The Theme of Job - Not Suffering but Love

The Book of Job is not about suffering but rather of God's love and Job's response to His love. Job's put God above his sufferings and his family. He was transformed from fear of God's punishment into security in the love of God for him. Study the book of Job and get the right perspectives to priority of life.

Many people think that the Book of Job is about suffering. But suffering is a means and not the end. The suffering of Job changed Job from a person of fear to a person secured in the love of God. It is about what is the most important thing in our life. Do we love God above ourselves, our family and our possessions. Do we love God so much that we are willing to suffer for Him. Jesus gives us the example. He is willing to sacrifice Himself for us that we all may be reconciled back to God the Father. Job's suffering enables him to know God in ways that he never knew before.  We can see that in:

• Job 42:5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. 

Job's concept of God before his suffering is:

God is a God of Justice. God will rewards the good and punish the sins of men.

Job lives in fear of disobeying God that will result in the punishment by God. 

• Job 3:25 What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.

He was so fearful that he made sacrifices for sins for his children just in case.

• Job 1:5 ... and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.

Job's friends had the same concept of God. Since they saw the loss and suffering of Job, they concluded, though wrongly, that Job must have sinned that caused the punishments from God. They told Job to repent and be healed. But Job said that He did not sin and asked them to point out his sins. His friends could not point out any particular sin of Job. In Job 42:7, God gave his approval of Job and condemned the error of Job's friends. 

• Job 42:7  After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 

Job's Concept of God after his encounter with God is:

1. God is all powerful. Nothing can stop God.  He knew that earlier but with his personal encounter with God, he experienced, saw and realised how powerful God was.

•  Job 42:2 "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

2. Job realised his ignorance.

• Job 42:3 Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 

3. God is Love besides being just and God loves him. 

• Job 38-41, God shows Job the entire universe created by Him was meant for living in abundance, in beauty and in joy.  Even for the monsters in the land and sea, God take care of them. How much more God will care for man, created in His image and for His fellowship. 
• Job 42:4 Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.' Job was satisfied with God's answers. It could have come earlier. But God waited for men, Job's friends to provide their erroneous theology of God first. Man's theology did not give Job the satisfactory answer. 

4. No Fear anymore as Job is secure in the love, power and justice of God.

• If God is all powerful and God loves you, then you don't have to fear no matter what. Job realised Paul's encourage to us in Rom 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. So that all can as in Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! and 1 Thes 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

5. One more special thing - God revealed to Job the happening in the spiritual world.

• In Job 1, we see the spiritual happenings before the physical happening in our earthly world. Most people are upset with this - how could God use man as the game tokens in His fight with God? Why get man involved and especially get man to suffer?
• As we have seen earlier, suffering is not the end. The purpose is the blessings and maturity that comes from it. God knew Job will pass the test as God surpasses the limit of time. God know the end from the beginning. The test brings out the virtues that Job did not know himself. Job put God first inspite of the loss and sufferings. It cured Job's fear and gain Job's peace in God's love. Job's victory gives evidence to support God's punishment of the devils, who were created superior to men, like Job. The inferior being, Job, knows to worship and trust God yet the susperior spiritual beings rebel against God. They have no excuses as they know more about God, His  attributes and power than the man Job. It also points towards the suffering of Christ for man. As Abraham sacrifice Isaac, God sacrifice His Son. As Job suffer for God so did Christ for man. God finds men who He can use to bring greater blessings for men.

What about you?

What is your concepts of God? Do you live in fear of God? How much do you think God love you? Your answer determines how you response in times of disappointmensts, sufferings and persecution. Do you have peace in the midst of such challenging times?

May you come to know God personally and be secured in His love and holiness.

Lim Liat (c) 2 Nov 2015

See also 3 Life Lessons from the Last Chapter of Job
Or better still, study the Book of Job in Table of Contents.

Reflection 6 Does the End Justifies the Means?

This Reflection 6 on the CHC's court case on Misuse of Funds was written in July 2012 but was not published as I have already written 5 reflections from the case and I was waiting for the final judgement. Now that the judgement is out, see for example City Harvest Church leaders conspired to misuse funds: Judge | TODAYonline and the Judge oral's judgement can be found here.  I can't find the Judge's 270 page judgement but some key points are mentioned here A culture where asking difficult questions was taboo, AsiaOne Singapore News.  There is quote from the Judge that "....they go further to convince themselves that the end justifies the means .... their conduct can only be characterised not merely as being misguided but dishonest."

This post cited Biblical stories to show that God does not want His people to fall into the sins of using the end to justify the means. If the end could justify the means that Jesus Christ does not need to die on the cross to pay for our sins.


I thought I have finished my reflections on this CHC's leaders alleged misuse affair, posting my fifth Reflection 5 Justice vs Loyalty - Understanding the Support for Kong Hee. But I felt I needed to cover a topic that I briefly mentioned in Reflections from CHC Kong Hee Alleged Misuse of Funds. It was in point 2 where I wrote "The Name of God is a convenient and powerful weapon that church leaders enjoy. " 

This post explains how this is usually done. It is using the higher purpose and goal, such as the Name of God or the Will of God, to justify whatever actions that are taken. Does this position of "The End justifies the Means" correct? Because we are doing things for a higher authority, like the President, the King or God, therefore we can violate the laws? The answer is definitely a no-no. Even the common people understand this well, the end does not justify the means. They brought down then President Nixon for the Watergate affair. Believers should have a higher standard and if not, at least as the common people. But some religious people like to use the Name and Will of God to override common laws. They knew the Bible well and will give deceptive interpretation to mislead the people.

1 Timothy 1:7 

The Story of Nebuchadnezzar's Image and Furnace

In Daniel Chapter 3, we had the great story of King Nebuchadnezzar wanting all to worship his great golden image. The three Jewish officers Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not obey the King's command because their religion forbade worshiping any idol. The King was furious and after giving them a second chance, he sent them into the furnace. But God rescued them and they were not burnt. The King ended up acknowledging their God as great.

Does this story teaches us to disobey the laws?

The law violate their religious belief and they are willing to suffer for the violation.
The Story of Daniel and the Lion Den

Daniel have been praying to God all the time. It was a trap to frame and kill him. The King realized that too but a little too late. He suffered the consequence of being put into the Lion Den. God deliver him from the lions.

In the above two cases, the righteous believers of God uphold the laws to be willing to suffer the consequences. They let God be the final judge to either deliver them out of the consequences or not.
The End and the Means must be Upright

Leviticus 10:1,2 - Nadab and Abihu offered incense to God using fire that God had not commanded them to use. Their goal was good: offering incense to worship God. But God had told them what fire to use and they disregarded the means He specified. God killed them. They learned too late that the end did not justify using a different means.

1 Chronicles 13:6,7,9,10 - David and Israel thought it was "good" to bring the ark of the covenant back among them (vv 2,4). The end or goal was "good." But while transporting it by ox cart, Uzzah touched it to keep it from falling. God killed him.

Note #1 Chronicles 15:2,12-15 - God had appointed that the ark should be carried on poles by priests and Levites. No one else could touch it [Num. 4:15-20].
Obedience is better that Sacrifice.

1 Samuel 15:3,10-23 - God told Saul to destroy all the Amalekites and their flocks, but Saul kept the best animals to offer sacrifice to God. Offering sacrifice to God was "a good work," but it did not justify disregarding God's command. God said Saul "has not performed my commandments" (v11) and rejected him as king. "To obey is better than sacrifice" (v22). The end did not justify a different means from what God had specified.

Earlier Posts in 2012 on the CHC's Misuse of Fund:

• Reflections from CHC Kong Hee Alleged Misuse of Fund 
• Reflections on the Reactions to Kong Hee Alleged Misuse of Fund
• Reflection 2 People Don't Change - It is the Situation
• Reflection 3 Christian Faith is Not Blind
• Reflection 4 Riches is No Evil & Poverty is Not a Virtue
• Reflection 5 Justice vs Loyalty - Understanding the Support for Kong Hee

Your Eternal Rewards in Heaven according to the 7 Churches of Revelation

Your passport to heaven is through the grace of Jesus Christ and not of yourself (Eph 2v8). Such is already good enough. But God wants to give you additional rewards for the works that you have done in His Name. We can find those rewards from the Seven Churches in the Book of Revelations. Here are the details.

Attending the funeral of a fellow believer is not a difficult thing. It is sad because of the departure. But it is not hopeless, desperate, nor extreme sadness and pains because we know of two good things. Firstly, he/she has gone to a better place. Secondly. we shall meet again someday in the better place. Then there is one more thing, he/she will receive additional rewards from God. Here are some of the details.....

Entrance to Heaven is By Grace:

• For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  Eph 2:8-9

Entering Heaven is already wonderful enough, according to 1Co 2:9  But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"—

But God promised more .... Mark 9:41 Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.

By rewards comes from how much we have done according to the purpose thta God has created us for:

• For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  Eph 2:10

The additional verse that support this view is given in:

• 1Co 3:11-15  For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  12  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13  each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.  14  If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  15  If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

What the rewards? For the details, we can look up the Book of Revalation where Jesus promised the overcomers the details of the rewards, to the seven churches.

The Seven Eternal Rewards:

The Details of the Rewards:

Of course, we work not for the rewards but we work because of the love of God that is shed abroad in our heart. (Romans 5:5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.)

But God is a fair God and remembers our work in and for Him and He rewards us generously.

All the grace of God to you as you work out His life in you. We shall meet again in Heaven some day.

Lim Liat (c) 17 Oct 2015

See Also:

• The Qualities of Good Believers from the Seven Churches...
• 7 Management Principles of Jesus in His Letters to the Seven Churches
• Knowing Jesus through the Seven Churches of Revelation
• Lessons from The Seven Churches of Revelation

The Qualities of Good Believers from the Seven Churches of Revelation

Many people think that we are living in the End-Times and Jesus Christ is coming soon. How should we live in this time? What does occupy till He come means? Why not let us find out in the letters to the seven end times churches of the Revelation? Jesus' letters to the seven churches of the Book of Revelation commended the good behaviour and rebuked the bad behaviour of the believers then. By collecting the commendations and reversing the rebukes we can come out a list of the quality behaviours of believers. There are seven of them. Read to find out more.

What kind of behavior should a believer have? People can only see your external behavior and not your internal intentions. Hence, as good testimony for Christ, we must be careful of our behavior. We can follow the ten commandments as a guide. Ten commandments are the reflection of God's attributes. Believers should exhibit behavior that exceeds ten commandments. How can that be possible? Through the Holy Spirit in Christ producing the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit attributes like love, joy, patience, kindness, etc are proactive positive behavior whereas the ten commandments are the prohibitive negatively stated behaviors. (Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.)  We can also find a practical list of good behavior and attributes in the study of the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. A consolidated list is shown in the mind-map below:

In the above mind-map. we consolidated the good behavior and bad behavior together from the seven churches. By just reversing the bad behavior, we can change that to be good. The letter to the Thyatira church contains an also complete list of good behaviors, and hence we can use it as the starting framework to add-in from the others. So after the consolidation, we can find seven attributes for good behavior as described below.

The Seven Qualities

1. Your Love for Jesus
The most important thing in a believer's life is Jesus. Without Jesus, there is no gospel and no Christianity. Every believer must start here. If we get this wrong, all the rest will be wrong. Hence, the very first rebuke to the Ephesus Church is their loss of the first love for Jesus. They have put doctrines to be above Jesus. What about us? Is Jesus the most important thing in our life? How can you tell? Check your relationship or fellowship with Him. How much time do you spend with Jesus? Are you aware of His presence in your daily work routines? The challenging, busy, and increasing evilness in the world has made many people cold in their hearts. They have become indifferent. That was the greatest problem with the Laodicean church. They were lukewarm, neither cold nor hot which means indifference --- I don't care. They care more about their material wealth than a relationship with Jesus. They got all the priorities mixed up. Jesus invited them for fellowship with Him. What about you? Is your fellowship sweet and desirable? Is that the first thing you seek in the morning and last thing you say goodnight to? Be appreciative of the life and relationship we have.

2. Your Faith 

Our faith is best seen under the test. Are we willing to die for the cause that we believe in? But before we go into such depth, can we answer a simpler one. When people ask you about your belief, are you shy to admit you are a Christian? What is stopping you from doing that? Is it because you feel you are not good enough to admit it so as not to bring shame to Jesus? If so, please know that Jesus died for us when we were yet sinners. Jesus did not wait for us to be good to receive and die for us. Relationship with Jesus is about being authentic and frank with Him. He understands and will help you out. The next thing is to get your life in order with Him help and then you will not be shy to confess Jesus as your Lord. Actually admitting first will bring the empowerment to you to live out the good testimony. Take this small step first. I am a believer in Jesus and His gospel.

3. Your Service 

When we love someone, it is only natural that we serve him/her. The Ephesians were praised for their hard work especially in getting the right doctrines and filtering out the false ones. They are very critical and sensitive to false teachings. Service is not about doing what pleases you or what you think is good for the one you love. It is asking them what they love first and then we do what they love. That was precisely what the Philadelphians did --- they obeyed Jesus' message. Prayer is not about you but about finding out what God wants you to do. Of course, taking good care of you is God's promise to you and so can come to Him for your needs. But can you go beyond that and see the world from His point of view.

4. How You Have Endured. 

Suffering for our faith is a sure thing. Being good will attract attention and attacks from the evil ones. Your goodness is embarrassing their badness. But what is the meaning of endurance? One aspect is suffering for Christ without getting weary --- so as to complain, give up or deny and rebel against Christ. Another is to forgone materialistic and comfort lives --- being poor materially but rich in the eyes of God. People may question you about your foolishness to give up your career, money, and time for Christ. They don't see the values of spiritual and eternal things. They live for this life only but you know better otherwise.

5. Doing More Than Before. 

Life is about change and about growing up. While we may be satisfied with what we have and achieved, we continue to go for more because there is no limit to knowing and experiencing Jesus and His love. But we need to be careful. Having more activities does not mean more life! It is about doing the right activities at the right time and effort. Have a balanced life with time for rest and reflections, with family and with Jesus. We may need to review our activities and get rid of those that are not in the will of God and start some that are. We need to prune the tree for more fruits by getting rid of energy-wasting non-fruitful efforts and channeling them to the right ones. We don't want to get into the state of us doing a lot of work and yet God says it is incomplete!

6. Reject False Teachings

The mind-map above shows quite a list of false teachings of Jezebel, Nicolaitans, and Balaam. It serves as a good warning for us in today's world as well, such as the prosperity-only gospels, the ultra-grace with grace as the license to sin, licentious living, and the more evil kind of demonic worship of all forms. False teaching misleads and binds their believers. Discover the truth in and of Jesus and be set free.

7 Get Rid Of Evil

A sin is a sin according to the Word of God even though man may legalize it or give it some fanciful names or hide behind seemingly good intentions (e.g. I am not a busybody but just concern). The love for Jesus should be reflected in our purity and the same hatred for evil and sins as Jesus. May the Word and Holy Spirit reveal to us the true state of life.... making sure we are not pitiful, blind, and naked as the Laodiceans. Let us not tolerate seemingly little evil or sin in our life or in our midst. We can love people but hate their sins.

Lim Liat (c) 15 Oct 2015

Next: Your Eternal Rewards in Heaven according to the 7 Churches ...

Previous:

• 7 Management Principles of Jesus in His Letters to the Seven Churches
• Knowing Jesus through the Seven Churches of Revelation
• Lessons from The Seven Churches of Revelation

7 Management Principles of Jesus in His Letters to the Seven Churches

From Jesus' letters to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, we can learn seven principles of good management. They can be stated as mission/purpose, monitoring, praise, critique, correction, warning and rewarding. Learn how to do them rightly here and become a good manager.

The letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3 follow a fixed pattern. The pattern provides us the clue as to how Jesus manage his churches. Here is an example from the letter to the church at Ephesus.



The Seven Principles of People Management from Jesus:

1. Establish the Purpose - Define the Mission, Vision, and Values of the organization.
   In this case, it is the church, with Jesus as the Head and His Words as the values. See Knowing Jesus through the Seven Churches of Revelation for the details. Do you understand and fully absorb the mission, visions, and values of your organization. What about your own personal mission, visions, and values. Do they match? If not, choose a company or start up one yourself that reflect the values and the mission you believe in.
2. Monitoring - Know What is happening first, to the external situation and the internal people affairs.
   Jesus loves His church and keeps a close watch of His people, being every ready to guide, protect and correct them. Do you keep track of what is happening with your staff, the company and the changes in the external environment? Are you aware of the challenges and pressures of your staff? Do you understand their needs? Do you see their performances? Do you see their obstacles? Do you see the infighting? Before you just jump in too quickly to give your pet advice and claiming to know all with your prejudgements and even prejudices, can you investigate and discover the real happenings first? Can you see things objectively and from multiple angles of different angles, different roles, internal and external views. After knowing objectively what is going on, then perhaps you are in the position to offer your wise counsel. The following 5 more principles show you how to do that rightly.
3. Praise - Point how the things and behavior that they are doing it rightly.
   Always begin first by pointing out the right and good things that your staff is doing. They must be specific and not a general motherhood statement. The specifics show them that you are really concerned and have done your due diligence. Specifics also allow the staff to challenge and correct your misunderstanding if there be any. A dialogue to clarify the matter and improve the relationship and establishing greater trust. The top leaders like Jack Welch of GE, Frank Blake of Home Depot write personal letters to staff to praise and show appreciation of their work and behavior. Praising encourages more repeat of the right behavior. Be not stingy with your praise and make them specific.
4. Critique - Point out the errors or bad behavior from bad attitudes.
   Often, we are blind to our own bad behavior and work. It takes someone else to point them out to us. If the company has good quality systems and measurements, we can also find them out. What is good or bad? How do you judge for things like behavior? Right or wrong is established in the first principle of purpose, mission, visions, and values. Such are the yardsticks for right or wrong.
5. Correction - Show them the Right Way or Right Behaviour.
   Pointing out an error is half of the job done. You must them what the right way is so that they can follow the right way. Just telling a person what he has done wrong is not good enough. You cannot let him find out the right way by trial and errors. They will take too long and be too costly. Show them the right way.
6. Warning - The bad consequences that will arise if they don't change.
   Most people are happy to correct their errors once you point them out and show them the right way. However, there will be some who are driven by sufferings. Good managers and good parents usually let the bad consequences to do the teaching. Saving children and staff from the bad consequences from their errors will not lead to learning and will result in misguided decision making in the future. Always let the consequences be the teacher, except for fatal or serious situations. Too much kindness and love will result in a corrupted and confused world.
7. Rewarding - Promises and Delivery of the Promised for good work.
   People are motivated by rewards, whether intrinsically by growth in maturity or externally by recognition, monetary rewards, promotions or other benefits. We must be specific in the rewards and also be generous in awarding them. One shall not promise much and then deliver with discounts when staff achieved the agreed targets. 

Can you go through the seven principles and see which area you can improve upon? Hope you can and will become a better manager.

Hope you can see that Bible Study is more than just a spiritual matter but a very practical business matter. Don't divide your life into spiritual and carnal/business matters. You are an integrated whole person. Act out from your spiritual maturity to be a better person in the affairs of the world, especially your business or career. Let them be good testimonies to God. See also  10 Kingdom Laws for Business Success.

Lim Liat (c) 14 Oct 2015

Next: The Qualities of Good Believers from the Seven Church...

Knowing Jesus through the Seven Churches of Revelation

Jesus shows different aspects of Himself to address the specific needs of the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. We learn not just about Jesus but the wisdom of applying the right advice to the need of the situation and person. 

A detailed mind-map study of the seven churches can be found here, Lessons from The Seven Churches of Revelation.

A mind-map that relate Jesus' appearance and the churches is:

1. Jesus as Head to the Church at Ephesus

The Ephesus church had heeded Paul's warning of the coming of the false teachers, so they were very careful and sensitive to the preaching of false doctrine. However, they overdid it. Their love for doctrine takes precedence over love for Jesus. Jesus reminded them that He is the Head of the Church and demands their first love for Him.

It is very easy for us to replace Jesus with our own liking and this takes place very subtly without our knowing. It is easy to make a good thing to become our idol replacing God. For Ephesians, it is the doctrine. Knowing the right beliefs is good and right. However, it cannot replace Jesus. We must first love Jesus and also the right doctrine too. For modern day people, it could be the good things that we do such as charity work, giving to the needy, and even doing mission work. Such is good work, but they cannot replace our relationship with Jesus. Let not any activity replaces our time and love with Jesus.

2. Jesus as Eternal Life to the Church at Smyrna

The believers were under severe persecutions. But Jesus assured them He is the one true eternal life. They may kill the body but they cannot kill the soul. (Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.) He is the source and given for eternal life.

3. Jesus as the Word of Truth to Pergamum

The two-edged sword represents the Word of Truth.  Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive 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. They have compromised the truth and allow the infiltration of the teaching of Balaam (idolatry and sexual sins, seducing) and Nicolaitans (dominating people, compromised doctrine). This church is the opposite of Ephesus, the place 'love' more than truth and compromise the truth. The only way to differentiate the false from the truth is to go by the Word of God. When you are not too sure what is right or wrong, then go back to the Word of God, the Bible. to discover the truth. Please make sure you follow the right way to interpret the Bible too. Distortion, taking the Word out of its context, quoting a subset of the Word leads to false doctrine. We need to be aware of that.

4. Jesus as the Judge to Thyatira

Fire represents brightness and clarity. Jesus is the know-all and know-inside-out Judge. Bronze represents judgment in the Bible. While in Ephesus and Pergamum, Balaam, the prophet that failed to curse the Israelites, was mentioned. But here, Jezebel, the queen, the one in power was mentioned. It shows that the false doctrine has taken charge in the church. The church was under darkness and dominated by sinful people with their false doctrines.  They were not repentant of their sins. Hence, Jesus advised them to judge and cast out such people. It is a difficult task because such people were already in power. Jesus will raise up people to overthrow them. Under such situation, some people may leave the church. Some people may be called to stay to revile and transform the church. May God give such wisdom and support to re-establish the right teaching and right church leadership under Jesus. One day, everyone will have to give an account of his life to Jesus the Judge. Are you prepared? How are you living this life?

5 Jesus as God the Spirit & Power to Sardis

This Sardis church is what Paul described in 2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. They had many religious activities. People and themselves thought that they were alive in God. But they were actually dying! They had allowed outward activities to replace inward spiritual lives with God.   John 4:24 God is a spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. Are you worshipping God in spirit and truth and not just in activities even of singing spiritual songs!
Does your outward behavior correspond to your inward belief? Do you still have the spiritual fire burning within?

6 Jesus as the Authority/King to Philadelphia

Like Smyrna, this church had no rebuke from Jesus. They obeyed the Word and they boldly testify before men for God. God will protect them and cause others to bow down to them. They will be given crown and reign with Jesus.

7 Jesus as the Blesser of True Blessings to Laodicea

Laodiceans went after material wealth instead of spiritual wealth. They were indifferent to godly things.  Jesus invited them to have a true relationship, the most valuable thing, with Him. Their hunger and happiness could not be satisfied with materialistic things. Only a relationship with Jesus can provide real and lasting satisfaction and happiness. Are you trying to find happiness in material things? You will not satisfaction there. Come to Jesus for the real and satisfying experience. Jesus is the true source of all creation and is waiting for you to invite Him in.

Knowing Jesus

Do you know Jesus as the

1. Head of the Church?
2. Giver of Eternal Life?
3. Word of Truth?
4. Judge?
5. Spirit?
6. King?
7. Blesser?

Before you give any advice, please look at the situation, the factual events, and the needs and characteristics of the people involved. Please do not be too quick to give your word of wisdom nor jump to conclusions. Study first.

Lim Liat (c) 14 Oct 2015

Next: 7 Management Principles of Jesus in His Letters to the Seven Churches...

See also: Lessons from The Seven Churches of Revelation

The Starting of Our Life & Career and the Temptations of Jesus

The temptations of Jesus (Luke 4:1-13 and Matthew 4:1-11) occured just before Jesus bagan His ministry. They are like the final examination that a student undertake before he graduated into the workforce of the society. They are the three key questions that one must find the answer before we start our life in the society. The answers shall be the guide posts that will lead us to success and a life without regrets at our death. The answers cannot be derived and proven by external means as the devil repeatedly wanted Jesus to do. Man can talk. But a talking parrot does not a man make. There is no need to prove that you are human being. You know yourself for sure. So, what are the 3 keys questions that you need to know and need not prove?

The 3 Keys Questions 

1. Your Identity - Who are you?
2. Your Relationship - Who, your Father, cares about you?
3. Your Journey and Destination - How will you live and where and what you will have?

The related Tempations:

Temptation 1 Are you the Son of God? Prove it by turning rock to bread.

Temptation 2 Are you sure your Father loves you? Prove it by jumping down to see if your Father care.

Temptation 3 How are you going to live to get your glory? Take the short-cut to your destination of glory by just worshipping me, the devil.

Do we need to prove who we are?

You don't need to prove to yourself who you really are. You will know it not by conducting experiments but by discovery. You, as a created being, will need to ask your creator, your God, to tell you. Your passions, your natural abilities, you characteristics that are created by God will reveal to you. God tells us we are created in the image of God and Jesus came to give us a new life in Him as children of God. You may start your life knowing that you are a child of God when you receive Jesus as your Saviour and Lord.

While we don't need to prove who we are, but there should be evidences of our live and work that reflect who we are. We love others not because the laws say so but because we are children of God, who is love. We love because it is in our character as child of God. We don't act in love to prove. We don't get our being by acting. We are first and we just act out naturally from what we already are. The way it works is BE-DO-HAVE. We are loving first. We do good works according to our love. We than have the love and respect, and the evidences, of schools, hospitals, etc and the people that benefited from our loving actions. The devil want us to perform first to become. It is the Have-Do-Be mindset. We must have money, do good work, then become good man. If we give to become good, or to be perceived as good, then there is this ulterior motive of good reputation rather than the simple and pure motive of love without credits or rewards. 

Jesus refused to act on Satan's term to prove His worth and identity. Satan's ways to turn rock to bread, to jump down agaisnt gravity, to take short-cut, to worship the wrong one, are all violation of God created natural laws for abundant living. Jesus refuse to do anything to violate God's laws. 

Jesus however, in His ministry, did many great works, that the people themselves were amazed and know that He was of God. Jesus need not prove to himself or to the devil, but Jesus does want to show himself to the people that they may know that He is the Son of God. In John 10:36-38 Jesus challenged them to see his work and know that He is the Son of God. Jesus' work, Luke 4:18-19, good news to the poor, set the captives free, healing, raising of death, abundant life... in summary to destroy the work of the devils. 1 John 3:8.

Here is mind-map that contains the details for your learning and reflection:

Lim Liat (c) 15 Sep 2015

The Most Gullible People - Christians

One of the most gullible and easiest people to cheat is probably a Christian, of whom I am one. All in the name of love and forgiveness.

Many years ago (I hope we grow up to be wiser by now), during one of our baptisms, a candidate asked me aside for lending him some money. I figured that a brother in need, needs to be helped of course. Why even lend, give. Then he requested I keep it a secret. Of course, as any kind person should. Save his face. Let not your right hand knows what your left hand is doing. Later, another brother called to ask me if I have given some money to so-and-so. My first response was, "didn't he tell you to keep it a secret?". Lo and behold, we quickly found out that he had 'borrowed' money from many of us. You will also know the end of the story, he disappeared from church after that.

Such story happened in many Christian home or cell groups too. We are so happy to have new members to join our group and so happy to help people that someone can easily come and 'borrow' away much money and then do the disappearing act. So we have to inform home/cell group leaders and members to take note when people want to borrow money and report them to the leadership.

Forgive and forget is another famous preaching of the church. It is easily exploited as well because of such high sounding but blur or foolish teaching.

Someone comes to borrow a large sum of money from you. Not only he did not pay you back but ask you to lend him another big sum because of his needs. He asked for your forgiveness and appeal to your love to help him again. He quoted 'forgive and forget' and "forgive seventy times seven times". Should you lend him the money again?

Any normal earthly being will say no except the blur believers.

We have confused forgiveness and trust.

You can forgive the hurts and betrayal in the first time when you extended the trust, but you don't have to entend your trust again when the other party has already and clearly demontrated that he is not trustable. To trust in spite of the counter evidence is foolishness and it is not love at all.

We have such common saying that " A leopard can't change his spots. ." or "江山易改本性难移" dynasty easily changes but basic character is difficult to change.

Don't be even more loving than God. God did not forgive and forget the devils.

Love has wisdom within. Loving without wisdom is induglence and spoiling. Be not fooled when someone want you in the name of love and forgiveness.

Be wise. Is he trustworthy? Does he deserve your trust? What are the supportive and counter-supportive evidences.

Lim Liat (c) 10 Sep 2015

See also The Making of False Teachers

Confucius, Peter, Korean Dramas and Wife

Korean culture is strongly influenced by the teaching of Confucius (known as the Ru School). They may be more Ru-like then even the Chinese. But sadly, as with the Chinese, they have a ''distorted' version of Confucius teaching.

In Korean drama, it is not uncommon to see the Husband ill-treating, even beating up, their wives and children. They over emphasised the authority or power of the husband and father. In Chinese original culture, wife is of a special, high and protected status. The Chinese system is One Man and One wife and many concubines to cover-up the lack of wife e.g. child birth. Wife cannot be easily divorced and so forth ...to be discussed in later posts if there any interests).

Analects 1v7 子夏曰：“贤贤易色，事父母能竭其力，事君能致其身，与朋友交言而有信。虽曰未学，吾必谓之学矣。”

Honor those with honor more than beauty.
Serve your parents with all your energy.
Serve your king by giving yourself.
Deal with your friends by keeping your promises made.
Even if you say you have not learned, I must say you have learned well indeed.

Though 'wife' is not mentioned at the very start, it is easily inferred from the rest of the text. It follows with reference to parents, kings, and friends; from near to far. So wife is inferred and accepted by many scholars.

Hence, in modern English, the very four words means,
“Love your wife more for her honorable character rather than her beauty".
Or, Honor your wife good character instead of loving her beauty.
Or, Appreciate your wife good character over her beauty.
In short, Character over Beauty.

Back to Peter. Peter tells us how wives should behave

In 1 Peter 3:4 NIV Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

Confucius tells the men to honor their wife for her good character over beauty.
Peter tells the wives to develop inner good character over outward adornment.

Now can you see how Analects complements the Bible or vice versa.

Don't let some bias teaching stop your from reading the Chinese literature if you are a Christian neither let your love for Chinese literature stop you from reading the Bible to discover the living truth in Jesus Christ.

Lim Liat (c) 16 July 2015

Confucius' Advice to Modern Day Christians

Any modern day Christians will like to hear good sermons. Some told me they must go to such and such a church to get charge-up every week. Some told me they attend 2 to 3 services on Sunday. Churches invite famous speakers from overseas and hold big meetings that were well attended. Friends will recommend you to attend this or that meeting. What could be wrong, you may ask.

Analect (of confucius sayings) chapter 1 verse 6:
【子曰：“弟子入则孝，出则弟，谨而信，泛爱众而亲仁。行有余力，则以学文。”】
Confusius says, "Young men honor their elders in the house and respect others in the society. They work with care and sincerity and become trustworthy. They love the common people and be closer with those with charitable hearts. After doing such, when they have more time and strength, then they study to pick up literature and other skills.

The key message is 先学会做人 后读书 .
Knowing how to behave as a person is foundation. Studying is secondary.

Or we can put it as, studying is for the purpose of behaving better.

Putting it into Christian context:

Behaving as a Christian is foundation. Rom 8:29 to be Christ-Like. or 2 Cor 3:3 We are living letters of Christ. Others read our behavior and come to know Christ.

Hearing Sermons is secondary. We hear Sermons (hopefully the preachers follow the Bible rightly) to behave more Christ-like.

If our behavior is not Christ-like, hearing more sermons may be just a cover-up of our guilt-conscience of not being Christ-like, We think we are more holy because we are hearing sermons. But the facts could be we are using them excuses to run away from our responsibilities .... e.g. to clean the house, to spend time with family members, to extend help to those in needs, to visit and comfort the sick, to even rest better that we can start the work week with better strength and clarity of thoughts .....

Hearing too many sermons without us living them out will just jam up our mind, dull our senses, escape our responsibilities, and bring us further away from Christ-likeness.

However, when our heart and conscious are clear, hearing a good sermon will encourage and refreshed us much. We can see our life in the sermon and the sermon in our life. Hearing out once and living them out repeatedly is the key for right Christian living as what Confucius tells us.

Lim Liat (c) 16-7-15

Hair, Thoughts and Heart - What does it mean? Proverbs 23v7

One of the key verse that may impact your life on this earth is Proverb 23:7a For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.  You are the product of your thoughts in your heart. To change your life, change your thoughts. But a study of the full verse reveals other important meanings. Find out more ....

Proverb 23:6-8

• Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:  v6
• For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.  v7 
• The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.  v8

To study the Bible nowadays is very easy and also interesting. We have all the software and internet resources for many different versions of the Bible. the concordances, the cross references, and many commentaries and dictionaries and all at the touch of your finger or a mouse. To lookup and cross reference are extremely easy. It is more about whether you have the time and energy to read them. This is very unlike the past without the computer support. We have to spend much time flipping the pages of Bibles, Concordance and Commentaries. Studying even a short passage well will take a long time. So, we buy Study Bibles instead.  Even then, we still need to flip here and there resulting on torned pages showing how studious one is as a reader of the Bible. But now, we have no excuse for not studying the Bible well. We can spend more time on the content and on meditation rather than flipping pages.

I will use a verse Proverbs 23:7, cited above, as an example for how we can benefit much from a proper study of the verse using the resources available in the internet cloud.

You are the product of your thoughts

“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.”  ---Mahatma Gandhi 

Proverbs 23:7 is often quoted as the support for the assertion, "You are the product of your thoughts" as in "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he".  However, that quote is only the first half a verse. There is the second half of "Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. ".  With the two halves put together, how are they linked up and still make sense? Does the first half still mean what we claim it means?

Understanding a Verse from Its Context

We must not interprete a verse out of its context. So we need to look into the whole Proverb 23 passage. For a study of the whole chapter, see The Seduction of Man & How to Prevent it - Proverb 23. For this discussion, we can find a grouping of 3 verses, 6 to 8 and they are cited at the top of this post. We can roughly understand the flow of this group of verses. It is warning us not the take the food of the one with an 'evil' eye else we will end up vomitting out what we take in. If we are to summarize it, we can say, "Never accept the favor of an evil person else you will regret it". If that is the case, then what is the real meaning of "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" in this context that will go with the flow?

Looking Up the Other Translations:

If you look up the various translations, you will find 3 groups of translations for 23v7.

1. Group 1 You are what you think ..... The Older Translations
   There are KJV, NASB, ASV, BBE, ISV, JPS, JUB, LITV, RV, YLT etc. e.g.:
   (NAS77) For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But his heart is not with you.
   
   (YLT) For as he hath thought in his soul, so is he, `Eat and drink,' saith he to thee, And his heart is not with thee.
      
2. Group 2 Keeping Account ...Calculating ....The Newer Translations
   ESV, NIV, HCSB, CEV, CJB, ERV, GW, GE, NLT, NET etc.  e.g,:
   
   (ESV) for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
   
   (CJB) For he is like someone who keeps accounts — "Eat! Drink!" he says to you, but he doesn't really mean it.   
   (NLT) They are always thinking about how much it costs. "Eat and drink," they say, but they don't mean it.
      
3. Group 3 Eating Hairs! ....
   (Aramaic Bible in Plain English) For just as a man swallows a bristle hair, so you eat and drink with him and his mind is not with you.
   (Septuagint by Brenton) so he eats and drinks as if any one should swallow a hair, and do not bring him in to thyself, nor eat thy morsel with him:
   (Lexham English Bible)  For, like hair in his throat, so it is. "Eat and drink!" he will say to you, but his heart will not be with you. 

From 'thinking' to 'calculating' to 'eating hair" ! Which it the right one? Are they in conflict?

The Explanation:

A check with the commentaries give us the answer:

Pulpit Commentary
Verse 7. - For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. The verb here used is שָׁעַר (shaar), "to estimate, ....to calculate," and the clause is best rendered, For as one that calculates with himself, so is he. The meaning is that this niggardly host watches every morsel which his guest eats, and grudges what he appears to offer so liberally. In the Authorized Version the word "heart" occurs twice in this verse, but the Hebrew words are different. The first is nephesh, "breath," equivalent to "mind;" the second is leb, "heart." The Vulgate paraphrases the clause, Quoniam in similitudinem arioli et conjectoris, aestimat quod ignorat, "For like a soothsayer or diviner he conjectures that of which he is ignorant." Eat and drink, saith he to thee. He professes to make you welcome, and with seeming cordiality invites you to partake of the food upon his table. But his heart is not with thee. He is not glad to see you enjoy yourself, and his pressing invitation is empty verbiage with no heart in it. The Septuagint, pointing differently, translates, "For as if one should swallow a hair, so he eats and drinks." The Greek translators take the gnome to apply to one who invites an envious man to his table, and finds him eating his food as if it disgusted him. They go on, "Bring him not in to thee, nor eat thy morsel with him; for (ver. 8) he will vomit it up, and outrage thy fair words." In agreement with the gnome above, we find in the Talmud, "My son, eat not the bread of the covetous, nor sit thou at his table. The bread of the covetous is only pain and anguish; the bread of the generous man is a source of health and joy." 

You can see that while the translations are different, the meaning are essentially the same. 

Gill gives a better understanding of the phrase "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he", 

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he,.... He is not the man his mouth speaks or declares him to be, but what his heart thinks; which is discovered by his looks and actions, and by which he is to be judged of, and not by his words; 

The Chinese Mind Interpretation

The Chinese has a famous saying, "知人知面不知心", you only know a person by his face but not realy his heart, meaning you only know him on the surface and that is not the real him. The real him is his heart which you cannot see.  So we can easily grasp the intention of the author of the Proverb 23v7. He said that a person is what he think inside his heart and [not the external words and actions that he show you]. If we add in the those words in bracket to show the meaning better, than the whole verse make good sense. What we see from the outside, his welcoming smiles, his inviting words, are just but a disguise of his internal calculative and scheming intention. There is no free lunch. He gives you to get more from you. His favors have condictons tied to them. The moment you eat his offer, you owe him. He will one day ask you pay back with interests! So we can see that "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" is a general truth or principle and is being used in this particular context as a warning for us not to take thing on the surface as real. It will be, of course, much better if we can find other verses in the Bible that support this truth. With the easy cross-referencing provided in the internet, it takes me little time to come out with the following mind-map to support the case.

A good book to read on this topic is As A Man Thinketh by James Allen.

May we be deligent in guarding our heart through the thoughts we allow to enter into our mind. May we develop a God fearing mindset and to fill our mind with good thoughts and good thinking mindset. May be confidence to search our thoughts for the UGB Ungodly beliefs that bind us. Replace them with Godly thoughts that we may be freed to live a victorious life that glorify God.

Lim Liat (c) 14 July 2015

The Seduction of Man & How to Prevent it - Proverb 23

A careful study of Proverbs 23 reveals a list of 10 seductions for man. Because they appeal to our appetites, they seem so desirable, but the outcomes are bad for us. Some may eventually destroy us. But there are ways to overcome them. The key is to seek after the wisdom of God and put no trust in our own appetite based wisdom, Proverbs 23 also provides wisdom not just for a man, but as parents and as children too. Dive in to discover the details .....

The General Principle for Victorious and Successful Life:

If you want a short summary for Proverb 23, then it is

Don't let your appetites lead you astray and be killed by your appetites.

The 10 Seductions and the Ways Out:

You can see that the seductions appeal to our appetites and seem so natural. What can be wrong when we even want them ourselves? How can something so desirable be bad? Don't we want:

1. A good dinner?
2. Wealth?
3. Favor? (Foods in the text, extended to means favors given).
4. Showin one's wisdom by giving out advices?
5. Exploit the Opportunities?
6. Not having the responsibility or raising children?
7. Short Cut to Successes?
8. Partying?
9. Sexual Pleasures?
10. More wines?

The solution is simple ... Seek the Wisdom of God, trust and follow His right ways(v12,17b,v19) and not your own appetite based wisdom(v4). For children, we are to listen to our parents who shall teach God's ways. Parents have the responsibility in disciplining their children to ensure they follow God's ways.

The Details

Here is the mind-map for all the details that you can follow and meditate. Hope you learn much from it and put them into practices. Remember, you are the thoughts of your heart. Make sure you put the right thoughts into your heart.

Seduction 1 to 4

Seduction 5-7

Seduction 8-10

Lim Liat (c) 13 July 2015

Heaven on Earth - Meditation on Isa 45:8

 Isa 45:8  Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

Isaiah 45 is an interesting chapter that reveals how the Lord uses the world events, the people, to achieve His purpose. It shows us that no matter what, whether be good or bad in our eyes, the Lord is in charge. We may not like it that we are just one of the dots that when connected fulfill the purpose of God. But when we know the love of God for us, perhaps we are willing to accept the unique purpose and role that God has created us for though this role may be minor in our own eyes.

The key verse in Isa 45 is verse 8,

Isa 45:8  Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

It is the fulfillment of the Lord's prayer Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

When the righteousness from heaven meet up with earth receptive heart, it will bring forth the fruit of salvation and righteousness.

This is exactly what Jesus, the Son of God, did for us. He came from heaven. But His work is only completed when we open our heart to receive Him, the righteousness of God, so that we are transformed and rebirth again in salvation and righteousness.

God has created that we should all be saved and bear fruit of righteousness on earth. We are his righteousness bearing good fruit on this earth. The time will come that the earth will be transformed into heaven-like.

May we be willing to give ourselves in to this transforming process of bring heaven on earth or making the earth heaven-like with His righteousness.

Lim Liat (c) 27 June 2015.

We Have Right and Wrong Built Into our Body!

I find it interesting that our body tells us what is right or wrong without us learning it. Babies without hugging get sick and die. See for example http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/infant-touch/.

Dr Caroline Leaf said that we are wired for love.

Positive words, thoughts and emotions bring health.
Negative words, thoughts and emotions bring sickness and death.

Positive things are love, peace, joy, kindness, patience....
Negative things are fear, worry, anxiety, bitterness, hatred, guilts, condemnation, etc.

How come our body knows what is positive or negative?
Right and wrong are built into us.

To be healthy and to help make the people around us better,
know and do, love, joy, peace.... Forgiveness is a great healer of sickness.

Learn to forgive God, yourself and others.

Not that God needs our forgiveness, but rather our anger with God needs to be released through forgiveness. We need to know the love of God and trust his wisdom for the disappointments that we think God fail us. We think God can and should and yet He did nothing.

Learn to forgive yourself, as God has already forgiven you. You can be demanding of yourself, but never condemn yourself for the failures. Learn from failures. Failures are the ways to greater strength and maturity that God often needs to bring us through.

Lastly, forgive others. Forgiveness is a choice that we can and should take independent of the people who we feel has hurt us. Very often, they are not even aware that they have hurt you or done any wrong. They are happily going on with their lives. You need to forgive and let go of the bitterness and hatred and be freed to live and go on with your life without such burdens and pains.

Smile, you have done well. You are loved deeply by Jesus.

Lim Liat (c) 25 June 2015

Why need repentance when one is saved and forgiven for all future sins? Ps 32

On a superficial level, Christian belief can be very confusing and contradictory. We are told that Jesus died and paid for all our sins - our past, present, and future sins. Now that we are forgiven, why is there a need to confess and repent of our sins? That is because such truth is incomplete and lack depth. I am reminded of the words of Einstein, in the Citation made by Zukofsky:

• There is also the other side of the coin minted by Einstein: “Everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler” – a scientist’s defense of art and knowledge – of lightness, completeness, and accuracy.

The purpose of Jesus' death is more than just paying for the judgment for our sins, it is also to rebirth us into God's children by His resurrection through the Holy Spirit. Jesus' great commission to us is:

Matthew 20:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. 

The purpose is to be make disciples that exhibit God's behavior through observing all that Jesus commanded. Paul makes it very clear in Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, ... His children must exhibit their heavenly Father's character.

Salvation is the beginning step for achieving His image in us, His children. Immediately after Eph 2:8 that says we are saved by grace, not of works, verse 10 tells us that we are His workmanship, created in Christ for good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. In the simplest form, we are not just saved for salvation purpose, we are saved for good works designed by God; not any simpler, else the meaning is lost.

How do we have the good works designed in each of us by God? 

It is simple, as cited above in Matthew 20:20, to observe all that Jesus has commanded us.

In the process of following, we may err from His ways. It could be our lack of knowledge of His ways as we fail to read the Bible or lack in communion with Him. Or it may be we lack the wisdom to apply His words in our situation rightly. Or it may a deliberate violation of His ways due to our giving it to the temptations of the evil one exploiting our own weaknesses. 

Knowing our Tripartite Nature gives us better understanding

We may understand better when we know that we are a tripartite being made up of spirit, soul (mind, will, emotions) and a body. Someone say we are a spirit with a soul living in a physical body. When we are saved, our spirit is born anew with a connection to God. Our mind changes not except with a new sensitive conscience. Our body also remains the same after the salvation. Rom 12:1-2 tell us to present our body as a living, not dead, sacrifice (ie let Jesus be our Lord and not I), and our mind be renewed with His Words. 

How do all these work out?

Psalm 32:1-5 gives us a good illustration.

1. A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 
2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 
3. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 
4. For day and night, thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 
5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and my iniquity has I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Verse 1-2 describes our salvation, where are sins and transgression are forgiven. But notice in v2, it is in the spirit that there is no guile (deceit, treachery). Our spirit is fine.

But verse 3 and 4 tell us our body, in particular, our bones, are not doing well. Our bones are drying up. We are suffering very badly due to sickness. We groan with pains all day long! We felt it was God punishing us but it was actually our transgressions. Our sins cause our sickness. Our body becomes dehydrated, skinny and weak.  The inside of our bone is the bone marrow, which is the production center of our blood, the red and white blood cells. A typical terminal sickness is a leukemia that requires bone marrow transplant for healing. Besides, white blood cells are part of the immune system. If our immune system is damaged, there can be many other kinds of sicknesses too.

So we can see that a common cause of our sickness is our transgression of His ways, either in thoughts of the mind(e.g. worry, fear, stress) or in the body (e.g. excessive eating and drinking).

The good news comes in verse 5 when we acknowledge and confess our transgressions. The original Hebrew for the word confess is H3034 yâdâh contains the meaning of to throw, shoot, cast down. Hence, the meaning is more than just admitting but rather to know, admit, and to cast away or in short, to change. To change our wrong thinking and bad behavior that bring us the sickness.  When we do our repentance, the Lord is sure to forgive our iniquity of our sin that causes the sickness. Verse 6,7 shows the deliverance of the Lord and verse 8 shows that we have learned the lessons to teach others to follow the Lord. Verse 11 declares our righteousness and our rejoicing.

Salvation is the Start of the Sanctification Process of our Growth into His Likeness.
The best teacher for our growth is the real life experience. We tasted the evil of our disobedience or our bad thoughts that we gain a better understanding and of the value of the need to follow His Ways. Of course, the best is for us to follow His Ways and live in victory and health. Nevertheless, some terrible experience may be good teachers for us. Always remember though, to come back to God, for His forgiveness is always available to us. But if we continue in sins, while our spirit may be saved, our mind and our body will suffer. Go back to God for restoration. 

Read and be encouraged by:

Heb 4:15  For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Heb 4:16  Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 

Psa 103:2  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 

Psa 103:3  Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 

Psa 103:4  Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 

Psa 103:5  Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. 

Lim Liat (c) 17 June 2015

The Right Way to Pray Effectively from the Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer was Jesus' answer to His disciples request (Luke 11:1). Hence, it is the model for our prayer. It provides answers for the 5W1H of prayer. If we want to have effective prayer, we need to follow the model.

This post is a summary and reflection of our group study of the longer post An In-depth View of The Lord's Prayer - Learning from Tim Keller. To help us to understand something better, we can use the
The Basic Thinking Framework 5W1H. The order is Who-Why, What, How, Where, and When. So let's follow the order to discover the treasures hidden in the Lord's Prayer.

Who-Why - From Relationship to Purpose - We do out of the Overwhelming Love within.

Prayer is between God and us. But Jesus told us more about this relationship. It is a Father and Child family relationship. It is not a business transactional contractual relationship. A business relationship is performance base such as your work to earn your salary from your boss; you pay to get the goods. When you pay, your goods cannot be denied. If you don't, you get nothing. In a family relationship, you don't do to get accepted. You get accepted first and you perform as a response to the love you received. You don't perform to earn your love. Sadly, in many families, the parents tend to use love as a mechanism to get obedience and performance from their children. They make a secure and wonderful relationship into an insecure one and create fear, anxiety, and stress. It degrades the purpose and identity of a member of the family. Family members have privileges. It takes priority over business relationships. Your child can call you anytime and can interrupt your business meeting to talk to you.

On what basis can we be sure that our prayer will be heard and answered? Definitely not by performance because God is self-sufficient and does need not anything from us. But as a Father, He has the responsibility to care for our needs. As a child, we have a responsibility to respond to our Father's love and teaching. While we do nothing to earn the love that we already have, the love compels us to do something to bring glory back to Him who loves us. We act out of the overwhelming love inside.

The purpose of prayer is then to be with our Father (Our Heavenly Father), worship Him (Hallowed be thy Name), and know His will (His Kingdom and His Will be on earth).  This leads to the What of prayer.

What - To Worship and to Know His Will
Hallowing His Name is like the first 4 commandments of the Ten Commandments of God .... namely, Only ONE triune God, No other idols, No dishonor of God's Name and Keep the Sabbath of rest and worship of God. Putting GOD as the first priority from which and upon which we organized our parts of life like spouse, family, career, relationship with people, money, and pride, will lead us to a balanced and fruitful life. Disruption of such a priority arrangement will lead to imbalance, stress, sickness, and failure in different aspects of our life. To put our lives back in order, get rid of our idols, and have God in the central and most important place.

How do we put God in the central place of our lives? Seek His Kingdom and His will and His righteousness (Mat 6:33) first. We worship first and then seek His will. If we don't worship and know His power and love for us, it is very difficult for us to want to know and much less obey His will.

His will for us, the general and our specific calling, becomes the mission statement for us. His Kingdom's ways of righteousness become the methods and guides for our 'how' to achieve His will.

How to Pray 
We are NOT to pray for others to see how pious we are; i.e. not to seek our glory in prayer.
We are NOT to blindly repeat in many words as if God is hard of hearing or we can earn our answers by our effort.
Yet, we are not to lose hope but to continue in expectant prayer if we fail to see the answers. Luke 11:8-9 knowing for sure that he who seeks shall find and who asks shall be given.

The sequence of prayer is:

1. Know you are praying to your heavenly Father as a son.
2. Worship & praise for who God is and His love for us.
3. Intercession for His Kingdom and Will to be done on earth and for us in particular.
4. Petitions for our needs to fulfill His will for us. We ask for the following 4 things.
1. Daily Resources - needs for food, shelter, health, and wealth to do His will.
2. Relationships with People - Forgiveness of our mistakes, and failures and harmonious relationships with others through forgiving one another starting with us and drawing upon the Father's love and grace empowerment for us.
3. Overcoming Temptations and trials and Separating ourselves from evil.
4. Protection from Evils and overcoming the evils.
5. Praise and Thank giving for the answers. God is in charge forever and forever.

Most of our prayer begins with our needs first. But that is wrong. We must know His will for us first so that we may know what is really needful and what is not. Of course, we know generally that His Will is for us to be well and Jesus assured us with His words that the Father knows even before we ask. Even so, we need to ask to show our desire and agreement to His will for us. 

Where should we pray?

In a secret place where we are not seen and not disturbed. Yes, we can pray as a group. The admonition in Matthew 6 not in public places, is for us not to use prayer to gain self-glory. As long as we come together as a group to pray purposely for His will, it is OK. 

When should we pray?

The request for resources, and bread, is daily. We are encouraged by Paul to pray without ceasing as in
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NKJV) 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

So, we can pray anytime, anywhere, and every time. At least, do it daily.

Conclusion:

The purpose of our prayer is to communicate with God, to know His will, and to be empowered to do His will for His glory revealed through our work in Him. Our needs should be evaluated according to His will for us. A large part of our prayer life should be in organizing our lives around Him and His will for us. Since His will is in His Word, careful studying of His Words, the meditation of His Words, is actually prayer too. When we know Him and His will, our intercessions and petitions will be right and we have the confidence that they will be answered affirmatively.

Remember, the right way to pray is

 Father relationship -> Worship & Praise -> Intercessions -> Petitions -> Affirmation with Praise & Thanksgiving.

Lim Liat (c) 8 June 2015