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

Sin has consequences – What should we do with it?

“Then Jehoahaz sought the Lord’s favour, and the Lord listened to him, for he saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel.”

-1 Kings 13:4, NIV

In 1 Kings 13:1-9, Jehoahaz became the king of Israel. In his reign, he did evil in the eyes of the Lord as he followed the ways of Jeroboam, which also has caused Israel to commit sin. Because of the sins that Israel has committed, God became angry, and for a long time, the Israelites were under the oppression of Hazael, king of Aram. But then, King Jehoahaz sought for the Lord’s favour, and the Lord listened to him as He could see how Hazael oppressed Israel. Then the Lord has provided a deliverer for Israel to escape the power of the Aram. The Israelites, then, went back to their own homes but still did not turn back on their sins. And as for King Jehoahaz, only few soldiers were left under him as the Aram has destroyed the rest.

In this event, God told me that like King Jehoahaz and the whole of Israel suffering from the consequences of their sins, we, too, have consequences we have to face for the sins we commit. These consequences will most of the time put us into a deep misery, like what happened to the Israelites when they were being oppressed by the Aram. But we must always remember that even though we have done evil in the eyes of the Lord every time we commit sin, God is always there ready to listen to us. God knows all of the misery we are going through because of the sins we have committed, and if we only seek for His favor, He is more than willing to deliver us from the misery we are in – like how he delivered Israel from Aram. However, we are only delivered from the misery that the consequences of our sin has caused us, but the damage of the consequence of the sin we have done will still remain, like what happened to King Jehoahaz when only few soldiers were left to him.

And so from this, there were two things that God has revealed to me that we should always remember and apply into our lives:

First is that if we want to avoid the misery that the consequences of our sin will give us, then we should avoid committing sin on the first place! This is self explanatory – there would be no consequence for our sin if we avoid committing it. We should be able to control and discipline ourselves and strive for holiness, for we are called to be holy! We should completely hate and persecute sin, overcome temptation and the demons so that we could avoid committing any sin.

And second, if we already have committed sin, instead of hiding it and trying to solve its consequences by ourselves, we should seek for God’s favor, ask for forgiveness and deliverance from the misery that the consequence of our sin has brought us. God is always there and could see our sufferings, and He is always willing to listen and help us – and He will help us if we ask Him to. But also, we must be strong enough to endure the damage of the consequence of the sins we have committed as its mark will be left there even though God has delivered us from our misery.

Original link for the photo: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/december/images/misery_news.jpg

Overcoming fear from troubles

…He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

-1 Kings 19:4, NIV

In 1 Kings Chapter 19, verses 1 to 9, Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to tell him that he will be killed the next day. When Elijah heard this message, he was very afraid and ran for his life. Elijah seems to be giving up because of the trouble that is about to come to him – and on his journey in the desert, Elijah sat under a broom tree and prayed to the Lord to take his life, and after that, he fell asleep. Then an angel woke him up and gave him food to eat and water to drink. Elijah ate then lay down again to sleep, but the angel woke him up the second time and asked him to eat because the journey he took was too much for him. Then Elijah continued to eat and was strengthened by the food – and then he continued travelling until he reached Mt. Horeb.

God revealed to me what this event means to us in our lives. First is that the message of Jezebel to kill Elijah translates to the troubles we have in our lives. Our enemy, the devil, uses these troubles to pursue us until we give up and let the troubles we have kill us. And us, we are like Elijah who was in fear because of the trouble pursuing him. Now the tendency is for us to run away from it, and along the way, we also come to the point where we give up and wish that we would just die – like what Elijah prayed to the Lord. But then, God told me that what we don’t realize in these times is that we are still alive. We don’t realize that God is always giving us a new hope when He wakes us up the next morning, and that God also provides us food to renew our strength so that we continue on our journey. This is something that we don’t see when we have troubles – that is because we are always looking at the negative side, which is that these troubles would just kill us.

So now that this has been revealed to us, what then should we do?

First is that we should completely put our trust and hope in the Lord. By this, we could strengthen our hearts because we trust that the Lord will deliver us from our troubles. We must also remember that our hearts are now also being shielded by our hope in the Lord – this is so that our fear from our troubles wouldn’t consume us and kill us.

Second is that we should always realize the grace that God has given to us. If we only realize the grace of God, we wouldn’t be grumbling because of the troubles we have. If we only realize the grace of God, even when we are in the middle of the strongest storm of our lives, we would just always be in the mode of thanksgiving. We wouldn’t feel fear in our hearts, or any negative things – that is if only we realize the grace that God has given us. We must realize that our every breath, every beat of our hearts, and every food we eat is the grace of God.

And lastly is that we should continue to move forward in our journey. We are now guarded from our fear on the troubles we have, so there is no reason for us to stop from our journey. What we could only do is to continue to move forward!

Original link for the photo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Scared_Child_at_Nighttime.jpg/250px-Scared_Child_at_Nighttime.jpg

Wrong Teaching and False Religion: Deception through the Word

He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.’”

-1 Kings 13:21-22, NIV

In the 13^th chapter of the book of 1 Kings, the man of God from Judah was commanded by God to bring a word to King Jeroboam. He was also commanded not to eat bread and drink water to the land of Bethel, and not to return to Judah by the way he came. After the man of God brought the word to King Jeroboam, he went back to Judah and took a road different from the road when he came to Bethel. However, a prophet from Bethel came to him while he was on his journey back to Judah offering bread and water. The man of God from Judah did not accept the offer, but the prophet told him that an angel by the word of the Lord told him to come back to the prophet’s house to eat bread and drink water – but it was written in verse 18 that the prophet was lying. The man of God, then, accepted the offer and ate bread and drank water from the prophet’s home. Then the Lord talked to the prophet and told him the consequence of the man of God’s disobedience, that he would not be buried in the tomb of his fathers.

In this event, God revealed to me that like the prophet who used God’s word to make the man of God from Judah disobey God command, His Word is also being used by many in this world to deceive people and disobey God’s commands. Many false religions and wrong teaching of God’s word has spread all throughout the world and has deceived so many people. And also, because of this false religions and wrong teaching of God’s word, many haven’t noticed that they are being led to their death, like what happened to the man of God from Judah, which is very horrible.

So what should we do so that we wouldn’t be deceived like the man of God from Judah? Well first, we should fill ourselves up with the word of God to increase our defence against the false religions and wrong teaching. Our knowledge about the word will help us discern what is right and what is wrong – that is why we should always study the word of God and read the bible.

Second is that we should always hold on to the truth the Lord Jesus Christ and obey His commandments. We must always remember that anything that goes beyond or against the truth of the word of God is a deception or a lie of the enemy which will surely cause us to sin. The man of God has sinned because he did not detect or realize that what the prophet was saying goes against God’s commandment to him. He didn’t held on to the truth of the word of God, which I believe God Himself has spoken to him personally.

Now we should learn from this mistake that the man of God from Judah has done. We should just continue holding on to the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and His word and continue to obey it. We should not easily believe on what other people might say that could make us disobey the word. By this I believe, we could easily detect and ignore the deception being used to trick us.

Original link for the photo: http://covenantcommunity-church.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/557px-Singapore_Road_Signs_-_Warning_Sign_-_Danger.svg1_-300x264.png

Leader: A Listener; A Servant

 

The kind answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”

-1 Kings 12:13-14, NIV

In chapter 12 of the book of 1 Kings, the Israelites pleaded to Rehoboam to lighten the harsh labor and heavy yoke that was put to them by Solomon. Rehoboam said to the Israelites to come back after 3 days – then asked for advice from the elders. The elders advised him to be a servant of the people so that they, in return, would remain as servants to him. But Rehoboam rejected the elders’ advice and asked for advice from the young men who serve him. The young men suggested to tell the people that he would even make their yoke heavier than the yoke Solomon has put into them. On the 3^rd day, when the Israel came back, Rehoboam spoke to them, following the advice of the young men. And because of this, the whole Israel (except Judah) rebelled against him.

On this event, God revealed to me two very important things about being a leader – especially as a Christian. First is that a leader must learn to listen from the advice of the elders. Why should we listen to them? Well, mainly because they have more knowledge and experience about leadership than us. They are the best people who could give us an advice on our role as leaders! The main mistake Rehoboam made was that he didn’t listen. He exchanged the advice of the more experienced men – the elders, to the advice of unexperienced ones – the young men. This mistake caused the Israelites to rebel against him. Now for us, as leaders, as the salt and light of the world, we should learn from Rehoboam’s mistake. We shouldn’t easily follow the advice of inexperienced people, and listen more to the advice of elders of the church – the pastors – so that we wouldn’t cause our fellow brothers to rebel against the church.

Second is that a leader must become a servant. In the book of John, chapter 13 showed an example by washing the feet of His disciples. In Philippians 2:7, it was said that Jesus even took the very nature of a servant, even though we all know that He is the Son of God! Jesus also has led so many people into their salvation, and He did it through serving them! Many sick people were healed, dead people resurrected, demon-possessed men were sanctified, hungry people were fed, and even Simon Peter was saved from drowning. This is how Jesus defined leadership! And again, Jesus described this in Matthew 20:25 where he said that Gentile rulers practices authority over the people, but not so with us. Jesus said that if we want to become great, we must become a servant just like what Jesus did, and even gave His own life for us. This is the reason why Jesus was exalted – because he became a servant. And that is what leadership is about – about serving the people, and even giving up your life for them.

Original link for the photo: http://bethelpoconochristianchurch.org/hp_wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Leadership-480-x-163.png

Choose the right spouse! (“The Two”)

“As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been,”

- 1 Kings 11:4, NIV

In 1 Kings 11:1-13, it was told that Solomon had many women aside from the Pharoah’s daughter. He has wives and concubines that came from different nations – nations wherein God said “do not intermarry with them”. But Solomon, still, chose to love these women and disobeyed God’s command. As he grew old, his wives has lead him astray and made him follow other gods, aside of the Lord his God. God was very angry to Solomon because he turned away from Him, and because of this, God swore that He would tore the kingdom that Solomon has built, but not in Solomon’s lifetime, but in the lifetime of his son.

I believe that these events in this chapter of 1 Kings clearly spoke about the influence that our spouse could give us, especially in our way of living. Solomon’s wives and concubines came from a culture very different than his, and because he loved them very much, he has even adapted their culture – and even worshiped the gods of his wives and concubines. He forgot the covenant he had with God and has followed the other gods – unlike his father David who remained faithful.

The same thing also happens to us when we have a relationship to a woman with a different culture than ours. Because we loved her, we make sure that we adapt the culture of her living – we go to the places where she goes, meet her friends and spend a lot of time doing her activities. We don’t recognize it but we are now starting to love the things she loves until it also has become a part of us. We’ve now forgot that we are Christians and don’t recognize that we are now not living to fulfil God’s purpose for us. That’s the danger of choosing a spouse who has a different culture than ours.

I now understand the reason why our pastor always warned us on having relationships with non-Christians – it is because they could lead us away from our relationship with God! Our pastor always share about the beauty of having a relationship with a woman who is rooted in Christ – the beauty of sharing the Christian culture together and growing your kids with correct values. Imagine how wonderful that is.

Now, the life of Solomon should be a lesson to us. Solomon married women from different nations even though God said “do not intermarry with them” because he followed his own desire. He knows God’s command, but he let his desire go above the command, and this is the reason why he became disobedient, and why God has punished him through his son. We should not follow our desire, like Solomon did, but we must follow God’s desire. And God’s desire, I believe, is this – to marry a woman that will not lead us away from God, but will help us have a deeper relationship with Christ.

Shalom!


Original link for the photo: http://drwetherby.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/relationship-counseling.jpg

What to ask from God?

“So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.

-1 Kings 3:9-10, NIV

In 1 Kings chapter 3, verses 1 to 15, Solomon went to the most important high place to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. When the night came, God appeared to Solomon in a dream and told him to ask for anything that he wanted, and that God would grant whatever that is. Solomon then asked for a discerning heart, which would help him govern God’s people and distinguish what is right and what is wrong. God was pleased when He heard this from Solomon, and so, God didn’t just grant the request, but also gave him some bonuses – which are riches and honor. God also promised Solomon a long life if he obeyed God, like what his father, David did.

When I’m observing these events in this chapter, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that these events speaks a lot in our Christian lives. First is when Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord in the most important high place – this represents the time we repented when we first accept Christ and became Christians. The burnt offerings symbolizes the old desires we have before we became Christians. We burned them in the most important high place – which represents our body – and tells us how we removed these old desires from our living, since we already became Christians.

Second is when God told Solomon to ask for anything. This describes the privilege we had in Christ – that we could ask anything from the Father in Jesus’ name. And in this, we Christians had put our trust and hopes to, because we know that our prayers will be answered. Yes, it is our privilege to ask anything from God, but what kind of requests do we make? Does our prayers/request please God? One thing we should look at is that God was pleased at Solomon’s request, but why? Well I believe this is something that we Christians must know.

God was pleased because Solomon asked for something that will help him fulfil the purpose that God gave him – and that is to rule Israel as a king and become Godly like his father. He didn’t ask for anything that will fulfil his selfish desires – riches, fame, women, health – which what normally people would ask. He thought about what God would want for Him and asked for it. This is the reason why God was very pleased on Solomon’s request, and even gave him a bonus.

Now I believe this is something that we Christians must ponder about. I know that it has been normal for us to pray for the satisfaction of our desires – I can’t say that it’s bad or evil, but I believe we should change our way and be selfless, like what Solomon did when he made his request. I believe we should start praying for the things that would help us become the people that God wants us to be – to become the salt and light of this world.

Original link for the photo: http://www.parkerfordchurch.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/child_praying.jpeg

Are we ready?

I believe that we all can feel it now – the time of the final judgment is near. The signs that were told in the Bible is very visible now in our world. Calamities here and there - we are in the end times. The second coming of Christ is nearing, which also translates as the redemption of His faithful followers from this world. But one thing I asked in my mind, are we Christians, or the so called “followers” already ready for this event? Can we say confidently now that we are a part of those who will be redeemed?

Well, I personally believe that we aren’t ready for this big event yet. Why? Well, one thing is that there are still churches who focuses more on “church politics” instead of spreading the love and sharing the word of God to others. There are pastors who continue to criticize other pastors, instead of helping them. In short, there’s still division within the church of Christ. Also, there are still many of us who does not live a serious Christian life. With these being said, it is clear that we are not yet ready. So the question now is when can we say we are ready?

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

-Revelation 19:7-8

The verses I’ve written shows that the bride of the Lamb, which is the church, is ready. This particular chapter in the book of revelation happened after God’s wrath occurred. This chapter showed how the redeemed people praised God for the justice He had shown to them. Also, this chapter shows that it won’t be easy to be a part of the redeemed.

It was shown in the previous chapters before this that the faithful followers of God experienced a lot of hardship and persecutions. They have experienced all of the worst possible thing that could ever happen to a man. The persecution would just be at its peak on that time. This clearly shows that those who had overcome has an incredible amount of faith in them, keeping them completely still with their faith and unmoved by all the tragedies. They gave all their hopes to God, and they waited until the second coming of Christ came. They are patient – they did not turn back.

Now as Christians, I believe that all of us wants to be a part of that church that is being described in the verses I’ve written. The verses showed that the bride (the church) was given a fine linen to wear for the wedding. It was also described in the Bible that the fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints. So with that being said, if we really want to be a part of that “end time church”, then we (all of us!) must take this Christian life seriously. We must become spotless, or pure in the eyes of God – we must hate sin completely and persevere on this Christian walk. We must be still in our faith, like the redeemed. We also must be united as one – as His church, and not be divided like what it is today. Only by then that we can say that we are ready to meet the Lord as His bride.

Original link for the photo: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXlrpTzq3F74LtCDvJ1P0kR3m5uV1e7O1GOfuWExQi36oUR5UlO45Ff05zubdSLS5_fBZQrmDCOKjCE86gTs-5ZI6T42s8e_4nK4bPqRNQX17FWmzgAw-m4iCzr25wEuMCTCRoiV0voKdv/s1600/Revelation+19+-+Christ+and+His+Bride.jpg

How to be a part of the great multitude?

“And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.”

-Revelation 14:3-5, NIV

The 14^th chapter of revelation talks about the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth – but who are these people that were redeemed? We know, as Christians, that we are saved when we accepted Christ in our lives, but are we all sure that we will be a part of this great multitude? Well it depends on how we live our lives, I believe. It all depends on our choice. Then when I was meditating on the verses I’ve wrote above, God revealed to me the qualities we should apply if we really want to be a part of this great multitude.

First is that they kept themselves pure. The verses say that these people did not defile themselves with women, meaning they had been sexually moral, but I think that it is not just talking about being sexually moral. The verse said that “they kept themselves pure”, and purity does not just come from sexual morality, but of purity in living too. So I could say that these 144,000 people who were redeemed lived a life of purity, not living by the ways of the world.

Second is that they follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were not partial on following Him. These people were redeemed because they were followers who obeys the Lord’s commands fully! Now, I could say that for us Christians who wants to be a part of this 144,000, we should not be partial in our obedience. We should obey all of the Lord’s commands fully and we should not compromise!

And lastly was that no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless. These people were redeemed because they were speakers of truth. Now for me, being an ambassador of Christ, I must become a model to other people by having a clean mouth, speaking only what is true and pure and not slandering other people. I could say that it is a must for us Christians to first clean our mouths, for we could not become speakers of the truth if our mouths are full of filthy and slanderous words. Plus, a benefit of having a clean mouth is that we would gain an access into being a part of this 144,000 people who were redeemed!

Thank You, Lord, for revealing these things to me, for giving me careful guidelines on what I should do in order to be a part of this great multitude. Lord, by Your grace, help me become a pure, committed follower of Christ, and a speaker of truth. Amen.


Original link for the photo: http://heavenawaits.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/144000.jpg

Wake up!

“Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.”

-Revelation 3:2

It has been more than a year since I’ve accepted Christ in my life. There had been lots of ups and downs for me. My first 6 months as a Christian, I could say, was the time I became very intimate with my relationship with God, and was working very hard to win as many souls for Him. I was very consistent in my devotions, prayer, attending church fellowships and cell groups in that time, but then a time came to me where a bigger responsibility was given to me in my office work. Because of this, my old devotion has weakened and the Christ-like attitude I was practicing when I was consistent is slowly dying. I admit, I had become a compromiser because of that.

But when I was reading Revelation 3:1-6 for my devotion, God told me to wake up. And then I then realized that my faith, which is what remains to me now is slowly dying. My intimate relationship with God has dropped dramatically because of the great responsibility given to me in my office work. I had less time doing my devotions and most of the time, I worry and become very irritated because of the timelines we have in our work – I have compromised so many times. But then, because of this verse, God reminded me that it’s not too late. He said that I still have this faith remaining – but it’s slowly dying. God is telling me to go back to my old devotion with Him, strengthen my faith again and continue on living for Him. He wants me to wake up!

“Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

-Revelation 3:3

God, again, reminded me and gave me a warning – He said that if I don’t want to lose the salvation I had when I first received Him, then I should go back to Him, repent and start obeying Him again. God is challenging me to stop being a compromiser, and start to live a serious devoted Christian life for Him!

I believe that God has personally revealed this to me because He doesn’t want me to continue living as a compromiser, but I also believe that God wants this to be told as a warning too to everyone who is in Him – especially to those who are like me who became compromisers. He is telling us that it’s all our choice, we could continue living as compromisers or to continue living as devoted Christians for God. It’s all up to us which way to choose, but I pray that we all choose become devoted Christians.

Original link for the photo: http://www.brays-ingles.com/images/wakeup.gif.gif

Who has God?

“Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”

-2 John 1:9

Many Christians claims to have God with them – and I am one of them. We attend Sunday fellowships, read the bible, pray everyday, and write devotionals, but is it just right to say that we already have God with us when we do these things? At first, I thought yes, but Apostle John has proved me wrong. I now understand that having God is not about doing these things. So how do we have God? And who has God?

With what John said in 2 John 1:9, I’ve learned we could only have God if we are obedient to the words of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. So that means only those obedient Christians have God. Attending fellowships, reading the bible, praying everyday and writing devotionals are important for our growth as Christians, but the most important thing is obeying the Lord’s commandments. This is where many of us lacked – and I admit, I am one of them. I have fallen many times and had become disobedient, but we shouldn’t take make these failures tell us who we are supposed to be.

Like what our youth pastor said, if we fall, we must stand up immediately. We shouldn’t let our failures paralyze us or even kill us, for we would really lose God if we choose to be like that. What we must do is to continue to move forward and continue on the teaching of Christ. If we sin, then forget about it. What’s done is done – we are sinful by nature after all. The only thing we can do is to forget the past and to continue in this race.

“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.”

-2 John 1:10

Before John ended, he also gave us another warning, and that is to keep distance to those who don’t hold to the teachings of Christ. This is easy to understand as they could corrupt us and make us turn back from this Christian race we run. John is very strict in his words as he doesn’t want the believers to backslide. What we should do is to hold on tight to them so that we wouldn’t be carried away by the wickedness of this world.

Obeying the words of Christ and taking careful note of every warning given to us by the writers in the Bible is very important to keep us running in this race. We shouldn’t let ourselves lose God. God is all we need after all – nothing more and nothing less.

Original link for the photo: http://images.mylot.com/userImages/images/postphotos/2312879.jpg

Crave for the Word!

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
-1 Peter 1:14-16

All of us, being citizens of this world, are sinners. We all have lived in this world by following its trends and by feeding ourselves with our own selfish desires. Sin runs to our flesh ever since we were born (which was a result of the original sin bore by Adam and Eve), and it has been a part of our identity as humans. Knowing this, will it be possible for us to become holy? Many of us think that it is just impossible, and so choosing to be carried away with the flow of this world. Most of us use this as an excuse to become disobedient, but for us Christians, how should we think or act about this?

Like what Peter said in 1 Peter 1:14-16, the obedient children, which pertains to us, Christians, must become holy – not conforming to our old desires when we were ignorant about God. We must remember what we are when the first man was created – that we are created in God’s image and likeness, so we should be like it. We should become holy. But how should we do this? Is it enough to say that we already have knowledge of God? Will our small knowledge about Him protect us from all the evil? Well, I personally believe not. 

“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

-1 Peter 2:1-3

Like what the verse above said, in order to become holy, we must get rid of everything that is evil. Knowing what is good and what is evil is not enough. We must learn to beat our body and turn away from these evil things. Of course, temptation will always try its best to put us back to where we were before, but our knowledge about God will remind us of what is good and what is evil – but it’s still up to us if we want to flee from them or not.

Then after we flee from these evil things, we must replace it with another – something that is better and is of greater worth. Instead of craving for the desires of our flesh, like the verses said, we must now crave for the pure spiritual milk – which comes from the word of God! Craving means that it is something we are desire so much, or something that we earnestly look for – meaning, having a basic knowledge of God isn’t enough. We must earnestly seek for Him from our devotions, from His word – by reading the Bible! We must know about Him more, and we should not stop! Day and night, we must be bombarded by His word. We must be like a child seeking for Him, continuing to grow from His word – until our final breath from this world. And if we do this, I believe that we will be guarded from any kind of evil, and become holy – which is what God is expecting from us.

Thank you, Lord, for what You have revealed to us today. Help us apply them into our lives so that we would grow more and become the people you want us to be. Amen.


Original link for the photo: http://www.babyphotospictures.com/babies-pictures/baby_drinking_milk.html 

Faith with deeds

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?”

-James 2:14 

Faith – is often described by many as the act of believing in something; or someone. Then I asked myself: if this is the real description of faith, then does it mean that everyone who simply believes in God will be saved? Even demons (James 2:19)? It’s been a question for me since it was written in Ephesians 2:8 that it is through our faith that we were saved by grace – giving me the impression that even those who simply believes in God but does not obey Him will be saved. So do you think everyone who just believes in Christ will be saved?

Well, the answer for my question is fairly easy – no – obviously. Like what apostle James said in James 2:17, faith without deeds is dead. And if our faith is dead, do you think the saving grace of God will be activated in us? Of course not, because faith is not as simple as believing only. And another thing, how can our faith in Christ be seen if we are not obedient to His Word? We believe in Him who is without sin, but are not obeying what He says – is that even called faith? In the part of believing, maybe yes – but is incomplete without deeds, and therefore cannot be called real faith. To show this, James made a great example – which is Abraham.

“Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”

-James 2:21-22

With this example, we could see that Abraham was not just considered righteous, but was also justified (James 2:24) because of his faith and action. Now with that being said, we can easily conclude that faith is not merely about believing alone – but believing with action. And as Christians we all must remember that, and we must act out what we are believing in – act out Christ in our lives by obeying His Word. Only by this that we could be confident in ourselves that we are truly saved by grace – if we are believing and obeying in Him. For our justification comes from these, and if we have them, we wouldn’t have any worry about facing the Lord in the end of times. This serves as a warning for all of us who is in Christ – so that we wouldn’t go astray.

We all must thank God for this revelation, for if this was not revealed to us, many would take the Christian walk easily, and many would become disobedient. All the glory be to God! Amen.


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Why did Jesus chose to live in a human body?

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by fear of death.”

-Hebrews 2:14-15

 

Death – for me, I could say that it is the most feared thing by every man on this planet, especially of those people who are greatly attached to the wealth of this world. Death really is scary, as it serves as the period of our life here on earth. It terminates all the biological functions of our human body which sustains us from living in this world. No doubt, simply by knowing this and judging it by its description, we could say that it has the rights to be called the “most feared” thing by every man as no normal person can overcome it.

But you know what? This death, which we all fear has been beaten over 2 thousand years ago! Our God, the Lord Jesus Christ beat this death for us! Yes, us, being normal human being, weak and fragile, can never beat an inevitable enemy. Death is just something we could not simply overcome. Ideas about being immortal came out from intelligent men, but no one succeeded on their studies on this. Only our God, who has the power above all things has the ability to beat death, that is why He, Himself took charge of defeating this enemy to remove our fear from it. See how He loves us very much?

That’s not all. As it was written on Hebrews 21:14, in order to beat death, He must take our form – this is the reason why Jesus lived in this world in human flesh. But too, this flesh had suffered temptations and lots of testing just like us. Jesus had overcome them though, even death, so that we could have the eternal life. See how great the things that our God has done for us?

“For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.”

-Hebrews 2:16

Simply by this revelation, I cannot say anything but thanks to our God. Thanks to Him that he sent Jesus to earth in human form! Thanks be to God that Jesus died and rose from the dead in order to destroy death and give us an everlasting life! And above all, thanks be to God for His eternal love for us. Amen.

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The BETTER Covenant

And it was not without any oath! Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’” Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

-Hebrews 7:20-22

What’s so great about the new covenant that God has created through Christ? Well, the Jews had their own covenant which has originated from the time of Moses, why would God need to renew the covenant when there is already the one that is established for many years? What good does this new covenant has for both the Jews and us, which are considered Gentiles?

Well, we must all know that we have be very thankful that God that He made this new covenant! We had a lot of benefits because of this, which we all should be very thankful of. To justify these, I have written below some of the benefits I could think of which we can get from this.

One benefit we had in this is that we need not to be righteous by our works anymore in order to be saved! The grace of God had become accessible because of this! Before, in the old covenant, in order to be righteous, we must perfectly obey the 10 commandments, which is impossible, as every man who tried has failed. And so, it is impossible to become righteous. But now, because of God’s grace and the new covenant, we could now be righteous by faith. And just by this, by putting our faith in Christ, we all now could be saved! Being righteous is just up for grabs for anyone!

Another benefit we had here, which I believe we all must be very happy of is that we people which are considered Gentiles are now adopted to become God’s child through Christ! What else could be greater than that? In the old covenant, only the Israelites have fellowship with God. But now, any person that comes from any nation can have fellowship with Him!

And last that I could think of is that we have an access to ask for forgiveness ANYTIME! If before, in the old covenant, in order for the people’s sins to be forgiven, they would need to offer sacrifices which the priest would use as atonement for their sins. Well, thanks be to God we wouldn’t need to do this anymore! Jesus has now become the priest which serves as the mediator, on which we could ask for forgiveness anytime. And what’s great with this is that there is no need to offer any other sacrifices, as He Himself had become the sacrifice for us.

These three benefits that I’ve wrote are just some of the many benefits we could get. But aren’t these three overwhelming enough? This is why we should rejoice every time and in thanksgiving for this new covenant that God has made for us. Thanks be to God! Shalom!

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The Path to extreme happiness

All of us can choose any path we want in this life, but the question about this is where would this path lead us? There are so many paths we can take, and all of them can lead us into having different kinds of lifestyle. Some could become successful, and some could even destroy their own lives. So let’s stop and ponder on to this question: Can the path I am taking now lead me to the happiness I desire? Well for me, I believe that there is only one path we could take which would lead us to the extreme happiness.

“After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.”

-Matthew 2:9

 

In the second chapter of the book of Matthew, it was the star that showed the path to the Lord Jesus Christ to the Magis. Now, this star represents the Word of God! It is the Word of God that will lead us back to Him! The path that the Word of God shows is the only path we should take in this life if we want to be with God, where there is happiness, and there is no other way. The other paths we could take in this life will only lead us away from God, His protection, and the extreme happiness, which would lead us to our own destruction. Even though some people had become successful in their lives, without the Word of God guiding them, they would never experience the true and extreme happiness. The only thing that could meet or even exceed the happiness we desire is the Word of God. Just like what happened to the Magis in the following verse.

“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”

-Matthew 2:10

The other paths we could take in this life could give us temporary happiness, and that’s just it. And at times, this temporary happiness could even lead us to our own destruction. So what path should we choose now?

As for me, now that I have seen the beauty of God through His Word, there is no way I would take the other paths other than what His Word shows me. Why should I ever exchange the eternal happiness I would get from Him to the other things that would only give me temporary happiness? The happiness or joy I would get from Him is just incomparable. That’s why I choose this path. The path that we all call the “Christian Walk”.


Original link for the photo: http://stellarhousepublishing.com/images/three-wise-men-star.jpg

Don’t look back! Look straight ahead!

I believe that gaining success in life is up for grabs for anyone. I think that it really doesn’t matter whether we are born in a rich or a poor family, for I have seen and heard that there are people who experienced the “Cinderella story” happened in their lives. No doubt, many had become unsuccessful, as it is very visible in our world. Now if anyone can be successful in their lives, then what keeps the people from gaining success?

What keeps people from gaining success in their lives, I believe, is the past. Well it is mainly because that is the only place where failures dwells in. We must know that our failures could greatly affect our future if we keep looking at it. Living in the past can make us stop from attaining our goal. Getting bombarded by our failures will hinder us from growing, learning, and living. Our mindset determines where we are going. And if we set our minds on failing, then that’s where we are destined to. But what should we do if we want to become successful?

“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

-Philippians 3:13

We all know that Apostle Paul had become successful in his Christian life, and here in this verse, he shared to us the secret of his success. I believe that this secret is not just applicable to our Christian lives, but to any ministry we are in; whether in sports, or in our work, or in our studies. Well what are these secrets shown in this verse?

First is forgetting what is behind. As I have said earlier, past is the dwelling place of failures. If we really want to gain success, then we must leave that one thing that could hinder us from gaining it. Christ has already redeemed us from these failures, for he had carried them all when he was crucified. This is something that we must all remember: In Christ, we are destined to overcome, and not to fail.

Second is straining toward what is ahead and pressing towards the goal. To gain success, our goal must be clearly drawn and set to our mind. As I have said earlier, our mindset determines where we are going. And if we set our minds to become successful in our Christian lives, or in the other things we do, then that is where we are headed to. But setting our minds to the goal isn’t enough, though. We must work hard and strive to attain that goal. And these are the secret to success.


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What should we boast about?

Being humans, do we have any rights to boast about our strengths? In our nature, we love to boast because we want other people to look up to us and get praises from them, but do we have any rights to do this? The truth is, we don’t. And for us believers of Christ, we must always take note of this.

As believers of Christ, we must always know that we only succeed by the grace of God. All of our strength came from it, and I personally believe that we have no rights to boast above anything, knowing that the strength we use for succeeding didn’t come from us. Also, being believers of Christ, we must not live by the flesh, for it’s very common to a man who lives by his flesh to be boastful about himself. But we must live by spirit instead, for in the spirit, we would know the will of God. And it is God’s will for us to not be boastful about our strength.

But even though we have no rights to boast about our strength, we must know that there is still this one thing that God allows us to boast about.

What is this one thing that God wants us to boast about?

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

-2 Corinthians 12:9, NIV

Like what Paul said in the verse above, we can boast about our weakness. Why should boast about our weakness? Because it is where the real strength comes from! If we are broken enough every time we do anything, accepting with all our heart that we are nothing and we can do nothing without the help of God, then that’s the time where God’s grace will move into us. And this grace that moves into us becomes our own strength that will help us to overcome in every obstacle in our lives! This power that God has granted to us through His grace is the only thing we could ever boast about, and in this, I believe.

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

-2 Corinthians 12:10, NIV

So with this, we must rejoice every time, whether when we are strong or weak, for by God’s grace, we are made overcomers. This grace that has been granted is something that we should rejoice for, for without it, we are nothing.

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Live by FAITH!

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”

-2 Corinthians 5:1, NIV

As believers, we must know that life here on earth is just like a small period compared to that in eternity. The truth is God just let us experience this life in flesh for the preparation of what is about to come. This earth is not really our home, just like what Paul said in the above verse when he compared this planet to a “tent”. Only our flesh is what belong to this world, for we came from dust, but our soul came from the breath of God, which shows that our real home is in God.

God entrusted us this life on earth to see if we would be obedient to Him. This serves as our test before we enter eternity. Now that answers why problems and temptations enters our life! All of these happened so that we would be prepared before the eternity comes. But only those people who would pass this test, I believe, would be the only ones who would be granted with eternal life. This means that we should not be relaxed in this life, and we must take this seriously. We must not think that this earth is our real home, for this planet will pass away.

What should we do so that we would not be attached from this world?

“Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight.”

-2 Corinthians 5:6-7, NIV

It’s not that easy for a man to lose his attachment to this world, for his body came from it. But we must know that only our body came from this world. It is this world and our flesh that separates us from God. So if we want to come back to God again, where our soul came from, then we must stop living by the human standards. In human standards, we live by what we see. But by God’s standards, we live by believing in Him.

So if we don’t want to be attached from this world, then we must live by the spirit, and not by the flesh. We must live by faith, in Him who created us, and not by what we see, which only man has created. We must set our eyes with an eternity with God as our goal. Only by this, that we would remove our bond with this earthly tent.


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Beware of the false gods!

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God.”

-2 Corinthians 4:4, NIV

Though there are many religions existing today that talks about Christ, we still cannot say if all their members are “real believers”. It could be because that the other gods that exists in our generation is blocking them from knowing the real and only living God. Being a member of a religion that believes in Christ doesn’t mean that you’re already a real believer. Most of the time, these religions only becomes a label to the people, for they believe more and follow on other gods more than the real God, Himself.

So what/who could be the god/s of this generation that blocks men from knowing the real God? For me, I believe that these gods could be in any form that a man idolizes. For example, a man who is hooked into pornography. This man spends all of his time and money watching porn. This man has now made pornography his god, for it blocks him and blinded him from knowing the real God. Another example is the love of money. A man who loves money disregards all of Christ’s teachings, especially on giving to the poor. His love for money blocks him from knowing the real God. There still are many other gods that exists in this generation, but these few examples gives us the picture on why many are blinded from the light of the gospel.

So with these many false gods that exists in this generation, is there anything we could do so that we would not be blinded by them?

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

-2 Corinthians 4:6, NIV

Now for us believers who were already taken out by God from the darkness into the light of the gospel of Christ, we must guard ourselves so that we would not be taken back by the gods of this generation. Now that our eyes are widely opened, we must not let ourselves be taken back to blindness. We must stand firm and be strong to our faith, set our eyes and our heart to the gospel of Christ.

Like what Paul has said on the verse above, this light of the knowledge of God’s glory that is displayed through Christ will keep us away from being pulled back into darkness. With this knowledge of Christ, by being consumed by the Word of God, we will always be on guard from every false god of this generation. Thanks be to God that He has given us the knowledge of Christ. Amen.


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What does Jesus’ death means for us?

It’s Holy Week 2012, and we are commemorating the death of Jesus this whole week. But have you asked yourself what does His death means for you? What is the sense of commemorating this event? Can it have an impact on our way of living now? Or you are just doing this because it is a part of your religion’s tradition?

In case you don’t know, Jesus’ death, His sacrifice on the cross is the best thing that happened and will ever happen to you! It is an event that shouldn’t be remembered only once a year, but in each day of your life! Now let’s see why this event is very important for us.

Number 1: Jesus cancelled all the traditions that are done in the Old Testament

Did you know that in the Old Testament, the Israelites are required to give sin offerings so that their sins would be forgiven? Can you imagine if this tradition is still being done now?

First, you need to offer a goat or a lamb. Then second, you need to give this to the priest for them to slaughter and burn. In their time, men had no direct access to God. They have to go to the mediator, which is the priest. Only the priest can make atonement for their sins.

But can you see? Asking forgiveness for your sin is supposed to be this hard. But with Jesus’ sacrifice, you don’t have to this every time you commit sin! Jesus had become the sacrifice and at the same time the mediator between men and God!

Jesus’ death is an event that is very much worth remembering. We don’t have to those things that are done in the Old Testament, Jesus has already done all of them for us!

Number 2: Gentiles were given the chance to have fellowship with God

In case you didn’t know, in the Old Testament, only the Israelites are considered God’s people. If you are not from the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then that means you’re a Gentile. It means that many of us were really not originally God’s people!

But thanks be to God, after Jesus’ ascension, He didn’t forget about us. We must be very thankful that He has commissioned Saul, or now known as Paul to preach the Gospel for us Gentiles. This event changed the entire course of all the beliefs, especially of the Jewish. We are taken as God’s children because of Jesus’ sacrifice!

Number 3: Eternal life is granted to everyone

Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death”, which states what our reward should be with our sinful nature. We deserve to be punished! We deserve to die. We deserve to be eternally separated with our Creator! But you know what? God love us so much that He doesn’t want us to taste this punishment!

In case you don’t know, in the Old Testament, God has punished all those who did evil in His eyes. An example of this was in the time of Noah. In this time, God has flooded the earth and spared only Noah’s family and the animals that are inside the ark. God showed His wrath against all those who didn’t walk in His ways and preserved only those who loved Him, where in this case, Noah.

God doesn’t want to do this anymore and He wants to preserve all of us. That is why in the continuation of Romans 6:23, apostle Paul said “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God loves us so much, that is why He gave up His only son for our sake. It should have been us that was hanging on that cross, but not. It is stated in John 3:16 that because God loved us so much that He gave up His only Son! God, being a father should have been really hurt when He gave up His son! But that is how he loved us.

Thanks to the sacrifice that Jesus has done, now all of us can live a life without fear of death. Now, we know that in Jesus Christ, we have an eternal life waiting after our life here on our earthly tent.

So guys, I want you to reflect on these things this whole week, or if you could, for the rest of your lives. Be very thankful on what Jesus has done for you. And if you want to know more about what He has done for you, pick up your Bible and start reading it. God bless everyone! Shalom! 

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