The Gift of the Holy Spirit!

‘Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”’ – John 6:35-40 NIV

Don’t we wish to feel the presence of God and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit all the time? We only get very motivated to do something when the Spirit of God empowers us. I wish I could feel the empowerment of the Spirit all the time, so I can get motivated to do God’s will. I think I am kind of perfectionism at theology or on Christian living, so I also wish that I could make no mistake on living God-centred life. If I was God, I would definitely make those happen for every one of those who are willing to believe in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ has assured His disciples and us that no one is able to come and believe in Him unless God has enabled them (John 6:63-65). However, God loves every one of us and is willing to pour His Spirit into us. Psalm 103:8 tells us that He is compassionate and gracious God who is slow to anger and abounding in love. Our job is to make a decision to follow Him through faith for the rest of our lives. I know this because I had an encounter of the Spirit around 2011. I was thinking only about people and I did not include God in my thoughts at all. I felt the Spirit was telling me to get to know Jesus better. Furthermore, I received the spiritual gift from God to be a Christian Writer. Because of these, I agree with Jesus when He has said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12) Although I do not feel the empowerment of the Spirit all the time, I know that it is God’s will to do Christian Writing. As I write, I think I always feel the empowerment of the Spirit. Hence, I just have to make a decision to start Christian-writing. Nevertheless, everybody has different gifts and style of using them. I believe those gifts do not have to be spiritual and they are matter of how people are using them to serve God and others (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Peter 4:10-11).

Meditate on John 14:15-27 and John 16:7-15. Ask yourself a question: “Have I ever asked God for the gift of the Holy Spirit?” If you have, then ask yourself this: “How can I be sure of this? Am I being obedient to the Spirit of God in my ordinary life?” If you have not asked God for the gift of the Holy Spirit, ask Him now because He desperately wants to pour His Spirit into all of us. Continue asking Him for the gift and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, even though you know that you have received Him.

Jesus Christ, the Living Water!

‘Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”’ – John 6:35-40 NIV

Water is essential to the body of humans. According to my research, about one half to two thirds of an average person’s weight is made out of the water. Because of fat tissue and women are likely to have more fat, the percentage of the water in the average women’s bodies is 52% to 55%. Average men tend to have about 60% of water in their bodies. When we are losing water in our bodies or become thirsty, we drink fluids to compensate for water loss and to get rid of thirst.

The content of the story of Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman and the context of John 7:37-41 state that Jesus Christ is the living water because of the Spirit of God. God has poured His Spirit into those who are willing to believe in Jesus after the crucifixion and the resurrection of Him (John 16:7-15). In fact, before He was crucified, He promises His disciples that God is going to send the Holy Spirit as the advocate to help them to stay connected to Him (John 14:15-27). As humans cannot live without the water, they are not able to come to Jesus and believe in Him without the Spirit of God. This means we cannot understand every Scriptures that are in the Bible as the Bible is about knowing Jesus Christ and how to follow Him through faith (Romans 1:16-17). Jesus has said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” in John 7:37-38.

Tomorrow, I am going to talk more about the gift of the Holy Spirit in the context of John 6:36-37. Nevertheless, ask yourself a question today: “Have I received the gift Holy Spirit from God? What can I do to receive the Holy Spirit?”

Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life!

‘Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”’ – John 6:35-40 NIV

Bread is one of the most popular food in the world. It can be eaten as a snack or counted as one of the necessary food during the day. I often eat it as a snack but some countries count it as breakfast or lunch with other food. Variety food can be made with bread, such as hamburgers and sandwiches. My favourite hamburger has to be ‘Angry Angus Steakhouse’ and my favourite sandwich is ‘Grilled Cheese’ sandwich. Cakes are made out of bread as well.

Jesus Christ proclaims to be the bread of the life. This does not mean that we should not eat bread and any food that includes bread. Jesus could possibly mean that He is the ingredient of the life as John 14:6 states that He is the way of the truth and the life. After the proclamation, He said, “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry…” The word ‘hungry’ in this phrase is another definition for ‘unfulfilled’ or ‘unsatisfied.’ I think this can be related to Bible readings because the Bible is often known as the spiritual food. Apostle Paul explains that the Bible is God’s word in 2 Timothy 3:16. Since God’s written word is there to guide us in Christian living (Philippians 1:27-29) and—Jesus had been God in the human flesh (John 1:14)—the more we read the Bible, the more satisfactory will our Christian lives become by putting it to practice (James 1:22-25). “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12). God wants to communicate to us in our daily lives.

Tomorrow, I anticipate writing more about John 6:35. Meditate on Psalm 1:1-3 and ask yourself a question today: “Am I being nourished by God’s written word?” If you think you are not being nourished by it, then ask yourself this question: “What do I have to do or what do I have to change in my daily lives, in order to spend time with God by reading His word?” Make Bible-reading as the part of your daily routine today!

The Context of John 6:35-40 (The Importance of the Bridge)!

'Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”' – John 6:35-40 NIV

If we look at the context of John 6:35-40, we know that Jesus Christ was making the bridge between the culture world and the Bible world. We know this by looking at several verses before John 6:35. The bridge for this is probably divided into two bridges because there are two everyday examples. The first one is probably in John 6:26-27. Jesus was talking about His miracle of distribution of the bread that fed the five thousand people (John 6:1-15). The second bridge starts from John 6:30 to John 6:34. People had been wanting a miraculous sign, such as the manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16), to believe in Christ. These two bridges were the connection that Jesus used to illustrate that He is the bread of the life. In my point of view, the miracle of the distribution of the bread and manna in the wilderness are the signs of God to explain how important Jesus Christ is to our lives.

Although using everyday examples are good bridge to connect the culture world to the Bible world, I believe experiences are the best bridge ever. Whether you are Christian or not, it is good to make one or more accountable partners who is Christian and who loves to listen and share experiences. If you are wanting to become a believer in Jesus Christ but do not know how to, it is good to listen to experiences of Christians. While you are listening, let the Spirit of God be your guide. If you are experienced Christian, it is still good to listen and share experiences as these might inspire and encourage you or to other Christians. The Bible states that nobody is able to do spiritual life alone. In other words, we need each other to live our lives spiritually.

Jesus Christ, the Glorious Life!

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” – Colossians 3:1-4 NIV

We love living our lives, especially when everything goes in right way. However, we may hate our lives for a moment when things go wrong or when we make mistakes.  I think I used to hate my life when I have not been living God-centred life. I used to watch television and play games to let my mind rest from theology. I think I was kind of afraid that I will think those things are peace of God and I used to hate when I get headaches from theology. My mentor kept disciplining me to believe that recreation from theology is part of God’s plan. I agree with her. I believe everyone grows spiritually as they mature in the faith. Hence, I think our minds are going to develop spiritually as we mature in the faith as well. Nevertheless, I need to be-careful on what I watch. Although some movies and dramas are quite ungodly, my worst fear is that I might get addiction in watching television. Because of addictions, I had to delete computer games.

Although following Jesus Christ until the end of the age can be quite hard, we need to persevere (Romans 5:1-5). In fact, the Bible proclaims that following Him is hard and narrow road (Matthew 7:13-14). Why do people follow Christ through faith then? It is because they believe that Jesus is the way of the truth and the life (John 14:6) and that He has given eternal life to those who follow Him (John 11:25-26). God has provided the way of the truthful life to us by sending Jesus Christ to be crucified for our sins. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) By His crucifixion and resurrection, God torn the heavenly curtain that separated Himself and us so we can stay connected with Him forever (Matthew 27:51-53). Since we receive heavenly citizenship of the Kingdom of God (cf. Philippians 3:18-21) and become children of God if we believe in Jesus Christ (cf. John 1:12-13), let us believe and do good works in Him until the end of the age (Titus 3:3-8). “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10) God has promised us that there would be no more mourning, crying, or pain in the kingdom of heaven (Revelation 21:4).

Meditate on Titus 2:11-14 and ask God to reveal these verses to you through His Spirit and make 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 as your life Bible verses today! Good song to listen to is ‘Glory’ by Jaeson Ma.  

Spiritual Heart and Mind!

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” – Colossians 3:1-4 NIV

When we want to do something, we may have to think several steps ahead. For example, when we want to buy a car or something, we have to calculate its costs and may have to calculate daily costs, such as data bills, phone bills, etc. For this reason, I think we plan out what we are going to do in the future, especially if we want to buy something. I think I would do this, sometimes. Therefore, working in the church is like my backup work, due to the fact that my first goal is to be a Christian Writer. It is same with spiritual life.

Since God has given eternal life in Jesus Christ and that Jesus is the eternal One, we have to set our hearts and mind on things above, instead of earthly things. I only want to buy necessary things if needed, such as clothes and food. Other than this, I want to do everything to glorify God. The main reason that I want to become a Christian Writer is to glorify Him through writing and to preach the importance of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.  I want to work in Windsor Park Baptist Church as well in the future. The peace of God flows within me when I am in the church other than Sundays. Although theological studies can be quite hard, I am willing to persevere it, in order to get the knowledge of God as much as possible, to put it into effect when I become a Christian Writer. The empowerment of the Spirit of God leads me to become a Christian Writer. My wish for being a Christian Writer is that I can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ through writing effectively, regardless of how much money I am going to make. To be more specific, money is important but not important as influencing others spiritually through writing.

Ask yourself a question today: “What am I living for? Am I living for the world or for the glory of God?” If you are living for the glory of God, then ask yourself this question: “How I can glorify God in everything that I do?” Meditate on Romans 12:1-2 and follow your heart on what the empowerment of the Spirit leads you to do (James 4:4-5). Good life Bible verses for this would be Romans 8:28-30!

Water Baptism!

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” – Colossians 3:1-4 NIV

When sweat comes along in our bodies, we have to shower to keep our bodies refreshed. Otherwise, our bodies may be smelly up to the point where people would not want to come near us. We still need to shower daily, even if we do not sweat, in order to keep our bodies healthy. For instance, I take shower every day. It is same with water baptism. Shower makes our bodies clean externally but water baptism makes Christians internally clean. Although they may have not sinned physically, every people have spiritually sinned, to be honest. There is Satan, the devil, within us who keeps making us to drift apart from the truth. God forgives us as soon as we repent humbly because of His steadfast love but we need to be water-baptised as well. This does not mean we need to be water-baptised daily. The Spirit of God comes along within us to help us to do God’s will as soon as we get baptised. Hence, we need to be water-baptised only once. I thought that I need to be baptised all over again when I realised that I had selfishness in me. I tried to make myself valuable by having celebrations and inviting my friends. A couple of years later and when I came back New Zealand, I saw the church’s e-mail newsletter one day which included information about water-baptism. I asked my mentor about it and my situation because I was not sure whether I have been clothed with Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:26-27). She confirmed me by saying that the followers of Christ have been changing spiritually by the Holy Spirit and I do not have to worry. Hebrews 10:14 tell us that the we have been made perfect by the blood of Christ and power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I think water-baptism is the symbol of confirmation in spiritual-birth as a child of God (John 3:3-8; cf. John 1:12-13). Once we have been baptised, we become a new creation with the living Spirit of God (Romans 6:3-4).

Ask yourself questions today: “Have I proclaimed my faith of Jesus Christ to God by the symbol of water-baptism?” and “Am I really living as a child of God?” If you have been baptised but are not sure about living as a child of God, then ask God to renew your faith in Jesus Christ. If you have not been water-baptised, then tell one of your closest spiritual mentor, pastor, friend about it and get water-baptised in your church or at one of the areas, where you can do full-immersion in the water.

The Context of Colossians 3:1-4!

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” – Colossians 3:1-4 NIV

Colossians 3:1-4 is the first paragraph under the heading of ‘Living as Those Made Alive in Christ.’ Apostle Paul was probably instructing on how to live as God’s raised people in the name of Jesus Christ to those who got baptised in His name. Baptism is usually known as the public confession of faith in Him to fellow Christians. However, it is deeper than that, I believe. It is not only external proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ, but it is also internal one as well. Baptism candidates are able to confess to God that they would be willing to be obedient followers of Christ as well as to others. My favourite book and chapter of the Bible about baptism is Romans 6, so have a read to find out what it means to live as “baptised-people” in the name of Jesus. Overall, Apostle Paul is talking about godly attributes in Colossians 3:1-4, so he was probably prompting Colossians to concentrate on God and what they are living for, instead of visible things.

Tomorrow, I anticipate on writing further on the baptism.

Following Jesus Christ Part 2!

‘Then Jesus began to tell them [His disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.

Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”’ – Mark 8:31-38 NLT

We like most recent items, clothes etc. so we tend to buy them or get them updated, even though we know that they are temporary. My mother really likes to buy new clothes for her, my sister and me. I am not a “clothes person.” I think I am kind of “technological person” in a sense that I like to get them updated and get new features. For example, I like my iPad to be updated from time to time and get new applications, if possible, because iPad is a great gadget for me. I do most of things I need to do on my iPad or laptop, such as writing and posting devotionals. Thus, I count them as my “tools.” They help me to communicate with others as well, due to my disability in talking.

As we looked into Mark 8:34-38 yesterday, Jesus Christ wants us to give our lives to Him since He is the bridge between humans and God. “For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity--the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5) Since we probably know God is eternal (Psalm 90:1-2) and 1 John 2:15-17 states that everything in the world is going to fade away, why don’t we give our lives up to Him by surrendering to Jesus Christ? We cannot take anything and ourselves with us to kingdom of heaven at the end of the age (1 Timothy 6:7). Nonetheless, God can take us to His Kingdom, if we are willing to surrender to Jesus by believing in Him. He loves us so much and wants to take all of us at the end of the age. We know this because Jesus Christ has paid our death penalty and given us eternal life in Him (John 3:16-18; 1 John 4:9-10). “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Therefore, let us consider that Jesus Christ is the Good News and get satisfaction in Him rather than things of the world. We can probably do this in several ways but I think two primary methods for abiding in Jesus are by meditating on His written Word, which is the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and by prayer (Philippians 4:4-7). However, we should open our minds and let the Holy Spirit to flow within us.

Ask yourself a question today: “Am I getting my satisfaction in Jesus Christ or things of the world?” If you think your satisfaction comes from things of the world, then meditate on Romans 5:6-11 and ask the Lord to reveal those verses to you! We should also meditate on Colossians 3:1-4 and pray that our eyes of the heart be enlightened towards Him. In addition to this, let us not forget to also ask Him to let the Holy Spirit continually flow within us (Luke 11:11-13).

Following Jesus Christ Part 1!

‘Then Jesus began to tell them [His disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.

Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”’ – Mark 8:31-38 NLT

We often hear “make your life most of it because you live only once” or something like this. This saying has got an acronym, which is ‘Y.O.L.O.’ Our inclination is to live our lives up to full potential on how we want to be lived out. In other words, we try to make many opportunities as possible. However, Jesus Christ gives His disciples and everyone a strict teaching. The teaching is to give our lives up to Him. The reason that Jesus has given this teaching is probably because He is the way of truthful life (John 14:6). When we read John 14:6-7, we notice that He is the bridge between humans and God. I believe this is the main reason that Jesus Christ made Himself as a human beings and dwelt on the earth a couple of centuries ago (Hebrews 2:14-15). In fact, the Bible states that He was the perfect image of God. This means that God sent Himself into the world to be crucified on the cross. Since God knows everything and people do not (Romans 11:33-36), He let Jesus to be crucified, to make Him a perfect bridge between God and people through faith. I cannot stop sinning to God. There were probably many times I failed to be a perfect follower of Jesus. Because of we cannot be perfect followers of Jesus Christ, God has poured His Spirit into us, to make us holy and perfect in Him (Hebrews 10:14). Therefore, we have to let the Holy Spirit to overtake us and renew our minds to do the will of God (Romans 12:1-2).

Tomorrow, we are going to conclude this devotional series by looking at Mark 8:34-38 with different perspective. Ask yourself a question today: “Am I living up to my own standard of life, or am I living up to God’s standard through the Holy Spirit?” If you are living up to your own standard of life, then meditate on Romans 12:1-2 and make it as your life Bible verses today!

Thoughts of God is Higher than Human's!

‘Then Jesus began to tell them [His disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.

Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”’ – Mark 8:31-38 NLT

As Jesus Christ was reminding His disciples that He must be crucified and would rise from the dead three days after, Peter was trying rebuke Jesus for saying such things and to say that these do not have to happen (Mark 8:32). At that moment, He probably thought that crucifying oneself is not the will of God. Jesus knew that Satan had devoured Perter because He said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” (Mark 8:33) This seems like that Jesus was kept reminding Himself that He must be crucified on the cross. If I was Apostle Peter, I would rebuke Jesus as well and ask Him whether there is better way other than being crucified on the cross. With wearing Peter’s shoes, I would certainly not let Jesus to be crucified and tell Him that He has got wrong theology. Nonetheless, Jesus had a bigger picture in mind and was not willing to fail His mission on the earth. I think this is amazing. I believe my natural tendency is to think about future but I believe it would very hard to persevere what Jesus had to do. Isaiah 55:8-9 states, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’ Because of my mentor’s disciplinary words, I realised that I tend to overthink and need to go with flow of the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). One of my life Bible-verses are Proverbs 3:5-8. These verses are talking about trusting in the Lord, even though life seems hard.

Meditate on Isaiah 55:8-9 and ask yourself a question today: “Am I overthinking about my future?” If so, meditate on 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 and ask the Lord to sanctify and flow with the Spirit, wherever you go and whatever you are doing. Trust in God and go with flow of the Spirit. Remember God has got you despite of what you are!

The Obedience of Jesus Christ!

‘Then Jesus began to tell them [His disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.

Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”’ – Mark 8:31-38 NLT

Today, we are going to look at Mark 8:31 and what led Jesus Christ to be crucified on the cross.

Obedience and Honour are crucial behaviours that people need to have. They are advocates to develop every kind of relationship. We often think of parents when we think about such words. I believe there are words that we can use in friendship settings as well. I think being obedient to a friend and to anyone means to keep promises and honouring someone means to value them.  It is kind of hard to honour and become obedient to some of my family members as our desires do not match. However, my mentor searched the meaning of my name in Google, to say prophetic word to me. According to Google, the overall definition of Kevin is a handsome man with kindness, gentleness. My mentor told me that I am the gentlest person that she knows. She proclaimed to God that I am no longer to slave, judgement and dishonour. I guess these encouraged to be more of gentle and honourable person than before. Hence, I need to apply kindness and gentleness to my family members. I guess the Holy Spirit has been convicting me to realise that family comes first before anyone else.

Although Jesus Christ had to suffer many terrible things before His resurrection, He honoured His Father in everything that He did and was being obedient to Him. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who came down into the earth in the human flesh (John 1:14), and the Bible states His mission on the earth was to be crucified on the cross for our sins. He persevered all the suffering that He had to have, including His crucifixion, because He did not want to disappoint His Father (Luke 22:42). He also longed to sit at the right hand of the Father when He was resurrected (Hebrews 1:3). When it was the process of leading Jesus to His crucifixion, He was taken to Sanhedrin, the high priest. He asked Jesus whether He was “the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One.” He answered, “I AM. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:53-62).

Tomorrow, I anticipate writing about Mark 8:32-33 and about God’s thoughts are higher than humans’. Ask yourself a question today: “Am I honouring God and everyone else around me and being obedient them? If not, how I can change this?” In addition to this, look up what your name defines in Google by searching ‘the meaning of the name…’ Ask God to reveal it to you through the Holy Spirit as this may encourage you to live what God has called you to be.

The Context of Mark 8:31-38!

‘Then Jesus began to tell them [His disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.

Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”’ – Mark 8:31-38 NLT

Today, I would like to start devotional series on Mark 8:31-38. I know this Bible passage is big but I think when we read and think about it, it is not a big passage. I actually was planning to write only Mark 8:34-38 but some of the Bible passages are interlinked with each other. Because of this, I am convicted to write about what led to Mark 8:34-38. Overall, I believe writing devotional about Mark 8:31-38 is quite necessary for an Advent Season.

In the chapter eight of Mark’s gospel, from verse 31 to 38, talks about the prediction of Jesus’ death. To be more specific, Jesus Christ wanted His disciples to know what would happen later on to Him. He probably wanted them to get ready for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, so they would not get troubled spirit. 

Tomorrow, we are going to look at the reason that Jesus had to suffer many terrible things.

Energised for God!

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” - Romans 12:9-11 NIV

Today, we are going to conclude our devotional series by looking at what it means to be motivated throughout our daily lives.

Motivations would be overflowed within us when we want to do something desperately. For example, I am motivated to finish theology. In fact, I am so motivated to study theology until it reaches to my limit. Nevertheless, when we are motivated to do something, our capacity for learning is least of our worries. I believe the specific meaning of motivation is empowerment. Thus, motivator defines someone who stir us up to the full potential on how we want to be lived out. A person who motivates me the most is my mentor. She wants to nurture me in the faith and is great supporter in fulfilling my dream. In other words, she prompts me to move forward in the faith of Jesus Christ through the Spirit of God.

God has poured His Spirit into us, as an advocate, to move forward through the faith of Jesus Christ (John 14:15-27). Thus, we have to recognise the Holy Spirit as our greatest motivator. The Spirit of God is not just the Holy Spirit, but He is also the Spirit of the righteousness (Romans 8:1-17), the Spirit of the life (John 6:63-65), the Spirit of the truth (John 16:7-15), and the Spirit of the freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). I think I became a true follower of Jesus Christ in one of the potluck parties because of the empowerment of the Spirit. I felt the Spirit was prompting me to know Jesus better. The main reason for this is probably I was in religious side. To be more specific, I was pleasing people, instead of God. I did not think about Him at all. Two years later, I received spiritual gift. The Spirit of God has been empowering me to write devotional since October of 2013. Because of these, I am grateful to God and I found my dream, which is to become a Christian Writer. We are probably able to receive the Spirit of God if we desire to know God, even though this is completely in God’s timing (Luke 11:11-13). God desires us to know Him as much as possible, due to the fact that we are created by God and to be His children through faith in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14).

Unity, the Another Aspect of Love!

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” - Romans 12:9-11 NIV

Yesterday, we looked at what love means in the context of Romans 12:9-11 but we are going to look at another aspect of love today.

Since we know love is a characteristic attribute that shows highest regard to someone, it is what unites people together. Love is the top form of characteristic attributes. A long time ago, one of my friends invited me to come to Saint John’s Anglican Church on Sunday morning. The priest or one of the leaders gave the congregation a quiz about the fruit of the Spirit. I think the question was: “What is the best characteristic attribute Christians should have out of the fruit of the Spirit?” The fruit of the Spirit includes “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Another friend of mine, who also go there, had same answer as mine. Our answer was that love combines the rest of the fruit of the Spirit. I think that answer was the best out of the rest of answers. Another example of love comes with unity is the illustration of Jesus Christ and God when He came down to the earth. Jesus Christ was the Son of God. God’s intention for Jesus was that He had to be crucified on the cross for people’s sins. Although Jesus did not want to crucify Himself on the cross because of the suffering, He persevered what He had to do (Luke 22:42). He longed to be at the highest place and His name to be above every name three days after the crucifixion (Philippians 2:6-11).

As human beings now take part in the body of Jesus Christ, God wants us to love one another, in order to be in perfect unity (John 17:20-26). Thus, we can glorify God as one body of Christ (Romans 15:5-6). Therefore, we should live our lives as the children of the light (1 Thessalonians 5:5-11) as well as the light of the world, that others can glorify God through us (Matthew 5:13-16). I think I had a couple of groups of church members that were in unity. We used to go restaurants after church services to grab a bite and for some fellowship. I thought about this and wondering about how my New Zealand church members could be united. The main reason that I want to be united with church families is that I consider them as my family in Christ. To be in unity with one another, I believe we should humble ourselves up to point that we are honouring them above us.

Tomorrow, we are going to conclude the series by looking at what it means to have spiritual fervor with us. Ask yourself a question today: “What life would look like if Christians are gathered together and how we are able to make that happen in our lives?”

Loving One Another on the Foundation of God!

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” - Romans 12:9-11 NIV

Today, we are going to look at Romans 12:9-10 and how they should be applied to our lives.

We often consider the word ‘love’ as a highest regard to someone, such as our life-time partner, fiancé/fiancée, and girlfriend/boyfriend. When we love and put our highest regard to someone, then that person becomes our highest priority. We also can use the word ‘love’ to our family members, friends and material things when we consider them as precious. I realised that I am not loving my family. Instead of loving my family, I am loving my friends. It is so hard to love my family because desires do not match and I do not fellowship with them, to be honest, except for what I need from them I think. While I was growing up, I took family’s love and care of me as a granted, even though my family kept disciplining me to love my family members first. Because of this, I think loving others more than my family members became a habit of mine. However, I also think love is a process and comes from fellowshipping each other. Hence, I need to fellowship with them, to actually love them.

Because God consider Himself as love, I believe God is the foundation of love (1 John 4:7-8). Since He showed His love toward us by sending His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to crucify Himself on the cross for our sins, we should love one another. The Bible states that by loving each other, we are able to show that God is living within us (1 John 4:9-12). Love became the fulfilment of the law of God according to Apostle Paul (Romans 13:8-10). Apostle Peter proclaims, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8) in the context of ‘Living for God.’ Love is what binds us together (Colossians 3:14).  My mentor told me that she does not take any offense. Therefore, she told me that I do not have to apologise to her because she is able to see how I am changing through the Spirit of God. I believe this is one of illustrations of loving each other deeply.

Tomorrow, I am going to continue writing about the love of God but in the aspect of unity Ask yourself a question for today: “What kind of love do I have towards others and how do I attain godly love that honours God and others at same time?”

The Context of Romans 12:9-11!

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” - Romans 12:9-11 NIV

The context of Romans 12:9-11 is under the topic of ‘Love in Action’ in New International Version. Apostle Paul was writing to all in Rome. He probably wanted everyone to be converted into the faith of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1-6) and reached into the unity as one body of Christ (Romans 12:3-8). In other words, Paul probably was very eager to share His faith to every people who lived in Rome. As for me, I have to say that I am quite eager to share my faith of Jesus Christ. Although I cannot meet every people and countries, I am always grateful to God about me having a spiritual gift, which is Christian Writing. My grandmother proclaimed that it is unfortunate that I have disabilities because I cannot do normal things like people do. At that moment, I declared that I have a special writing skill that I am grateful for. I mentioned writing skill has given by God I think. During I was in South Korea before I came back to New Zealand, I kept proclaiming wonders of God to one family member of mine and it was so refreshing. I wish more of that could happen in New Zealand and wherever I go.

Tomorrow, I am going to write about what it means to love others in the context of Romans 12:9-10. Although I believe writing devotionals on different topics are good except I need to work on certain bits, I also think doing devotional series are good. Thus, I might try that for several weeks. I thought that I could write devotionals only for weekdays in same topics but I think I cannot. Hence, I am going to write devotionals every day in my holiday and I am hoping to continue writing devotionals during my Carey studies as well.

Jesus Christ, the True Vine!

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” – John 15:1-8 NIV

Jesus Christ was explaining how important He is to His disciples before His crucifixion. The is probably because they would get trouble-hearted from the world later on, such as persecution and abandonment because of faith in Jesus Christ (John 15:18-25). Hence, He used some of metaphors to build a bridge for His disciples to stay connected with Him, even though He is going to be crucified on the cross. Thus, He started to tell them that He is the true vine, God as the gardener and they are like branches. To be more specific, Jesus is probably like a tree. The vital key to connect with Him is through faith. The reason that God can be considered as a gardener probably is that He is the Judge of all living (James 4:12) but a compassionate and gracious one (Psalm 103:8).

As gardeners take care of plants within their gardens and tree is a perennial plant, God compassionately and graciously sent Jesus Christ to crucify Himself on the cross for our sins (1 John 4:9-10). When Jesus was crucified, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Matthew 27:51) We know Matthew 27:51 means that separation between God and human being has ended because of Matthew 27:52-53. After the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has poured His Spirit into people, to let them connect with Jesus through faith and guide them through their walks in Him (John 14:15-27,16:7-15).

With the guidance of the Spirit, people are able to have and develop “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). The reasons for this probably is that God has full potential of them and He wants us to develop them as we have been created to be the image of God. However, He gives them freely. This means we are able to have them without the guidance of the Spirit but they are only temporary as I think they often fail. I believe we do not have great mind-set like God does (Isaiah 55:8-9). For example, my top desire is Jesus Christ and everything that is to do with Him but I also love playing Pokemon games. I enjoy playing them so much, that I cannot control my mind on anything else. Thus, I had to delete them off my laptop. Another example of mine is that I thought I could control my mind and I downloaded a Yu-Gi-Oh game. After a while, I had to delete it. I did not have an addiction of it because I know where my true satisfaction lies. However, I kept wanting just to turn it on. I guess this was different kind of addiction. Therefore, we have to let the Holy Spirit to penetrate our souls as we are staying in Jesus Christ. This may take a lot of time to develop every characteristic attributes of the fruit of the Spirit but would it be wonderful to have those attributes wherever we go and whatever we do? Hebrews 10:14 states that we become perfect in Him through the Spirit. We should not think of having and improving those attributes is a religious routine but rather a godly routine that is overflowed with the grace of God. To do this, I think we have to comprehend the love of God completely (1 John 4:7-21).

The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

“It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” – Hebrews 9:23-28 NIV

The context of Hebrews 9:6-28 is about the comparison between the blood of the animal sacrifices and the blood of Jesus Christ. Before the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, high priests only could wash their and their people’s sins away by the specific requirements that were given by God. The writer of Hebrews wrote, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22) I think the book of Leviticus explains in detail of the animal sacrifices that had to be made. This probably means that people had to go to their priests for confession of their sins.

Unfortunately, animal sacrifices could not wash sins away because every human being has never been perfect. Hebrews 9:13 declares, “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.” This is probably one of the reason that Jesus Christ had to be crucified for our sins. I believe God’s intention for Christ’s crucifixion is that He is trying to make people inwardly cleaned. When God had assigned Samuel to choose a person to be a king of Israel, He said, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) The writer of Hebrews continues on from the verse 13 and proclaimed, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

What happens if we accidentally sin, even though we know that eternal life is secured because of the faith in Jesus Christ? While I was reading ‘God’s Word for Today’s World’ by John R. W. Scott, I guess I learnt about salvation of God in the context of John 13:1-17. We know Jesus was talking about feet washing when He said to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (John 13:8) Peter replied, “Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” (John 13:9) Jesus proclaimed His disciples and we only need to wash feet washing, which probably means a daily forgiveness from God, followed by our repentance. The main reason for this is that every believer is saved spiritually as means of justified or regenerated by God through the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 2:14-15 states, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Overall, God is able to forgive us if we repent to Him wholeheartedly because of His steadfast love (Psalm 103:8). We do not have to go to High priests, in order to confess our sins; we can go straight to God through faith in Jesus Christ (1 John 1:8-2:2).

Since we have been saved spiritually by God and we know that eternal life is secured because of the faith in Jesus Christ, we just have to follow the Spirit of God, who has given to us by God (Romans 5:1-5). This does not mean that we have to become perfect by our own strength. If we are believing in Jesus, then the Spirit is going to make us perfect in Christ (Hebrews 10:14). My mentor keeps on disciplining me not to rush to have perfect knowledge and passion of God but just to follow the Spirit. She told me that they come as we mature in the faith of Jesus Christ. I think I was rushing into them as I have been wanting to become a faithful and obedient child of God. Therefore, not rushing into things and following the Spirit are the ones I have to work on as a follower of Jesus Christ with complete reliance on God (Proverbs 3:5-8). If we believe in Jesus Christ, then God is going to provide everything for us (Romans 8:31-32). Moreover, we would not be condemned by God. Instead of His condemnation, we would have eternal life and enter the kingdom of heaven at the end of the age (John 3:16-18). In fact, we become His children (John 1:12-13) and would get citizenship of heaven (Philippians 3:18-21) as soon as we come into the faith of Jesus Christ. Thus, let us take what Apostle said in 2 Timothy 4:7-8 into our own contexts and trust in God wholeheartedly. I cannot wait that I will be brought up into kingdom of God at the end of my physical life and spend eternity with Him. I guess I have to consider 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 as one of my main life Bible verses.

Jesus Christ has Risen!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words. – Luke 24:1-8 NIV

The context of Luke 24:1-12 is about Jesus, who has been raised from the dead. Everyone who looked up to Jesus was astonished, even though Jesus already told them that He will be raised after three days of His crucifixion. Although the women who saw that He was not in the tomb told apostles about it, they did not believe about it. However, Peter, one of the apostles went to the tomb and wondered about what happened to the body of Jesus. Apostles probably needed an evidence before they come to the belief, especially Thomas (John 20:24-28). Jesus replied to him like this: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

 The main reason that God sent Jesus Christ to crucify Himself on the cross probably is that God desires to restore the relationship between Him and humans. God loves them. However, Satan, the enemy of God, hovered and took control of all of them. We know this when we look into the Scriptures, such as Romans 5:12-14. People became more independent as they rely on ourselves, instead of relying on God. I think human’s independence started as the first couple of God had eaten a fruit in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:1-19). Since human’s independence would go on forever, God sent His beloved and only Son to die on the cross as an atonement of our sins. Thus, we can become righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Although we do not know the exact reason that Satan has been existed within humans, I believe that the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus has been powerful evidence that every human being should believe in Him, in order to know God (John 14:6-7). The crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ probably would attract us to believe in God. Jesus Christ has stated, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)

Since God has loved us from the beginning, Jesus Christ was crucified not only for our sins but to give us eternal life in Him (Romans 6:23). Thus, we could spend time with God forever from the end of our physical lives (John 14:1-4). Because of this and since He has created us in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), I believe God has given us a privilege to become His own children if we believe in Jesus (John 1:12-13). Apostle Paul has said, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” (Ephesians 1:4-5) When people brought their children to Jesus, His disciples tried to make them go away from Him. At that moment, Jesus has said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:13-15). When I think of Matthew 19:14, I think of the word ‘dependence.’ I think children depends on their parents for everything. I depend on my parents to pay my school fees and guide me through my theological studies. However, I realised that I need to depend more on God, instead of my parents. This is because I know He can provide everything I need to live my life through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). While Jesus was on the mountainside to teach His disciples and the crowds, He said, “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” (Matthew 5:3). Therefore, let us learn to depend more on God for everything during this Advent season. Matthew 6:33 declares, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

Jesus Christ, the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace!

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” – Isaiah 9:6-7 NIV

Prophet Isaiah is probably talking about the coming of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God in Isaiah 9:1-7. This is because Isaiah 9 starts off with “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress...” and verse 7 states, “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” I also know Isaiah 9:1-7 is talking about God’s Kingdom as they relate to Revelation 21:3-4. Revelation 21:4 proclaims that God is going to wipe every tear from eyes of the human being and there would be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”

Firstly, Jesus Christ came down from heaven, as the image of God, but in the human flesh (John 1:14). This is probably the reason that He was a little baby when God made Him to come out of virgin Mary’s womb. I also think we know that Jesus Christ was the image of God in the human flesh because of the context of Matthew 1:18-25. Matthew 1:23 states, ‘“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).’ GotQuestions Ministries says,

To say that Jesus would be called "Immanuel" means Jesus is God and that He dwelt among us in His incarnation and that He is always with us. Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus was God making His dwelling among us (John 1:1,14). No, Jesus' name was not Immanuel, but Jesus was the meaning of Immanuel, "God with us." Immanuel is one of the many titles for Jesus, a description of who He is.

As Jesus Christ is the image of God in the flesh (Colossians 1:15), I believe He is known as Mighty God and Everlasting Father, due to the fact that He knows and has created everything from the beginning (Revelation 1:8). I think because He is omnipotent (Ephesians 3:20-21), omnipresent (Colossians 1:16-17) and omniscient (Romans 11:33-36) God, He has many titles and names. Other than these, God has wanted to have relationship with every human being again, He sent Jesus Christ to crucify Himself on the cross for our sins and has given us eternal life through Him (Hebrews 2:14-15). Moreover, God has poured His Spirit into us as the counselor to help us know the way and the truth He has intended us to walk in. The Spirit of God is probably like a substitute guide for Jesus (John 14:15-27). This is one of the reasons that Jesus had to be crucified and resurrected three days after (John 16:7-15).

While Jesus Christ was on the earth, He began to preach after He was baptised by John and tested in the wilderness. Matthew 4:17 states, ‘From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”’ If we put this into other words, Jesus began to preach like “Repent, for the eternal life has come near.” I know true eternal life is when we get to kingdom of heaven at the end of the age but I also believe eternal life happens as soon as we receive the Spirit of God. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) I think John 11-25-26 gives hint of having eternal life while we are on the earth because Jesus has said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Therefore, let us open our hearts and be open-minded to receive the Holy Spirit from God (Luke 11:11-13) and follow the leadings and promptings of the Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25). Let us also continue to pray like “Let the earth be like the kingdom of heaven!” We can take Matthew 6:10 as the main verse of the Kingdom-living. If we follow the Holy Spirit, I think we can have the peace of God within us. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)

The Grace of God Leads to Salvation in Jesus Christ!

‘For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.’ – Titus 2:11-14 NIV

The context of Titus 2 is about doing good for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Apostle probably knows that believing in Jesus Christ is a vital aspect of life so he wants to instruct Titus in doing good for the sake of the gospel, in order to teach them to people he meets. Apostle Paul shows the importance of living for Jesus Christ under the grace of God from the verse 11 to 14.

Grace of God is often known as “what we get which we do not deserve.” I think our own selfishness takes over when misinterpret God’s love. I believe I used to let my selfishness take over my life, especially when I was enjoying television, playing games, etc. I think I get addictions quite easily if I concentrate at anything for quite a while. Since I had several experiences with this, I decided to take everything out of my life other than Jesus Christ. However, I realised that having too much theology at once gives me a headache, that I cannot cope with. Hence, I finally decided that I am going to use television and computer games as a “relaxing my mind” tools and go for a walk to relax and refresh my mind. If I get addictions other than Jesus Christ, I have to cut them off but I am going to leave all of them into God’s hands to see how He is going to use as a “relaxing my mind” tools. My motto is “I desire nothing at all but Jesus Christ” and my main Bible verses for this are Colossians 3:1-4.

God wants us to interpret His love as an opportunity to serve in in everything that we do. This does not mean that He needs us to achieve His purpose, for He knows everything (Romans 11:33-36). It means that He wants us to be transformed in the image of God and according how He wants to be. I believe this is the main reason that He is doing good works within us through His Spirit (Romans 8:28-30). This is probably because we are created by God (Genesis 1:27). Therefore, we should let the Spirit of God overtake us and follow the Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25), who has been given to us by God when Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected (John 16:7-15).

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. (Titus 3:3-8)

God desires us to know Him as much as possible and serve Him all the time. Colossians 1:16 states that everything is made through and for Jesus. However, I do not think that we have to completely deny ourselves, such as having any no room for relaxation and enjoyment. God allows us to enjoy things other than Christianity (Ecclesiastes 8:15). There are certain limits in the capacity of the human mind, in regardless of how much we want our minds to be filled with theology or anything. For instance, I watched two episodes of one of the Korean dramas to relax my mind from theology and started to have a headache. It is interesting to me that it is hard for us to let minds be filled only one thing, such as theology. I guess the capacity of human minds grows as we grow in maturity. Another example for this is when I was in a class of the computer servicing course. I had only one class for a semester but it often was for eight hours on Saturday. On Saturday afternoon, my mind often was overloaded with computer information, that I could not do any theological stuff or anything. I needed to relax my mind on something else that do not need much concertation.

Although recreation other than Christianity is allowed, I believe Apostle Paul is instructing God’s holy people in Colossae and us to be “Jesus Christ-centred.” Paul probably saying this in Colossians 1:15-23 because he knows how much Jesus Christ has done for every human being. Jesus Christ announced that the kingdom of God is coming (Matthew 4:12-17), He healed “every disease and sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23-25) and finally, He was crucified on the cross for our sins and death penalty (Hebrews 2:14-15). After three days of Jesus’ crucifixion, He ascended into heaven and has been sitting at the right hand of God, to work God’s purposes on the behalf of us (Romans 8:31-34). In addition, God has poured His Spirit into us as an advocate to help us to walk in and with God until the end of the age (John 14:15-27). “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:11-15)