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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Join God in what he is doing

Join God in what he is doing at our time and the world. Jesus said. "I do what I see my father doing." (John 5:19) As Christians, we should accomplish great things for the glory of God. But the question is what should we do? The answer is simple that we need to learn the activity of God. God is working all around us, look for the evidence and when you see it, be sensitive to it.William Carey said, "The world is yet to see what God can do with a man totally dedicated to him. By the grace of God I plan to be that man." "Attempt great things for God and expect great things for God." Daniel 11:32 said, "the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits." Do you want to be a person who carry out great exploits for God? Your respond to the activity of God should be what to do with your life in the first place? Then look carefully at what God is doing and join Him. God works in the family,the oppressed,the poor, the sick, children, women, old folks, campus, youth etc.John 12:26 said, whoever serves me must fellow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My father will honor the one who serve me."
Watch to see where God is at work and join Him.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Faith

What is faith? Hebrews 11:1 said, "Now faith is being sure of what hope for and certain of what do not see."(NIV) According to Message's translation, it said "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we cannot see."As children of God, we believe that "faith in God" is the faith given by God. Therefore, all Christians have faith. We cannot say that we don't have faith. Paul said, "in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."(Romans 12:3) This teaching about faith being a gift of God is extremely important in christian life. The 11st chapter of Hebrews has often been called the "Chapter of Faith". When we read through it, we note the following points about faith. Faith is rational. By faith, we understand and see the world called into existence by God's word. What we see created by what we don't see. Faith is possible because of God's revelation. God has. in history, "borne witness", "warned" and called His people. Man cannot know God by his own effort. It is God who revealed Himself in history. Faith is trust. By faith, Noah trusted God and built a ship in the middle of dry land. By act of faith, Abraham said yes and trust God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. Trust is the vital component of true faith. Faith involves action. It is not merely a feeling and mental conviction. If faith is to be faith, it must act. Moses choose a hard life with God's people rather than live a life of sin with the oppressors. By an act of faith, he led the Israelites walked through the Red Sea on dry land.
In our Christian life, faith grows by hearing and reading God's Words. God's Words feed and build up our faith. It is impossible to please God apart from faith. By an act of faith, we make our faith grows.

A New Lifestyle

I have good news for you: your life does not have to be so complicated. you can live a simple lifestyle. Many people today live complicated lives that leave them depressed, anxious, frustrated and confused. As a matter of fact, this is not our sole choice of life. You can choose a life of simplicity which is full of fulfillment, peace and joy. You want to renew your lifestyle, my word for you is that the only option is to change your approach towards life. This is the only prescription to treat the source of the problem-stress. As a matter of fact, life itself is simple in nature, the problem behind is that we complicate life. We fight a constant battle to balance our real needs and actual needs, family and work, different sorts of desire and demand. Too many choices make our lives engage in struggle and destined for complication and frustration. One of the patterns of this world that make life complicated is materialism-the one with the most toys wins. "Excess is the devil playground", any time we become excessive in anything, we open the door for the devil. Excess gets complicated. Share your possession, cut what you don't really need, cut your portion of food, talk less and listen more. Jesus said he came so that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). Abundant life is simple, and this is the new lifestyle in Jesus Christ.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Watch your pride.

In fact, pride is the root of all sin! Pride is the sin we all struggle with from time to time.Pride is one of those things that God hates. "To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance,evil behavior and perverse speech." (Proverbs 8:13) Paul also warned us that do not think of yourself more highly than you ought (Romans 12:3).King Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful king from 605-562 BC. As king Nebuchadnezzar grew in power and might, he also grew very prideful. God make the king an example to warn us. God drove the king from men and made him dwell with the beast of the field and ate grass like cattle.His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.(Daniel 4:33) Until the king repented and brought back to his senses, he acknowledged God as the king heaven.The king confessed, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble."(Daniel 4:37) Peter's pride and over confidence made him to deny the Lord three times. He learnt that lesson by saying "God opposes the proud but give grace to the humble."

Problem

When we face a problem, open our mouth and thank God. There is power of courage and confidence in the spoken words of thankfulness work over our life. Ephesians 5:20 said," Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father....." Give thanks to God is part of our daily walk with God. Confidence is strengthened with a consistent walk with God. Thankfulness is solidified with complete trust in God. Philippians 4:6 said, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made know to God." Remember, whenever we face any problem, learn to give thanks to God. It is a blessing in disguise. In the Bible, the most familiar of all of Daniel stories was the lion's den. He was being thrown into the lion's den for not obeying the king's decree to worship an image. Daniel 6:10 recorded that when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to God, just as he done before. Daniel was facing a serious problem, and he gave thanks to God. We all know that the story was with a happy ending. Confidence is strengthened with a thankful spirit. Let us learn from Daniel. There are many lions in our daily living: sickness, disaster, finance, parenting, job, crime, personal relationship etc., give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Oil and perfume

Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel." (Proverb 27:9 ) Do you have friends who make your life blossom? I would like to congratulate you if you have such kind of friends. Your faith will continue to grow as you fasten yourself to faith friends who give good counsel.They will enrich your life. Life grows through fellowship, and life becomes better and beautiful in friendship.I like the old hymn entitled "What a friend we have in Jesus", Jesus is my friend, but this friendship must be realized in our inter-personal relationship. Love God and love our neighbors are together. "Friend Jesus" and "friend others" are one as well. We cannot sing the hymn on one hand and live alone on the other. My concern in the Christian circle is that it becomes increasingly apparent that many so called spiritual Christian live in loneliness, rather a distorted solitude life. Holiness means loneliness. Again, a distorted image of Mary to whom Jesus praised. The 21st century mysticism is disconnection replace christian networking, loneliness is understood as solitude, friendship with Jesus being taught as true spirituality. Jesus instructed us to love one another, to enrich a friend is the fulfillment of the commandment.

Monday, June 7, 2010

The Gospel

The Gospel is good news which is always good and always new. Why? The Gospel is the plan and will of God. Under this Divine plan, Jesus' ministry on earth is not an accident. We don't view his death just a "great sacrifice" of a spiritual giant in history. We don't follow Jesus who is like some remarkable gurus in history. We don't worship Jesus like the witchcraft who perform supernatural and dramatic miracles. Jesus is the son of God, the works and the words of Jesus have been planned by God. This is the eternal will of God that Jesus came to this world to save sinner and those who believe in Him will become the children of God. The first and foremost of the will of God for humankind is through Jesus Christ, we connect to God and have fellowship with Him. Why should we need God in the first place? the answer is very simple, we need God because he is our source of life, our ground of existence and destiny of our living. The main thing we believe is God has sent Jesus Christ into this world to proclaim to us the plan and the will God that God is love and this love is manifested in the life of Jesus who is the Christ, our savior.