You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November 2008.
I thank God for keeping me and bringing through my past two papers. He has kept me and preserved me, especially my health during this period of time. On Monday, I had a bad sprained on my ankle. I could barely walk straight, but praise the Lord, for when my mum and I prayed for healing, he provided the means of healing that very night. Unexpectedly, I was freely given some traditional chinese medicine to apply over my sprain for a night and it was very effective. On Wednesday, which was the day of my 2nd paper, I could walk straight. Today (Friday), I can even rotate my ankle without any pain though there is still some stiffness. Thank God for his provision which is so unexpected!
Today, I would like to share what God has impressed upon my heart via a sermon. It is about the very essense of what faith really is.
It says in Hebrews 11:6 that ‘without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.’
O how many times we have tried to please God and not realise that we are not actually pleasing him for we have no faith!
This really is true for my life. In serving in my church’s worship ministry, so often, I have tried to please God in my own ways and means. Seeing the condition of hearts today in the church, I’m so desperate for God to work. I tried so hard, if there were just an opportunity for the life of God to be poured out, I would do anything, so that all would be able to be ministered by God once again. But week after week, it seems there is no change at all. I became disappointed in myself at times, not being able to understand why God couldn’t work in my service.
Reflecting back, I realised that I have tried to please Him, but I am not really pleasing Him because the faith element is absent. For the bible says, without faith, it is impossible to please God.
Conversely, only by faith can God be pleased. While listening to the sermon, I realised this truth. It suddenly became so clear that I can’t please God even if I want to. I can never be able to please God, but only by faith.
Hebrews 11:1 – ‘Now Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.’
The preacher says that this verse is the definition of faith along with Hebrews 11:6b that says ‘for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.’
The assurance of things hoped for corresponds with the belief of who God is and the conviction of things not seen corresponds with the belief that God is the rewarder.
The bottomline lies in the fact that faith is the belief not in self. For many times, the world has told us “Believe in yourself. You can do it!” That is NOT faith. Faith is not believing in self or in anything, but believing in God.
And it is the believe in God for who he is, for his very nature and the belief that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. I find it difficult to believe sometimes that God will reward us, but this is what the bible says. God is the rewarder. He is the giver. He gives. He rewards!
I thank God because this is absolutely what I needed to know right now. I can have assurance because God is God! I can have the conviction because what I ask for, if it is glorifying to God, will be given to me. I will be rewarded. If I ask for God to work in my church today, I can be certain that he will work because of who he is and because he rewards!
Only with faith, can I be pleasing to him. It is not what I have done that will please him, like improving my singing, reading more bible or becoming holier (if even this could be done). I cannot please him with my own strength because my strength glories myself. Our God wants the glory to be seen. He wants to show the world that He is who He is. He wants to show the world that He is God!
Therefore, let us stop trying to please him in outward service in doing the externals, but let us please Him with faith. Because without faith, whatever we do, even with the right heart, will be wasted away, because it is not pleasing to God.
Let us pray for our church in faith if we want to see God’s hand work. Let us start with prayer because prayer seeks God and seeking God for Him to do his work is pleasing to Him. We can be sure that he will work because he is the rewarder of our faith.
As my examination dates draw near, there is a great temptation to jump straight into studying for my papers beginning each day. It is very easy for me to start my day wrong by focusing on my studies instead of on God. Examination periods are always a period of testing or checking. It tests or checks my desire, whether I desire God more or good grades more.
It is very easy to rationalise and think that for this period, I could cast God aside or put him in second place, just for a while, in order that I could study, and during my holidays, I could just compensate for it by spending more time with God. I was about to think in this manner when I was reminded by something I posted about quite recently, that Our God is a Jealous God. He is jealous for our desires. He wants us to desire Him above all else, and in so doing, not just giving him first place, but every place in our lives.
Today, as I woke up from my sleep, an amusing thing happened and I thank God for it. Before I could even do anything or think about anything, God threw a verse at me. Incidently, it was the verse that has been around recently. Only yesterday, I was reminded of this verse by someone and then again, I read found this verse on a friend’s blog and this morning, this verse popped out in my head:
Romans 8:38-39 – For I am convinced that neither death, nor life nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I thank God, because, first thing in the morning, before I could even think of anything else, he used this very verse to encourage me and give me strength for today.
The verse says nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God. The Lord, by giving me this verse early in the morning, is demonstrating precisely what this verse says. This is so amazing because, I was thinking that I would wake up and wander about and return to the struggle between trying to spend time with God and studying. But today, God didn’t give me a chance to do that. Before I could even trying to spend time with him in order to start the day right, he came to me first. He found me before I could even think of finding him.
As I continued to ponder over this verse, I began to see this words with new meaning. I realised that, if nothing can separate me from the love of God, it really means nothing. This is liberating, because, this so-called dilemma of maintaining intimacy with God against my studies no longer exist. That means that I need not even try at all to juggle God and my studies or even worry about doing that. He just simply takes care of all. God wasn’t going to let the situation during this period to separate me from his love. Indeed, this is something we can take heart and praise God for!
A few verses up in Romans 8:28, it says:
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purposes.
Although Romans 8:28 is a rather frequently-used verse, I have not seen this verse like what God has revealed to me today. This verse is always used in trials and temptations for encouragement that despite all the pain and difficulties, God is using the trials and temptations, in his will, to work something out which is good.
But today, I was drawn to the words: ‘God causes’. This is a great encouragement, for God causes all things to work together for good. I could believe that I ever missed this part of the verse that God actually causes things! God has proved this in my situation. I needn’t try or force myself to concentrate, to not lose focus of him during this exam period. God will draw me near to Him. Who am I to think that I could even cause myself to worship God? God causes. I am certain that God will cause all things to work together for His good, just like how he spoke to me early in the morning before I could even try to do anything. He has caused me to worship Him this morning.
This is our God, the almighty, all-loving God. He seeks us out when we do not want to find him. Nothing can prevent Him from loving us. Nothing, including our very selves. We can trust Him that he will do all in our lives, in order for us to please Him, despite the situation. This is a great promise that we can hold on to.
God will do all these things, in love, because ‘whom He predestined, these He also called, and whom He called, these He also justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified’ (Romans 8:30).
Back to what is a christian, a christian is one of pre-destination. It is by God’s divine appointment. We can work ourselves out to be God’s child. It is either we are or we are not. If God has predestined us to be called His sons and daughters, he will justify us and glorify us. God will cause these things to happen because he has chosen us.
Whether we obey or disobey him, if we are His children, ‘he who began’ his ‘good work’ in us ‘will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus’. (Philippians 1:6) The story of Jonah is a strong affirmation of this. Jonah disobeyed God. He ran away from God, but God sought him out, found him and brought Jonah back to him.
Christians, this is our destiny, for we have been predestined. God causes us to worship Him, for nothing can separate us from His love, if we are His. His purpose in our lives will surely be accomplished as he desires.
One thing I have been brought up with is rules. From young, my parents have been giving me tons of rules to follow, like: Bedtime at 11pm, Coming home straight after school, Listening to one sermon message a day…just to name a few. To make matters worst, in church, there are even more rules to follow. I had to keep silent during worship service, I had to sing the hymns, I had to sit down and listen to the sermon. I had to do so many things and I must not do so many things. Simply put it, they were trying to make me a christian.
Was these things good? Yes, it was good to leading me to christianity, but it was never good in making me a christian.
These rules never made me into a christian, conversely, it did the opposite thing. As I grew older and older, I realised that those rules they set for me are too restrictive. I wanted my own way. I wanted to do what I want. I found many ways to break those rules and I did. Was I wrong? I could argue in the past that I wasn’t because those rules weren’t even about crossing morality lines. For example, sleeping at 11pm. I always hated that rule because to me, sleeping at 11.05pm wasn’t wrong either.
There came the point of time when I just couldn’t abide by those rules anymore. It was a difficult chore for me to keep those rules that my parents set. I was quite afraid because I wasn’t pleasing my parents anymore.
My realisation was brought up to another level. I realised, too, that I wasn’t able to keep those rules that God had set in the bible. I kept on sinning against God unwillingly. No matter how hard I tried, I would fail in this one particular area of sin. I became very afraid because I knew it wasn’t pleasing to God to continue in sin.
I begin to question what it means to be a christian. I asked these questions:
Is a christian someone who doesn’t sin as much? Is he someone who reads the bible and pray every day? Is he someone who goes to church? Is he someone who serves in church? Is he someone who does volunteer community work? Does all these make a christian?
In this world of the 5 senses, it is very easy for one to look at the appearances of things. We observe people and consider what they are doing, then, we make statements of how things should be like. For example, we see people going to church regularly, serving in church, joining church activities or even caring for others and we say, that is how a christian should be.
Using that exterior mould, we then try to fit ourselves into it by doing what these people do. On top of that, we try to be nice at church, we shake a feel hands, we smile at others, trying to make them feel welcome, we do all we can to be a christian. Perhaps not just to be a christian, but to be a good one.
I have tried very hard to be a christian and I failed. I realise that a christian cannot be made.
Last week, my church’s sermon was on identity. One thing I learnt that was very real in life is:
Identity is not about what we do, but who we are. It is not about doing, but about being. Our identity is in our relationship to Christ and this is who we are: sons of God.
Similarly, we may try so hard to do christian-things, thinking that we may improve our spiritual lives, but yet, in God’s eyes, we are not a christian. We can never BE a christian unless we ARE a christian. A christian is who we are and not what we do. That is scary, because all those rules that we try to abide cannot make us better christians. We cannot be made holy by these things.
Galatians 3: 12 – However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them.
Galatians 3:10 – For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them.”
In Galatians, it warns us that if we practice the Law, we shall live by the Law; meaning, if we try to do things that ‘make’ a christian, including trying to force ourselves not to sin, God will look at us using his law. He will judge us according to his Law. It says further that if we do not abide by ALL things; meaning, if we just break the law, we will be judged by it.
How many of us christians are like that? We try to be christians. We try to live a sinless life. We try to do things that make us a christian. This is what we are doing: we are trying to fulfil the law, which is impossible for us to fulfil. As long as we fail a bit, God will judge us as according to the law. We will be judged because we will fail.
Galatians 5:4 – You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the Law; you have fallen from grace
This is very important because the Bible says that if we carrying trying to justify ourselves, we will be severed from Christ and Christ’s grace is no longer for us. We no longer can claim that Christ died for our sins.
Therefore, we should stop trying to fit ourselves into the exterior mould of being a christian, but examine ourselves whether we are in the faith (2 Cor 13:5), because a christian is not made, but is one.
Back to my childhood story about rules, my parents’ rules didn’t make me a christian, but led me to Christ.
Similarly, Galatians 3:24 says: Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith
The Law leads us to Christ. Through it, we know what is right and wrong, but we can never be justified by doing what is right. We are justified by faith. Having been justified by faith, we can now live without obligation to the Law. Christ has set us free from the law. We no longer need to think of doing what is right and what is wrong. All we need to do is to walk by the spirit and naturally, we will do what is right.
Being is fundamental to doing. Everything will flow out of who we are, not what we do.
This is a great truth for a christian! We ARE christians, we need not try to BE one. As one, if we walk by the spirit, we cannot sin and will not sin.
Many people come to God because of blessings and wants, but we need to realise that what we need is not good grades, friends, money, cars, or even security in our lives. We come to him because of needs, and all we need is Him. He,the Lord, is sufficient for us. Let us draw near to him for this very reason. May God speak through the words of this song to us, lest we be one of the empty people in the 1st stanza:
Everyday they pass me by
I can see it in their eyes
Empty people filled with care
Headed who knows where
On they go through private pain
Living fear to fear
Laughter hides the silent cries
Only Jesus hears
Chorus:
People need the Lord
People need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams
He’s the open door
People need the Lord
People need the Lord
When will we realize
People need the Lord
We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right
What could be too great a cost
For sharing life with one who’s lost
Through His love our hearts can feel
All the grief they bear
They must hear the words of life
Only we can share
Chorus
Heb 11:35b-38 – (By faith), others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheep-skins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
We read of all these people who by faith, went through all these things. The question we need to ask ourselves is this: Do we, as christians, identity at all with these people?
Many of us would say that these things can’t happen to us as we live in the 21st century, in a safe land. We should thank God because he has provided for us and that he has kept us safe and sound. This horrendous acts on christians are history, they won’t happen to us. Yes, indeed, we must thank God for his providence.
But Jesus had said in John 15:18-20a - If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you…
Reading this words of Jesus and matching them with Hebrews 11:35b-38, these things that these people went through are simply fulfilment of what Jesus had said. They were persecuted, they were mocked, they were put to death. Why? Because, they were followers of Christ. The World HATED them.
We should then check ourselves this: Are we not persecuted because God is keeping us or are we not persecuted because we are not hated by the world? If it is the former, thanks be to God, but if it is the latter, we better worry.
Do we not realise that we ought to be hated by the world because the world hated Jesus too? Do we not realise that a slave is not greater than his master; and if we truly are disciples of Christ, we would be hated by this world?
One reason why we are hated by this world is because the world love us. John 15:18a – ‘If you were of the world, the world would love its own.’ The world loves us, because we belong to the world still.
This is scary because there are no two ways about it. It is upsetting that today, many areas are greyed. They are greyed by men who wants to create a Christianity of their own, which is not accordance to the one of the bible. They will say: God will protect, God will keep you from harm because he loves you and you are his child.
But we don’t realise that precisely because we are his child and that God loves us, we WILL be hated and persecuted by the world just as the world has hated Jesus, persecuted and killed.
This is the Christianity of the bible!
Do we believe this? Or have we created our own form of Christianity to suit US?
For those who are persecuted and suffering in any form, take heart because of Hebrews 11:38, for you one of the ‘men of whom the world was not worthy’. Previously, I have always misread this portion to take it as, men of whom are not worthy in the world, meaning those of whom the world do not consider worthy are persecuted. But no, the bible doesn’t say that.
It says: men of whom the world was not worthy. It does not mean that the world does not consider us worthy, but conversely, the world is not worthy for us. What a big claim this is! The entire world is not worthy for sufferers for Christ Jesus. This is definitely something we can take heart it! Look at how much we are valued by God, that even the world is not worthy of us.
1 Peter begins with Peter addressing those who reside as aliens or strangers of this world (verse 1). Who is he addressing, but us, christians.
We are strangers of this world. This world is not our home. It hates us. It wants to persecute us. It cannot live at peace with us. Because it hates our Father who is in heaven.
