Whose Time Are We On?

[S] Luke 1:20, 38, 48-49 --
 ²⁰"And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time."
 ³⁸And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
 ⁴⁸"For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;
     For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed
 ⁴⁹ “For the Mighty One has done great things for me;
    And holy is His name.

[O] God's timing is always perfect.  When we are out of sync, He will lead us to sync up just as we see with Zacharias who muted because he overrode God's timing with his own understanding/timing.  On the other hand, Mary submitted to God's timing as "may it be done to me according to your word" and if I may add, "timing."  In verse 48 we see how God honors such submission by exemplifying such faith down the generations.  In verse 49, I must also note that the ultimate credit goes to God the Mighty One.

[A] Examine my heart to see if I am trying to trap God into my own dimension.  By doing that I am also trying to steal away God's glory as if it's mine.  I must stay humble and recognize the works of the Mighty One in my own life so others will God's handy works and not of my own.

[P] Dear God, thank You for showing me this verse of obedience in sync with Your timing.  May I be more sensitive to Your timing as I do my ministry and raising children at home.  I cannot foresee a second ahead of me and yet at times I feel as though I know the whole eternity.  Forgive my arrogant heart and may I submit to Your wonderful timing.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Smoke from the Glory of God

[S] Revelations 15:8; Lamentations 3:24-25 --
 ⁸And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.


    ²⁴"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
         "Therefore I have hope in Him."
    ²⁵The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
         To the person who seeks Him. 

[O] How I long to be in such a temple where the glory of God fills like smoke.  So tangible.  I talk about God's glory a lot but to feel it in such a way would be just wonderful.  Additionally, while His glory filled the temple no one was able to enter it -- such an awesome place.  I want my temple of God to be filled with such a tangible glory -- my life, my home, my church, Sunday worship service.  Lamentations 3:24-25 assures me that having such a hope in Him is not a wasted time at all as He is good to those who wait for Him.  I am going to wait for Your glory to fill my life so evidently that no one can deny it.

[A] Pray for His glory to fill my life so tangibly.

[P] Dear God, I desire Your presence and glory to be in my life.  I don't want it to be more than the conceptual aspect of your glory.  I would love to be feeling it all together as much as I would feel the morning fog when I get out early in the morning.  I am going to wait for You based on Lamentations 3:24.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Vengeance is Mine, I will Repay

[S] Obadiah 1:12 --
    ¹²"Do not gloat over your brother's day,
         The day of his misfortune
         And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah
         In the day of their destruction;
         Yes, do not boast
         In the day of their distress. 

[O] This passage spoke to my tendency of being glad when "bad guys" face their misfortunes.  I mean, they should be punished for their actions but my "rejoicing" over their misfortunes is not a way God wants my heart to be.  I sort of justified my rejoicing by saying they deserve it; but after reading this passage God's words of "vengeance is mine, I will repay" (one of many places in the Bible: Hebrews 10:30) came to mind and how even to those who may deserve it, my heart should not be rejoicing for their misfortunes.

[A] Remember that vengeance is God's and the punishment is also His.  My focus should be on that God's justice as well as His grace to us all.

[P] Dear God, please forgive my immature heart for rejoicing others misfortunes regardless of their deserving it or not.  I want to take on the heart of Jesus toward others and please let me continue to have heart of humility.  I am thankful for correcting my heart through this passage.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Arrogant Men Speaking Arrogant Words

[S] Jeremiah 43:2; Revelations 13:5 --
 ²Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, "You are telling a lie! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'You are not to enter Egypt to reside there';
 ⁵There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.

[O] The word "arrogant" in both of these verses caught my eyes because with the arrogance they mocked God.  Just as in Proverbs 16:18 God explains how pride is the cause for destruction and stumbling, my own pride and arrogance will provide the quickest path to go against God's will for me.  God graciously provides the best path for me but out of my pride I mistrust Him and in fact accuse Him of trying to do harm against me and instead applies my own "wisdom" thinking I can outsmart God.  What an insult to God and a ridiculously stupid that is.

[A] Once again, the message of keeping my humility hits home for me.  How I used to think my experiences was everything in doing God's ministry.  I am quite grateful for God to have humbled me enough to realize those days were behind me and I must proceed in total humility and submission.  I am still learning this concept because He wants me to promote into newer and higher grounds for His purposes.  So, just when I thought I figured it out, I'm actually led to a newer path of humility.  So, keep staying on my knees.

[P] Dear God, continue to teach me your humility.  I want far from being arrogant and say things that will hurt Your heart.  I want to stay obedient and humble toward You while serving others in the same spirit.  Thank You for giving me opportunities to join You at work around me as I humbly follow Your footsteps.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Bring In The Substitutes

[S] 2 Chronicles 36:23 --
 ²³"Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up!'"

[O] When God's people are not following His directions, then He will use even those who are far from being God's people to carry out His purposes.  I am amazed by the detail King Cyrus received from God re: the task. And I am wondering how he was assured that this message is from God to him?  How does God speak to those who are not His people so clearly?  If I were to answer my own question, there is no boundaries when it comes to God calling any of the people on earth because everyone of us belong to Him in the end.  As much as an evil ruler doing evil deeds by his own conviction, the same can happen when God convicts him to do His will.  From the believer's perspective, this is a shameful situation because we missed the boat all together here such that God had to use a non-believer.  I wonder how close we are today for God to raise up a non-believing people/country to complete His good works?

[A] Stay awake in God's word daily so that I won't miss His instructions; furthermore that I should receive His instructions clearly as King Cyrus received in carrying out His tasks.  Don't let God bring in the subs!

[P] Dear God, I want to hear Your instructions clearly as King Cyrus had so I may carry out Your tasks well and to pass on the conviction to other clearly to mobilize them.  King Cyrus was a catalyst here to get Your people moving in the right direction.  Please use me to do that at our church foremost as we're initiating the small group ministry.  Use me to bring people's hearts together in this ministry.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Speak and be Mute No Longer

[S] Ezikiel 24:24-27 --

 ²⁴'Thus Ezekiel will be a sign to you; according to all that he has done you will do; when it comes, then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.'"
 ²⁵'As for you, son of man, will it not be on the day when I take from them their stronghold, the joy of their pride, the desire of their eyes and their heart's delight, their sons and their daughters,
 ²⁶that on that day he who escapes will come to you with information for your ears?
 ²⁷'On that day your mouth will be opened to him who escaped, and you will speak and be mute no longer. Thus you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD.'"

[O] Key point was on verse 27 where God speaks through selected representatives to let people know that He is their God whether they believe it or not.  There are many gloomy stories in this Book of the Bible due to the consequences of people's rebellion against God.  As I join God in His ministry, I have been come across situations where best thing was to not say anything even though there may be confusions or misunderstandings until the right moment where God allows me to speak because He clarifies the situation at hand to many people.  In these moments, I learn again and again that God is not interested in defending me or my reputation, but He is very interested in letting people know that He is the Lord.  These situations have been humbling moments for me.

[A] Slow to speak especially when I'm doing God's ministry and I get into a bind of covering my own face.  This is a sensitive topic and is quite scary even writing it here but that's the message from this passage and I will need to remember this.

[P] Dear God, I'm holding on to Your word here.  Allow me to sustain the intimate relationship with You such that when challenges come my way I would not only remember Your words but to have the boldness to stand up for it.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Sake of My Name

[S] Ezekiel 20:9,22 --
 ⁹"But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
 ²²"But I withdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

[O] In these two verses what caught my eyes was "for the sake of My name".  God's name must be honored as mentioned in the Ten Commandments and He is very serious about that.  Even in Exodus 20:7 God says, "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain."  So I began to ask myself what's so big deal about the name but then I answered it myself quickly because the name carries the whole character of that person.  It is truly the identification of that person.  So names should not be taken lightly or to belittle about.  So based on this teaching my children about not using God's name in vain is brought to a new level of seriousness because it may just be the choice of words to them now but having that training now will help them to think about their choices in life down the road to ask the question of is my choice highlighting the name of God to others or is it disgracing instead.

[A] Ask the question of: Is my choice in life for the sake of God's name?

[P] Your name O God is what I want to lift up through my life.  Please grant me the un-ending desire to do this for the rest of my life. May others see Your name being echoed through my life and not of my own name.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Wiping Every Tear

[S] Revelations 7:14-17 --

 ¹⁴I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
 ¹⁵"For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.
 ¹⁶"They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat;
 ¹⁷for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

[O] Something about this scene gives me an awesome feeling as it provides a glimpse into the Heavenly surroundings which I'll be seeing when I go there.  Spreading His tabernacle, to me, means getting all wrapped up in His awesome presence because tabernacle is where God dwelled with His people in the wilderness.  Is it correct to say God always wants to tabernacle with His people?  But that's true -- God always wants to tabernacle with me even if when I'm totally ignoring Him.  Verse 17 really supports this because my Shepherd from the center of the throne will guide me to the true source of life and He will also wipe every tear from my eyes.  I knew that partaking in His ministry was no walk in the park, but I didn't anticipate having to cry so much in the process; and it is just amazing to have experienced God personally wiping my tear from my eyes and furthermore He promises to do that continuously.  Just awesome!

[A] Cry to Him.  Let my tears flow at His feet.

[P] Dear God, You know every tear drop falling from me.  And You will wipe them every time.  Thank You! I pray in Your precious name.  Amen.

Remember the Days of My Youth

[S] Ezekiel 16:22,43,60 --
 ²²"Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.
 ⁴³"Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me by all these things, behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head," declares the Lord GOD, "so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other abominations.
 ⁶⁰"Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

[O] As an adult when I see some teenagers I feel like saying, "You think you know everything, don't you?" because they sure act that way.  They don't realize just a couple of years ago (if that) they were pretty much depended on their parents or other adults around them for making decisions and simply learning everything from them.  It's almost funny to watch them transform into a quite different perspective.  As I was reflecting on this passage I felt like God must be saying the same to me because it wasn't too long ago when I really didn't know much about God or His heart and after picking up a few concepts here and there from different parts of the Bible, all of a sudden I feel like I know it all!  God has taken care of me in my youth and has led me to encounter Him and to mature spiritually and as a whole person.  But this is still an on-going process where I must remain in my humble attitude, complete surrender to His leadership.  I must not boast or be proud thinking I know it all or even worse, know it more than God Himself.

[A] Stay on my knees and be humble.  Never even think about knowing enough about God because He is much greater than what my brain can hold and so I must continue to humbly learn from Him.  Because how I was trained by the society and secular education, at times I mistakenly think that older by age or by experience is always better.  So if someone had been going to church for a longer time then that person must be spiritually more mature.  This is not the case all the time.  So I must stay humble even if I may be "older" than others because God may use the "younger" Brothers/Sisters to teach me about His wondrous power, love and grace.

[P] Dear God, I surrender my pride to You in exchange for deepening my trust in You to tackle many obstacles on my way through Your ways and strengths.  I ask you in Your name humbly.  Amen.