It's About Time for His Glory to Shine

[S] John 11:4 --
But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."

[O] There is something more significant and important than life itself which is the glory of God.  I mean, we all try to live our lives as long as we can in order to fully enjoy it and we would feel robbed when it seems to end too early.  In light of today's scene of Lazarus it was a matter of life or death situation and Jesus took extra days before visiting where Lazarus was; and by the time He arrived, Lazarus already passed away a few days.  What was the purpose of the delay, or why didn't He command Lazarus to be healed "remotely"?  The answer is because revealing God's glory was more significant than healing Lazarus.

[A] Jesus' words of "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God" stuck to me because as some of us are praying for a girl for the miraculous healing from a terminal disease where doctors have nothing more to do for her, I am going to cry out to God to anoint her with this same message -- that His glory would be revealed by saving her.

[P] Dear Father, as Your words speak, please do not let her illness end in death but Your glory shine through so brightly that no one can deny Your presence in this society where we has lost sight of You for too long.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Where To Go with the Spirit of God

[S] Ezekiel 37:1-2 --
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry.

[O] At first I was thinking that if the hand of God was upon me, shouldn't He bring me to a fertile land for me to dwell in?  At least that's the outcome I'd expect from being in His presence.  But Ezekiel certainly did not experience that as he ended up in the middle of the valley where it was full of "dry" bones.  Not quite a rewarding place to be.  However as God tells Ezekiel in verse 14 --  I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD. -- God's purpose was to use Ezekiel to bring life to that death valley.  In many ways, when God is with me, I should be in places where God is most needed, or where He lacks the most so that His life and light may be given out.

[A] I need to re-examine my heart so that I am not expecting God to put me in a "palace" when His Spirit is working in my life because on the contrary, He would send me to places where God is most needed which translates to places I prefer wouldn't want to be where He desires to pour out His life upon.  This is a scary proposition but the one that will mightily display His power and glory.

[P] Dear Father, as I ask Your wonderful plans to be unfolded in and through my life, I am also most scared because it would mean to be in the middle of the valley filled with dry bones so I ask You to give me eyes to see what is beyond as Your Spirit transports life there, using my life as a conduit, to overcome death into a living and breathing life.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Starts with Value of Life

[S] Matthew 14:8 --
8 Having been prompted by her mother, she *said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist."

[O] This is the daughter of Herodias who by the wish of her mother requested another man's head (life) without a blink of an eye.  What a scary scene this is, and displays the picture of how critical the environment where a child grow up in.  There can be many factors but that child will either grow up valuing the life God gave starting with his/her own, or will not put any value on the life God provided.  This scene more and more depicts the situation of our world today where we are so far removed from the value of understanding the life God gave in all of us because we're so distracted by all the busy-nesses of this world.

[A] Keep teaching to my children the importance of God's life in all of us as well as in others.  And this is why we must "go" and teach as many people about the value of His life given through Jesus Christ out of His abundant love for us.

[P] Dear Father, please continue to ingrain the value of life in my children as that's where everything begins.  Without that starting point, everything we build is meaningless and in fact can be very dangerous.  Please purify my family members' hearts at all times.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Fellowshiping Until Daybreak

[S] Acts 20:11-12 --
 ¹¹When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. ¹²They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted

[O] Right after the young man, Eutychus, fell from third floor and died Paul went down and declared that he still had life in him (v.10) then he went back up to the upper room and spent the rest of the night fellowship and sharing with the people.  There is something to be said about the people just hanging out to share about how good God is and how powerful He is without a sense of time passing.  Verse 12's mentioning of the boy indeed being alive shows how they had the fullness of life in their midst.  This is a model of Christian fellowship where God's life is displayed in the midst and "stickiness" of wanting to stay together.

[A] I need to figure out how I can replicate this in my own Christian fellowship.  It's been a while since I had these all-night talks about how wonderful God is.

[P] Dear Father, please let me be around those who I can share such a time as Paul with the people in the Upper Room.  I long for this type of a relationship and yet I seem to be alone at the end of the day.  Please send around me the brother/sisters who may share lives closely because Your power and "liveliness" doesn't seem to end.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

The Third Captain's Heart of Shepherd

[S] 2 Kings 1:13-15 --

¹³So he again sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. When the third captain of fifty went up, he came and bowed down on his knees before Elijah, and begged him and said to him, "O man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.

¹⁴"Behold fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight."

¹⁵The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be afraid of him." So he arose and went down with him to the king.

[O] This was the third captain of 50 soldiers to approach Elijah to invite him to King Ahaziah. I give a lot of credit to this captain and the fifty soldiers because they clearly knew what had happened to the previous two sets of soldiers sent before them -- fire from heaven consumed them up -- and yet they went to Elijah anyways and begged Elijah to consider their lives precious. I see the combination of boldness, courage along with humbleness. Knowing when to be bold and when to be humble is deadly effective in living a wise life. I also gleaned from this passage the insight of how the preciousness of life is the lifeblood of any ministry, especially a small group ministry. Additionally, the shepherding heart of this captain shined through because he was most interested in saving the precious lives (including his own). In our small group ministry we need to approach with the likemindedness of requesting (to the point of begging) God to consider each of our lives as precious and show His mercy showering us with His grace.

[A] As we lay the structure of our small group ministry, keep the "preciousness of each lives" at the center and not lose focus in the midst of the organizations or infrastructural busy-ness.

[P] Thank You, God, for considering me precious in Your eyes through the cross that Jesus Christ bore for me. May I be reminded of this fact and live my life with humility and submission to You as I approach the small group ministry at church. Please let me not forget how You consider each member to be so precious. May I also approach with the shepherd's heart like this third captain of the fifty soldiers. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Validating God's Hope in Our Lives

[S] Proverbs 13:12 --
¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

[O] Promises not kept discourages people and eventually overdrawn discouragement makes the heart sick. I recently watched a video clip called "Validation" and it highlights the power of validating how God has gifted each one of us. To me this is validating God's hope in each of us -- and this makes people's hearts to be happy and brings smiles on their faces. At the same time, that will become contagious to those around like a tree that bears tasty fruits. In light of leadership, a leader that makes promises that cannot be delivered will eventually discourage the followers. At least in a for-profit corporations, the motivation is based on making revenue (otherwise goes out of business) so people can be driven to move forward, but in a non-profit organizations like churches, it can be easier to make plans but not deliver just to make another plan, repeating this pattern. This leads to the members losing confidence in the leadership and their hearts disengage away from the works of God through that church. On the other hand, walking with God in every plan to fulfill each of them will lead to the "tree of life."

[A] As I am planning the small group initiatives for my church, stay strong in His Word and prayer such that I will be in accord with His plans and deliveries.

[P] Lord, Your plans for our church is to grow and multiply. You have been blessing us with many members and now we're at a point to draw up some specific plans to adminster and minister to the growing members. Give us the wisdom to see into Your heart and draw from it the life that can be distributed to the members throughout the church. Thank You for allowing me to gain the insights in previous years and may that be used in this time for Your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Source for Springs of Life

[S] Proverbs 4:23; Romans 8:27 --
²³Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

²⁷and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

[O] As much as the physical heart is an essential part of our lives, the spiritual heart determines the path for our lives. Although we cannot control our physical heart easily, our spiritual heart can be controlled by our will power. We can decide how our spiritual heart will behave because God gave us the power to make choices. In Proverbs 4:23 it talks about how we need to watch over our hearts with diligence. And Romans 8:27 describes how our hearts can search for God's heart. So, our hearts are capable of taking a course of actions which will steer the way I live inside out, and also to overflow the springs of life to others around us.

[A] Sustain the devotion during the summer break from BSF such that my heart will be trained to take the right courses of action every day.

[P] Dear God, thank You for providing me the choice to decide where my heart will go. I am honored to make the right choices and also to teach my children how to make right choices with their hearts. Please grant Your wisdom in our family so we may be the sources of sprints of life to those around us. In Jesus' name. Amen.