The Shield of Faith Part 2!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Shield is one of the arsenal equipment that we can use to defend ourselves. Shield is usually for sword-fighting warriors but armour can be used for any kind of warriors.  Armour is a heavy material clothing that we can wear to improve our stamina and defend system of our bodies. Shield and armour are necessary for them to have. Otherwise, if they have been hurt, they cannot go in battles for long.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we are considered as soldiers of God. Let us consider Satan, the enemy of God, as the archer of soul-destruction. As we have learned that Satan wants to destroy our souls and send them to hell at the end of our physical lives, He keeps throwing arrows at us. Since faith is one of the basic principles of believing in Christ, we can consider faith as the shield of our souls. I believe one of the greatest arrows that Satan throws at us is a feeling of doubt, discouragement, and unworthiness. He uses these to turn us away from belief in Christ and He desires us to lose our identities as children of God. I think I have a feeling of doubt that I can be a successful Christian Writer so I am attempting to rely upon church work to provide myself financially in the future. I begin to think that it is a wrong attitude to depend on work rather than on God as Colossians 1:16 states that everything has been created through Him and for Him. Although relying on God completely may be hard (Matthew 7:13-14), we have to keep on fight the good fight of faith if we are willing to stay and live our lives as His obedient children. Let us become little children of God, who depend on Him for everything (Matthew 18:1-3; Matthew 19:13-14). Matthew 5:3 declares, “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”

Meditate on the parable of the bags of gold (Matthew 25:14-30). Thank the Lord that He has given you tasks to do for His Kingdom. Build your legacy upon those. Make 2 Timothy 4:7-8 as your daily life Bible verses today!

The Shield of Faith Part 1!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Most of us believe that having faith is the most important part of our natural lives. It is the faith that gives us hope in doing what we plan to do. As I have been having disabilities, my mother continued to feed me until I told her that I am able to eat food by myself. If we do not take a step of faith to do what we want, we have no desire and become hopeless in living our lives. Especially in disabled people’s case, they would never become independent. Faith and deed have to work together.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we believe that He gives us enough strength to do everything through the Spirit of God (see Ephesians 3:20-21; see Philippians 4:11-13). This means that God pours His Spirit into us to give us the power to believe in Jesus Christ and the wisdom on how to follow Him through faith. To put this simply, He gives us the desires of the Spirit to enable us to do what God has intended for us. In fact, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of the truth (John 16:7-15). Since Jesus has proclaimed that He is the truth (John 14:6), it is necessary to follow the Spirit. However, we often confuse the desires of the Spirit with our natural desires. I thought the Spirit was prompting me to download a Pokemon game and play it whenever I get bored. After a while, I realised that Pokemon game was one of my natural desires so I had to delete it from my laptop. The reason for this was not only it was my worldly desire, but I found that the game is quite addictive for me and I did not want the game to take over my life. My favourite Bible verses for following the Spirit is 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24. It is quite okay to have fun in doing anything other than theology but I strongly believe that the desires of the Spirit relies on more about seeking, knowing and serving Christ. This does not mean that people go outside of the Spirit of God when they are not doing Christ-related things. My mentor told me that doing theology and doing something else other than theology are all parts of the plan of God. Although it is quite hard to believe this in natural thinking but I think it is true. For instance, I feel burden would come upon me if I am doing a particular thing for a while, such as theology. Thus, I have to rest my mind for a while by playing games or watching television.

Tomorrow, I anticipate on writing about eternal life in the life of the faith in Jesus Christ. Although, I think this devotional is not related to the main topic, I felt the Spirit was leading me to write about the power of the Spirit of God. Meditate on the strength Christ gives you to enable you to do and thank Him for it!

The Gospel of Peace!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Don’t we want to have peace within our lives in everything that we do and in everywhere we go? I certainly do but I believe we often confuse peace of God with peace of the world. I got confused with them several times. The most recent one I remember is during holidays of Carey Baptist College. I wanted to visit somewhere and rest from theology. I got jealous from seeing all of the holiday photos on Facebook. Because of my meditation on what I am living for and why I am studying theology and I knew resting from theology is not the peace of God, I guess I was not obedient to God and trying to run away from Him.

I think I feel peace of God whenever I listen to worship music. The peace of God has overflowed within me when I was in the church other than Sundays. I also felt I had intimate peace of God while I was in the Thursday home group. I noticed this when I have gone to my home afterwards. Nevertheless, I have realised that I do not have real peace when I play games or watch television. My biggest wish probably have to be everyone having peace with one another and to God, so everyone can be reconciled under name and lordship of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:19-20; Romans 5:6-11).

In my point of view of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, God has wanted us to have peace with Him, so He has given eternal life to those who are willing to believe in Christ’s name (see Romans 6:23). I believe God has poured His Spirit into us as an evidence we are able to have peace of God during our physical lives. The Spirit of God empowers and prompt us to have relationship with Him. This is for everyone, despite of what they have done in their lives. God does not judge people by their deeds. He looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). I got prompted by the Spirit to know Jesus better when I was spiritually lost. This is how I became a follower of Christ. Because of this, I know that God has given all of my sins, such as being in the religious side. Two years later, I have received a spiritual gift, which is Christian writing. The Spirit has been empowering me to preach the gospel of Christ through writing. Thus, I have realised that being a Christian Writer is my calling from God. The plan of God amazes me because I totally did not know that God chose me to preach the gospel. Because of this, I do not mind whether I have disabilities or not. I guess this has been a sure sign of Christ’s victory in my life, even though I often have not been struggling with my disabilities before I became a Christian.

God desires to have a relationship with every one of us. This is probably because not only He has created us to be the image of God (Genesis 1:27), but we also have been predestined to be His children (Ephesians 1:4-6). Although God chooses whether He is going to pour His Spirit into people or not (John 6:63-65), we probably can ask Him for the gift of the Spirit (Luke 11:11-13). God loves us so much (John 3:16-18)!

Listen to “Perfect Place” by John Waller again. Meditate on Romans 5:6-11. Ask yourself a question today: “Am I allowing the peace of God to be overflowed within me in everything that I do and everywhere I go?” If you think you do not have it, then ask Him today for it with desires of the Spirit. It is pretty amazing!

The Breastplate of Righteousness!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Don’t we hate when we make mistakes? Not only we get into troubles from our parents, but we also become disappointed. I was disappointed at my English skills when I could not get in Laidlaw Bible College. My English skills were not good enough. This happened because I hated to study English in Long Bay College and did not study it hard enough. However, I am thankful that I got into Carey Baptist College.

During this devotional series, I wrote about the eagerness of Satan who is the enemy of God. He strives to use everything for creating temptations within us to go astray from God, such as using worldly materials. He also can do this with feelings as well. His mission is to destroy our souls at the end of physical lives and send them to hell, the place of torment. However, we have learned that Jesus Christ paid our sins in full and our death penalties by His crucifixion (Colossians 2:13-15). We also have learned that God has given us eternal life in Him (Hebrews 2:14-15). Apostle Paul states, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) To put this simply, Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God. This means that as long as we believe in Christ’s name, God considers us as His righteous and holy people (Colossians 1:21-23). In fact, God has given us the right to become as His own children (John 1:12-13).

Since God has declared followers of Jesus Christ as righteous and holy people, why are we supposed to serve Him and others? God does not need us to serve Him, as He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. The definition of the word ‘omnipotent’ is “having very great or unlimited authority or power” (see Mark 10:27), ‘omniscient’ is “having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding; perceiving all things” (see Romans 11:33-36) and ‘omnipresent’ is “present everywhere at the same time” (see Revelation 1:8). Apostle Paul proclaims,

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)

While one of my theological lecturer was teaching us about the repentance in Jesus Christ, a classmate said that it is because of “hunger for more of Him and gratitude for what He reveals Himself to us.” I believe this is same with serving Him. “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 5:14-15) Let us remember that it is because of humbleness and gratefulness that we should serve God wholeheartedly.

The Belt of Truth!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

We often lie for benefits of others or us. Our instinct for lying to benefit us comes when we eager to gain something but we have no way of getting it except using falsehood. Another kind of lies are for the good purposes and these are known as “white lies.” Although something is not according to the truth, we tend to use these, to comfort people. White lies are “win and win situations,” so I think these are popular. However, I wonder whether there are less Pinocchios in the world. Pinocchio is a cartoon character who is a wooden puppet but wishes to be a real boy. The nose becomes longer each time Pinocchio lies.

There are several stories in the Bible, where the characters lied such as Exodus 1:15-21 and Joshua 2:1-21. They lied because of the fear of the Lord. Exodus 1:15-21 is about the king of the Egypt commanding midwives to kill childbirth baby boys. Joshua 2:1-21 is about a prostitute lying to the King of Jericho for the sake of the two spies who were men of God.  Other than being in the fear of the Lord, the followers of Jesus probably should not lie. When we read John 14:6, we realise that Jesus Christ is the source of the truth. The word ‘follower’ is a person who follows someone, wherever they go but it also means a person who takes same footsteps of someone. Since God does not lie (Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 6:18), Jesus Christ is the perfect image of God (Colossians 1:15) and we have been created to be the image of God (Genesis 1:27), we should walk and do everything according to the truth. Apostle Paul was speaking to Ephesians that when they learnt about Jesus Christ, they were taught to put on true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:20-24). In regarding to the topic of this devotional “Got Questions Ministries” has put it in this way:

The eternal God is holy (Isaiah 6:3). His holiness makes it impossible for Him to lie, for by “holy” is meant that God is absolute, transcendent purity. He does not conform to the standard; He is the standard. As Tozer has said, “He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is” (The Knowledge of the Holy, p. 105). Since God is holy, all His other characteristics or attributes are also holy. Thus, when God speaks, He will not and cannot lie. He never deceives; neither does He distort or misrepresent what He says or does. Lying is against His nature.

Meditate on John 3:19-21 and ask yourself these questions: “Am I fearing God? Am I walking and doing everything according to the truth?”             

Full Armour of God!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Why following Jesus Christ until the end of our physical lives is so hard? Didn’t Jesus defeat Satan, the enemy of God, very long time ago by His crucifixion? Why God allows the evil to come among us, that we may lose faith in Christ? Does He want to test us all the time?

Jesus Christ has defeated Satan by His crucifixion. The main reason that Christ was crucified on the cross is to pay death penalty and His resurrection illustrates us that we are able to have resurrection too at the end of our physical lives (Hebrews 2:14-15). “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) To be more specific, God used Jesus’ crucifixion to get our sins removed (Colossians 2:13-15) and He used His resurrection to show us that He can raise us up from dead (Romans 8:11). This is the reason that believing in Jesus Christ until the end of the age is so important (John 3:16-18). To make assurance our faith, we have to be water-baptised—just like Jesus was baptised in the Jordan River by John (Matthew 3:13-17). This does not mean that we suddenly have an incredible faith in whatever we are doing and in wherever we are as soon as we have been baptised. By being baptised in Christ’s name, it proves that we have no desire to sin anymore and gives us hope in the resurrection (Romans 6:1-14). Grant Harris, the lead pastor of Windsor Park Baptist Church, has put it like this:

Friends, one of the sacraments that is at the core of the practice of our faith here at Windsor Park is baptism; we believe that Jesus showed us the centrality of baptism by immersion as being more than just a public profession of faith,  but as an act that has deep spiritual significance in our journey as followers of Jesus. The demonstration of repentance, the willingness to follow the example of Jesus, the desire to be in acknowledgement of our belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus all point to baptism as being a  key part of our faith  journey. The baptism of Jesus was so significant and our willingness to follow in that act is just as significant for us.

Because believing in Christ’s name is so important, I believe this is why that Jesus has given us strict teachings, such as in Mark 8:34-38 and Luke 14:25-35. Satan is very cunning at distracting us to move forward with Christ. I believe His main method is making us to feel guilt, shame and discouraged. He uses worldly materials as well, such as money and addicting programs. Nonetheless, God wants every one of us to make peace and reconciliation to each other (Colossians 3:15; Matthew 5:9, 21-26; 18:15-20) and God (2 Corinthians 5:11-21; Romans 5:6-11). Due to Satan’s clever tricks to distract us from walking with God, we should wear the armor of God all times. God uses trials and temptations to test our faith in Christ. I think the best way to handle trials and temptations is to think and make them as opportunities to grow our faith in Him. I think this is what James has told us to do (James 1:2-8).

Listen to “Armor on for Jesus” by Jesus Peace again and listen to “Perfect Place” by John Waller. As a soldier and an obedient child of God, ask yourself questions today: “Am I putting the full armour of God all times? How can I be more obedient to God through faith in Jesus Christ?”

Spiritual Forces of Evil!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

When we get annoyed, bullied, or get angry with someone, we decide to argue or have revenge at them later on. If this is continuous cycle, it is going to never end. We have eagerness to fight, especially when we see others getting hurt physically. I often argue with my mother when I hear something from her that I do not like. It is my natural habit that I have to get rid of.

One of the characteristic attributes that believers in Jesus Christ should put on is love (Colossians 3:12-14). Apostle Paul has stated that love fulfils the law (Romans 13:8-10). In addition to this, Jesus Christ has declared that two of the greatest commandments that God has given us are to love God with our whole being and to love others as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). This means that Christians are to love their enemies as well, despite of what they have done (Luke 6:27-36).

Since followers of Jesus are to love others as themselves, we should always remember that our struggle is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms and Satan, who is controlling the mind-set of our enemies. To defeat Satan, the controller of the spiritual forces of evil, I think the best way is to spread the love of God to others. Therefore, God’s love is the prime motivator of every kind of His soldiers (1 John 4:11-12). I think I need to remind myself this all the time as I set my new year’s resolution to be an ambassadors of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).

Meditate on Romans 8:31-39 and Psalm 136. Ask yourself a question today: “Am I allowing the love of God to surround me up to point that I think God’s love is prime motivator?”

The Content of Ephesians 6:10-18!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

I thought writing devotional series about Ephesians 6:10-18 during the Advent season of 2016. However, I think my heart was on writing about Mark 8:31-38 because I wanted to prepare people’s hearts for Christmas, even though those verses are not about Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ. Now, I feel it is right time to write devotional series about Ephesians 6:10-18. God’s written word is so rich. Although I would like to do other things as well other than just writing devotionals, I actually do not mind how long it takes to write a devotional each day during the holiday season. To be more specific, I do not rush to finish them, in order to do other things.

Ephesians 6:10-18 is necessary Bible verses for all devoted followers to comprehend. Although I do not have any qualifications of theology yet, I would like people to grip those verses in their minds as mandatory instructions on how to wear the armour of God in all times. The reason for this is that Satan, the enemy of God, is prowling along to devour us, to make us feel unworthy to come to the Lord who is the way of the truthful life. In fact, he wants to destroy us and send us to hell at the end of our physical lives. 

If you have Spotify, listen to “Armor on for Jesus” by Jesus Peace. Thank God for putting the armor on us through faith in Jesus Christ!

Walking with God in Humble Heart and Mind!

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8 NLT

Don’t we want to have Jesus Christ as the source of everlasting satisfaction and feel the empowerment of the Spirit of God all the time? So, we would not get tired of doing God’s will in our lives? What is the point and how can we walk with God if we do not feel the Spirit’s empowerment?

God has given us not only the eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ after the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ, but He also has given us His Spirit (John 16:7-15). The reason for this is that we cannot understand God at all without His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:6-14) He wants to help us to understand Himself and He would never let us go away from Him if we have received the Spirit (John 10:1-30). Although we may flee away from knowing and seeking Him, I believe we eventually come back. I have received the Spirit of God around 2011. Although I did not flee away from God, there were several times I pursued other things to get satisfaction. Thus, I had to get rid of everything that hinders me getting to know and seek Him. I watch television and play games now but I know where my true satisfaction comes from. My satisfaction is in Jesus Christ. I should keep remembering my motto that I have made several weeks ago, which is: “I desire nothing at all but Jesus Christ.”

Although we like the feeling of the empowerment of the Spirit and it is good to get encounter with God, we should not rely on it. Instead of relying on the Spirit’s empowerment, we should rely on the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The empowerment of the Spirit is just for moments of encountering with God, I believe. I think the Spirit empowers us when God wants us to do a particular thing for His will. For example, the Spirit has been empowering me to preach the gospel of Christ through writing. This is the main reason that I became a devotional writer and I am planning on to become a Christian Writer.

However, the truth of the gospel is always with us. While Gabriel, angel of God, was having a conversation with May about the birth of Jesus, he ended it with this sentence: “For no word from God will ever fail.” (Luke 1:37). In addition to this, Jesus Christ has declared, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Matthew 24:35) According to ‘The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms’ the gospel is defined as the good news. To be more specific, it is the “central message of the Christian church to the world, centered on God’s provision of salvation for the world in Jesus Christ.” Since Apostle Paul knew what ‘gospel’ means, he stated,

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

I do not get always get empowerment to start my devotionals. During the holiday season, I have tried to enjoy life as much as possible. Although I know Christian writing is God’s will and my satisfaction comes from Jesus Christ, I had done other things other than writing devotionals, such as watching television and playing games. I was tired of writing devotionals all the time but I remembered Galatians 6:9 today. Galatians 6:9 proclaims that we should not get tired of doing God’s will. I lied down on my bed afterwards. While I was going to start writing devotionals, I had forgotten what I was going to write. Therefore, I should not get weary from writing devotionals. Matthew 11:28-30 speaks to me that true rest comes from believing in Jesus Christ.

Listen to ‘Here as in Heaven’ by Elevation Worship. Meditate on John 14:15-27 and Matthew 28:11-30. Ask yourself questions today: “Am I offering my heart to God through faith in Jesus Christ? What can I do to serve God better?” If you do not know Him yet, then surrender your heart to him today!

God of Mercy!

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8 NLT

Yesterday, we looked at a little bit about crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the eternal life. Eternal life refers to the resurrection of Him (Romans 6; 1 Corinthians 15). But what is the reason that He was crucified and resurrected in three days? We cannot understand this without the grace and the mercy of God. If I was God before the crucifixion and the resurrection had happened, I would probably have destroyed all people who was not obedient to my name. I also cannot understand that God has incredible patience over every people.

The reason that God has immense patience over us is because of His steadfast love. All of us have been parts of God’s creation from the beginning (Genesis 1:27) so He has been wanted to restore us—back to the Garden of Eden—by having relationship with us. This is why Jesus Christ came into the world in the human flesh and crucify Himself on the cross for our sins (Hebrews 2:14-15). God probably cannot crucify Himself while He is in heaven because He is perfect divine being. Ephesians 1:4-6 states that the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ were planned out from the beginning and every one of us would be God’s children. Thus, God has given us right to be called His own children if we are willing to believe in Him (John 1:12-13).

I can testify that God has incredible patience over us. While I was in the high school, my friend invited me to the youth event. I enjoyed it very much so I kept asking him about future ones. I eventually joined his church around 2010 but it was for the wrong reason. I only wanted to hang out with friends and I was not thinking about God at all. However, when I was in New York, the Spirit of God empowered me to believe in Jesus. I felt God was prompting me to get to know Jesus better.

Since God has patience over us and we are created to be the image of God, He wants us to show same kind of mercy to others by offering grace to them (1 Peter 4:8). According to ‘God Questions Ministries’ mercy is defined as not punishing us as our sins deserve and the definition of grace is unmerited favour. This means not only we should love people who are kind to us, but we also should love our enemies as well (Luke 6:27-36). Apostle Paul states that love fulfills the law (Romans 13:8-10). Jesus Christ has given us two greatest commandments to obey in all times, which are loving God and loving others as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). God wants every people to be united in Christ by loving each other (John 17:20-26). This is the reason that loving others is the important virtue we have to work on (Colossians 3:12-15). I probably need to work on it more to my family. Talking back to my mother has become a habit of mine and I want to obedient to her, that she is able to see Christ in me. 1 John 4:11-12 declares, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

Listen to ‘Hear the Sound’ by All Sons & daughters and thank God for having His mercy upon us. Meditate on 1 John 4:7-21 and Ephesians 5:1-2. Ask yourself questions today: “Am I offering Jesus Christ’s incense to others by loving others? What I have to do or change, in order to love others more?”

God of the Righteousness Part 2!

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8 NLT

Yesterday, we discussed how God can be the Ultimate Judge in perspective of the creation. We also know that He can be a compassionate God. however, the hardest thing to accept probably is that believers in Jesus Christ are to persevere in any form of persecution. If God is gracious and can be the Ultimate Judge, then why He allows persecution to come among believers? I do not mind that if I have to persevere persecution of loneliness. I think I would be too frightened that if I have to persevere persecution of death or severe suffering. I believe that I would be tempted to deny Jesus so much.

Believers in Jesus Christ have been persecuted since He had left the earth. Apostle Paul was one of the persecutors of them before he was converted to be a follower of Christ (Acts 9:1-19). He probably knew there were going to be persecution of believers around the world but He persevered. In the chapter three of Philippians, we notice that He longed to have eternal life and he persuaded fellow believers to set their eyes in Jesus Christ. One of my favourite Bible verses that were written by Paul is 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. These verses tell us to always be confident in the Lord, live by faith, and make every opportunity to please Him.

To please God other than serving Him is not to deny Jesus as the Lord and Saviour. Jesus Christ is the Son of God but He has the perfect image of God. They are so alike, so Jesus told his disciples that He is like mirror to God (John 14:1-11). God has wanted restore the relationship between Himself and humans, so He had to send Christ into the world, to be crucified on the cross for our sins (Hebrews 2:14-15). Other than physical sins that people may committed, I believe the main point of Christ’s crucifixion was to remove their disobedience from Him (John 16:8-11). Hence, Jesus became the bridge of God (John 14:6-7) and God has given eternal life to those who is willing to believe in Him. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Jude, one of the servants of Jesus Christ has spoken believers in Christ to persevere every kind of persecution. He said, “… dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” He also warned them to be careful of falling into the temptation of denying Christ (Jude 1:17-23).

Meditate on James 1:2-8. Let us also pray for every form of persecution there is in the world. Prayer helps us to strengthen ourselves through faith in Jesus Christ and know how to persevere it. Philippians 4:4-7 is probably good meditation about prayer.

God of the Righteousness Part 1!

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8 NLT

Other than suffering, there is one issue that makes world not perfect. The issue is there are wickedness people in the world—people who fight, people who steal and people who destroy, etc. What does God do about these? Nothing. It is all up to police, CIA, FBI, etc. Hence, we depend on them, instead of God. We tend to think God is not righteous, or too nice to be the righteous God.

Police, CIA, FBI are actually appointed by God (Romans 13:1-2). God is higher than all of them because He is the Ultimate Judge (James 4:12). They are chosen people by God, to catch criminals on the earth. Criminals go to prison if they get caught but He has the power to destroy souls (Luke 12:4-5). Although He cannot physically kill criminals, He promises to send their souls to hell in the end of physical lives. This does not mean that we should fear the Lord all the time. Not only God is the Ultimate Judge, but He is compassionate and gracious God (Psalm 103:8). The word ‘fear’ has two meanings. According to ‘Merriam Webster’ dictionary, the definition of ‘fear’ is ‘to be afraid of’ and ‘to have a reverential awe of.’ In the Bible, I think ‘fear’ is often used as ‘to have a reverential awe of.’ This is probably because God has power to do everything as He is the Creator (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 24:1). Because of this He can be known as the “Provider” (Romans 8:31-32).

Tomorrow, I anticipate on writing about persecution. Nonetheless, give praises to the Lord and thank Him for all of police, CIA, FBI, etc and people who want to be one of them.

God is Good!

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8 NLT

If God is good, why does He cause suffering in the world and give people the commands to obey? We may think that God is not entirely good. If He is good, then He should not cause any suffering and give people utterly freedom. He also should grant every prayer request that we make. We often hear that the kingdom world is like upside down world from pastors, missionaries or evangelists. If God wants us to follow Him through faith in Jesus Christ, He should make things easier for us to believe in Him. Therefore, we may think following God is worthless.

Although I sometimes tend to think God is not entirely good, I decide to believe that He still is good through the knowledge of God I have gained. James, a servant of God, declares that we should consider sufferings and temptations as pure joy because faith matures. While Apostle Paul was given a thorn, Jesus Christ said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” At that moment, he decided to delight in every difficulty because he believed that Christ’s power may rest on him (2 Corinthians 12:1-10). I have not given a thorn but I had some hardship along my journey. I wanted to go to any Bible College after I finish level four of ‘English for Academic Purposes’ but I could not get in, somehow. My mother suggested me to take ‘Certificate of Computer Service’ course and I decided to take it for the time being. After a while, I began to hate the computer course because it was irrelevant to Christian writing. Hence, I decided to give it up, even though it probably is not God’s will. God used my mum to make me to complete the course and I held my faith that God has not been doing things for nothing. I realised that God used the course to discipline me to depend on Him for everything (Matthew 5:3). Overall, God uses difficulties to make things good.

Because God wants to make everything good, He works within us as He is the creator of everything (Psalm 24:1). I think Romans 8:28-30 tells us the reason that He works within us for our good. In my point of view, it is because God desires to transform us to be the images of Him—just like Jesus Christ. In fact, all of us have been created to be image of God (Genesis 1:27). I believe this is the reason that there are Bibles in many different languages (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Bible is written word of God but can possibly be known as spiritual guide book (Hebrews 4:12). He wants us to read and meditate on it daily, for it is often known as the “best method of hearing God” (Philippians 1:27-29). Psalmist writes,

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

My main dream is to become a Christian Writer. The Spirit of God has been empowering me to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ through writing. I often feel that the Spirit is telling me to which words to write and meditate upon. Because of this spiritual gift and I love it so much, I do not care that I have disabilities (Psalm 139:13-14).

Listen to “Good Good Father” by Casting Crowns and meditate on the love of God. Thank and give praises to Him for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, all things that He has given you, and working through you all day long!

The Context of Micah 6:8!

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8 NLT

In sixth chapter of Micah, God is disciplining how Israel should live. Micah 6:8 is probably the main passage we need to look at, to know how to be obedient to Him and what He requires of people. If we look at any passages in Micah 6 other than verse eight, we might eventually come back to Micah 6:8. For example, Micah 6:6-7 are made of questions how Israel can present themselves before God and verse eight is talking about requirements of God over people. I anticipate to make the image of God as the focal point.  

Listen to “You Are Good” by Israel & New Breed and meditate on the goodness of God. Whatever the Spirit of God speaks into your heart and you think of any goodness of God that have come to your life, thank Him for it!

Eternal Life and the Resurrection!

‘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

We receive joy and happiness when we are doing something that we like, such as watching television and playing games. When we are feeling down or tired of everything in life, we do those things to get satisfaction. When we get headaches from something, those things may help in relaxing our minds. When we are tired of using those methods to get satisfaction, we try other ones to have satisfaction. If the method is watching television, we probably want to watch a new television programme when it has ended.

Because we create satisfactory methods all the time, we know that everything is passing away. However, there is only one method that would not pass away. The method is Jesus Christ. This does not make any sense but if we realise that He is the eternal One, then it becomes clear. Since believers have eternal life in Him because of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, they would be resurrected in the end of our physical lives—just like Jesus Christ after three days of the crucifixion (Romans 8:10-11). Romans 6:5-14 states that the resurrection of Christ provides us eternal life and resurrection at the last day, so I guess it is quite important to be baptised if we believe in Jesus Christ.

As we talked about the Holy Spirit being the seal of our eternal redemption yesterday, the Holy Spirit is actually the Spirit of God but can be probably known as the Spirit of the life (John 6:63-65) and the Spirit of the freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17) as well.  Because the Holy Spirit is a seal of our eternal redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14) and John 10:1-30 declares that “no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand,” I think those who have received the Holy Spirit cannot permanently lose the desire of knowing and seeking Jesus Christ. If they lose it, somehow, I believe the Holy Spirit is going to prompt them to get the desire back.

I watch television or play one of the games to relax my mind from theology. This does not mean I am tired of doing theology in my mind all the time. I believe getting headaches if we are consistently focusing on something is normal thing for humans. I was afraid of doing what I enjoy other than theology because I might get addictions from them. After a while, I realised that doing those things are okay for Christians as long as they keep Jesus Christ as the centre of their lives. I think I only had to delete Pokemon games because of the addiction. Sometimes, I want to download Pokemon games so badly but I have to endure my temptation by focusing on Jesus Christ.  

To get the desires of knowing and seeking Jesus Christ, I strongly believe that we should establish Him as the foundation of hope (Luke 6:46-49; 1 Peter 1:3-9). In other words, if we hope in Christ and trust that He would never fail, we can enjoy Him all day long. For example, I enjoy reading devotionals and the Bible because they are about Him. I think I am starting to enjoy my prayer life as well, due to the fact that prayer is the method of communicating to God. A couple of weeks ago, I had struggle to rejoice in Jesus Christ because my eyes of the heart were set in earthly things. As soon as I set them into eternal things and His written word, I began to rejoice in Him again.

Search the song called “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” by Amy Grant and meditate on it and ask yourself questions: “Am I setting my eyes of the heart on earthly or eternal things? How can I set them on the eternal things completely as days pass by?” Listen to “This I Believe (The Creed)” by Hillsong Worship as well. Thank the Lord that we have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ!

The Ultimate Will of God!

‘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

Aren’t we afraid that we will be sent to hell, instead of heaven, at the last day? Old Testament is quite full of stories that are about angry and judgemental God, who wishes to destroy people if they do not obey His commands. Thinking that God is judgemental God may grip our minds when we are trying to live God-centred lives. I do this, sometimes. In this moment, we may abandon our Christian lives and go according to our own pleasures, or we may elevate our deeds above our faith in Jesus Christ. These do not mean that living God-centred life is wrong but we must be careful, not to put our deeds above our faith. We should read and memorise James 2:14-26, so that we would remember that faith is above deeds. “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)

In my point of view, Old Testament illustrates how important the faith is throughout stories. Nevertheless, God is the Judge of all living (James 4:12) but with compassionate and gracious heart (Psalm 103:8). I cannot understand that God can be a loving Father who also is the righteous judge. I just think God is an amazing God. However, I think I need to continue reading Old Testament to fully comprehend about God. Because of His gracious and merciful heart, God sent His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to be crucified on the cross for our sins (Colossians 2:13-15). In addition to this, God has given us eternal life in Him, in order to give us complete freedom (Hebrews 2:14-15). During Lazarus was in the tomb for four days, Jesus said to Martha, “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?” (John 11:25-26) Furthermore, we do not have to worry about the judgement day that would happen at the last day if we are being obedient to God through faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, we do not have to be concerned about status of our spiritual lives as long as we believe in Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul proclaims that receiving the Holy Spirit from God is a seal from God that we have eternal life and eternal redemption is waiting for us (Ephesians 1:13-14).

It seems like I have to conclude the series tomorrow, instead of today. I anticipate to talk about hope and joy. Nonetheless, meditate on John 10:1-30 and Ephesians 1:3-14. Ask yourself questions today: “Am I being an obedient sheep of Jesus Christ? How can I be more obedient to Him?”

The Basic Will of God!

‘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 be successors in whatever we are doing? We want to do everything in accordance to our pleasure and will but we often fail. Last time I shared about what I want to do if I was God. As a child of God, an evangelist, and a missionary, I want God to fill the world with His peace so that everybody would reconcile to others and God. In this way, everybody would worship Him and give praises to Him for rest of their lives with grateful hearts. I also want more unity of Jesus Christ to happen in our lives. In other words, I really want Romans 15:4-6 to be true. My mentor invited me to her house for Christmas Eve dinner party. She introduced me to others who came along and told me to share my testimonies. Maybe, this was an opportunity to inspire others into Jesus Christ but I had no idea how to do this. I thought it was kind of awkward to introduce myself to everyone and share them. I believe I need to learn more about how to inspire others into Christ. I want to be a leader of inspiration but not only in Christian Writing.

Jesus Christ was sent into the world by God as an image of Himself (John 1:14). All of us may know what God’s will for Christ was when He sent Him into the world. The will of God for Jesus was to show people how they are meant to live. However, there was another will of God for Him. It was to be crucified on the cross. Thus, I consider living His earthly life as a spiritual role-model was the basic will of God and the latter one as the ultimate will of God. Jesus was willing to be crucified on the cross because of His love towards God (Luke 22:42).

Tomorrow, we are going to conclude the series by looking at the reason that Jesus had to be crucified on the cross. While I was writing this devotional, I thought of my experience of living as a Christian because it is kind of related to the basic God’s will for Jesus Christ. My aunt was surprised how I was changed from living in New York. This is probably because she saw me as a Christian for the first time. My aunt said that I was sent by God to inspire others into Jesus Christ. When I returned to New Zealand my family was surprised at me as well. They kept saying that I became a “holy and spiritual” man until I continued to get into trouble from my mum. Now, I am kind of regretting the way I have been living in New Zealand since troubles began. I want to live as Christ’s ambassador. This is not because I was proud of being called as a “holy and spiritual man” by my family, but I want to spread God’s love to everyone so they are able to see God through me (1 John 4:11-12). Hence, I need to change the way how I live.

Meditate on 1 John 4:1-6, 1 John 4:11-21 and 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. Ask yourself a question today: “Am I really living as an ambassador of Jesus Christ in wherever I go?” Continue to ask God about this and pray that we would be changed by the Spirit of God. Although it is kind of late to make New Year’s resolutions, make one of them today—to live as a Christ’s ambassador!