Father's Day Reminder

1 Timothy 3:6-7 NKJV

On this Father's Day, these characteristics of an overseer reminds me how I should live each day as a father. Thank You, Lord, for lighting the path for me to journey on. (Father's Day breakfast here was a courtesy of my youngest daughter. :-)

Wearing Humility Every Morning

Proverbs 11:2 NKJV

Lord, I will also wear Your humbleness as I get dressed every morning because I need Your wisdom throughout the day.

God Wrote on My Wall

[S] Daniel 5:3 --
3 Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them

[O] This story reminds me of Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 -- who were consumed by fire when they offered strange incense in their firepans which God had not commanded because here Belshazzar used the utensils set aside to be used in God's holy temple to have his own enjoyment totally disrespecting God.  And He wasn't too happy about that and let him know by sending an email scribed on the wall.

[A] The key point here is when the my pride elevates myself above God, anything I do will be out of dishonor and that's the part God will dishonor Himself.  I need to take every act seriously when I am before God -- which by the way, is at all times.

[P] Dear Father, I praise You for being the God of holiness who require nothing but holiness in Your presence and my praise goes to You abundantly because even though I am far from fulfilling Your requirement to approach You, You accept me as I am because of Your Son's sacrifice in place of me.  Now, as long as I keep that in mine and align myself to such a humble attitude before You, I will be enjoying the presence of Your amazing grace and love.  In gratitude I pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.

Response to Mistakes

[S] 2 Samuel 10:6 --
6  Now when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Beth-rehob and the Arameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men, and the men of Tob with 12,000 men.

[O] We all make mistakes so my reaction to my mistake has greater significance than what the mistake was.  Here we see that the sons of Ammon realized they messed up and made King David angry toward them.  They had an option of seeking forgiveness from David or to prepare themselves to fight against David.  As they chose the latter, they were subdued by David's army.  Their surrendering and seeking forgiveness would have been a wiser choice for them.

[A] Whenever I make a mistake, I must learn to admit my faults and find favor of others whom I might have offended to allow God's grace to permeate through.  Otherwise, I default to defending my mistakes which may even lead to greater mistakes or sin.  This applies to small things at times with my own children.  My pride gets in the way but I must lead by example of letting them know that when I make mistakes I will also seek their forgiveness.

[P] Dear Father, continue to humble my heart so that I will always be seeking refuge under Your wings of grace because I know I will be falling short of my own (let alone others) expectations and instead of trying to reinforce it with my own might like the sons of Ammon, I need to seek grace.  Thank You for the great reminder.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Don't Forget to Ask His Counsel

[S] Joshua 9:14 --
14  So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.

[O] Whether intended or not the Israelites acted based only on their own reasonings and as a result they were fooled by the Gibeonites resulting in not following God's commands completely of destroying the Canaanites out of the land.  After Jericho, recovery from Achan's sing at Ai, and the confidence they had gained must have made them proud enough to take matters into their own hands rather than relying on God's guidance.  God wants me to lean on Him every step of the way so I won't fall short of anything as well as to give all the glory to God -- as then, it will be clear who was actually at work.

[A] Daily devotion is a good start, but based on that, I also need to rely all the decisions I make during the day so that I will not forget to ask for the counsel of the Lord.

[P] Dear Father, please protect me from going on an auto-pilot of making decisions throughout the day.  May I seek Your guidance regardless of how big or small the decision may be because I want to practice and train my heart to seek You in all things.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Struck by Angel

[S] Acts 12:23 --
 ²³And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.

[O] This sounds like a scene out of a Hollywood movie and I cannot imagine what type of worms would eat a person but more so than those details God's striking Herod for not giving glory to Him moved me.  One thing is clear:  God does want my glorifying Him and He hates my pride which goes above God.  He desires humble hearts who bring out God's glory not their own achievements.

[A] God doesn't mess around when my pride goes above God's position and my take away is to stay humble in all I do especially when my works are not recognized by others and feel like I'm nobody.

[P] Dear Father, I'm in awe by how You care so much for me to send me this message of warning against any area of my life which may boast too much of my own achievements.  Please let me stay humble especially when I'm serving in Your ministry.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Compassion In All I Do

[S] Matthew 20:34 --  ³⁴Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

[O] What drew me into this verse is how Jesus, who is more than able to restore vision to this blind man, healed with compassion.  Let's face it:  For Jesus, He could've easily carried out this miracle with "what's so big deal about this" attitude almost like how I would simply get in a car and drive it without giving much effort.  However, every aspect of His ministry of displaying the power of God was done with compassion and honor to God.  Not once did He boast of His Heavenly power.  In light of this, Moses lost his privilege to enter Canaan because he did not respect and honor God as he was used to display the power of God.

[A] As I take part in God's ministry at my church and my workplace, I catch myself going into the mode of carrying out God's work with pride as if I am so good doing it or something.  One take-away from this verse is that I need to stay humble so God's power is revealed with honor even though what I do may not be miraculous healing.  In all of my ministry participation, I must do them with compassion each and every task.

[P] Dear God, what a role model you have shown me today.  I confess here how I often participated in ministry with a boastful attitude.  Please forgive me and renew my heart such that my heart will overflow with the compassionate spirit to those who are in need of Your touch.  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.

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.

Uzziah's Inventions and Leprosy

[S] 2 Chronicles 26:15-16 --
^{15In Jerusalem he made engines of war invented by skillful men to be on the towers and on the corners for the purpose of shooting arrows and great stones. Hence his fame spread afar, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.}

¹⁶But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

[O] King Uzziah was very successful in wars and also his fame spread afar. At this mountain top, he became proud and begin to take more control by himself rather than giving thanks and credit to God who was behind it all. One of the signs of a proud man is the desire to be bigger than God (although that is never possible) and that usually translates in to disobeying or rebelling against God's specific commands. Here, Uzziah did what was forbidden by God -- to do what only the priests were allowed to do. He felt so big that he could override God's law. Later he was smitten by God with leprosy until his death.

[A] As someone once said, when you're at the mountain top, don't stand up but get down on your knees because the wind is very strong from all sides which can easily off balance you to fall. We're talking about a pinnacle experience where you are bearly able to stand on top. I desire to be in such a place spiritually as I walk with God and when I'm there I want to make sure I stay on my knees -- humble and dedicated to God's commands.

[P] Dear God, thank You for the teaching through proud king who's so benefited from your blessings. I want to give You all the credit for my success in my life even though I may have worked hard to achieve them because You are the one behind it all. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Do I Have Privilege to Disobey?

[S] Joshua 7:18 --
¹⁸ Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

[O] Achan, whose sin caused the Israelites' defeat against Ai, belong to the tribe of Judah which Joshua belong to.  I may be reading between the lines here but I believe it is much easier for the people close to the leaders to break or bend the rules just because of a privileged feeling.  I recently learned this while preparing the lesson plan for BSF high school class I teach -- God's privileged leaders do not have the privilege to disobey.  Application from this principle is that whenever we feel like I'm a bit more special to not to follow all the rules, I should instead of practice humility and obedience because the consequences may be too severe as with Achan.

[A] Whenever I am tempted to override any rules and regulations, remember Achan.

[P] Dear God, Your holiness and purity blessed me as I read over what happened to Achan's sin.  You want us to live pure and holy lives even if it means being "deathly" serious about removing wrong-thoughts/actions from our lives.  May I walk this life of holiness for your pleasure.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.