It breaks my heart knowing that I also have those blindspots after reflecting about how the Twelve Disciples had their blindspots. Those twelve disciples had heard many prophecies that came to them directly from Jesus' mouth, yet they did not understand them til the day of Jesus' resurrection. Man, they are truly blind! Well, me two! Well, can I have the permission to add this, you three?
-Judas said to Jesus, "Is it I [who will betray you], Rabbi?" Jesus told him, "You have said so."
-Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. [Jesus quoted from Zech 13:7]"
What did those disciples do after they heard what Jesus had said about what is to come? The Bible didn't say anything about how they passionate did something about those prophecies. They probably simply denied those prophecies just like how Peter denied, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" And all the disciples said the same. Sometimes Jesus' prophecies are hard to believe, "No way!" Those disciples completely forgot what Jesus said, even Peter forgot that a rooster will crow three times. Peter denied Jesus til he heard the third crow and his eyes met Jesus' sympathy eyes. Peter finally checked his blindspot.
Why did it broke my heart when I understood that we all had the blindspots?
Let us look at how the disciples respond to Jesus' plea. "Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here, while I go over there and pray.'... 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.'... And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, 'So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.'"
Why didn't they pray earnestly like Jesus did? They had their blindspots. Therefore they didn't see the whole picture. They were unprepared. And they fled when Jesus was crucified. It broke my heart because those disciples stumbled unprepared, but I am grateful that they got up after the fall to finish their race.
Let us check our blindspots.
Share and let this blog fly!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Question-Trappers (Matt 21-24)
Did someone ever trapped you by their questions that you could not either say "yes" or "no"? Someone once asked me those question-traps! I knew that I couldn't say either "yes" or "no" even though I disagreed. If I said yes to the question, "Am I right?" then I'm lying in His eyes although I will please that person. If I said no to the question, then that person will become angry simply because I am being honest with my answer. Therefore my final answer was, "If I say yes, then I am lying and if I say no, then I will make you mad, so I won't be able to answer this question." It worked! That person left me alone after this response!
In the same way, the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus through their question, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" Jesus knew that this question is a trap question, so instead of answering, Jesus asked them a trap question, "I also will ask you one [trap] question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. [now here comes the trap question] The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?" Oh man, those Pharisees realized that Jesus understood this game, so they had to huddle together to decide how they may outwit the trap question. One of them speak for the group, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From man,' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet." After they explained why they are not able to answer this question, they justified that their answer is, "We do not know." They were cornered down!
Jesus didn't allow the Pharisees to be question-trappers because he outwitted them by asking them a trap question to become a question-trapper himself! Now after they responded, "We do not know", Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." Actually I think Jesus said this, "Man, you had to defend yourself for your non-answer, I don't! I simply say that I will not answer you by what authority I do these things!"
I love Jesus' wit! Next time I got to be well-prepared like Jesus was to be able to ask a trap question before answering a trap question.
Jesus also acted as a question-trapper in Matthew 22:41-46 when he trapped those Pharisees with this question, "If Jesus is the son of David, then why did David called him the Lord?" They couldn't dare to ask him any more questions! Jesus scared them away!
In the same way, the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus through their question, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" Jesus knew that this question is a trap question, so instead of answering, Jesus asked them a trap question, "I also will ask you one [trap] question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. [now here comes the trap question] The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?" Oh man, those Pharisees realized that Jesus understood this game, so they had to huddle together to decide how they may outwit the trap question. One of them speak for the group, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From man,' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet." After they explained why they are not able to answer this question, they justified that their answer is, "We do not know." They were cornered down!
Jesus didn't allow the Pharisees to be question-trappers because he outwitted them by asking them a trap question to become a question-trapper himself! Now after they responded, "We do not know", Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." Actually I think Jesus said this, "Man, you had to defend yourself for your non-answer, I don't! I simply say that I will not answer you by what authority I do these things!"
I love Jesus' wit! Next time I got to be well-prepared like Jesus was to be able to ask a trap question before answering a trap question.
Jesus also acted as a question-trapper in Matthew 22:41-46 when he trapped those Pharisees with this question, "If Jesus is the son of David, then why did David called him the Lord?" They couldn't dare to ask him any more questions! Jesus scared them away!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Make Tents No More (Matt 17-20)
Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James and John and his face shone like the sun while his clothes became white as light. Peter quickly said, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah."
Peter and others wanted to serve them. Their hearts were pure, but God becokoned them to listen to Jesus and they fell face down terrified before God's glory which came among a bright cloud. Why did God told them not to make those tents and to listen to Jesus? Obviously, they wanted to serve Jesus and other two men when they didn't need it for they still needed to keep moving. As they lied face down those two men disappeared whilst Jesus remained. Therefore they saw only Jesus when they lifted up their eyes.
After this incident, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead." Because Jesus died, we know this! It was a burdensome-secret that Peter, James and John had to carry among themselves. Why is it a secret?
Let us go back to the old ways, the king of Israel wrote, "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!" It reminds me of Jesus' transfiguration. This author also developed a blueprint for the Temple, which his son Solomon later completed in the years of his kingship. It reminds me of Jesus' tents to be made.
Without Jesus, they had to build the Temple for their atonement. But with Jesus, they don't need to build the Temple, or the tents if you like. Israel showed His glory to the nations through it's city. Today we show His glory through our temples, our fruits. During the time of transformation, God told them to listen to Jesus for he had something to say to them. And Jesus told them to tell no one of the vision until the resurrection. They kept it a secret until Jesus is raised from the dead, then they wrote!
Make tents no more! We are to move among the cities and to the end of the cities!
Peter and others wanted to serve them. Their hearts were pure, but God becokoned them to listen to Jesus and they fell face down terrified before God's glory which came among a bright cloud. Why did God told them not to make those tents and to listen to Jesus? Obviously, they wanted to serve Jesus and other two men when they didn't need it for they still needed to keep moving. As they lied face down those two men disappeared whilst Jesus remained. Therefore they saw only Jesus when they lifted up their eyes.
After this incident, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead." Because Jesus died, we know this! It was a burdensome-secret that Peter, James and John had to carry among themselves. Why is it a secret?
Let us go back to the old ways, the king of Israel wrote, "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!" It reminds me of Jesus' transfiguration. This author also developed a blueprint for the Temple, which his son Solomon later completed in the years of his kingship. It reminds me of Jesus' tents to be made.
Without Jesus, they had to build the Temple for their atonement. But with Jesus, they don't need to build the Temple, or the tents if you like. Israel showed His glory to the nations through it's city. Today we show His glory through our temples, our fruits. During the time of transformation, God told them to listen to Jesus for he had something to say to them. And Jesus told them to tell no one of the vision until the resurrection. They kept it a secret until Jesus is raised from the dead, then they wrote!
Make tents no more! We are to move among the cities and to the end of the cities!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
ZERO Into Thousands of Patience (Matt 13-16)
Jesus was grieved when he got the news about the death of John the Baptist. He was on the way to an out-of-the-way place by himself on a boat. But his plan was unsuccessful because someone saw him and the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. Jesus couldn't get away from them! But instead of escaping the crowd, Jesus saw that they followed him because they are in need. So Jesus had compassion on them and he healed them, encouraged them. He even missed a meal for them!
Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."
Jesus didn't tell them to go away or to come. Jesus gave up his time to be with them and stayed with them. But a little boy provided 5 loaves and 2 fishes, which multiplied into 5,000 R12!
Here's this math error in this world, we often focused on the ZERO in our lives, which caused us to miss the opportunities. Jesus commanded ZERO to get out. Instead of having that ZERO patience, Jesus went to the 5,000 rather than grieving on his own in the out-of-the-way place. Jesus had that 7 x 7 x 7 patience.
"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" -Matt 16:25-26
Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."
Jesus didn't tell them to go away or to come. Jesus gave up his time to be with them and stayed with them. But a little boy provided 5 loaves and 2 fishes, which multiplied into 5,000 R12!
Here's this math error in this world, we often focused on the ZERO in our lives, which caused us to miss the opportunities. Jesus commanded ZERO to get out. Instead of having that ZERO patience, Jesus went to the 5,000 rather than grieving on his own in the out-of-the-way place. Jesus had that 7 x 7 x 7 patience.
"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" -Matt 16:25-26
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Giving + Praying + Fasting = Top Secret! (Matt 5-8)
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
How may we increase our focus on seeking the kingdom of God? We must take away our worries, our weeds, first.
Don't be worry about what we wear, eat, or drink because God even took care of birds of the air and the lilies of the field. In this chapter, God's telling us to spend our time thinking about God not about the things of the world because God will take care of those things. God will take care of what's outside of our walls just like how God took care of what's outside of Hezekiah's kingdom. In fact, Hezekiah's name means "the Lord is our strength". Hezekiah decided not to be weakened by 185,000 enemies out of the walls, so he seeked the Lord for His strength and He answered, "Your prayer to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard" (2 Kings 19:20). Then the angel of the Lord came out to the battlefield around Hezekiah's kingdom to fight for him. The top secret weapon! "And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold these were all dead bodies." -2 Kings 19:35
Hezekiah had the top secret. Elijah had the top secret too, but he once lost it in 1 Kings 19 when he flees Jezebel. When Elijah lose his top secret, what did he do? He listened to what the angel commanded him to do: "Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you." So Elijah "arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God."
Wow! Elijah fasted for 40 days and nights! What is the top secret for his fasting? Let us look at "went in the strength of that food". What food? Jesus said, "I'm the spring of living water and the bread of life." The Word in the "manna" is probably the top secret food that strengthened Elijah for the journey to seek God. While Elijah fasted for 40 days and nights to seek God, God gave Elijah His top secret voice: a whisper among the loud! Unlike deer that didn't hear a vehicle among the people and the vehicles, Elijah heard God's voice even among the earthquake, the fire, and the wind.
Hezekiah prayed. Elijah fasted. God took care of them and added the top secrets to them. The top secret weapon and the top secret whisper!
Before we may expect any top secrets from Him, we shall seek Him better by increasing our giving, praying, and fasting before the Lord to reduce our tendency to be worried about things around us. Three guides to increase our focus:
-We shall give without letting our left hands know what our right hands are doing.
-We shall pray a heartfelt prayer without any intelligence empty lengthy phrases.
-We shall wash ourselves and put lotion on us to look clean so that no one may know we are fasting, but our Father.
When we increase our focus, we shall seek the Lord better and the Lord shall add His top secret to us!
How may we increase our focus on seeking the kingdom of God? We must take away our worries, our weeds, first.
Don't be worry about what we wear, eat, or drink because God even took care of birds of the air and the lilies of the field. In this chapter, God's telling us to spend our time thinking about God not about the things of the world because God will take care of those things. God will take care of what's outside of our walls just like how God took care of what's outside of Hezekiah's kingdom. In fact, Hezekiah's name means "the Lord is our strength". Hezekiah decided not to be weakened by 185,000 enemies out of the walls, so he seeked the Lord for His strength and He answered, "Your prayer to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard" (2 Kings 19:20). Then the angel of the Lord came out to the battlefield around Hezekiah's kingdom to fight for him. The top secret weapon! "And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold these were all dead bodies." -2 Kings 19:35
Hezekiah had the top secret. Elijah had the top secret too, but he once lost it in 1 Kings 19 when he flees Jezebel. When Elijah lose his top secret, what did he do? He listened to what the angel commanded him to do: "Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you." So Elijah "arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God."
Wow! Elijah fasted for 40 days and nights! What is the top secret for his fasting? Let us look at "went in the strength of that food". What food? Jesus said, "I'm the spring of living water and the bread of life." The Word in the "manna" is probably the top secret food that strengthened Elijah for the journey to seek God. While Elijah fasted for 40 days and nights to seek God, God gave Elijah His top secret voice: a whisper among the loud! Unlike deer that didn't hear a vehicle among the people and the vehicles, Elijah heard God's voice even among the earthquake, the fire, and the wind.
Hezekiah prayed. Elijah fasted. God took care of them and added the top secrets to them. The top secret weapon and the top secret whisper!
Before we may expect any top secrets from Him, we shall seek Him better by increasing our giving, praying, and fasting before the Lord to reduce our tendency to be worried about things around us. Three guides to increase our focus:
-We shall give without letting our left hands know what our right hands are doing.
-We shall pray a heartfelt prayer without any intelligence empty lengthy phrases.
-We shall wash ourselves and put lotion on us to look clean so that no one may know we are fasting, but our Father.
When we increase our focus, we shall seek the Lord better and the Lord shall add His top secret to us!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Our Leviticus Festivals (Lev 21-24)
Before we talk about Leviticus Festivals, let's talk about the month of September (which refers to the month of harvest). Sept is a prefix with Latin root meaning "seventh". In ancient Rome there were only 10 months and the first month was March. In about 700 B.C. Numa Pompilius, the Roman King, changed the calendar to add two more months.
Leviticus Festivals:
-Shabbat (Sabbath): weekly day of rest
-Rosh Hashanah (Sept 1; Lev 23:23-25 - 1st day of 7th month) - It marks the beginning of Jewish new year, proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation (time to get together).
-Yom Kippur (Sept 10; Lev 23:26-32 - 10th day of 7th month) - A 25-hour fasting begins on 9th day at evening to evening on the 10th, it's the only fasting day decreed in the Bible. It is a time to enumerate one's own wrongdoings into three different parts: inquities, transgressions, or sins (http://bit.ly/av7xlu)
-Sukkot (Sept 15-22; Lev 23:33-44 - 15th day of 7th month for 7 days) - People gather together to give thanks for a bountiful harvest with the themes of the gathering of the second grain crop and the autumn fruit. (1 of 3 pilgrimage festivals)
-Passover, Pessah (March 14 at twilight; Lev 23:4-8 - 14th day of 1st month, and 15th for 7 days for the Feast of Unleavened Bread) - Freedom is the main theme of the festival where Israel came out of Egypt into the Exodus, a liberation from bondage. Families were in hurry, so no leavened bread is eaten in memory of the 10th plague that the Lord "passed over" homes of Israel and their departure. (1 of 3 pilgrimage festivals)
-Shavout (Late May or early June; Lev 23:9-22 - 50 days after Passover) - It marks the peak of new grain harvest and the ripening of first fruits, including seven species mentioned in the Bible: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomengrates, olives, and dates. When the Lord gave us the harvest, we are to bring the firstfruits of our harvest to the priest to give thanks for a bountiful harvest. (1 of 3 pilgrimage festivals)
Those are Jewish festivals included in the Leviticus festivals, later Purim, Hanukkak, and etc are added to Jewish festivals. It would be creative for us to add those Leviticus festivals to our festivals of how God wrote our chapters in His book!
Kari-ish Festivals:
-Wholly Surrender & Rededication (Jan 1; Kari 22:158) - A time to give up and tell God to get out of the waiting room to help us out, fixing our Spiritual Family's crisis so that we may be restored and renewed.
-A Turn Around (April 10-12; Kari 22:257-260) - A memorial celebration of how God rescued Kari from Egypt, so that she may be on the path to the Promise Land.
-A Day of Birth (July 6; Kari 0:1 & Jeremiah 1:5) - Celebrating mother's womb and God's calling for Kari before she came to be!
-Spiritual Cliff, No Turning Back (Oct 26; Kari 23:110) - Time of realization that there's nothing aside God's path for me. Nothingness is not better than death itself, therefore there is no way of turning back to the old ways of life so I had to press through to stay on God's path.
What about you? What are the most important parts of your life that impacted your spiritual journey? Let's create your own name-ish festivals to remember those major turning points! Those name-ish festivals may help you to retrace your way back to your original love and passion for God.
Leviticus Festivals:
-Shabbat (Sabbath): weekly day of rest
-Rosh Hashanah (Sept 1; Lev 23:23-25 - 1st day of 7th month) - It marks the beginning of Jewish new year, proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation (time to get together).
-Yom Kippur (Sept 10; Lev 23:26-32 - 10th day of 7th month) - A 25-hour fasting begins on 9th day at evening to evening on the 10th, it's the only fasting day decreed in the Bible. It is a time to enumerate one's own wrongdoings into three different parts: inquities, transgressions, or sins (http://bit.ly/av7xlu)
-Sukkot (Sept 15-22; Lev 23:33-44 - 15th day of 7th month for 7 days) - People gather together to give thanks for a bountiful harvest with the themes of the gathering of the second grain crop and the autumn fruit. (1 of 3 pilgrimage festivals)
-Passover, Pessah (March 14 at twilight; Lev 23:4-8 - 14th day of 1st month, and 15th for 7 days for the Feast of Unleavened Bread) - Freedom is the main theme of the festival where Israel came out of Egypt into the Exodus, a liberation from bondage. Families were in hurry, so no leavened bread is eaten in memory of the 10th plague that the Lord "passed over" homes of Israel and their departure. (1 of 3 pilgrimage festivals)
-Shavout (Late May or early June; Lev 23:9-22 - 50 days after Passover) - It marks the peak of new grain harvest and the ripening of first fruits, including seven species mentioned in the Bible: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomengrates, olives, and dates. When the Lord gave us the harvest, we are to bring the firstfruits of our harvest to the priest to give thanks for a bountiful harvest. (1 of 3 pilgrimage festivals)
Those are Jewish festivals included in the Leviticus festivals, later Purim, Hanukkak, and etc are added to Jewish festivals. It would be creative for us to add those Leviticus festivals to our festivals of how God wrote our chapters in His book!
Kari-ish Festivals:
-Wholly Surrender & Rededication (Jan 1; Kari 22:158) - A time to give up and tell God to get out of the waiting room to help us out, fixing our Spiritual Family's crisis so that we may be restored and renewed.
-A Turn Around (April 10-12; Kari 22:257-260) - A memorial celebration of how God rescued Kari from Egypt, so that she may be on the path to the Promise Land.
-A Day of Birth (July 6; Kari 0:1 & Jeremiah 1:5) - Celebrating mother's womb and God's calling for Kari before she came to be!
-Spiritual Cliff, No Turning Back (Oct 26; Kari 23:110) - Time of realization that there's nothing aside God's path for me. Nothingness is not better than death itself, therefore there is no way of turning back to the old ways of life so I had to press through to stay on God's path.
What about you? What are the most important parts of your life that impacted your spiritual journey? Let's create your own name-ish festivals to remember those major turning points! Those name-ish festivals may help you to retrace your way back to your original love and passion for God.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Greatest Commandment Revolts (Lev 17-20)
What did Jesus actually say in the New Testament that differs from the Old Testament's Greatest Commandment? Let's first look at what the Old Testament says about the Greatest Commandment:
-Deuteronomy 6:5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."
-Leviticus 19:18, "You shall not take vegeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."
-Job 31:13-15, "If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me what then shall I do when God rises up? When He makes inquiry, what shall I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?"
Those Greatest Commandment were in Old Testament. Jesus came not to repeat those Greatest Commandment, but he came to revolt Jews' way of thinking when he said, "Love thy enemy". It's easy for the Jews to think that "love thy neighbor as thyself" refer only to those that act like one of His people, but they don't need to love those who don't act according to His people like Gentiles.
Jesus didn't simply revolt Jews' way of thinking, he also sent us out to the Gentiles through the Greatest Commission that didn't exist in the Old Testament. Or did it? There's an article that argues that God also sent Jonah to a mission trip to Ninevah, the Lord say to Jonah, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." (Jonah 3:2) Even God took His time to chase after Jonah to make him go to Nineveh. Then how much does Jonah's mission trip meant to God? That much!
IJFM challenges us to think that Israel, representing a royal priesthood, serve as a priest, but to whom does Israel serve? They were to act as priests to all the nations in the whole world (http://www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/13_1_PDFs/01_Kaiser.pdf). Let us re-read the whole Bible and see ourselves as Israel to see how Israel went through different seasons of life like birth pangs, just like us!
We got to shine like Israel shined (Ps 67) so that the whole world may fear Him. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Matt 14:14
-Deuteronomy 6:5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."
-Leviticus 19:18, "You shall not take vegeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."
-Job 31:13-15, "If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me what then shall I do when God rises up? When He makes inquiry, what shall I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?"
Those Greatest Commandment were in Old Testament. Jesus came not to repeat those Greatest Commandment, but he came to revolt Jews' way of thinking when he said, "Love thy enemy". It's easy for the Jews to think that "love thy neighbor as thyself" refer only to those that act like one of His people, but they don't need to love those who don't act according to His people like Gentiles.
Jesus didn't simply revolt Jews' way of thinking, he also sent us out to the Gentiles through the Greatest Commission that didn't exist in the Old Testament. Or did it? There's an article that argues that God also sent Jonah to a mission trip to Ninevah, the Lord say to Jonah, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." (Jonah 3:2) Even God took His time to chase after Jonah to make him go to Nineveh. Then how much does Jonah's mission trip meant to God? That much!
IJFM challenges us to think that Israel, representing a royal priesthood, serve as a priest, but to whom does Israel serve? They were to act as priests to all the nations in the whole world (http://www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/13_1_PDFs/01_Kaiser.pdf). Let us re-read the whole Bible and see ourselves as Israel to see how Israel went through different seasons of life like birth pangs, just like us!
We got to shine like Israel shined (Ps 67) so that the whole world may fear Him. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Matt 14:14
Monday, October 11, 2010
No Frost Nip Here! (Lev 5-8)
Hate Leviticus? Ever watch "Love Comes Softly"? It is a fiction movie based on Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly series (twelve series in total). In the first movie, Marty unexpectantly lost her husband when they just found their land in the West. Marty had to give up her homeland in order to move into the west with her husband, and now she was trapped in the west with deceased husband and a baby coming! So a stranger, Clark, had to propose her to marry him for the baby's sake and for Clark's young daughter's sake! So she married him in order to shelter her own baby and raise Clark's daughter properly. In the end of the year, she aimed to go back to the east, but love slowly comes! She finally fell in love with Clark! Yes, our love for Leviticus may come slowly!
I love how God called all of us out of darkness into His marvelous light. I think He called us to immerse ourselves into His old laws in Leviticus. Let's see if Leviticus will open up some new mysteries for us. Here is our "No trick or treat"!
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." -1 Peter 2:9
I'm grateful that we are chosen to be His own royal priesthood! In Leviticus, Aaron and his sons were chosen to be priests, so they had to go through the consecration process. They washed themselves, dressed themselves up according to the specific instruction, and so on. But here's one thing that sticks. Moses had to take some of ram's blood on the lobe of their right ears and on the thumb of their right hands and on the big toe of their right feet.
What does that mean?
That I do not know, but when I read this, I visualized the concept of Passover when the Lord passed over those homes that had the doorposts covered with the blood of lamb (the tenth plague). The Lord didn't abandon the firstborn of Israel to save Israelities! The Lord took His time to tell them to kill their lamb and mark their blood on the doorposts. He took His time for those people!
In the same way, I felt like the Lord is telling us that He is taking His time for Moses to take some of ram's blood on OUR lobe, thumb, and toe because we are His priests. We are His body of Christ even "as far as the east is from the west". God didn't want to abandon even the smallest part of the Body of Christ, so He covered those parts of the body with the blood. What a promise! Our ears, fingers, and toes are the farthest part of our body from the heart. That's why the frost nips are often observed at the end of those body parts (including nose), if any of them are turning "pasty white" as you began to lose the sensation, then it is a first warning sign of frost nip! But the good news is that:
None of us will be removed from the Body of Christ for God had protected us from the FROST NIP. Jesus prayed, "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one" before he died and when he died and resurrected, his blood covered us all. AMEN!
Even God won't let us abandon the book of Leviticus! No frost nip here. The blood may flow into Leviticus soon...
I love how God called all of us out of darkness into His marvelous light. I think He called us to immerse ourselves into His old laws in Leviticus. Let's see if Leviticus will open up some new mysteries for us. Here is our "No trick or treat"!
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." -1 Peter 2:9
I'm grateful that we are chosen to be His own royal priesthood! In Leviticus, Aaron and his sons were chosen to be priests, so they had to go through the consecration process. They washed themselves, dressed themselves up according to the specific instruction, and so on. But here's one thing that sticks. Moses had to take some of ram's blood on the lobe of their right ears and on the thumb of their right hands and on the big toe of their right feet.
What does that mean?
That I do not know, but when I read this, I visualized the concept of Passover when the Lord passed over those homes that had the doorposts covered with the blood of lamb (the tenth plague). The Lord didn't abandon the firstborn of Israel to save Israelities! The Lord took His time to tell them to kill their lamb and mark their blood on the doorposts. He took His time for those people!
In the same way, I felt like the Lord is telling us that He is taking His time for Moses to take some of ram's blood on OUR lobe, thumb, and toe because we are His priests. We are His body of Christ even "as far as the east is from the west". God didn't want to abandon even the smallest part of the Body of Christ, so He covered those parts of the body with the blood. What a promise! Our ears, fingers, and toes are the farthest part of our body from the heart. That's why the frost nips are often observed at the end of those body parts (including nose), if any of them are turning "pasty white" as you began to lose the sensation, then it is a first warning sign of frost nip! But the good news is that:
None of us will be removed from the Body of Christ for God had protected us from the FROST NIP. Jesus prayed, "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one" before he died and when he died and resurrected, his blood covered us all. AMEN!
Even God won't let us abandon the book of Leviticus! No frost nip here. The blood may flow into Leviticus soon...
Saturday, October 9, 2010
The Days of Our Youth (Ecc 11-12)
"Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, 'I have no pleasure in them'"
A lot of us are like the infants tossed back and forth by the waves by the complexity of life. There are a lot of things in our lives that we have to think about or to figure out, and no certain solution came. We are confused by many things, by many different views of the Bible teachings and the doctrines. We drowned. We gave up.
I feel like God's telling us to remember our innocent lives back then and cherish them, and to teach those young people about our Creator now before the evil days come. We need to encourage those young people now because once they neglect God, the capacity for having joy in one's life is diminished. We need to get started now while they are still young.
Are we seeing the need? Proverb 7:7 says, "I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment." When we see the need, we act by teaching them about the Creator, such as teaching the deaf youth through this project: http://www.igniteasl.com/
A lot of us are like the infants tossed back and forth by the waves by the complexity of life. There are a lot of things in our lives that we have to think about or to figure out, and no certain solution came. We are confused by many things, by many different views of the Bible teachings and the doctrines. We drowned. We gave up.
I feel like God's telling us to remember our innocent lives back then and cherish them, and to teach those young people about our Creator now before the evil days come. We need to encourage those young people now because once they neglect God, the capacity for having joy in one's life is diminished. We need to get started now while they are still young.
Are we seeing the need? Proverb 7:7 says, "I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment." When we see the need, we act by teaching them about the Creator, such as teaching the deaf youth through this project: http://www.igniteasl.com/
Friday, October 8, 2010
Relationship Brokenness (Ecc 9-10)
"But all this I laid to heart, examing it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice."
In one event of the Bible, there is a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery by the Pharisees. Her background is unknown. When she was caught, Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground before he said anything. Then he faced the Pharisees and challenged them to throw a stone at her if they are without sin. But they dropped the charge and walked away for no one is without sin. Then Jesus told her, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
We do not know if she fell once again into the adultery after this. But we all knew that she was transformed after this! She finally found the hope in restoration. She knew that she can now sin no more through Jesus. Her relationship brokenness with God is now finally restored through Jesus. Now her life is written in the Bible.
The same goes with those five women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew! Tamar lost her husbands and later acted like a whore to restore her relationship with her father-in-law in effort to correct the Jewish customs that her father-in-law had broken. Despite her action seemed unconventional, she was named for her courageous. Rahab was a prostitute of Jericho who lied to save the two spies, which also saved her and her family and named her for her courageous in the Bible. Ruth lost her husband and abandoned her home to go into a new culture to be with her mother-in-law and her true God, but for her courageous she found Boaz! Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, lost her first husband and her first son due to the act of adultery with King David, but for her courageous she raised Solomon into a wisest son and a king. Mary was an unwed mother who almost lost her engagement to Joseph, but God took care of it and she gave the birth to Jesus!
Those women experienced a relationship brokenness, but they all were honored in spite of their background. God took care of the matter because He is the only One who may examine what is in our heart for the same event may happen to anyone, but our responses are what set us apart!
In one event of the Bible, there is a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery by the Pharisees. Her background is unknown. When she was caught, Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground before he said anything. Then he faced the Pharisees and challenged them to throw a stone at her if they are without sin. But they dropped the charge and walked away for no one is without sin. Then Jesus told her, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
We do not know if she fell once again into the adultery after this. But we all knew that she was transformed after this! She finally found the hope in restoration. She knew that she can now sin no more through Jesus. Her relationship brokenness with God is now finally restored through Jesus. Now her life is written in the Bible.
The same goes with those five women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew! Tamar lost her husbands and later acted like a whore to restore her relationship with her father-in-law in effort to correct the Jewish customs that her father-in-law had broken. Despite her action seemed unconventional, she was named for her courageous. Rahab was a prostitute of Jericho who lied to save the two spies, which also saved her and her family and named her for her courageous in the Bible. Ruth lost her husband and abandoned her home to go into a new culture to be with her mother-in-law and her true God, but for her courageous she found Boaz! Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, lost her first husband and her first son due to the act of adultery with King David, but for her courageous she raised Solomon into a wisest son and a king. Mary was an unwed mother who almost lost her engagement to Joseph, but God took care of it and she gave the birth to Jesus!
Those women experienced a relationship brokenness, but they all were honored in spite of their background. God took care of the matter because He is the only One who may examine what is in our heart for the same event may happen to anyone, but our responses are what set us apart!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Misused Silence (Ecc 4-5)
"And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice."
We may work together as a Body of Christ just like those lionesses:
"Using their prowess, lionesses work together to protect the pride's cubs... Lionesses realize that cubs of similar age have a greater chance of survival due to equal access to food and training. All these golden babies tumbling around means there is no lack of nursing mothers. Because the pride consists of related females, the lionesses will nurse and train one another's young... if they go too far, a mama lioness is always nearby to provide a growl or cuff to the one that gets out of hand." -Lioness Arising, by Lisa Bevere
If those lionesses could work together, then how much more could we work together as spiritual mothers and spiritual fathers for those spiritual nuturing cubs? Proverb 6:6 tells us to watch those ants and learn, in the same way, we should learn from those lionesses through Lisa Bevere's observance and stand up to voice our stand to protect, to build up those cubs equally.
Lisa Bevere (Lioness Arising) spoke her voice when her son showed her the content of the book:
"There was an assortment of thoughts of teen suicide, vandalism, spouse and child abuse, violence, underage drinking, alcoholism, parental abandonment, and shoplifting. We also came to a highly objectionable sexual passage. I determined I would call the school in the morning and request that Arden be assigned another book to read. But later that day, I realized the other parents had no idea what was in this book. Was it right that only my son was protected from its content? Knowing what I did, could I remain silent? Wasn't it my responsibility to protect these other children and parents as well? She spoke. Within the week the book was pulled. They were glad an error in the selection process had been discovered. Throughout this process I didn't pull the Christian card. I didn't rant and rave at the school's teachers or administration."
I love Lisa Bevere's example! She voiced her opinion to protect all sons and daughters who are not her own as well! Even she didn't preach about Jesus to them, but she showed the character of Jesus through her action. Her action speaks louder volume. We should be like her by speak to edify one another. Use our words skillfully to build, admonish, correct, and encourage as we cut off the enemy's force by not speaking against one another. Lisa didn't rant or rave, but shared her opinion to help the school. That's Da Gurl!
The sad thing is that Lisa wrote about some women (or men) who chose to remain silent:
"Both of these young women were raped and brutalized by vicious predators. In both cases the childless wife was charged as an accomplice to her husband's crimes. When my son Alec realized women were involved, he was shocked. 'Why didn't the wives rescue the young girls?' he asked, unable to fathom a world where women didn't resuce children. All I could answer was that neither of these women was healthy. They had choices, and they chose to remain silent. For some reason a mother's heart had not awaken in either of them... it's interesting to note that both male abusers twisted scriptures and used unhealthy views of submission to manipulative their wives and the girls."
Can you imagine yourself as an accomplice to somebody's crimes in this world? No! Our hearts had to be awaken for most of us no longer knew how to speak or take advice from one another. Be the voice for the daughters and sons.
We may work together as a Body of Christ just like those lionesses:
"Using their prowess, lionesses work together to protect the pride's cubs... Lionesses realize that cubs of similar age have a greater chance of survival due to equal access to food and training. All these golden babies tumbling around means there is no lack of nursing mothers. Because the pride consists of related females, the lionesses will nurse and train one another's young... if they go too far, a mama lioness is always nearby to provide a growl or cuff to the one that gets out of hand." -Lioness Arising, by Lisa Bevere
If those lionesses could work together, then how much more could we work together as spiritual mothers and spiritual fathers for those spiritual nuturing cubs? Proverb 6:6 tells us to watch those ants and learn, in the same way, we should learn from those lionesses through Lisa Bevere's observance and stand up to voice our stand to protect, to build up those cubs equally.
Lisa Bevere (Lioness Arising) spoke her voice when her son showed her the content of the book:
"There was an assortment of thoughts of teen suicide, vandalism, spouse and child abuse, violence, underage drinking, alcoholism, parental abandonment, and shoplifting. We also came to a highly objectionable sexual passage. I determined I would call the school in the morning and request that Arden be assigned another book to read. But later that day, I realized the other parents had no idea what was in this book. Was it right that only my son was protected from its content? Knowing what I did, could I remain silent? Wasn't it my responsibility to protect these other children and parents as well? She spoke. Within the week the book was pulled. They were glad an error in the selection process had been discovered. Throughout this process I didn't pull the Christian card. I didn't rant and rave at the school's teachers or administration."
I love Lisa Bevere's example! She voiced her opinion to protect all sons and daughters who are not her own as well! Even she didn't preach about Jesus to them, but she showed the character of Jesus through her action. Her action speaks louder volume. We should be like her by speak to edify one another. Use our words skillfully to build, admonish, correct, and encourage as we cut off the enemy's force by not speaking against one another. Lisa didn't rant or rave, but shared her opinion to help the school. That's Da Gurl!
The sad thing is that Lisa wrote about some women (or men) who chose to remain silent:
"Both of these young women were raped and brutalized by vicious predators. In both cases the childless wife was charged as an accomplice to her husband's crimes. When my son Alec realized women were involved, he was shocked. 'Why didn't the wives rescue the young girls?' he asked, unable to fathom a world where women didn't resuce children. All I could answer was that neither of these women was healthy. They had choices, and they chose to remain silent. For some reason a mother's heart had not awaken in either of them... it's interesting to note that both male abusers twisted scriptures and used unhealthy views of submission to manipulative their wives and the girls."
Can you imagine yourself as an accomplice to somebody's crimes in this world? No! Our hearts had to be awaken for most of us no longer knew how to speak or take advice from one another. Be the voice for the daughters and sons.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Striving After Wind in Vain? (Ecc 1-3)
"How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind."
Sometimes even after a greatest victory or greatest defeat, we may get up early in the morning with the feeling that we are merely striving after wind in vain. It is hopeless. Why are we here? This son of David wondered. After a lengthy time, he realized that there is only one answer. So he wrote this, "I percieved that....":
"Also, He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live."
Although we know that cannot avoid the "harsh reality" of this world, but we may choose to walk into the path of joy in the suffering and joy in the joy itself. In accepting a reality of every season and a time for every matter under heaven, we may take the pleasure in knowing that God is doing something good through everything.
"A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace."
Sometimes even after a greatest victory or greatest defeat, we may get up early in the morning with the feeling that we are merely striving after wind in vain. It is hopeless. Why are we here? This son of David wondered. After a lengthy time, he realized that there is only one answer. So he wrote this, "I percieved that....":
"Also, He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live."
Although we know that cannot avoid the "harsh reality" of this world, but we may choose to walk into the path of joy in the suffering and joy in the joy itself. In accepting a reality of every season and a time for every matter under heaven, we may take the pleasure in knowing that God is doing something good through everything.
"A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace."
Monday, October 4, 2010
Ask With A Holy Passion (James 4-5)
"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."
If we look back to our prominent Proverb 31 Woman who fears the Lord, we will see how she did everything for her households so that her children and her husband rise up to call her blessed and praised her, "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all."
This woman looked after her own things rather than looking over her shoulder to see what her husband had done or to see what her children had done. When she saw the lack, she will take care of it. "She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands... she brings her food from afar... she dresses herself with strength and made her arms strong..." She's willingly to go out of her way to seek for something that will fill up her households without idleness. She is full of energy. She has the Holy Restlessness. She will ask for what she do not have for the household, not for herself. She didn't spend them for her own passions, but for her households. Therefore, her children and husband turned to bless and praise her!
Don't we all want to be like that woman? Proverb 31 Woman doesn't necessarily apply to women only for it also apply to any men and any children. Let us all run that race with our Holy Restlessness in order to finish it with faith! Let us run like Steve Prefontaine pass those people with t-shirt that read "LEGEND" and those teammates with t-shirt that read "STOP PRE!" Nobody can stop us.
If we look back to our prominent Proverb 31 Woman who fears the Lord, we will see how she did everything for her households so that her children and her husband rise up to call her blessed and praised her, "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all."
This woman looked after her own things rather than looking over her shoulder to see what her husband had done or to see what her children had done. When she saw the lack, she will take care of it. "She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands... she brings her food from afar... she dresses herself with strength and made her arms strong..." She's willingly to go out of her way to seek for something that will fill up her households without idleness. She is full of energy. She has the Holy Restlessness. She will ask for what she do not have for the household, not for herself. She didn't spend them for her own passions, but for her households. Therefore, her children and husband turned to bless and praise her!
Don't we all want to be like that woman? Proverb 31 Woman doesn't necessarily apply to women only for it also apply to any men and any children. Let us all run that race with our Holy Restlessness in order to finish it with faith! Let us run like Steve Prefontaine pass those people with t-shirt that read "LEGEND" and those teammates with t-shirt that read "STOP PRE!" Nobody can stop us.
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