Today's Scripture Reading

[Psalm23]

Dear Readers of the Today's Scripture Reading,

If you all find the reading of these threads encourage you to have closer relationship with Jesus, I would appreciate you could refer your Christians friends to read them (also non-Christians who are not offended with them are most welcome to read).

In the world of uncertainty, I think we all agree that only God can give us the hope. All Glory To God!

Thanks and God Bless You All. Amen!

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 17, 2009][All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. [Ephesians 6:12]

We all admire heroes especially those who fought and died for their countries. Some sacrificed their lives and there were others sacrificed the lives of their own children just to save their countries from falling into enemies’ hand.

There is an ancient Chinese story about one faithful and upright court official who sacrificed his own child to save another child of royal descent. He hoped that one day when the young prince whom he had saved would grow up to expose the evil deeds of a wicked prime minister. The wicked prime minister through his evil manipulation and scheming had wielded great power which he grossly abused it and did a lot of wicked things behind the emperor’s back. One of the victims was a son-in-law of the emperor who refused to submit to the prime minister’s manipulation. Through the cruel scheming, the emperor’s son-in-law was unjustly tried for treason and was executed. The wicked prime minister knew that the emperor’s son-in-law had a very young son and he was afraid that the child might take revenge when he grew up, and so he too planned to kill him. There was, however, an upright court official knew about it. This upright court official presented instead his own son to the prime minister and told him that he was the emperor son-in-laws’ child. The wicked prime minister without hesitation took a sword and pierced it into the child in front of the helpless father. The upright official then raised the young prince like his own child. They worked hard and finally succeeded in gaining the trust and confidence of the emperor. With the trust and confidence from the emperor, they then exposed all the evil deeds of the prime minister and he was duly executed. Although the upright official had got his wish fulfilled by exposing the evil deeds of the prime minister and save his country into the wrong hand, it was accomplished at a great cost, the very life of his own son.

As Christians, we are fighting our battle continuously. Our fight is not a physical fight but rather our fight is a spiritual fight because as Christ-followers we face the resolve in today's sin-sick-broken-world in the spiritual warfare where the forces of evil are running rampant in every corner of the world. The Prince of Darkness has wielded great power through gross deceits and manipulations. As one preacher has said, “I see evil here; I see evil there; I see evil in front of me; I see evil behind me; I see evil on my left; I see evil on my right.” He is absolutely right, evil is everywhere because the world is now ruled by the Prince of Darkness. We are fighting against the spiritual darkness (Ephesians 6:12) but in Him we have no darkness at all because God is light (1 John 1:5).

To battle effectively in this urgent hour of world conflict and spiritual darkness, we need first of all to live the gospel and demonstrate its transforming power in our own lives, and then proclaim the gospel - as Jesus commanded us to do. We are to preach, to proclaim and to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone everywhere. Remember, too, if we don't live the gospel, our words are worthless and we may do more to drive people away from Christ rather than draw them to Him. Just like some great war heroes who made sacrifices for the sake of their countries, we too need to make sacrifices for Jesus’ sake and His Kingdom by our godly living. We need to live our life holy so that others can see the transforming power of the gospel and they can have trust and confidence when we share with them the gospel of our living God, Christ Jesus. With the trust and confidence that others have in us, we can then effectively expose the wicked deeds of the Evil One so that we can stop others from being manipulated by the Evil One.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 18, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. [Mark 9:44]

Hell is real. Let’s be serious. Jesus has said that hell is a place where the fire will burn for ever and the worms there will not die. He repeated this three times (Mark 9:44,46,48). When God's words are repeated, they underscore His seriousness. God is very serious about this place. He doesn't want anyone one of us to go there and that's the reason why He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us so that we can avoid this awful place.

In most church sermons, sadly, hell is seldom preached. For the last 12 months in my church, I have not heard any sermons that preached solely on hell although some passing statements were made concerning this awful place. People don’t like to hear about it. They prefer to listen to the good news about heaven that is paved with streets of gold; about God’s promises, like promise of good health and great wealth when we obeyed Him. These are all true. God will not withhold any blessings, both spiritual and material blessings, from His children. But what does God say about hell? Is hell real? How is hell like? Where is hell? Who will go there? Well, you can find the answers to all these questions in the Bible and many of these are mentioned by Jesus Himself. Please check them out. Verses upon verses, the Word of God in both the Old and New Testaments, tell us that hell is REAL!

Hell is an extremely awful place and the gate of hell is only one way – no one can get out once he or she has entered. That’s look at the ‘physical’ properties of hell using just only one verse from the Bible, Luke 16:24 (NKJV), “Then he cried and said ‘Father of Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his fingers in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” This was desperately pleaded by a man who died unrepented and was condemned in hell. We notice four very important ‘properties’ of hell, if you will – (1) hell is a place that has physical flame of fire, intensely hot; (2) it is completely arid without a single drop of water; (3) there are other living things like worms and they don’t die in spite of the awful physical environment; (4) the people there are fully conscious. (It was speculated that when we die, our soul will be much more conscious and sensitive than when we were alive. All our senses – sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, vocal cord, emotion – will be much more sensitive. Notice that the man who was in hell just needed only drops of water to quench his thirst. Can we all now be quenched by just drops of water dipped from the finger tips when we are thirsty? Hence, such speculation might not be unreasonable.)

These are just a tiny glimpse of what hell is and there are many awful things mentioned in the Bible. But I believe that’s enough to frighten many of us. This is no wonder people feel very angry when someone tells him, “Go to hell” because our inner spirit tells us this is not the place we want to be in. So, as children of God we must be careful. We must not misuse the name of God nor His Creation. Telling someone “Go to hell” is mocking God and God must not be mocked because we will be breaking His Third Command “Do Not Misuse of the Name of the Lord Your God.”

The tragic thing about hell is that there are no unbelievers. Everyone there, including Satan and his angels whom hell was originally prepared for them, believe that Jesus is the Son of God. But it was too late. When we die or when Jesus comes the second time, we have only two places to go – either to live with Him in His heavenly kingdom, or to join the unbelievers and the devils in hell. The door of salvation has closed. So, now is the time. Make your decision to accept Jesus and follow Him because Jesus has said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish (Luke 13:5).”

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 19, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. [Mark 2:17]

If we ask people “What is repentance”, we are very likely to get many answers. Especially for non-Christians (and to some extent, Christians), repentance could mean that we are sorry about some wrongs that we have done to others or even to ourselves. One online dictionary defined is as “to be very sorry for something bad you have done in the past and wish that you had not done it.” What particularly interest me in this definition were these words “done in the past”.

In one of the Chinese movies I watched and it was about fighting and jockeying for territorial control by organized crime mafia. Subject to the pressure of some elder members, a young gang member was left with no choice but to apologize and to say sorry to a leader of a rival gang. Although he did apologize but his facial expression told a different message, you could see the strong hatred that still harbored inside him. What followed after this was a revenge planned by that young gang member with tragic results. There were winners, like all revenge. In that movie, everyone who sought revenge paid the prize dearly and tragically. It may just be a movie but it happens all the time in real life as in “reel” life. We apologize, we feel sorry “done in the past”, we feel remorseful but that don’t really mean much to God. All that matters was the past and we soon forgot all about them.

There are two things we can see from the online dictionary’s definition and the Chinese ‘mafia’ movie. First, many of us repent but only about the past deeds done. How about the future deeds? Do we after saying, “Sorry, I am wrong; I deserve punishment” and then go and repeat our bad deeds again? Second, do we really mean what we say or is it just lip-service?

Saying, “Sorry”, “I am wrong”, “Please forgive me” and so on are not godly repentance. Repentance is a command from Jesus. It’s not an option. Godly repentance begins on the inside of a person, turning to God in obedience of faith and has results seen on the outside. It’s a change of mind that produces a change of life and it must bear fruit as godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation but the sorrow of the world produces death (2 Corinthians 7:10). It is one of the commands that Jesus wants us to obey in order to have eternal life. (The other commands are: faith, confession and baptism).

Let us not be deceived. Each time we say sorry, it must follow with godly sorrow; it must not just be lip-service; it must bear fruit. We, as sinners, are sick. It is a sin-sickness. Lord Jesus who is our Great Physician came to heal the sickness of sin with the prescription of repentance. Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 20, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. [Revelation 20:15]

We all love to be honoured. Hence, national awards are given regularly to people who have excelled in making contributions to the community. For example in U.K. these awards come with highly-coveted initials like OBE, MBE and may carry the title of ‘Sir’. In Singapore, the awards come with titles like BBM, PPA, and in Malaysia the honour may earn you the title of Datuk or Tan Sri. Please don’t be mistaken me. I am not against awards and recognitions. Quite to the contrary, I fully endorse recognitions when recognitions are called for. When sincere men and women who have contributed their time and money just to share the burden of the under-privileged, they should be appropriately honoured and their names should be entered into the book of honour.

For war heroes who had fought and sacrificed their lives to protect their countries, they usually have their names remembered in the history books and for some who had made unimaginable sacrifice, they may have the life-size statues craved out and displayed at museum or important public buildings so that people know exactly how they were like. In China, the corpse of Mao Zedong, the founding father of modern China, was mummified and preserved at a mausoleum for people to see and perhaps ‘worship’.

These great men can give important lessons to present-day national leaders and the people at large. They can be our role-models and they can help us to discern what is right or wrong, correct or useful about specific matters that concern human welfare. Quite unfortunately, most of us don’t really learn from history to make this world a better place to live. Had we really learnt from history and had we all put efforts not to repeat the past evil deeds done by some leaders and at the same time learn from the role-model leaders of their good work, there would be no wars, no corruption and man-made calamities will be much less. Sadly, the atrocities of the past leaders are repeated by many present-day leaders and sadly, too, many fail to the learn from the role-model leaders. Hence, corruptions and abuses of power are now so wide spread that it has become normal for most countries. It’s just a matter of magnitude and severity. We can’t trust them with what they do neither can we trust them with what they tell us. We just simply can’t trust them anymore than we can to trust a crook.

Earthly honours go away as quickly as they come and soon many of them will be forgotten except remembered by those who studied history as their passion. But there is one honour that we must press forward to achieve – the eternal honour from our King of kings and Lord of Lords. When we are honoured by Him, our names will be recorded in His Book of Life. Except those whose names are in this Book, the rest whose names are not found will be cast into hell. They may have the autobiography or memoire written to tell people of their glorious contributions and achievements while they are on earth, they will not be recognized by our Lord Jesus. All these earthly contributions and achievements will be burnt and destroyed finally because all our righteousness including all the good works done on earth are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We are also told in the Bible that nothing impure will ever enter the kingdom of God, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life (Revelation 22;27). What a glorious kingdom we will be in! Imagine no impurity – the heavenly place that we are going to live will be 100% pure and, that means not even a single mite of dust will be present; the living water that flows out of the heavenly throne will be the purest of the pure; the redeemed people whose names are in the Book of Life will have their hearts fully purified and sanctified by God. Their works and their thoughts will be exactly like Christ Jesus. And the best news – the redeemed will dwell with our Lord Jesus for ever and ever. There is no time scale - the past, the present and the future will all be converged into one because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and for ever (Hebrews 13:8).

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 21, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. [Revelation 18:8]

Over the last couple of weeks we have seen the destructions of villages and cities because of earthquake, typhoons, floods and forest fires. These are really scary because when such calamities hit, they usually come without warning. Even with the current advanced technology, scientists still cannot predict accurately when earthquakes are going to hit us although there are some successes in predicting typhoons and flood. In addition to earthquakes, typhoons, floods and forest fires recently, how about calamities due to famine, infectious diseases and other man-made pollutions? Every one of us knows about HINI virus (or swine flu which was originally called). Can the new vaccine control the spread of this flu, or will it create more problems of unprecedented scale because the virus may unexpectedly mutates into new and more potent strains? We know of deadly viruses that current vaccines or drugs are not effective to control them such as HIV and Ebola viruses.

All these calamities or plagues are not new. They are mentioned in the Bible and they are only waiting to germinate into even more serious one. Compared to what the Bible has mentioned, the plagues that we see thus far are but tiny glimpses of what will be taking place before the Great White Throne Judgment from the Lord Jesus. Most serious Bible-reading Christians are not surprised at these morbid events although many of us read with great fear and trembling.

In last Saturday’s newspaper (Straits Times, October 17, 2009), there was an article on “The Face of Hunger”. In this article it was estimated that 1 in 6 people in the world goes hungry with 1 billion people live on less than US$ 1 a day; 3.5 million people die annually from malnutrition and on average 1 person dies every second as a result of starvation.

Admittedly, natural disasters have caused the reductions of food supply but if we were to examine some of the real causes, they are mostly by man. It was reported that the key causes for the decline in agriculture activities are due to war and conflict, financial and economic crisis, over-exploitation of the environment and poor management of agriculture infrastructures. Man is blinded by greed. It is common sense that agriculture should be given the priority, but the opposite has happened. There is insufficient investment by both the private sector and the government in agriculture. Governments and investors choose to put their monies where “their mouths are” and their mouths are always hungry for high-rise buildings, luxury homes, bigger airplanes, bigger cruise ships, more casinos, more luxury hotels, more electronic gadgets, more luxury goods of all kinds from clothing to shoes to cosmetics, in fact, just about anything except in the area of agriculture and food production. Just look at the investment section of the newspaper, we see almost all investments go into these industries with hardly anyone investing in agriculture. So where can we find food?

While these worldly plagues like earthquakes, diseases, famine and food can happen to us without warnings, we have a living hope. Our Lord Jesus tells us that these are signs of His coming. Naturally, we are afraid of plagues. But we can rejoice because no matter how serious they are, the will come to pass. Scientists can try to play god by creating life or extending people’s life span through better drugs and medicine, but they cannot control the calamities. God will bring these calamities to a close and open a new chapter of life – the eternal life that He has promised to His redeemed children. Jesus will come to establish His throne and we will live with Him for ever because at end of the last chapter of the last Book of the Bible, Jesus assured us that He will come quickly (Revelation 22:20). There are hundreds of prophecies in the Bible and many of them are already fulfilled. The Word of God never disappoint. It’s time we go and seriously understanding from His Scripture because all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness in order for us to be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 22, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. [Romans 5:6]

Bible Scripture is our spiritual food that we need to be nourished everyday. It contains both spiritual fat and spiritual vitamins. As Jesus has said, “man should not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4), we therefore need the Word of God to give us the fortitude to face the daily life challenges especially our spiritual well-being. While we must retain what is taught by our Heavenly Father through His Word and take every conscious effort to keep them in our heart, just like the fat we eat that is stored in our physical body for later use, there are some act like spiritual vitamins and unless we replenish them daily, we may suffer from spiritual vitamin-deficiency. We need these spiritual vitamins to give us a healthy and a clean soul so that we can live a holy life and present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice which is our service to Him (Romans 12:1).

Romans 5:6-10 tell us some of results due to spiritual vitamin-deficiencies that we all are suffering from. These are:

(a) Without strength (Romans 5:6). It means we are weak, helpless and devoid of spiritual power because men are only flesh of their own.

(b) Ungodly (Romans 5:6). All men live like as if God does not exist and hence they think that they do not need to justify what they do. They do any things as they please.

(c) Sinner (Romans 5:8). Men are mean and obnoxious to God. Their words, deeds and thoughts are contrary to the nature of God.

(d) Enemies of God (Romans 5:10). As one preacher had once said, people are divided into two types: either you are for God (that is God’s friend) or you are against God (that is God’s enemy). There is no in-between.

The Word of God, our spiritual food, has revealed to us that the death of Christ gives us the highest hope to reconciling with God and God is extremely anxious to grant us His mercy so that we can reconcile with Him. This is the way God glorifies Himself by displaying His awesome mercy to us. We must convince ourselves (and convince others if you are sharing the gospel of Jesus with non-believers) that we are in need of God’s mercy.

God has done the greatest possible work and glory of Himself, even greater than the creation of the universe and all that’s around it. This greatest work and glory that He has done was to make Himself into a sinless man and descended all the way from heaven to earth to die tragically for us. God did not need to die because He is God and He can live forever but He chose to die because of His love for us. But death could not hold Him. He rose again and through the risen Son, we will also be reigning with Him.

As Christians, we have put up our white flag and have surrendered completely ourselves to Him. We are no more His enemies. We are now not merely His friends, we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. We are going through the hard time with Him and we are going to go through the good time with Him and we will share His inheritance and His glory (Romans 8:17). In the meantime, we need to nourish on His Word which will provide us the spiritual energy and spiritual vitamins so as to enable us to face life challenges and to live holy lives that can be great blessings to both ourselves and others.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 23, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. [1 Thessalonians 1:4]

As Christians, we must know that the very reason for our existence is to please God. But because of our sinful and rebellious nature, we always want to please ourselves first. And when we do try to please others, in most instances, we do with ulterior selfish motives. Some of us must have encountered sales persons who were so particularly friendly to us when we first walked into the store but their attitude started to change when they realized that we are not too serious in patronizing it. They must have said to themselves, "let’s not waste our time on this customer.” We too can be culprits such as when we are particularly cordial to our important customers and give little or no attention to less important one. This selfish act of "expecting something in return for doing something" has earned an acronym WIIFM and it means "What's In It For Me" that you might have come across in your office life.

On a very personal level, we do a lot of things just to please ourselves like chasing after the latest electronic gizmos, upgrading our house to a bigger one, changing our car frequently for a better and more fanciful model and so one. No one is immune to all these pursuits but the pleasure that we obtained from such pursuits is usually short-lived because earthly pleasure can never last. Even billionaires when asked whether they have enough, they would tell you that they would be satisfied with just a ‘little more’. The pursuit or craving for a little more wealth, a little more enjoyment or a little more pleasure has caused a lot of heartache and headache to many of us. Although these may be personal pursuits but when they are carried out to the extreme not only that they will destroy our own lives, others like our friends, our employers and our family members can also be negatively affected by these callous pursuits. King Solomon has warned us in Ecclesiastes 1:8 “All things are full of labour; Man cannot express it. The eyes is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.” This is no wonder that digital camera pixels are getting higher and the MP3 sound quality is getting better by the day!

As mentioned above, our main life-purpose as Christians is to please God and God will be pleased when we put our full trust and faith in His Son, Jesus and forsake the worldly pleasure. When we do this, we will begin to see the result of the fruit germinated – peace, contentment and joy and our knowledge of Him will increase. We must respond to all our situations by the spirit of the Father (John 6:38) and not out of our sinful flesh. Let’s pray to God to increase our ‘spiritual pixels’ and to improve our ‘spiritual MP3 sound quality’ so that we can have an ultra-shape vision of the divine beauty of Christ Jesus and His holiness and an ultra-shape ears to hear the voice from His Word which is from everlasting to everlasting because Jesus has said that heaven and earth will pass away, but His Word will never pass away (Matthew 24:35).

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 24, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. [Ezekiel 7:23]

For the newspaper, television and other news sources, there are no shortage of heinous crimes and tragic news to write about. We read and we hear these news almost every day. For example, two heinous crimes were reported on yesterday's newspaper. One was in China and carried the headline “Mob trials rivet China” and the other was in the U.S. and carried the headline “2,000 kg of cocaine seized in largest US drug sting ever”. They were crimes of corruptions, rapes, extortions, drugs, and illegal gambling. The mafia who were responsible for these heinous criminal activities were even protected by the police as in China’s case!

Besids the nature of the crimes which were just unthinkable for people of our previous generation, what really surprises me are that people don’t seem to talk about them. Are we now immune to all these news reports because they are too common and they are viewed as normal news, nothing to shout about? Another surprise that I had is: Is government now out of control? Who are these people in the government institutions? Are they now mostly mafia in the government? Government officials are supposed to protect the people but instead they protect the criminals. Innocent people are bullied and as in China’s case, corrupt police has engaged in torturing a tea restaurant owner because she refused to convert her restaurant into an illegal casino. The injuries caused her to be hospitalized for one month.

The article below is an excerpt from Tomorrow’s World gives us an account of the sorry and solemn state of the world of crimes we are currently experiencing. Besides violent crimes, our daily lives are infiltrated with unimaginable obnoxious substances that we absorbed them continuously often quite unconsciously. They range from violent to sexually explicit to horror movies that you can download from the Internet into your personal computers, mobile phones, iPods. There are commercials promoting lifestyle in the TV, newspaper and Internet that is totally against God's precept. Then you have the financial news promoting material covetousness that brings out our sin of greed and, if we are not careful, it can sink us into the darkness pit. You don’t need to go to cinemas and theatres to see these movies or commercials. They come right into your homes and into your personal electronic gizmos and you can view them in crystal clear images with surround sound quality, 24/7 and 365 days!

As born-against Christians, we must not hand our control over to dark forces, unlike some governments which apparently have lost control to the mafia. Our God is our refuge and we must therefore boldly proclaim: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me? (Hebrews 13:6)”.

Excerpt from Tomorrow’s World by Davy Crockett​

Rape, robbery, murder, extortion, corruption in political and business circles, and other acts of crime and violence seem to permeate all strata of our society. Abductions, once rare, are now almost commonplace. And yet, our entertainment, in the form of television and movies, is filled with stories - some fictional, some true - of murder, mayhem and intrigue.

How did we get here? Why do we see the moral fabric of society unraveling in a way that a couple of generations ago would have seemed unthinkable? Can we know? Are there answers? Actually, these problems were foretold long ago, with amazing accuracy, by men who were inspired to write about what was to come. “Make a chain, for the land is filled with crimes of blood, and the city is full of violence” wrote the prophet Ezekiel, millennia ago (Ezekiel 7:23). Pick any city in the United States of America and you will find that this description fits with eerie accuracy.

The Apostle Paul instructed a young evangelist named Timothy on what to expect toward the end of the age. “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-5.) He further stated in the same chapter, “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (v. 13).

So, while we see that it is unsafe to walk our streets in towns large and small, as we see schools, churches and other public places becoming killing fields with unspeakable tragedies unfolding with alarming regularity, is there anything we can do? In reality, we can’t change society or reverse these trends on a large scale, but we can, as individuals and families, make some changes that will give us protection and peace of mind.

First, on a physical level, we should be aware of the dangers in society and take precautions. Proverbs 22:3 says: “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.”

Anciently, God promised peace and safety to those who obeyed Him: “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today” (Deuteronomy 28:1), and in verse 6 it states: “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated.”

In other places, for example in the Psalms, it clearly shows that God is our refuge. That doesn’t mean that bad things don’t sometimes happen to good people, but it does mean that in God’s plan, provision is made for protection in this life and in the life to come.

End of Article​

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 25, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. [Proverbs 24:16]

Physical pains are associated with almost any kind of fall. When we fall, we will experience some kind of pain like falling down from steps or slipping onto the floor. When the fall is very bad, the pain can be excruciating and the injuries sustained may confine us in bed for many days or even weeks. In some extreme cases, the injuries may permanently incapacitate the victims. We therefore pray that God will spare us from such miseries and will protect and take care of us wherever we are. On the other hand, when we walk, jog or drive we have to do it responsibly and with great care.

However, there are some types of fall that can be more damaging than physical injuries. For example, when we fall into a sinful temptation, or when we make a wrong life-choice like engaging in illicit or illegal activities. Although we may have paid the costly price, the emotional pains that come along with these wrong life-choices, can be long-lasting. And for many of us, just one wrong life-choice is too many.

By the grace of God, when we truly have repented and never to repeat our misdeed and to sincerely obey Jesus’ Commandments, our past does not have the capacity to determine our future. With God’s wisdom and forgiveness He offers (Psalm 130: 3-4), we can focus on our future with His blessed hope. A quote that I came about that says “It’s better to look ahead and prepare than to look back in despair” can give us courage to face our life sorrows which we are, at one time or another, going to encounter. No one can be spared from it.

It must be reminded that Proverbs 24:16 is not meant to embolden brazen sinners but to comfort those who sorrow deeply over their sin and over their spiritual failures. We have to question ourselves whether we are truly saved when we keep repeating our sinful acts. The number ‘seven’ is a fullness of times that Bible always used to indicate. Apostle Peter asked if he had to forgive his brother seven times, and Jesus answered not seven times, “but, until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22). Though a Christian may fall a multitude of times, even seven times or more, yet, by God’s grace, he will rise up again.

The promise here is of perseverance in the faith towards God. Are you struggling? Have you fallen over and over again? If you are truly saved, then do not despair. Your fall is not like that of the wicked man who stumbles and does not rise again. God will not leave you helplessly on the ground. By His mercy, He will hold you up and to let you walk anew and afresh. God has promised that when we turn away from evil and be good, He will order and direct our footsteps so that He can take delight in our new ways (Psalm 37:23).

Some of us may already be familiar with the following poem “Footprints In The Sand”. It really depicts the amazing love of God and His promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND

One night I had a dream
I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord
and across the sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints,
one belonged to me and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that many times along the path of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in my life.
This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you would walk with me all the way,
but I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life
there is only one set of footprints.
"I don't understand why in times when I needed you most,
you should leave me."

The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child,
I love you and I would never, never leave you
during your times of trial and suffering.
"When you saw only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."​

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 26, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. [1 Corinthians 3:8]

“Doesn’t matter how you do it, just go and get the results.” This is what the world of commerce expected of us. So long we can deliver the results, be it in meeting a report’s deadline or in generating more sales for the company, our bosses don’t really care how we do it. It’s the results that count. For people who have worked ‘beyond his or her usefuness’, unkind term like ‘deadwood’ is used to insult them to plainly tell them that they are now ‘good for nothing.’ This is like adding salt into the wound. Many have climbed the ladder of success and made contributions to their companies but only to discover that all the while they had been leaning against the wrong wall. The rule of reward in this sin-sick-world economy that is determined solely by our ability to deliver and disregard our past labourer took them by surprise at last.

Quite to the contrary, deadwoods the by-products of dead tress are especially critical to some birds. They actually provide a natural resource for these birds to survive. These birds use the deadwood for nesting in excavated or natural cavities as perches for hunting, resting, and singing, and as a substrate on which to forage for their food of insects and spiders. For example, a study in the northwestern United States found that up to 45% of the species of breeding birds are cavity nesters. Deadwoods are not dead after all and it is a prominent characteristic of the ecosystem and without the deadwoods many species of birds cannot survive well. We can therefore conclude that that which the world may have condemned or considered dead can be dearly treasured by Him and His creation.

In God’s economy, the rule of reward is not the talents or gifts, nor success of the ministers, but their labourers. God will reward even the least successful when he labour for Him in greatest faith and humility. As Charles Hodge has written, “The faithful, laborious minister or missionary who labours in obscurity and without apparent fruit, will meet a reward far beyond that of those who with less self-denial and effort, are made the instruments of great results…..Each would have to answer for himself, and would receive a reward proportioned to his fidelity and self-denial.”

God is gracious and merciful. He will not let us labour in vain and in hardship alone. Jesus has said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).” Earthly rewards not matter how grand they are will perish one day but the treasures and the rewards that are reserved for us in His kingdom will last into eternality; so let us seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

 

[foomt117]

Today’s Scripture Reading [July 27, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. [Proverbs 1:7]

Worldly success is usually determined by the amount of wealth we accumulated, the types of jobs we hold, or the position we held. Bible teaches, however, successful life begins and progresses with a right relationship with God, called in Proverbs fear of the Lord.

Human beings are fearful of almost everything and anything so much so that scientific names are given to them. For example, fearing of height is known as acrophobia, fearing of speaking before a group: topophobia, fearing of insects: entomophobia, fearing of darkness: nyctophobia, fearing of loneliness: monophobia, fearing of financial problems: atephobia.

But there is one fear we all ought to fear, and that is the fear of God. By fearing God, we humble ourselves and we will care less for our own glory and more for God’s glory. By fearing God, we too acknowledge His greatness, that He is all-knowing and all-powerful. We must therefore respect Him, and we must humbly obey His commandments, or we will have to accept the consequences of our misplaced pride.

Oswald J. Chambers, a prominent early twentieth century Scottish Protestant Christian minister, teacher and author once said: The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.

=============================

maybe u should go spar with all the world's top pschologists and tell them they r all wrong and that they should seek yr consultation instead

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 27, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. [Jeremiah 23:23:24]

Our God is the God on the mountain and also the God in the valley. He is omnipresence. We can find Him everywhere and at anytime. God is not only everywhere with His power, upholding and governing every creature in the universe, but He is everywhere with all of His Being! And because His Being is everywhere present, He is everywhere with all His adorable virtues. "Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath: there is no other.” (Deuteronomy 4:39). He will not hide from us because Jesus has said, “Seek and you will find, knock and the door open will be open to you (Matthew 7:7-8). All we need to do is to be active in our search for Him. God doesn’t want to be an uninvited Guest. He wants sincere heart. We cannot be passive, half-hearted and expect Him to come to us. We need to invite Him whole-heartedly.

Geographically speaking, it is an impossibility to have a valley without a mountain. It is said that between two mountains you will find a valley. They are beautiful complements in God’s grand creation and they are like inseparable twin: you find one, you will find the other. However, the activities in the valley and on mountain top are in complete contrast.

For most of us, we are living in overcrowded valley. People are everywhere rushing here and rushing there and sometimes quite aimlessly. Valley people are very concerned about the present and they are equally worried about the future. They don’t know whether they will have their job tomorrow; whether the stock market will be up or will be down; whether the price of the petrol will reach $ 100 or stay the same at $ 50; whether will they be struck by any sickness. Valley people often lamented at their state of hopelessness, and are yearning to reach the mountain top.

In order to reach the mountain top, we all must first enter the valley. Just like mountaineers attempting to conqueror a mountain, they have to first enter the valley which always comes with very uncompromising surrounding – wild animals, wild insects, wild plants with sharp thorns, dangerous rocks and trees that might fall anytime. And once they have reached the top of the mountain, life there is completely different – they have great sense of achievement, of peace due to absence of danger from wild beasts, and they are able enjoy abundance of fresh air, and life has become easy. Unlike in the valley which can be dangerous, and pitched dark because sunlight is blocked out by the mountains or trees and so they have to continuously looking for dangers, they are now able to look heavenward and enjoy the bright sunlight from our Creator.

We must, however, remind ourselves that God is bigger than our valley. We all know that it is easier to serve the Lord when we are on the mountain top. When we are there, we can give thanks and praises at will and we are excited about the Lord and about His work. When we go into one of the valley experiences of life, remember too that His is still God! When we enter the valley of financial hardship, His is still God! When we enter the valley of physical pains, He is still God! When we enter the valley of sorrow, He is still God! When we enter the valley of spiritual discouragement, He is still God! Regardless of the valley we are in either by choice or by circumstances, we will find out that He is still God! Once we discover our God is at every stage of our life, we have already won our battle. Satan wants us to be defeated, but that God has promised victory as He has said in Romans 8:37, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” He has also lovingly reminded us in Psalm 23:4 that even though we walk through the darkest valley, we will fear no evil for He is with us; His rod and His staff will comfort us.

The success of and in all our godly pursuits will not be determined by the types of valley we enter. It will begin with our ability to surrender totally to our Lord Jesus in every circumstance, asking and trusting Him to take full control of our life. Be still and know that He is God! (Psalm 46:10).

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 28, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17]

We are told many times in the Bible that there are going to have two most significant earth-shaking events that this world will be witnessing. These two events will mark the end of the present age and the start of a new age which will never end. This new age is the Age of God’s Kingdom.

For Christians, the first event is the ‘part I’ of His Coming and is called “The Rapture” when Jesus will descend from heaven and all those believers who were dead will be resurrected and caught up to meet Him in the clouds. The next group of believers who are to be caught with Him in the clouds are those still alive. What follows after this will be The Great Tribulation when all unbelievers will have to go through.

The second earth-shaking event is the ‘part II’ of His Coming. In this event, He will land His feet on the Mount of Olive (Zechariah 14:4; Revelation 20: 4,6) to deliver the final Great White Throne Judgment when all the wicked will be judged by Him.

There are many reasons why believers of Jesus Christ will be caught up to be with Him before The Great Tribulation. Many of us believe that this will occur in this generation. In fact, it could occur next week, tomorrow or even in the very next hour! Here are some of the reasons why truly born-again Christians will not go through The Great Tribulation but will be caught to be with Him in glory:

(a) The purpose of The Great Tribulation is to humble the wicked and to break their pride. Since we are His redeemed people purchased by the precious blood of Jesus, God with all His mercies will let us escape this tribulation. Just like Noah and his family, they were delivered by God. Immediately after Noah, his wife, his three sons and three daughters-in-law had entered into the ark, the great flood came. So, also like Lot and his three daughters they were urged to leave the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, and immediately after they left that sin city, brimstone fire started pouring down from heaven. None survive; all the wicked people were drown in the great flood as in Noah’s day, or burnt into ashes by the brimstone as in Lot’s day.

(b) In the Book of Revelation, the word ‘church’ which is the body of Jesus Christ disappeared after the rapture of His Church had taken place. The reason for the disappearance of this word is because the Church has already been caught with Him in glory. His Church has been redeemed; it has taken up into glory forever by our Saviour.

(c) The ‘thief’ passages are mentioned six times in the New Testament (Matthew 24:43-44; Luke 12:34-40; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4; 2 Peter 3:10: Revelations 3:3; Revelations 16:15). The ‘thief’ passages tell us that Jesus will come like a thief, that is, without warning. These passages confirm that His Coming is sudden when we are least expected. We are warned therefore to repent, not to walk in nakedness and in shame so that we are ready to be received by Him when He comes in cloud with power and great glory (Luke 21:27).

(d) The event of the “part II” of His Coming will be marked by Him landing His feet on earth and will be accompanied by His saints (Revelation 20: 4,6). Unless the saints have been caught with Him earlier, how could they come with Him?

(e) We are told to comfort one another on the imminence of His Coming as we will be caught up to meet Him into His glory (1 Thessalonians 4:18). How can then we comfort one another if we need to go through The Great Tribulation? The Bible has described that the Great Tribulation will be a time of great suffering such as never has been from the beginning of the world till now. The suffering will be so great that God, by His mercy, has to cut short the period otherwise no humankind will survive. (Matthew 24:21-22). As Christians, we can take great comfort that we will not need to go through this suffering of The Great Tribulation.

When we walk around we can see that people are so concern about their daily affair – some are busy entertaining themselves with all the pleasures that the world could offer, others are busy making a living and yet others are just busy wondering around without any purpose in life. And when we try to share with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of the imminence of His Coming, no one will listen. On the contrary, we will be labeled as Christian nerds. Just imagine that if tomorrow thousands (or even millions) of people just disappear into the clouds, then everyone will wonder ‘what on earth is going on’. Everyone will then realize that God is real but it will be too late for them to wake up to this realization. The door of salvation has closed.

Time and again, we have been told and warned to be prepared and get ready for His Coming. Like the days of Noah and Lot, although God is patient not wanting anyone to perish, but every one to come to repentence (2 Peter 3:9), His patient is running out. He cannot keep ignoring the wickedness and sinfulness of the people whose heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). He has already given us enough time but we have failed Him time and again. We have taken His mercy for granted and we have given Him enough disrespects. He is a just God and will have to deliver His justice. So, are you ready? Are you preparing for His Coming?

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 28, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17]

We are told many times in the Bible that there are going to have two most significant earth-shaking events that this world will be witnessing. These two events will mark the end of the present age and the start of a new age which will never end. This new age is the Age of God’s Kingdom.

For Christians, the first event is the ‘part I’ of His Coming and is called “The Rapture” when Jesus will descend from heaven and all those believers who were dead will be resurrected and caught up to meet Him in the clouds. The next group of believers who are to be caught with Him in the clouds are those still alive. What follows after this will be The Great Tribulation when all unbelievers will have to go through.

The second earth-shaking event is the ‘part II’ of His Coming. In this event, He will land His feet on the Mount of Olive (Zechariah 14:4; Revelation 20: 4,6) to deliver the final Great White Throne Judgment when all the wicked will be judged by Him.

There are many reasons why believers of Jesus Christ will be caught up to be with Him before The Great Tribulation. Many of us believe that this will occur in this generation. In fact, it could occur next week, tomorrow or even in the very next hour! Here are some of the reasons why truly born-again Christians will not go through The Great Tribulation but will be caught to be with Him in glory:

(a) The purpose of The Great Tribulation is to humble the wicked and to break their pride. Since we are His redeemed people purchased by the precious blood of Jesus, God with all His mercies will let us escape this tribulation. Just like Noah and his family, they were delivered by God. Immediately after Noah, his wife, his three sons and three daughters-in-law had entered into the ark, the great flood came. So, also like Lot and his two daughters they were urged to leave the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, and immediately after they left that sin city, brimstone fire started pouring down from heaven. None survive; all the wicked people were drown in the great flood as in Noah’s day, or burnt into ashes by the brimstone as in Lot’s day.

(b) In the Book of Revelation, the word ‘church’ which is the body of Jesus Christ disappeared after the rapture of His Church had taken place. The reason for the disappearance of this word is because the Church has already been caught with Him in glory. His Church has been redeemed; it has taken up into glory forever by our Saviour.

(c) The ‘thief’ passages are mentioned six times in the New Testament (Matthew 24:43-44; Luke 12:34-40; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4; 2 Peter 3:10: Revelations 3:3; Revelations 16:15). The ‘thief’ passages tell us that Jesus will come like a thief, that is, without warning. These passages confirm that His Coming is sudden when we are least expected. We are warned therefore to repent, not to walk in nakedness and in shame so that we are ready to be received by Him when He comes in cloud with power and great glory (Luke 21:27).

(d) The event of the “part II” of His Coming will be marked by Him landing His feet on earth and will be accompanied by His saints (Revelation 20: 4,6). Unless the saints have been caught with Him earlier, how could they come with Him?

(e) We are told to comfort one another on the imminence of His Coming as we will be caught up to meet Him into His glory (1 Thessalonians 4:18). How can then we comfort one another if we need to go through The Great Tribulation? The Bible has described that the Great Tribulation will be a time of great suffering such as never has been from the beginning of the world till now. The suffering will be so great that God, by His mercy, has to cut short the period otherwise no humankind will survive. (Matthew 24:21-22). As Christians, we can take great comfort that we will not need to go through this suffering of The Great Tribulation.

When we walk around we can see that people are so concern about their daily affair – some are busy entertaining themselves with all the pleasures that the world could offer, others are busy making a living and yet others are just busy wondering around without any purpose in life. And when we try to share with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of the imminence of His Coming, no one will listen. On the contrary, we will be labeled as Christian nerds. Just imagine that if tomorrow thousands (or even millions) of people just disappear into the clouds, then everyone will wonder ‘what on earth is going on’. Everyone will then realize that God is real but it will be too late for them to wake up to this realization. The door of salvation has closed.

Time and again, we have been told and warned to be prepared and get ready for His Coming. Like the days of Noah and Lot, although God is patient not wanting anyone to perish, but every one to come to repentence (2 Peter 3:9), His patient is running out. He cannot keep ignoring the wickedness and sinfulness of the people whose heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). He has already given us enough time but we have failed Him time and again. We have taken His mercy for granted and we have given Him enough disrespects. He is a just God and will have to deliver His justice. So, are you ready? Are you preparing for His Coming?

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 29, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

I have shewed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. [Acts 20:35]

Recently in the newspaper, we read about the earnings made by top corporate figures. In U.S. the earnings of some of these corporate figures have become the talk of the town. When their earnings were disclosed, many exclaimed, “What have they done to deserve these tens of million of dollars!” And to add insult to the world of trade and commerce, many of these million-dollar earners are from the financial institutions that created the recent economic crisis. They gave loans irresponsibly to people to buy houses knowing that these house-owners could not service their installment payments; they devised devious ways to package the loans and market them as valuable AAA-grade investments; and through these devious schemes, their companies’ assets were grossly overvalued; they generated huge profits which were not there in the first place. Out of these ‘huge profits’, they declared equally huge bonuses for themselves. These housing-loans or sub-prime loan mortgages as they now known and together its twin AAA-grade investments are deemed as toxic investments rated worst then toilet papers by the financial institutions (which ironically created them!). The danger is that nobody knows whether these toxic investments have already been fully ‘neutralized’, or are there still more to be discovered. The word ‘toxic’ couldn’t be more accurately coined; they are truly toxic in every true sense of the word because many innocent lives were lost or destroyed as the result of these investments; several people had in fact committed suicide because they had, directly or indirectly, bought these toxic investments or because of the financial crisis.

The current U.S. administration has taken the lead to cap the earnings of some top corporate figures of those companies that have received public bailouts and they are mainly from the financial sector. Is this being done for political reasons or is the U.S. government serious about capping the pay of these grossly overpaid top executives, time will tell. But one thing we are quite convince. We just can’t trust them and to be fair, this is not just the U.S. government we can't trust; we can’t trust other governments too. We just pray that we are wrong this time!

Money is not evil. In economic term, money is just a medium of exchange and it facilitates trade and commerce. However it is the love of money that is evil because the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil and some people, eager for money, will do everything to get them and in the process have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (1 Timothy 6:10).

In yesterday’s paper, in the article “Bosses’ shrinking pay packages” it was reported that “even Singapore’s highest-paid bosses felt the pinch last year with take-home pay among the million-dollar earners down sharply.” It was reported that some have their pay reduced from about 4 million dollars last year to about 3.5 million dollars this year, and some have their pay reduced from about 3 million to about 2.8 million. If these million dollar bosses could feel the pinch when their earnings are still in the million dollar range, I just wonder the fate of those 1 billion people around the world who are now living at less than US$1 per day, and many of these 1 billion people cannot even afford one meal a day! I believe some of these big bosses are eagerly waiting for their pay to go back to the pre-economic crisis level. I wish them well and that their dream can come true, and I too like to pray that those 1 billion people who are living at less than US$ 1 per day can at least have three simple meals a day.

Many of us are takers. We take, and take and take because our love of money sets no limit to when we should stop taking. Nothing can satisfy us because we are always yearning for “a little more” even though some may be making million dollars a year. During my working life, I worked in the human resource department and my job was in the pay and compensation administration. I did this job for more than 20 years and in this job I have seen the ugliest side of the human race. Senior executives who were paid more than a million dollar in compensation could be bickering at few dollars of their personal expense claims such as their children’s bus fees, school uniforms cost, cost of text-books purchased for their children! They would take every opportunity to make whatever claim they felt they were entitled to. When their claims for these expenses were rejected, they would shamelessly escalate to the higher level. One thing I truly admire them, they have great fighting spirit when it came to such matters. They would bravely but shamelessly fight all the way to the highest level to have their case heard – all for that few dollars! They would examine their contract of employment like a forensic scientist would to a corpse in order to build their case and they would "leave no stone unturned" so to speak. At times I could see their pitiful face when they had failed their attempt to make that 'peanut' claim. Their jaws just simply dropped.

On the other extreme, we have witnessed there were great men of God who dedicated all their lives for the advancement of the Gospel. Great preachers, evangelists and missionaries like John Welsey, Martin Luther, Hudson Taylor, Jonathan Edwards were some of these great men. There were many of these people in the past and there are also as many such men and women today giving godly service in obscurity not yearning to get any earthly reward nor recognition. They truly served God with all their heart, their soul and their mind. I have personally known of an old lady who is the wife of a dentist and she just did that, spending all her time sharing Gospel with others and never refuse to attend to any call to share Gospel especially to the unbelievers. Everything that she does is for His Kingdom, for His Glory, for saving souls for Jesus!

Our carnal heart unfortunately relates blessing to mostly material blessings and we like to hear or read the concluding chapter of Job’s life: “He was given twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10)”. It is not uncommon for many prosperity preachers to tell you that if you “give ten dollars God will give you back sevenfold.” We must look beyond material blessings and look more into the blessings for our spiritual life. Be aware if you have encountered these prosperity preachers because our blessings should not be on material blessing. Moses is a good example.

For forty years, Moses led a peaceful life of comfort, happily married and living in simple abundance. He was greatly blessed by being raised in the opulence, status and power of Pharaoh’s court and household. Then God interrupted these material blessings with a greater one. God has chosen him to be the deliverer of His people from the bondage of Egypt. Although Moses at first doubted his ability to be the leader of the Israelites, he finally obeyed Him and led the people out of Egypt. Centuries later, Moses was given the incredible honour and blessing of being along side of the transfigured Christ in His brilliance glory, along with the prophet Elijah (Matthew 17:2-3).

If we are people who are so used to getting or manipulating to get our own ways and to scheme wickedly all the time just to take advantage of every conceivable opportunity to receive some tangible benefits, we must pray fervently that God will deliver us from this sin of greed and covetousness and remove our deceitful-taker attitude from us.

On the other hand, how much we give, how we give, when we give, and who we give, is between God and us. More importantly, heart-centered and selfless giving pleases God. What God did to Moses, He will do to us to. He is all ready to give us the honour and to bless us if only we are willing to totally submit ourselves to Him and be a heart-centered, selfless and cheerful giver expecting no earthly reward or recognition. We can too be transfigured into His Presence.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 30, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [James 4:7]

Devils and demons are real! Don’t play into them! This is the warning from the Bible. We must flee away from them as far as possible. We must not do anything to indicate to them that we are inviting them in. Quite sadly, many parents and even Christian parents take this very lightly. They seem to enjoy and take pleasure looking at the children wearing grotesque costumes of 'gods', of animals, or of vampires. Demons can make us sick and they can destroy our family relationship and even break the bond between our true God and us. Don’t even let them come near us let alone let them come in. We are told in Matthew 8:16 that many people who were possessed by the evil spirits and demons were brought to Jesus and He cast them out by His word. They were immediately healed of the sickness when the demons and the evil spirits were cast out from them.

All glory to God for His Name is above all names because when we call upon the Name of Jesus, Satan will always flee. In Luke 10:18 Jesus told His disciples about how He had seen the fall of Satan in heaven. Satan’s fall had been “like lightning” when God cast him out. We therefore never need to be afraid of Satan; he cannot trouble us BUT do not invite him in because this is THE only way that he can create trouble not just for you but your family too!

Satan must be laughing when he sees so many people celebrating the festival of Halloween. I really don’t know the background of Halloween, how it started and why people celebrate it but as truly born-again Christians we do not need to go further than just acknowledging that we want nothing to do with it and it has nothing to do with us. You could feel nausea just by looking at those grotesque costumes and so why should we get ourselves into it.

The following article “Christians and Halloween” from Tomorrow’s World will prayerfully help Christian parents to be more discerning when celebrating festivals and to understand the dangers associated with unscriptural and occult activities.

CHRISTIANS AND HALLOWEEN​

Is it "fun" to play at evil? Should we follow our neighbors, like proverbial lemmings, off the dangerous cliff of pagan practices? Most of society has accepted the lie that Halloween is "innocent fun" and eagerly train their children to take pleasure in symbols of pagan, and even Satanic, evil?

That’s right! When parents let their children dress as witches, demons, goblins or skeletons, they are teaching their children values that will last long after the costume comes off! Parents should have common sense, let alone basic values of right and wrong. Teaching our children to imitate evil is an abomination in God’s sight — and we will reap what we sow! By observing Halloween, we teach our children to make light of Satan the Devil — or even to think like him! Should we then be surprised when our children remain curious about evil — or even invite it — for the rest of the year.

In Luke 7:21, we find that our Savior cured many individuals who were plagued by evil spirits. "And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight." Do we live contrary to our Savior’s example? Do we teach our children to attract and cultivate evil spirits at Halloween? Certainly, dressing up like a demon or a witch INVITES evil rather than opposes it!

The Apostle James advises us to resist evil, not entertain it! James 4:7, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." That is your Creator’s instruction to you! "Resist the devil!" Do NOT join the masses in celebrating the dark world of Satan and the occult!

The Bible plainly speaks of fallen angels called demons. The apostle Paul warns us about these "spiritual hosts of wickedness" in Ephesians the sixth chapter. Read this strong admonition starting in Ephesians 6:11, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Some parents encourage their children to participate in the world of demons. Are some of you parents sacrificing your children to Satan and to wicked spirits? We MUST resist the world’s way of supporting the horrendous evil rampant about us. One can understand the blindness of non-Christians in participating in traditions of darkness. But for professing Christians to clothe themselves and their children with the outright symbols of evil is an affront to the name of Christ! Such practices are wicked, evil, and sinful! It’s time for such so-called Christians to repent of supporting the Devil and rebelling against Christ!

Parents also teach their children the concept of "trick or treat." The child in essence tells an adult, "You had better give me some treat or I will trick you, or damage your property!" What kind of a Christian precept is that? It is definitely not Christian! It is teaching the "get" motive and intimidation! Jesus taught the way of life that emphasizes giving, NOT selfish getting! As the Apostle Paul stated in Acts 20:35, "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ’It is more blessed to give than to receive.’"

Our nation needs to wake up to its evil practice of embracing the occult and the symbols of wickedness. The Creator God will judge all who participate in such dark traditions. Professing Christians, who ought to know better, need to stand up for the righteous training of their children, and not surrender to the sacrificing of their children to the underworld of evil.

END OF ARTICLE​

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 31, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. [John 15:19]

It is interesting to note that for most of us living in city we find that the drinking water from our taps is nothing unusual. It just tastes like any bottled water we bought from supermarket. However, this is not so for others who have been drinking well or stream water all their lives. I had encountered many people who came from remote villages and they found that the water from our taps is very different from the water in their villages. They could literally vomitted when they first tasted the tap water. Why?

City-water around the world is treated with chemicals and the most commonly used chemical is chlorine. Like most chemicals, it has unpleasant taste and odour. Although the quantity used may be very small just enough to kill those harmful bacteria found in the water, for people who are not used to tap water, it can taste horrible because they are sensitive to it. But why are we not sensitive to it at all? The question is very simple – we have been drinking tap water since that day we were born and our taste bud has accustomed to it, hence it is now not sensitive enough to detect the chlorine. We have just got use to it. If you don’t believe that our water is chlorinated, just go to any chemist and buy a chlorine test kit and test the water yourself. You will be surprised at the test result!

Jesus has told His disciples that they were in the world and not of the world. He told them this knowing that He was to leave them soon to His Father. This too is a warning to us. We must not be numbed by and we must not be insensitive to the worldly things around us. Just like we are not able to detect the chlorine from our tap water, it does not mean that chlorine is not present and it is perfectly alright and harmless to drink the water. It has in fact shown in some scientific researches that one of the main causes of cancer is due to the consumption of chlorinated water from tap water. Many people who suffered from cancer (which can also due to other causes) don’t even know it until the very late stage when treatment may prove to be very difficult or impossible.

Everything that people do, every news that we read or listen, every commercial that sent to us via newspaper, TV, Internet, every coarse conversation that we had with our colleagues, friends, every entertainment that we participated, may look all but ‘normal’ to us. And just like the chlorinated water we drank everyday may taste normal which could in fact affect our cells to become cancerous, those things from the world that we encounter daily could slowly cripple us to the point that we could also suffer from some form of ‘spiritual cancer.’ The bad news is that we may not even know of it and it may be too late by the time we realise it. But there is a piece of good news! Once we go and examine against the word of God, those things that could make us vomit and could cause spiritual cancer will be revealed to us in minute details. You will be surprised at the test result! The word of God is our spiritual CT-scan and spiritual MRI machines. They can effectively detect and indicate to us whether we are suffering from any form of spiritual cancer with pin-point accuracy just like a physical CT-scan or an MRI machine would to a cancer patient.

Have you been to the word of God, our spiritual CT-scan and spiritual MRI machines lately? If you have not, you need to do it right away. The word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [November 1, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. [Isaiah 56:6-7]

For many of us Christians who have tried evangelizing to our friends or relatives frequently we felt quite discouraged. This is because each time we shared the Gospel, our friends or relatives kept saying to us that they were “Not ready for Christ”, “Is not time yet”, or “My parents are still alive and they are ancestor-worshipper so I cannot be a Christian now,” and so on. They know we have good intention and have great concern for their eternal life and salvation, but they think that they can always wait and time is on their side. Sometimes, of course, they give these excuses in order not to let us feel bad. However, many of them will think nothing will happen to them for a long time to come, so they just wanted to wait for the 'right time'. Quite sadly, they may be wrong! There is no such thing as the right time to believe in God. From the time we were born, God has written the language of His unconditional love onto our hearts. We just need to open our hearts and receive His unconditional love.

God has given us stern instruction, “Seek Him while He may be found”. We don’t know what can happen to us tomorrow, to our family members, to our friends because life is really very unpredictable. But one thing we know for sure, death will come to everyone. It’s not “if” but “when”. For people who are in their 50s or 60s, it can be quite depressing each time they turn to the obituary page in a newspaper because often they would see familiar names appearing, and wondering, “When is my turn?” I can say this because I am in my late 50s and I read obituaries and have encountered obituaries of my friends who were about my age. Although I may not know some of them in the obituaries, my heart also goes to their families because some who died were very young men and women, in their 30s and 40s or even in their 20s. For example, we have just read few days ago in the news of a promising doctor in his late 30s who died unexpectedly when he was doing sea-diving while on vacation, and over the last 12 months we read about promising young army men died so unexpectedly while having their physical training. Tragedies like this can strike anyone of us without warnings.

Seeking, finding and establishing relationship with God is our top priority. Our eternal life begins the minute we cried out to God that He is our Abba Father, the minute we acknowledge Jesus is our Saviour, the minute we sincerely give our life to Him. Let’s not wait any longer and let’s seek Him with all our might. But seeking Him is more than just passively acknowledging Him. We need to be active in our deeds. “Seek Me and live…seek good and not evil, that you may live, so the Lord God of hosts will be with you….hate evil, love good, establish justice (Amos 5,4,14-15). It must not be a lip-service exercise effort.

The reason why we are so miserable most of the times is because we do things that displease Him. We do wicked things; we have evil thoughts; we participated in worldly activities which God despises. But, when we give our hearts to Jesus, do all the things that please Him, we will experience the peace from Him. What God wants from us is our entire way of life that covers every possible choice that might confront us. This is the only way that can produce abundant life and at the same time prepare us for God’s Kingdom.

Since we all know that our God is good and merciful, therefore our primarily job is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the unsaved. Let’s give substantial part of our life in reaching out to people. First let them know about Jesus by sharing His Gospel and then patiently bring them to Him, and sharing of Gospel is a great privilege and only God’s children are given this privilege. It must be remaindered that this job of Gospel-sharing (or evangelism) will not be required in heaven because in heaven we are all the redeemed children of God and being God's children, we don’t need any form of evangelism. In heaven we will just need to worship and serve Him and experience His very personal presence throughout eternity (Revelation 22:3-5) and He will directly impart all His wisdom and knowledge to us. There are going to be a lot of heavenly activities (except evangelism) which God Himself will be the Instructor. So let’s us do whatever we can while we are on earth to share the Gospel so that others can too enter into His glorious kingdom. Nothing is not too small for God to take notice. He wants your labour and not your talent, nor gifts, nor even results.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [November 2, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. [Luke 9:62]

For many of us, looking back and feeling regrets for those things that we should do or we should not do is regular past-time indulgences. We feel sad and moody because we thought we had missed an opportunity perhaps for a better job, or a better life-partner, or a profitable investment. These negative thinking and behaviour are an integral part of the ‘natural’ man. At best, we just find it difficult to escape such indulgence and we may try to put some conscious efforts not to let it affects our mood.

Christian-living also faces the same problem. We keep wanting to turn back and to indulge in some activities that God despises. The danger is that if we are not careful we may break the covenant with our God. God has warned us many times, ‘Do not turn back.” There is even a greater danger of turning back from God because we may end up like Lot’s wife. Lot, his wife and his two daughters were told by angels not to look back the moment they departed the sin city of Sodom and Gomorrah because if they looked back, they would be consumed by God’s wrath (Genesis 19:15-17). Lot and his two daughters obeyed but not his wife. She looked back and she became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).

Jesus in Luke 9:62 gives us yet another stern warning that if we have decided to following Him and if we keep looking back we are not fit for His kingdom. By this, He meant that we must keep running forward just like an athletic. An athletic who is running a race will always keep his head straight until the end of the race. By turning his head back, his body will need to slow down and the split second that he lost could determine his fate on the race. He just need to keep his head straight and keep running in order to win the race. Paul the apostle illustrates the believer’s life like a race where we run to win, train to win, and we must win! (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) Therefore we should lay aside every sin and not turn back or quit in the light of having started out in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1,2).

The hymn, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” will prayerfully keep reminding us that looking back is not an option. Remember: His Way Is Higher Than Our Way and His Thought Is Higher Than Our Thought (Isaiah 55:9).

I Have Decided To Follow Jesus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55eESzdyPoY

I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus;
no turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, still I will follow,
though none go with me, still I will follow.
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
no turning back, no turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me,
the world behind me, the cross before me.
The world behind me, the cross before me;
no turning back, no turning back.​