What to Rejoice First

[S] Luke 10:20 --
Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."

[O] Jesus empowered his disciples to carry out supernatural miracles on their mission trips.  What an amazing sight it must have been for sure.  However, Jesus charges them not to rejoice (and trust) in these supernatural powers but foremost rejoice knowing that we are considered as God's children.

[A] As I take part in God's ministry, I desire to see God's unparalleled power in our midst and when God graciously invites me to witness Him in action, that is pure awesomeness.  However, I must be careful not to lean on that too much forgetting what really matters -- being in God's family in the first place.  This is the gospel message and I need to be renewed in it daily to remind myself and rejoice that God saved me from this dying world.

[P] Dear Jesus, may Your commands to these disciples be a lesson for me to follow daily -- to rejoice in Your saving grace before anything else.  Thank You for what You have done for me at the Cross.  In Your name.  Amen.

Answer Me Quickly

[S] Psalm 143:7-8 --
7 Answer me quickly, O LORD, my spirit fails;
Do not hide Your face from me,
Or I will become like those who go down to the pit.

8 Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning;
For I trust in You;
Teach me the way in which I should walk;
For to You I lift up my soul.

[O] Life is like a thirsty person looking for water to quench it, and until found the desperation is like the author of this psalm where unless he hears God answering his call his spirit will fail.  Every morning he desires to hear God's voice so he may build up his trust in God for the rest of the day.  With all that he desires to praise God through his soul.

[A] I am currently crying out to God for a specific direction in my life and I am in accord with this psalmist about praying to God to "answer me quickly" and do not hide Your face from me.  I want to continue to put my trust in Him who will answer in His timing.  I want to treasure each morning to hear His voice.

[P] Dear Father, I don't want my life to be deflating but inflating with Your hope and rejoicing despite a sense of being stuck.  I would like to be immersed in Your countenance each morning so that I will lift up my soul to You.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

My Last Prayer

[S] 1 Chronicles 29:11-13 --
11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.  12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. 13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

[O] This prayer comes from David near his death, after announcing his Solomon as the next king.  He has prepared a ton of materials enough for Solomon to build the temple and yet he gives all the glory to God here and that's really amazing.  I wonder how I would be after living my life to the full -- would I be so satisfied with my own achievements or would I be like David here to recognize the hand of God in and through my life and then to pass that on to my children's generation?

[A] Everything comes from God -- wealth and honor and he rules over all things.  This is a refreshing and powerful truth quenching my dried up soul especially as I struggle with a tough work situation.  I need not question but to acknowledge Him as my soul provider of all my needs.  I claim that my wealth (not that I need to be rich) and honor (from my workplace) come from You!

[P] Dear God, I honor You and You alone who owns everything in this world and in heaven.  You deserve my praise despite all my (unfavorable) circumstances.  Please take joy with my praising You in Your Son's 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.

Now is the Day of Salvation

[S] 2 Corinthians 6:2-10 --
2  for He says, "At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you."
Behold, now is "the acceptable time," behold, now is "the day of salvation"-- 3  giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, 4  but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, 5  in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, 6  in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, 7  in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, 8  by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; 9  as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, 10  as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.


[O] Because of Jesus' resurrection providing us the salvation, every day and moment should be taken as a time of rejoicing in the salvation.  Give no opportunity for any offense even if it means hardships and distresses.  For me, the "sleeplessness" stood out because it's been a physically demanding period for last few weeks and my mind was wandering toward grumbling why I am where I am.  But as Paul writes, now is the day of salvation and in it I can accept it all.

[A] I need to rejoice more in God's salvation and in light of that other "noise" should subside so I can focus on that awesomeness of His saving grace and through that my life will shine forth His light.

[P] Dear Father, please protect my mind from wandering around all the nitty gritty details of life but to fixed on Your amazing grace of salvation.  And may it drive what I think and do every moment of my life.  In Your name.  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.

Spiritual Exaltation and Rejoicing

[S] Luke 1:47 --
 ⁴⁶And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord, ⁴⁷And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

[O] This is a pretty simple verse but contains a heavy weight concept of rejoicing in God.  This is Mary's first response after hearing Elizabeth's blessing of becoming a fulfillment of what was spoken by the Lord.  Her spirit foremost exalted and rejoiced her God her Savior.  I'm actually jealous about how naturally and immediately her rejoicing took place when it could've easily been a time of confusion, or fear.  Instead she humbly submitted to the calling of God and rejoiced.

[A] When's the last time my heart exalted God and my spirit rejoiced in God my Savior?  Most likely during the praise and worship time but it's been a while since I rejoiced about an event that I sensed God allowed in my life to take place.  This is either because God has not placed special events in my life or I am insensitive to what God is doing in my life so I need to open my spiritual eyes more to observe these opportunities for my spirit to exalt and rejoice God.

[P] Dear God, You are constantly at work in and around my life but even knowing this I find myself so focused in my own thoughts and busyness of life, I miss the opportunity to recognize Your workings in my life to give You the glory and credit.  As I discover more of these opportunities may my spirit exalt You and rejoice in You.  In Your name.  Amen.

Though the World May CrumbleDown

[S] Habakkuk 3:17-19 --
    ¹⁷Though the fig tree should not blossom
         And there be no fruit on the vines,
         Though the yield of the olive should fail
         And the fields produce no food,
         Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
         And there be no cattle in the stalls,
    ¹⁸Yet I will exult in the LORD,
         I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
    ¹⁹The Lord GOD is my strength,
         And He has made my feet like hinds' feet,
         And makes me walk on my high places.
         For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.

[O] After going back and forth with God about His judgment towards His people, Habakkuk realizes God's wrath is unavoidable (Habakkuk 3:2 -- In wrath remember mercy).  His realization brought him to the foot of Jesus' Cross it seems even though he's an Old Testament character because in the midst of this confession, I see a sense of resurrection and life instead of crumbling down in despair.  In verse 18, he will rejoice in the God of his salvation.

[A] Looking around my life, I can so easily lock on to what's not going right and fixate myself there forever feeling so sad for myself.  However, Habakkuk taught me that even though everything may fall apart around me, I can still exult in the Lord and rejoice in His salvation because God is my strength making me to walk on my high places.  This is the true joy God desires me to latch on to and so I will do just that.  There are many things which aren't necessarily going the way I expected but in some sense, that's the way it is while I rejoice in the Lord of my salvation!

[P] Dear Heavenly Father, I will rejoice in Your wonderful salvation no matter what disasters may come my direction.  You are indeed my fortress and I want to live my life to reflect that.  Please guide me each day and fill me up with Your strengths.  In Your precious name.  Amen.