://vecto.rs/600/vector-of-a-cartoon-man-reluctantly-giving-away-american-money-outlined-coloring-page-by-ron-leishman-25050.jpg

In times of persecution…

 
“Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city or shoot am arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege camp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord. I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”

-2 Kings 19:32-34, NIV

In 2 Kings Chapter 18, King Sennacherib of Assyria sent 3 of his men to King Hezekiah to ridicule his confidence, the whole army of Jerusalem, and even blaspheme the power of the Lord, the real living God when the field commander said that “the gods of the nations Assyria has destroyed could not deliver them from Assyria’s hand, so how will the Lord, the God of Israel deliver Jerusalem from the hands of Assyria?” They persecuted King Hezekiah and the whole of the kingdom of Judah, but King Hezekiah, still, didn’t lose his trust in the Lord. He knows that all the nations that Assyria has destroyed have worshiped false gods and idols, unlike Judah who worships the real living God. And so, King Hezekiah prayed to the Lord for deliverance in order to show that the Lord alone is God. And through prophet Isaiah, God answered King Hezekiah’s prayer and said that He, Himself will defend the city of Judah against Assyria. And God fulfilled it when He sent an angel to kill 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp, and when the sons of King Sennacherib killed him while he was worshiping.

From this event, God revealed to me that even in the times of persecution, He will never leave us and He will always be there, and that He will fulfil His promise. Like King Hezekiah whose trust and confidence in the Lord was ridiculed by the men of the king of Assyria but was delivered from their hands, God will never let down all of those who are being persecuted because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 5:11-12, the Lord Jesus Christ said that all of those who are being persecuted because of Him are blessed – and that they should rejoice because they have a great reward in heaven for they were being persecuted the same way as the prophets were persecuted! The Lord Jesus Christ has given us this promise for us to hold on to, and He will not let us down and He will fulfil this promise just like what the Lord did when He rescued King Hezekiah and the whole city of Judah from the hands of Assyria – and He will do this to show that He is the real living God!

What the Lord wants us to know here is that in times of persecution, it will all be God’s work – for the fulfilment of His promise and for His own glory. Like King Hezekiah, the only thing we could do is pray for our deliverance from these persecutions and never lose our trust to the Lord. We should continue to hold on into our faith, endure all persecutions until the end, and never doubt on the power of the real living God – for He has already proved His faithfulness all throughout our lives. We should continue to hold on to the truth of God’s word for He will surely fulfil it. And also, the Lord Jesus Christ told us to rejoice in the times of persecution, for we are blessed and we have a great reward in heaven.

Original link for the photo: http://www.ellenwhite.info/images/chapt-illus/GC/PP-EarlyPersecutionOfChristians_JS_0027.jpg

God's Patience

“All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced.”

2 Kings 17:7-8, NIV

In 2 Kings 17 7-23, it showed that the reason why Israel was exiled to Assyria was because of all the evil they have done in the eyes of the Lord – they worshiped other gods, followed the practices of the nations the Lord has drove out, and the evil practices that their kings has introduced to them. They were already warned beforehand by the Lord to not do these evil things and observe the law that was given to them. The Israelites, however, did not listen. They had become disobedient and rejected what the Lord has said to them – and because of this, the Lord grew angry to them and gave them this punishment.

When I was observing all the events starting from the rule of King Jeroboam until King Hoshea’s reign, I could see that the Lord’s patience for the Israelites is very, very long. Though the Lord has given them punishments for their evil deeds, He still delivers them out of them. The Lord continues to show His power and saving grace to them to prove His faithfulness to the promise He has given to the Israelites, but still, the Israelites continued on their evil ways.

It actually made me think that the Israelites, because of their hard-headedness, are very annoying. If I was in God’s situation in that time, my patience on them would quickly run out. But here, it shows that even though many generations of kings has passed in Israel, God is still patient – waiting for the Israelites to turn back from their evil deeds. But also, it was revealed to me that even though God has a very long patience, that patience still has an end. In 2 Peter 3:15, it says that the Lord’s patience is our salvation. Putting this verse in another context, we could say that outside the Lord’s patience, or when the Lord’s patience ran out, it is our condemnation – like what happened to the Israelites when they were exiled to Assyria (but we must know that God still didn’t left the Israelites after they were exhiled).

This revelation could be translated directly into our lives – that when Jesus died on the cross for our salvation, God’s patience started working on us. God is waiting for all the people to accept Christ in their lives in order to receive God’s gift of salvation, and also for those who are already believers of Christ who continually lives on sin to repent and go back to Him. God is patiently waiting for all of us to fully commit our lives to Him, until the time He has set – the time of Christ’s second coming. Until that time comes, we are still under God’s patience, and we shouldn’t waste it like what the Israelites did for many generations.

With this revealed to us, we should now check what kind of live we are living in now – if we are living in obedience to His commands or not. If we are not, then we must know that it’s still not too late for us, as we are still within the timeframe of the Lord’s patience. We should not abuse God’s patience and let it run out on us – as it would mean our condemnation. We should go back to Him and start living according to His will and purpose for us.

Shalom!

Original link for the photo: http://www.oneyearbibleimages.com/patient.jpg