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: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizuV9R_j4krK3ultP4E9EYZsPsUXXkUhl7KuT8-LIjr51Qdt2CquvvPTfla5eALvAvZaagBv2hyS8Oi0to2CLFZuwwUdimBBS7u1VqRcHGB-WAHZw319d7ScYaBZPn52kF-g7Pu8V-9t4/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

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