What You See is What You Tell

[S] Acts 22:15 --
 ¹⁵'For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard.

[O] God's call to Paul was to be His witness -- tell others about he's seen and heard.  This is about being the conduit of what Jesus is doing.  This is not about doing things on Paul's own efforts.  It's much like the power cord that you plug in an electrical device to the wall plug.  The power cord itself does not have any power because it's just a conduit of the A/C power drawn from the wall plug.  Paul's job was to be that conduit carrying the power of Jesus in the form of witnessing what he's experienced.  If he had no experience then he'd have nothing to witness about.  Likewise, if I have not seen or heard anything from our Lord Jesus, then there is nothing for me to testify or pass on the power.  It'll be like plugging in the power cord into a dead wall outlet.

[A] As much as I like to be a witness for Jesus, if I don't see or hear anything from Him, then there would nothing to pass on.  So, I have to seek to experience His works or miracles (what only God can do) in my every day life in order for me to be the witness for Him; otherwise, I will have nothing to witness about despite my sincere desire.  Ask Jesus to show me His power in action right in my ordinary life.

[P] Dear Jesus, please let Your power be present around me and give me the ears to hear and eyes to see what You're working on.  I want to be the witness like Paul who can pass on Your wonderful power.  I desire for Your wonderful power to hang around my life every day.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Praise for No Special Reason

[S] Psalm 108:1-3 --
    ¹My heart is steadfast, O God;
         I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul.
    ²Awake, harp and lyre;
         I will awaken the dawn!
    ³I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the peoples,
         And I will sing praises to You among the nations.

[O] This psalmist praises "even with his soul."  This type of praise is not about just singing songs, or with words but it's the type that comes from deep down from the soul.  There was no reason for praising God here but a simple reason of because He deserves the praise.  Praising God isn't a warm-up before worshiping God, or for any other condition.  I simply have to praise God for His greatness alone.  I also see the palmist waking the dawn to do this -- he wasn't going to do it when he has a lot of down time but the first things of the day.

[A] I have been focusing more and more on the meaning of praising God and He's been opening up my heart about the significance of praising Him (for no special reason other than who He is).  I need to begin with the praising spirit in everything that I do.

[P] Dear God, I praise You for who You are and even if the whole world vanishes I will still praise You.  May my heart align with Your by my praising and with that please provide a healthy heart to worship and to please You in what I do for You.  I want to awaken the dawn to praise You; please show Your grace for me to do this.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

When God's on the Move

[S] Acts 8:1 --
 ¹Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
 ⁸So there was much rejoicing in that city.  

[O] "That day" is when Stephen was stoned to death by the mob for testifying the what the Jews had done to the plan of God's love for them. You'd think that such a powerful testimony would move people's hearts to repentance and return to Him, but no -- quite the contrary.  They were scheming for a greater persecution against the church.  This scattered the believers to other parts of the land and they continued to preach the word while God displayed His power and brought forth much rejoicing.  What I'm observing here is that whenever God's on the move, the opposing forces work very hard to move the hearts of men to dampen the momentum of God's work.  However, God continues to use the faithful men despite the set-backs to further His ministry with much rejoicing.

[A] This is a wonderful template to keep in mind as I involve into various ministries such as parenting my children, ministering to workplace community, and serving at church because in the end I desire God's power to be present in my "ministries" and following this template, the opposing forces will be rampant in conjunction.  However, my take-away is to sustain my faithfulness to Jesus' Cross and stay on course because the second wind will come in rejoicing.

[P] Dear Jesus, as my desire is to be in Your presence at all times, I realize it is going to be a walk in the park because of the inadequacy of this world.  In fact there will strong oppositions such as Saul's mentioned in this passage.  Please grant me the intimacy with You daily so that I may stay focused and faithful to Your purposes.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Plans of Man vs. Plans of God

[S] Acts 5:38-39 --
 ³⁸"So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; ³⁹but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God."

[O] Pharisee named Gamaliel provides a very wise advice to the people by reasoning with them on the possibility of Peter and John's claim.  His point is that if God is not with them then whatever they claim will not come to fruition but if they do represent God, then there is nothing that will stop them.  However they try to intervene, it will not make a big difference.  We are so calloused by our own training and reasoning, we had lost the same type of reverence towards God's plans and His power.  Even without knowing we put the creator of this world into a small box that we create and try to contain His power into our limited realm.  What happened to people like Gamaliel who gave credit to God in His "size"?  We are so used to minimizing God into what our minds can grasp that we cannot experience His power to the fullest.

[A] I want to learn and be like Gamaliel where he gave credit where it belongs.  In this case, he fully recognized the power of God to be just that -- none any man can displace.

[P] Dear God, may Your power be just that!  May my faith tap into Your power instead of the inverse.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Reverent Leadership Authority

[S] Nehemiah 13:22 --
 ²²And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.

[O] Nehemiah's command to Levites that they should purify themselves came not only with authority but also with reverence to God.  He displays the leadership who is foremost reverent before God and out of that brings forth the authority required to lead people including rebuking when they are out of line with God's principles.  There is a fine line between leading by fear vs. leading by conviction but Nehemiah's leadership was honored by others because of his right motivation before God.  After his commanding the Levites, he humbly falls before God and recognizes his privilege because of God's compassion and lovingkindness.

[A] Being in a leadership role at church, I need to learn to balance these two like Nehemiah.  I must not just abuse my role/position but to lead them to see the motivation for my leadership comes from my on-going experiences of God's compassion, grace, and love for my own life.

[P] Dear God, please make me a leader with the compassion heart like Yours and for me to always balance the authority and compassion.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Recognized as Having Been With Jesus

[S] Acts 4:13 --
 ¹³Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

[O] What a powerful testimony of God shining through the lives of these two men.  For one, they were unafraid to overcome their own "uneducated and untrained" limitations to speak out; and secondly, they totally made themselves transparent for God's power to be displayed in their works.  And what's amazing is the others recognized this -- having been with Jesus.  If I had been hit by a truck going 60 MPH, then I would be a mess.  There is no way my body and life would be just fine and "business as usual."  Likewise, if I had been impacted by Jesus, there is no way my life would be the same as before but it would definitely display the impact Jesus left in my life just like how the people recognized them to  have been with Jesus.

[A] Am I just living my life as if I have not been "hit" by Jesus?  If so, I need to repent of my arrogance and humbly as Him to touch my life deeply such that others cannot deny it but to testify that I have been with Jesus.

[P] Dear God, please make me a follower of You bearing the marks of You.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

God-sized Expectations

[S] Acts 3:12 --
 ¹²But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, "Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?

[O] If I start to fly by flapping my arms or something that would truly be amazing because it goes beyond my capacity.  However when God who is all powerful does something that is out of this world, should I be amazed other than being awed at what I witness?  My expectation of God is in question here.  Is my expectation so low that I get amazed at what God can do?  Or do I expect Him to do His thing naturally?  That's what Peter is saying here -- why are people so amazed thinking it's the works of Peter and John when it's the works of Jesus whom the men of Israel murdered.

[A] Set God-sized expectation in God's ministry.  Set man-sized expectation in man's ministry.  God convicted me to sweep through the small group ministry at church and so I should maximized my expectation on that ministry for Him to sweep through in amazing ways.

[P] Dear God, I lift up my voice to You and praise You for You are the one who's going to lead this ministry.  I will expect awesomeness to take place in this ministry even though we seem to be going through some struggles at the moment.  May I remain in Your faithfulness that never fails.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Keep on Meetin'

[S] Acts 2:46-47 --
⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

[O] What a beautiful picture of a community of believers.  The part I envy the most is how they continued to meet together at church and at home and enjoyed each others company.  They just didn't have enough of each other!  These days it seems like our schedules are so tight just trying to meet once in a while is challenging enough meeting any often than that seems impossible.  When they met, they ate, shared sincerely, praised God, and fed off each others Godly characters.  This alone resulted in growth.

[A] With a slightly updated small group structure, promote doing just this -- meeting often and regularly everywhere we are.  Just go all out crazy without being too caught up on other processes.

[P] Dear God, I ask that as we embark on a new structure of small group, we'd follow this model of continuously meeting together at church and at homes and when we meet we would simply share, eat, praise You.  We will leave adding of numbers to You as that's Your business :-)  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

People Gathered as One Man

[S] Nehemiah 8:1,4,6 --
 ¹And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel.
 ⁴Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam on his left hand.
 ⁶Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

[O] If you read the underlined portions from today's passage, the sequence of events builds up like this: 1) People united as one and gathered; 2) Requested the respected leader to teach them about God's principles; 3) They were prepared to listen and treasure up God's teachings -- wooden podium prepared for this purpose, as well as a bunch of key leaders standing by Ezra; 4) People responded with Amen, hands lifted, worshiping in humility.  What a wonderful blueprint of how we should meet and grow together as a community of God.

[A] Preparedness to receive God's teachings and worshiping with humility and self-unawared posture of fully immersed heart in His presence is what I need to take note and grow toward becoming, not because I try to mimic but because it flows out of my heart.

[P] Dear God, make me Your creation fully worshiping You from the bottom of my heart.  This scene of the Israelites rebuilding Your city from ground zero is very inspiring and I'd like to imprint this into my heart and mind to follow after.  Please seal it with Your Spirit.  In Your holy name I pray.  Amen.

Reflecting God's Power in Our Ministry

[S] Nehemiah 6:16; Luke 24:52-53 --
 ¹⁶When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. 
 ⁵²And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
 ⁵³and were continually in the temple praising God.

[O] Nehemiah 6:16 highlights the implicit nature of doing God's ministry which cannot be compromised.  When others, especially including our enemies, recognize that our ministry is accomplished by the help of our God (i.e., God working through us), our fame is reduced and God's glory is raised and praised.  People should really say that it couldn't have been done by man's efforts alone and so it had to be God who worked through those who are involved. Whenever the other people's credit stop with men, we need to be very careful not to push our proud-o-meter into the red zone.  Under the Nehemiah's leadership, what seemed totally impossible got done and yet the credit was given to God.

[A] In a different context, but in Luke 24:52-53 the picture of the people returned with great joy and were continually praising God in the temple looked so refreshing and this happened right after they had experienced the power of God through the ascension of Jesus Christ.  Likewise, as we continue to roll out the small group ministry at our church, we need to keep in mind God's power must be transparently displayed and the people who recognize that are filled with great joy and continuous praising of God.

[P] Dear God, as we develop our small group ministry at church, please protect our hearts so we won't cloak Your glory in the midst of us.  May we reflect Your mighty power and let that reflection touch many lives and in the end bring us to the point of great rejoicing and praising in You.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

What Am I Ashamed and Embarrassed About?

[S] Ezra 9:6 --
 ⁶and I said, "O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.

[O] Shame, repentance, and brokenness come to my mind as I see Ezra's contrite heart when he found out how God's people transgressed against what God had commands.  I have to say that I take sin too lightly as if it's some sort of a cold that's gonna pass through.  I heard from a preacher that if you just found out you had cancer, how would I feel if my doctor tells me, "Did you know that you have cancer?"  It's the same thing to say, "Did you know you are a sinner?"  While this is a true statement, it is a very insensitive statement.  Ezra wasn't fooling around with people's sin.  He broke down completely because God's people sinned.  How am I responding to this generation's sin against God?

[A] I need to develop more sensitivity about man's sin against God.  My heart's been desensitized.  I need to study more about the seriousness of our sin against God.

[P] Dear God, my heart's been hardened.  Please soften it up with Your oil and wine.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Generations of Faithfulness

[S] Ezra 7:1-5 --
 ¹Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, there went up Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,
 ²son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub,
 ³son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth,
 ⁴son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki,
 ⁵son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest. 
 ⁶This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him. 

[O] Ezra who was the key teacher of God's law was a descendant of Aaron the chief priest.Through all the generations listed here the hand of God was upon Ezra.  It is so beautiful to see the string of Aaron's descendants who had stay faithful to God and how God used their faithfulness in his "restoration" project of bringing back His people from the Babylonian exile.  As long as we stay faithful to Him, He will involve us in His wonderful plan of salvation.

[A] I'm so grateful for allowing my grandfather, father, me, and my children to stay faithful to His teachings.  I need to continually guide and shepherd my children's hearts such that they, too, will cling on to His grace as they grow up.

[P] Dear God, Your love amazes me and I am more and more desiring to take part in your love for us humankind.  Please don't let my heart drift away from staying humble before You and let You reign in my life.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Anti-fading of Memory

[S] Esther 9:28 --
 ²⁸So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants.

[O] What a significant day to remember as the Jews because this is the day that God had literally saved them from being wiped out from this land.  God had displayed through the amazing timing of calling Esther and Mordecai's faith to take action where they responded to bring this beautiful result of His saving grace.  They didn't just left it there saying, "we were lucky," but they wanted to commemorate His wonderful power down the generations.

[A] My walk with God must be marked with these "victorious" moments where God just comes through amazingly and then I need to do all I can not to fade them from my memory down further generations after me.  A good side effect to this is that God will get all the credit of leading and preserving us.  Take a moment to remember the amazing wonders He's done in my life and praise Him for them.

[P] Dear God, thank You for my salvation, partaking in ministry, 10 years of giving full efforts on tentmaking, starting a beautiful family, children desiring to draw closer to You, many friends in Christ to hang out and to grow with.  I would not want to fade these wonderful works in my life and to request that you will continue to do these miraculous works in my life.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Bartimaeus' Request To See Again

[S] Luke 18:41 --
 ⁴¹"What do you want Me to do for you?" And he said, "Lord, I want to regain my sight!"

[O] This blind man named Bartimaeus had lost his sight because in today's passage he wanted to regain his sight.  He knew what it was like when he could see and desperately desires to regain his vision.  I am quite certain that his desperation came only after he recognized and accepted his blindness.  Spiritually speaking Jesus is asking the same question to our generation, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  To this question, unless we cognize and accept the fact that we had lost our vision and became blind, we won't desperately request Jesus to restore our spiritual vision and sensitivity but stay complacent and proud by deceiving ourselves as if we are not blinded.  So, this response from Bartimaeus is a very powerful one that our generation need to follow after with a sincere desire to regain our lost vision.

[A] Every day that I skip my devotion is like losing my orientation or vision and I must ask, "Lord, I want to regain my sight!"

[P] Dear God, I will acknowledge my blindness when I miss my appointment with You and ask you to restore my spiritual sight.  I don't want to get used to the blindness but be like Bartimaeus who will desperately ask for Your power of restoration to enter my life.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

A Parenting Model to Follow

[S] Esther 2:7,20 --
 ⁷He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 
 ²⁰Esther had not yet made known her kindred or her people, even as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther did what Mordecai told her as she had done when under his care.  

[O] Mordecai was Esther's cousin who had the compassion to take her as his own daughter after her parents passed away.  This is such a beautiful picture of family standing up for each other in unity.  Not only did Mordecai brought up an orphaned cousin but he did it in such a way that created such a strong bond and respect that we can see in verse 20 about how Esther submitted to Mordecai's leadership in her life.  Through such a strong and edifying relationship, God works His amazing miracle of saving His people.

One of the areas my mind is very much focused on these days is about parenting my teenagers about how I can shepherd their hearts in such a way for us to establish a strong bonded and respectful relationship that God will work through.  So this story struck a chord in my heart as I was reading through.

[A] If an older cousin can bring up a younger cousin to fear God and to collaborate in executing God's redemptive plan, then I should have great hope with my own children God has granted in my family to achieve something awesomely wonderful in Him.  It's this waiting on Him with hope in Him that I need to do more than worrying about how to train them or deal with their growing phases.

[P] Father in Heaven, You have uplifted my spirit with this insight of Mordecai and Esther's relationship.  I praise You for boosting my perspective as a father of my children.  I will focus on raising my children by instilling in them the Hope that I find in You.  Thank You and pray in Your name.  Amen.

Who's Pleading? God or You?

[S] Luke 15:21,28 --
 ²¹"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 
 ²⁸"But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him.

[O] The responses from the two sons in these verses are quite contrasting.  The younger son after repenting of his wrong-doing to his father, he submitted to his father's authority and was willing to be treated as one of the servants while the elder son was angry at the situation at hand where his father's rejoining over his younger brother's return.  The younger son was pleading with his father (which by the way was ignored by his father because he was just too excited to have him back, it did not matter to him) while it was the father pleading with the elder son who by the way was supposed to have been serving his father (v. 29) all these years.  What's wrong this picture here?  Who really understood the heart of his father?

[A] Serving God doesn't mean just being a busy body.  Today's Life Journal reading of Psalm 147:10,11 wrote about this as -- ¹⁰He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. ¹¹The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.  I need to be careful of being like the elder son where I self-justify with all the "hard works" I put in towards God's ministry how well-intentioned they may be.  Stay humble and submissive to His leadership through those leaders He placed over me regardless of their spiritual and physical age or experiences.

[P] Dear Heavenly Father, please guard my hearts against the virus of this elder son; instead instill in me the heart of the younger son's repentances and humbleness as I pour out my life for your ministry's sake.  Thank You and I ask this in Your Son's precious name.  Amen.

Ministry is Sown in Tears

[S] Psalm 126:5-6 --
    ⁵Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
    ⁶He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
         Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

[O] The word "ministry" tend to sound big because we think of a church, or large organizations like World Vision or Red Cross, but from today's passage my orientation of ministry simplified to "sowing in tears" where you pour out your heart into caring for others through tears.  Unfortunately, even though the content of what is being carried forth is "bag of seed" which means good news, it is being rejected and thus causes the carrier of this "seed" to sow in tears.  But not all is in vain because God promises us reaping with joyful shouting in the end.

[A] As I do God's ministry, I need to remember that it is inevitable to sow in tears.  This both implies the difficulty of participating in God's ministry as well as staying humble as I carry out the ministry because this is not about starting up a company to succeed in achieving goals & profits but submitting to God's call and staying faithful to the ultimate purpose regardless of the circumstances knowing that the "shouts of joy" will come in the end.

[P] Dear God, thank you for inviting me into Your ministry.  May I not be scared to "sow Your ministry with tears" as I face challenges and even when challenges seem minimal.  I will train myself to cry out for the people whom You put under my care and I will continue to pray for them.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

What is My "Six Days"?

[S] Luke 13:14 --
 ¹⁴But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, "There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day."

[O] The reasoning of the synagogue officials represents the way we were educated in this society -- compartmentalized lifestyle, which can easily lead to a lifestyle that has many different faces depending on the circumstances.  God desires for me to have the core belief that will shine through any and all situations of my life but many times I pre-define what role I should play in various conditions and try to satisfy those roles instead of living out my core belief regardless of the circumstance.  Jesus was clearly set out to give life to the lost in our world, on or off Sabbath.

[A] What is my "six days" that I defined to do His work and take a rest from ministry on the seventh day?  Although this may be traditional or even spiritual, I need to be cautious about compartmentalizing my faith to certain time and/or place as God is bigger than any and all of my made-up ordinances, or practices.  I must go to Him every day and get the "hot" fresh dose of His guidance for my life for that day in preparation for the activities I'll be engaging in.

[P] Dear God, You know what type of a day I'll be living and desire to fill me in through the devotional times.  I am improving but I still need to make my day to begin with the personal devotion with You.  Please continue to work in my time management throughout the day in order to sleep earlier to get up earlier without impacting my day's workload.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.