Fresh Spirit of Prayer and Fasting

[S] Acts 14:23,27 --
23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. 27 When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

[O] There is something beautiful about this scene where the apostles are in the beginning stages of establishing the churches with the new opened door (in their mind) to the Gentiles.  Their sincere desire to rely on God through fasting prayer and gathering the churches to report how God is breaking new grounds.  Exciting!

[A] In my observation and involvement in God's ministry, I can honestly say that the key foundation of bringing ministry co-workers together to carry out God's great plan is by prayer -- and furthermore, fasting and prayer.  I am humbly bowing down before God in repentance for lacking such a fervent prayer life to lay the foundation of the ministries I am part of.

[P] Dear God, would you forgive my calloused heart in doing Your ministry and replace it with the heart of flesh that pumps living and fresh blood in my life ultimately to minister to others?  I ask this in Jesus' precious name.  Amen.

Send the Leaders First

[S] Joshua 22:13-14 --
13 Then the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,14 and with him ten chiefs, one chief for each father's household from each of the tribes of Israel; and each one of them was the head of his father's household among the thousands of Israel.
[O] I see here a beautiful and godly way of seeking reconciliation (or clarification of understanding before taking any action against wrong doing).  The Israelite sent key leaders to seek out the situation which seemed as though sons of Gad and half-tribe of Manasseh were committing sin against the Lord.  Once they arrived an inquired of the situation they cleared the misunderstanding and sustained the harmonious relationship with them. Proverbs 18:17 -- The first to plead his case seems right, Until another comes and examines him. -- comes to mind which emphasizes the criticality of hearing both sides of the story before making up any decisions on a person.

[A] Before making any haste judgment against anyone, make sure to verify the facts and their intentions first.  This is the graceful method.

[P] Dear Father, please allow my heart to be large enough to embrace different situations with Your grace.  I've learned the beautiful way of settling the dispute here from the Jewish leaders and I hope to be a leader like them.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Using Faithfulness to Isulate My Faith

[S] 2 Chronicles 36:14 --
14 Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the LORD which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.

[O] Leading up to this verse are the description of how everyone else rebelled against God, but "furthermore" highlights the fact that the priests and the people of God were very unfaithful to God as well.  My surroundings should never be an excuse for me to fall away from God however, I can also see how tricky it can be because when everyone else is doing it, I can deceive myself to think I can also hide in the crowd.  But God looks at my heart and that's one thing I need not forget because when I do, then I will defile the house of God which Jesus had built by going to the cross.

[A] It is my duty to uphold God's name despite my surroundings because if I don't then not only my life will suffer but my family, and in the end my Christian community.

[P] Dear God, I will continue to work on my faithfulness and not about doing something BIG because when I faithfully cling on to You it will eventually lead to something awesome and BIG.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Rejoicing at God Speed

[S] 2 Chronicles 29:36; 30:12 --
36  Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.
12  The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord. 

[O] There are two significant outcomes when God is on the move with His people:  People rejoice, and it happens at God speed.  In Genesis we see that God created this whole world in six days and it was Good to Him (rejoicing) and Adam rejoiced with Eve.  When God moved through His people using Hezekiah as an instrument, all the people rejoiced especially because he came about suddenly.  Also we see in 30:12 how God united the people's hearts in unity to follow the leaders' guidance.  There is a lot to be said about how God uses united hearts to further our efforts at God speed.

[A] As I'm involved with church leadership and administration to "manage" the growth of our ministry, I can very easily fall into administrative mode of gathering information to make better decisions whereas what God desires is to unite people's hearts so that God can reveal His awesome speed of carrying out His purpose through our congregation who will rejoice over what God is doing in the midst of us.

[P] Dear Father, please guard my heart such that I will not fall into the trap of "running" programs at my church but to dig deeper into Your word in order for me to encourage and guide people's hearts towards what You are doing in the midst of us.  May Your presence bring out the shouts of joy in us.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Rising from Hopeless Situations

[S] 1 Samuel 30:6 --
6  Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

[O] When David and his warriors found the Amalekites raided their village and took everyone away these men were crushed and even came to a point of blaming David while some wanting to stone him.  So much for trying to lead them as a leader as well as standing up for them when they were in need of a leader.  At this point David regains his strength in the Lord his God and seeks His counsel for a plan to rescue his people.  This moment of turn-around is not simple or easy and that's what sets apart David from other leaders.

[A] I don't believe there is a leader who will always be praised by the followers not because he or she is an imperfect leader, but because it's impossible to please the people's hearts at all times.  Even our perfect Lord Jesus was crucified by His people (some were His followers).  This is almost a stark reality of leadership roles in our world and how at times the only way to strengthen out of a situation like where David found himself in this passage is to turn to God  This may be a lonely and depressing period but at the same time I need to remind myself God is much bigger than any of these depressing moments.

[P] Dear Father, please remind in the times of distress as a leader that You are watching over me and also for me to turn to You for guidance out of such a situation.  Thank You for being there for me to turn to 24x7.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Small Group Leadership

[S] Deuteronomy 1:11-13 --
11  ‘May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you, just as He has promised you! 12  ‘How can I alone bear the load and burden of you and your strife? 13  ‘Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’

[O] After the Israelites left Egypt and over a million people journeying through the wilderness, God provides the wisdom to assign wise and discerning and experienced men over small groups of people to provide an orderly way of leading His people without over burdening a few leaders like Moses and Aaron.  The criteria of wise, discerning, and experienced in leading others was invaluable to be used by God in these positions.  However, just because these leaders have been chosen and placed to lead others, it does not mean they will magically lead the community of people.  In fact, when we see that out of the twelve spies who returned from Canaan, ten of them displayed lack of trust in God, becoming a godly leader of people is no simple matter.

[A] As we mature our small group ministry, this passage convicted me to develop training materials for our leaders.  I need to follow up on the task of inviting external "consultant" to help us better prepare our leaders of the small group ministry.

[P] Dear Father, I can see so vividly how You desire to take care of each member of the community we belong by assigning leaders and that is so comforting.  You don't want anyone to fall through the cracks or get lost in a crowd.  Please continue to put wisdom in my heart to follow after Your principles of leading the small group ministry.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Getting the Blame as a Leader

[S] Exodus 3:21 --
 ²¹They said to them, "May the LORD look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh's sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us."

[O] The Israelite foremen blamed Moses for their persecution from the Egyptians just soon after they had bowed and worshiped God when Moses and Aaron spoke to them about how God is going to rescue them from Egyptian's bondage (Exodus 2:31 -- So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped.)  We see a similar double standard just before Jesus was crucified when the people sang Hosanna when Jesus entered Jerusalem and then soon after they cried out to crucify Him.  In leadership positions, it is inevitable to face this type of extreme attitudes from the followers and these are the toughest to accept because these moments flush down all the efforts put in to lead the followers.

[A] Leadership in God's ministry requires some of these heart-breaking moments just like how Moses experienced it here.  Perhaps he was all gung-ho about saving his people by displaying some of these miraculous signs and relied too much on those powers instead of God and this may have been a training period for God to teach him that, but it sure must've been a let-down when he heard these after all he went through to come here after encountering the "burning bush."  Just like Moses did, though, I should go directly to God and not to others.  Just complain to Him by crying out to Him because He knows exactly where I am.

[P] Dear Father, I realize being in leadership come in a package deal and I need to face some of these challenging moments from the people.  May my heart not sink but to look up to You especially during these moments.  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.

Humility Before Teachable Heart

[S] 3 John 1:9 --
 ⁹I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.

[O] Diotrephes refused to accept the teachings and leadership of John (the Apostles) because he wanted to be the leader instead.  Leadership positions are not born or claimed but needs to be earned through mutual respect.  This respect is established when we are humble toward each other and seek to be servant leaders rather than the top-down-dictator-style leaders.  And every leader disrespect of his position needs a leader he looks up to for guidance; however, if they all want to be the first among others, then there won't be any unity stirring up pure disorder.  Saying it a slightly different way, every leader must have teachable a heart to be an effective leader.

[A] Never catch myself at the top looking down at everyone; rather, be on my knees looking up to everyone I serve.  With so many factors in life this is not the easiest to do so need to apply wisdom and practical thoughts in order to be the servant leader with a teachable heart.

[P] Dear God, give me a teachable heart so You and other leaders I go under may mold my heart to become a leader that You desire me to become.  I struggle a lot on how to be such a leader at home, work, and in ministry so I ask for Your wisdom to lead me every day.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Tangible Before Intangible

[S] 1 Timothy 3:5 --
  ⁵(but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)

[O] We serve a God who is not physical tangible but dwells in us spiritually and thus when we talk about serving Him, it can easily become theoretical and idealistic.  There is nothing wrong with that but if we only dwell on the theory of serving God then that could pose a problem because we will never apply into our lives to bring the results we desire in the first place based on the theory itself.  Now, that's pretty theoretical isn't it?  Well, digging deeper into this verse, I am quite challenged to live out my life as a husband and a father at my home foremost according to the principles God wrote out for me in the Bible.  Unless I can apply these at home, how will I be taking care of areas in my home church regardless of what I do?  Even if I could write books on how to be a godly husband and father, I must live it out myself to reflect the principles.

[A] As I read this passage, I am convicted to shift my fulcrum toward my family so that I may dedicate more of my thoughts and energy for my wife and children especially during this summer break for my children.  This will naturally translate into spending more time with them, but it must start with spending more of my heart to prepare and plan to spend that quality time with them.  I've been pre-occupied with organizing and leading the small group efforts for last 10 months and while I must continue to run that race, I have to balance my dedication to my own family just like how Paul explained in verse 5.

[P] Dear God, please continue to train me so I may apply Your wonderful principles into my life by migrating it 12 inches from my brain to my heart especially in the area of my family.  May Your name be lifted up in my family and may I be the one leading them by caring for them diligently.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Bigger, Taller, Large, and Fortified to the Max

[S] Deuteronomy 1:22-33 (boldface added by me)--

 ²²"Then all of you approached me and said, 'Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.'
 ²³"The thing pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.
 ²⁴"They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol and spied it out.
 ²⁵"Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought us back a report and said, 'It is a good land which the LORD our God is about to give us.'
 ²⁶"Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God;
 ²⁷and you grumbled in your tents and said, 'Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.
 ²⁸'Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, "The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there."'
 ²⁹"Then I said to you, 'Do not be shocked, nor fear them.
 ³⁰'The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
 ³¹and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.'
 ³²"But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God,
 ³³who goes before you on your way,to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.

[O] In this passage I've noted the process of how the Israelites responded to God's promise and command of entering into Canaan and conquer that land.  Initially they requested Moses to send a survey team to scope out that land which sounded good to Moses and 12 representatives were sent into the land for 40 days to survey and report back.  They returned to acknowledge that the land indeed is good as God said (v.25) but 10 of the 12 spies reported that the risks of getting beaten by these "giants" are too high and they should not enter the land.  This report discouraged the people to a point of melting their hearts (v.28).  The obstacle they were facing grew bigger and bigger and their hearts sank deeper and deeper.  Moses' reminder that God promised to fight for the people ahead of them didn't help much.  They already forgot about the miraculous exodus from Egypt as well as how God had led them through the Red Sea and then through the desert while providing food to eat from heaven.  Moses says in verse 32: "But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, ..."  Many of us believers often say, "trust and obey" but how many times do we really trust and obey when we're up against the obstacles that are far bigger than what I can ever imagine?  That's when I need to surrender my fear and move forward if, in the first place, I trusted God's promise for me.  Why is it that we quickly forget about the commitment and begin to justify using our own logic to veer away from the original bearing?  In my observation, the main cause for this is because, 1) we lack the experience of God "defeating the giant obstacles" so we don't have any reference point in our lives to latch on to God's powerful promise; 2) we don't give our spiritual leaders enough credit & trust to follow their path.

The Israelites refused to trust what Moses (plus Joshua and Caleb) told them that this land is already given to be theirs regardless of who lives in there now.  They were probably thinking who is this guy telling us some crazy thing to do.  Can't he see who lives in there?  Instead had they overcome such a fear with "but" Moses is a man of God and he is in tuned with God and so I give my trust to him as our leader to take us into the place God desires for us to be -- in Canaan -- to bless us.  This is not easy with all the circumstantial influences but God is looking for such a follower to do His works here on earth.

[A] I need to examine my heart about how closely I am following my spiritual leader and whether I'm giving them my trust because God's proven to me they are His people.  Based on this, I must collaborate in spirit to work through some of the challenges in the ministries I'm involved with by claiming the original promise God placed in my heart about how He desires to use me there -- rain or shine.

[P] Dear God, "rain or shine" I desire to stick close to You by committing my services to the spiritual leaders You placed over me.  I do not want to veer away like the Israelites here just because my own outlook seems too gray or even fearful that I will be swallowed up by the forces against me.  I trust You oh Lord Jesus.  In Your name.  Amen.

Three Generations of Spiritual Legacy

[S] Numbers 25:11-15 --

 ¹¹"Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy.
 ¹²"Therefore say, 'Behold, I give him My covenant of peace;
 ¹³and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God andmade atonement for the sons of Israel.'"
 ¹⁴Now the name of the slain man of Israel who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father's household among the Simeonites.
 ¹⁵The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people of a father's household in Midian.

[O] Here I see a legacy of faith from Aaron to Eleazer to Phinehas sustaining the zeal for God.  Phinehas did not waste any time to 1) destroy the sin being committed before God and His people openly; and 2) to stand between the dead and alive to stop the wrath of God as Aaron had done previously.  God honored that and gave him His covenant of peace and a perpetual priesthood.  How I desire such a spiritual legacy from my father to me and then to my children.  My deepest desire is for my children to attain the same, if not greater, zeal for God and live their lives accordingly against the forces and influences of the society they will live in.  Even though they may be surrounded by the sins of our ugly human nature, they would stay with God and stick to uphold His values.

In contrast to this, Zimri and Cozbi, who were both in leadership in their respective communities fell into this blatant sin.  I notice that even these who sinned greatly and paid their consequences were remembered by God by their first names.  He does indeed care for each one of us until the end waiting for us to return to Him.  I also noted that being a leader is not easy as we're the targets for our enemies to attack.  In fact, when the leaders break down the whole ministry suffers as we see here.

[A] Continue to encourage and uplift the small group leaders such that they would walk closer to God each day because that's the only way to surround them with God's armor of protection.  I also need to stay close to God's word daily by starting off the day with His word.

[P] God, Your personal care even for those who fail You (umm that would actually be all of us including me) amazes me and I'm so grateful for your love of second chance.  Please continue to surround me and my family with You angels of protection and please also encourage all the small group leaders in our church as we have recently initiated a new structure.  Please give us wisdom and humility to thwart all the discouragements our enemy shoots our way.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Law Appoints Men; Word Appoints Perfect Son

[S] Hebrews 7:28 --
²⁸For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.

[O] Our system here on earth gets as good as we are which may not be saying much since we are imperfect human beings. In order to keep things in order we created our systems of law and by that we select leaders (in countries like US). In our church we're implementing new leadership structure to accommodate a growth spurt. This is done with the church's set of policies and procedures and we sure hope we do it with sensitivity to all the members but what's more important is the fact that we must set Jesus Christ foremost in front of us because He is the only perfect one to follow. Yes, we must have a good structure and implementation processes, but as we gather in a spirit of unity we must see Christ's leadership in all that we do.

[A] Spend prayer time to ask Jesus' to lead our new leadership. Don't get wrapped up in our own system too much.

[P] You are awesome because you live forever in perfectness. So we come to You for guidance and leadership. Please instill in us your Spirit so we may keep our eyes on You at all times as we proceed with our leadership implementation. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Leadership Structure for the Masses

[S] Deuteronomy 1:13-15 --

¹³'Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.'  ¹⁴"You answered me and said, 'The thing which you have said to do is good.'  ¹⁵"So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads over you, leaders of thousands and of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and officers for your tribes.

[O] God led Moses to put in a leadership structure to lead the approximately 2.5 million people through the desert for 40 years.  The hierarchy he used is nothing more than what we would use today to have a matrix/network/structure of leaders to eventually break down the masses into manageable chunks.  Two things I see from these verses are: 1) these leaders' qualifications were wise, discerning and experienced -- not the most rich, intelligent, or powerful; 2) these leaders were in a layered support structure vs. a flat structure -- constant nurturing and mentoring took place such that no leader is an island by himself.

[A] Pray for Pathway's leadership structure to reflect this model such that these leaders will be effective in caring for the congregation.

[P] Dear Lord, even though the Israelites kept messing up during their 40 years of wandering the wilderness You cared for them still and wanted to provide a firm foundation of leaders to lead them into the Promised Land.  In the same sense, regardless how helpless we may be at Pathway, showing off our own meager efforts while disappointing You repeatedly, please show Your grace upon Pathway leadership to embrace this concept of nurturing the people who congregate at Pathway.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.