God of Furthermore Grace

[S] Jeremiah 26:24 (NIV) --
Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

[O] Jeremiah had a real tough time conveying the message of God as he ran into oppositions around every turn, many times risking his life.  However the "furthermore" God always seem to cover for him just like in this passage to look out for His spokesperson (Jer. 15:19).

[A] Whenever I am faced with difficult situations, I should be more concerned about how pure my motives are before God than trying to find a way out for myself because He will not leave me behind but to "furthermore" reach out to me to pull me into His bosom.  I must not forget this promise of God as life's challenges knock on my door.

[P] Dear Father, Your furthermore grace is where I need to anchor my faith and to draw strength from. My ways and strength alone is so limited and yet forgive me for leaning on them so proudly at many times.  Grant me the faith like Jeremiah to carry out Your purposes despite the very hostile circumstances he had to endure through.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Hanging on to Every Word

[S] Luke 19:47-48 --
47 And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, 48 and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word He said.

[O] Despite the chief priests and the scribes trying to destroy Jesus, they were paralyzed by all the people who were hungry for Jesus' teaching.  The NASB's translation of "hanging on to every word He said" puts a very specific picture in my mind about how the crowd was just thirsty for all Jesus had to say to them as if they had found a gold mine.  They weren't trying to keep the "enemies" away -- they were simply trying to hang on to God's word and as a side benefit they kept the enemies away.

[A] There are enough challenges in my life for me to worry and stress over.  And there are challenging relationships that I must work on.  Many times I cry out to God for sending down a solution for all these challenges I'm facing so I won't be strained as much with all sorts of things going on.  However, this passage teaches me not to ask for removal of my bad situations but for me to hang on to His every word so that His word will protect me from these situations.

[P] Dear Father, teach me to hang/cling on to Your every word.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Before Heading to Egypt

[S] Jeremiah 44:28 --
28 'Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number. Then all the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to reside there will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs.

[O] For me, Egypt symbolizes a place where I want to run to for safety because its strength and protection.  This is fine and dandy but the issue is when I put these things above God's protection and strength for me.  I can easily fall into the mode of taking things into my own hands and calculating to find the most fortified place of rest while leaving God outside.  That's the picture from this passage for these people of God to take refuge in Egypt without understanding how she is nothing more than a nation under God's power and authority.

[A] At all times, I need to take a moment to reflect on my own decisions to see if God was indeed in the middle or not.  If not, no matter how good the solution may look it's only going to be an Egypt.

[P] Dear God, please guide me away from "Egypt" whenever I am up against challenges in my life.  May I trust in Your power and strength and protection at all times.  May Your story be revealed in my life at all times.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Joy of Parenting

[S] 3 John 1:4 --
4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.

[O] John writes here re: spiritual children but I cannot help but to overlay this with my own children.  I will want nothing more than for my children to be continuously walking in the truth as they grow up and into the adulthood.  They will most likely make many mistakes and some of their plans in life may not turn out as expected, but as long as they walk (not mastering) in the truth, drawing closer to Christ, my heart will have great joy as a parent.

[A] No slacking on prayer for my children's hearts to be grasped by God's leadership.

[P] Dear Father, I am so thankful for the children You put me in charge of to raise them to be walking with You at all times such that they will realize their purpose and vision here on earth -- to fulfill the mission You assigned them from the beginning.  I love them much.  Please protect their hearts by surround them with You angels.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Stand By Me So Gentiles Might Hear

[S] 2 Timothy 4:17 --
 ¹⁷But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth.

[O] After mentioning how many people have left him and God's ways as well as those who harmed him, he warns Timothy to watch out for these dangerous people.  He then goes on to say how Jesus stood with him and strengthened him despite all the hardships both mentally and physically.  Trying to think through what Paul must've gone through and yet still testify this encourages and strengthens me a lot especially going through the phase of struggling through various challenges in life both at home and at church ministry because it is the Lord who is going to stand by and with me.  Paul continues with the purpose of God's desire for strengthening him which is so all the Gentiles might hear the great message of His saving grace.  It is not so I may be listed in the Hall of Faith, but so I may bring more people into His fold.

[A] The phases go like this: 1) get bombarded with lots of stuff; 2) get wearied physically and mentally; 3) get lonely as if there is no one who cares enough to collaborate; 4) God reminds me that He will stand by me so be strong; 5) get encouraged and begin to see things in God's perspective; 6) then realize God's ultimate purpose for strengthening me is so I may share His love with "Gentiles"; 7) energized to engaged into His ministry.

I think I'm around phase 3 to 4.  I need to revitalize my purpose in the way of sharing His message with others.  I need to defocus from the snares of various factors in life (but deal with them wisely).

[P] Dear Father, You know where I am more than I know myself.  Please hear my cries and send Your Spirit to minister to me in order my bearings in life will be clarified and refocused to strongly carry out my purpose You intended for me.  I pray for my children so they, too, will be protected by Your angels and for them to continue seeking Your ways in humility.  In Jesus' name.   Amen.

Angels Protecting and Fighting For Us

[S] 2 King 19:35 --
 ³⁵Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead.

[O] When King Hezekiah payed to God for deliverance, He sent His angels to destroy the Assyrians during the night.  Many times, I'm faced with oppositions from the enemy in doing God's ministry when I should not retreat but I need to move forward like Hezekiah trusting in God to protect and destroy the enemies surrounding me.  Perhaps the biggest enemy in these situations is my lack of trust in God while trusting on my own abilities and strengths which is not much to begin with.

[A] As we are about mark our year since we launched our small group ministry, I sense great pressure to fight the challenges we're up against and can easily feel like all has crumbled down.  That's type of a situation Hezekiah was up against and He clung on to God.  I also need to cling to God in this situation because there isn't much I can do but there is a lot God can do.

[P] Dear God, please send your angels to protect our church, small group ministry, and my family.  I desperately pray for Your intervention in these areas to do no one else can do.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

No Collateral Damage

[S] Numbers 31:3,48-52; Mark 9:22-23 --

³Moses spoke to the people, saying, "Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the LORD'S vengeance on Midian.
⁴⁸Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, approached Moses,
⁴⁹and they said to Moses, "Your servants have taken a census of men of war who are in our charge, and no man of us is missing.
⁵⁰"So we have brought as an offering to the LORD what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD."
⁵¹Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of wrought articles.
⁵²All the gold of the offering which they offered up to the LORD, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels.

²²"It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!"
²³And Jesus said to him, " 'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes."

[O] What a successful victory! After the leaders of the army reviewed the damage report they were thankful for not losing any soldiers during the war. Perhaps they did this as part of the military discipline but nevertheless it displays their care for their men. And since God was fighting in behalf of them, no one was missing (i.e., hurt). These officers and captains knew that such a war can cause a lot of damage including the lives of their men and so when they found the good report of no one missing, they gave credit to the Warrior who went ahead of them to fight this battle for them because from verse 3 we can see that Moses made it clear whose battle this belonged to. So many times I'm too focused on the task at hand in doing ministry for God I lose focus of whose ministry I'm taking part in and when things are moving along "successfully" my desire is to grab all the attention and credit instead of doing what the leaders of this army did by giving credit to God through their offerings. In light of this realization, there were thanksgiving, unity (everyone gave), and sacrifice. How am I doing in these fronts, I wonder....

[Sidebar] Mark 9:22-23 is not really related to the Numbers portion but this section gives me the goose bumps every time I read it because that "If you can?" is quite piercing to me. In New Living Translation (NLT) it says, "What do you mean, 'If I can?'" I can just imagine the facial expression of Jesus saying this. In today's lingo it'd be something like, "Hey Dude! What d'you mean I can?" This is piercing to me because I say to Jesus "If you can ..." everyday. I have too many doubts in His power and strength playing out in the routines of my life.

[A] Remember at all times, we've embarked on the small group ministry at our church by God's commission and therefore I must recognize that He is in full control and fights ahead of us even the spiritual warfare we face. As I take my own "census" I also should be thankful for His provisioning power and the unity of the leaders, and then offer my sacrifices to Him because He deserves them all.

[P] Dear God, so thankful for going ahead of my life, my family members' lives, and our ministry because if You didn't do that, everything would fall on our own power and efforts which I know to be short-sighted, short-lived, and full of holes. Please continue to abide in the midst of us even though we come short so many times. In Jesus' name. Amen.