Thursday, February 23, 2012
** To You **
“Lord of the heavens,
Maker of the earth,
Your mercy endures forever.
Blessed Redeemer,
Ancient of days,
We choose to walk in Your ways.
To You, we lift up our hands,
Bowing before You, You’re the great I Am,
Jesus be magnified in this holy place,
We’ll join with the angels to sing of Your praise.
Hallelujah, glory to You alone.”
- “To You”, Andrew Yeo
This song came to me suddenly while I was praying for V. I almost teared. It really spoke of my heart's desire, how much I revere God, how much I want to lavish my praise upon Him, how much I adore Him... Intense stuff. Here I am, on holy ground.
On a side note, I love bathing cos it's the time when God speaks to me so clearly. Was bathing just now when God told me to do so many things.. To share something, to pray for someone, to encourage people... Was still telling God, "God, so many things! I got STM! Am scared I'll forget when I leave this place (bathroom). Remind me again when I get out, kay?" And God really reminded me! How cool can that get?!
My Friend, my Lord, my God.
***
Sheesh! Just saw the title of my previous post and I realised that God really sent me! Sent me to share some stuff, to pray for someone, to encourage people (see above). Yea!! Happy!! :)
Labels: Daily devotions
| Standing In The GAP @ 2:19 am |
Monday, February 20, 2012
** Here I am, SEND me **
John 3:17
For God did not SEND his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
In that era, there was a familiar concept in Jewish life that the messenger is like the sender himself.
So when God sent Jesus into this earth, Jesus had that same form of authority and power from above.
Later on, Jesus in turn sent his disciples to make "disciples of all nations" (The Great Commission). And that was AFTER He was resurrected, after He had gone down to Hades to grab the key, after regaining some authority from the enemy in order to have FULL authority.
Being sent implies that the commission, charge, and message are issued by the Sender rather than originating with the one who is sent.
To put it simply, we now have FULL authority from God! Spirit of fear, be gone!
Labels: Daily devotions
| Standing In The GAP @ 1:41 am |
Friday, February 17, 2012
** John 2:13-16 **
John 2:13-16
14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.
15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.
16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade."
I didn't know that 'temple' (Gk. hieron) denotes the area surrounding the temple, including the Court of the Gentiles, in distinction from the temple building proper (Gk. naos), from which non-Jews were excluded. I always thought it was the 'building' they were referring to.
The merchants and money lenders were making a huge profit cos they were taking advantage of those Jews who had traveled to Jerusalem from afar. This I know.
But why didn't it occur to me earlier that by conducting their businesses in the temple complex, these individuals were disrupting the worship of non-Jewish peeps! This obstructed the very purpose for which the temple was built for. It really didn't occur to me that the non-Jewish peeps were affected, not the whole congregation of temple-goers.
Dang! 茅塞顿开!
Labels: Daily devotions
| Standing In The GAP @ 1:33 am |
Thursday, February 16, 2012
** John 1:16-17 **
John 1:16-17
16 For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
The contrast is not that the Mosaic law was bad and Jesus is good. Rather, both the giving of the law and the coming of Jesus Christ mark decisive events in the history of salvation.
In the law, God graciously revealed his character and righteous requirements to the nation of Israel. Jesus, however, marked the final, definitive revelation of God’s grace and truth.
Wham! That hit me hard! "definitive revelation". Just like the rainbow...
Labels: Daily devotions
| Standing In The GAP @ 2:16 am |
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
** I believe. **
Message for the day:
John 1:12-13
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
"Believed in” = pisteuō eis in Greek which implies personal trust.
Believing and trusting go together, hand in hand. It doesn't make sense when one says, "I believe in you", but does not trust this person. Neither does it make sense when one says, "I trust you", but does not believe in his friend.
God really tied this in nicely with sermon, with the part which struck me the most.
How can I say "I believe in God" yet choose not to trust that He'll bring everything to pass, to choose not to trust that he is bigger than my problems?
Lesson learnt:
I believe = I trust, unconditionally. Even when it's silent/doesn't make sense.
Labels: Daily devotions
| Standing In The GAP @ 2:23 am |
