Dedicate this great song to everyone who reads this post.
Showing posts with label sharing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sharing. Show all posts
Friday, May 30, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
devotion24: You Never Thoroughly Intended It
I read quite a lot, both for pleasure and for my theological studies. Every so often, I read something that stops me dead in my tracks and affects me so deeply that I have to put the book down and consider what I've just read. No author has done that as powerfully and frequently as C.S. Lewis. Today, I want to share one of those moments with you and explore how we can apply it to our relationship with Jesus. (In fairness, these are not his own words - Lewis was quoting William Law). He wrote:
If you will stop here and ask yourselves why you are not as pious as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you, that it is neither through ignorance nor inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it.
If we consider Christianity to be a life-long journey, then surely the destination is a perfect and complete union with Christ. We begin the journey by not knowing Christ at all and it is complete when we have surrendered to Christ so fully and completely that nothing of ourselves remains.
If we stop to take a look at the things which prevent us from reaching that goal, it will appear that there are hundreds of little things on the journey which block our way. Work, friends, community and family responsibilities all present obstacles. We're so busy!
The truth that Lewis brings to our attention is that there are not many reasons, but rather one simple reason which underlies it all. If you don't have the kind of passion and intimacy in your relationship with Christ that you should then you don't fully intend to. You see, the quality of your relationship with Christ is all in your hands and no one else's. This is not like a marriage where both husband and wife must work to achieve closeness. Christ is and has always been completely accessible and available. He waits patiently for us to take each next step toward Him. You either take the steps or you don't.
Every reason you can imagine for why you have not taken the next step on the journey can be distilled down to one simple fact - you don't want to. There is no secret or magic formula here. It's simple. We come closer to Christ by spending time with Him, reading His word, serving Him and praying. None of us are being physically prevented or restrained from doing these things and so the choice to do them or not to do them is ours alone.
Yet, we do other things instead. We watch TV, put in a little overtime at work, visit with friends or any other myriad of things that are more important to us at that given moment. It's a given that there are things we must do to survive such as eating and working in order to make money to pay for our food and shelter. Jesus understands this. Yet, there is so much that we do not need to do. All that time we could be working on our relationship with Jesus. But we don't.
I'm busy! I have work to do! I'm tired! Wrap the excuse any way you wish and surround it by any reason you like but when you unwrap it, what you will find inside every time is the same basic truth. You don't intend to have a better relationship with Jesus.
The relationship you have with Jesus is exactly the one you want to have. When you want to have a closer, deeper relationship with Him, you will. Nothing in this world can prevent it.
Goodnight Revs,
kev!(:
If you will stop here and ask yourselves why you are not as pious as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you, that it is neither through ignorance nor inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it.
If we consider Christianity to be a life-long journey, then surely the destination is a perfect and complete union with Christ. We begin the journey by not knowing Christ at all and it is complete when we have surrendered to Christ so fully and completely that nothing of ourselves remains.
If we stop to take a look at the things which prevent us from reaching that goal, it will appear that there are hundreds of little things on the journey which block our way. Work, friends, community and family responsibilities all present obstacles. We're so busy!
The truth that Lewis brings to our attention is that there are not many reasons, but rather one simple reason which underlies it all. If you don't have the kind of passion and intimacy in your relationship with Christ that you should then you don't fully intend to. You see, the quality of your relationship with Christ is all in your hands and no one else's. This is not like a marriage where both husband and wife must work to achieve closeness. Christ is and has always been completely accessible and available. He waits patiently for us to take each next step toward Him. You either take the steps or you don't.
Every reason you can imagine for why you have not taken the next step on the journey can be distilled down to one simple fact - you don't want to. There is no secret or magic formula here. It's simple. We come closer to Christ by spending time with Him, reading His word, serving Him and praying. None of us are being physically prevented or restrained from doing these things and so the choice to do them or not to do them is ours alone.
Yet, we do other things instead. We watch TV, put in a little overtime at work, visit with friends or any other myriad of things that are more important to us at that given moment. It's a given that there are things we must do to survive such as eating and working in order to make money to pay for our food and shelter. Jesus understands this. Yet, there is so much that we do not need to do. All that time we could be working on our relationship with Jesus. But we don't.
I'm busy! I have work to do! I'm tired! Wrap the excuse any way you wish and surround it by any reason you like but when you unwrap it, what you will find inside every time is the same basic truth. You don't intend to have a better relationship with Jesus.
The relationship you have with Jesus is exactly the one you want to have. When you want to have a closer, deeper relationship with Him, you will. Nothing in this world can prevent it.
Goodnight Revs,
kev!(:
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
FAVOURITE!: Wang Lee Hom
HAHA! (: Hope you enjoyed listening to my FAVOURITE singer.(not idol, no worries! i don't idolise him) But he's a man with truckloads of talent, amazing and beautiful man. This is just a random post,HAHA! Just want to share my treasures with you guys.Touched?HAHA! Ah well, do continue to walk close with God and I'm sure you'll be a happy boy/girl! HAHA. Pse do come for this coming Wednesday's EXCO handover. Come and render your support to the incoming EXCO and to appreciate the outing EXCO shall we? See you there!
With love, kev (:
Monday, March 17, 2008
devotion22 - What Are You Afraid Of?
When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son (Genesis 22:9-10)
Late last year, my father and I sat in a hotel room following a men's conference in Toronto. Though he had given his life to Christ months earlier, he was still struggling with what it means to put Jesus first in his life and to surrender himself completely to Christ. "Let me ask you this," I said. "Would you trust Jesus enough to let him take Mom from you, if that was required of you in order to follow him?" He pondered their thirty-eight years of marriage and all that she means to him, then finally replied, "I don't know."
I empathize with my father as surely as I empathize with Abraham, whose test of faith has become the example for us all. The question for most of us, including my father, is academic since few people ever have to make such a dramatic choice. However, it's a useful test of the depth of our trust in Christ to ask, "What would I give up to follow Him?"
If we will be honest, there is something which each of us fears losing so much that it strains the limits of our faith to contemplate trusting it to God. Our life is perhaps the least of these, for surely there are worse fates than dying. Perhaps it is losing our wife, husband or child. Perhaps it is losing our freedom, our health or our mind.
As I began to take this inventory for myself in my twenties, I came across one thing which I could never permit God to take from me and which I could not offer in sacrifice. It was my mind. I justified this by saying that if I lost my sanity or my ability to perceive the world around me, how could I serve Christ? How would I even know who He was? If that were the case, would I be lost forever? Does my salvation rest upon my ability to understand it? I concluded that I could stand any manner of pain and torture so long as I had clarity of mind, but I told God in no uncertain terms that my conscious mind was off limits.
Years later, I came to the conclusion which must have preceded Abraham's reluctant decision to sacrifice His son, and which every Christian must reach before they can sacrifice the last remaining sacred treasure they have been withholding. I thought, "God, if you take this from me, it's part of your amazing plan and I can trust you." It was part of the realization that if God is going to take something from me, He will remain faithful to me and see me through it. He will give me whatever strength, faith and endurance I require to make it through the loss. This is the promise Jesus gives to all who place their faith in Him.
I don't know how God would sustain me if I had brain injury and lost my ability to reason. I don't know how my father would make it through the pain if he lost his wife. The point is that we don't have to worry about any of that once we surrender to God. We simply trust in the Lord with everything we have and He will see us through. God never said it would be easy, but He did say He would sustain us through the hard times and welcome us with open arms into His kingdom when our time comes.
Search deep within yourself now and contemplate the one thing that you have not been able to surrender to God. Find that one thing about which you have silently, subconsciously said, "God, take anything you require but please don't take this." I know that it feels like you would be destroyed if God took that from you, but you have to trust him. If God takes this from you, He will sustain you. Whatever He takes from you will be given back to you tenfold in Heaven. Most importantly, if God takes it from you, it is part of His amazing plan. Trust God with it now and let your surrender to Jesus Christ be complete.
The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." (Genesis 22:15-18)
Late last year, my father and I sat in a hotel room following a men's conference in Toronto. Though he had given his life to Christ months earlier, he was still struggling with what it means to put Jesus first in his life and to surrender himself completely to Christ. "Let me ask you this," I said. "Would you trust Jesus enough to let him take Mom from you, if that was required of you in order to follow him?" He pondered their thirty-eight years of marriage and all that she means to him, then finally replied, "I don't know."
I empathize with my father as surely as I empathize with Abraham, whose test of faith has become the example for us all. The question for most of us, including my father, is academic since few people ever have to make such a dramatic choice. However, it's a useful test of the depth of our trust in Christ to ask, "What would I give up to follow Him?"
If we will be honest, there is something which each of us fears losing so much that it strains the limits of our faith to contemplate trusting it to God. Our life is perhaps the least of these, for surely there are worse fates than dying. Perhaps it is losing our wife, husband or child. Perhaps it is losing our freedom, our health or our mind.
As I began to take this inventory for myself in my twenties, I came across one thing which I could never permit God to take from me and which I could not offer in sacrifice. It was my mind. I justified this by saying that if I lost my sanity or my ability to perceive the world around me, how could I serve Christ? How would I even know who He was? If that were the case, would I be lost forever? Does my salvation rest upon my ability to understand it? I concluded that I could stand any manner of pain and torture so long as I had clarity of mind, but I told God in no uncertain terms that my conscious mind was off limits.
Years later, I came to the conclusion which must have preceded Abraham's reluctant decision to sacrifice His son, and which every Christian must reach before they can sacrifice the last remaining sacred treasure they have been withholding. I thought, "God, if you take this from me, it's part of your amazing plan and I can trust you." It was part of the realization that if God is going to take something from me, He will remain faithful to me and see me through it. He will give me whatever strength, faith and endurance I require to make it through the loss. This is the promise Jesus gives to all who place their faith in Him.
I don't know how God would sustain me if I had brain injury and lost my ability to reason. I don't know how my father would make it through the pain if he lost his wife. The point is that we don't have to worry about any of that once we surrender to God. We simply trust in the Lord with everything we have and He will see us through. God never said it would be easy, but He did say He would sustain us through the hard times and welcome us with open arms into His kingdom when our time comes.
Search deep within yourself now and contemplate the one thing that you have not been able to surrender to God. Find that one thing about which you have silently, subconsciously said, "God, take anything you require but please don't take this." I know that it feels like you would be destroyed if God took that from you, but you have to trust him. If God takes this from you, He will sustain you. Whatever He takes from you will be given back to you tenfold in Heaven. Most importantly, if God takes it from you, it is part of His amazing plan. Trust God with it now and let your surrender to Jesus Christ be complete.
The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." (Genesis 22:15-18)
Friday, March 14, 2008
devotion21 - Listening To Each Other
For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another." Gal 5:13-14
I overheard a conversation yesterday at lunch which began when a young woman noticed one of her co-workers looking downcast. She sat beside him at the lunch table and asked him if he wanted to discuss what was bothering him. He began to talk about the recent trouble he was having relating to his daughter, and it was obvious from his tone and his expression that this was a serious matter which was weighing heavily on him. He had barely begun to explain the essence of the problem when the young woman interrupted, exclaiming, "I know exactly what you mean! My daughter..." And just like that, the conversation shifted as she went on for several minutes describing her own situation. When she finally paused to take a bite of her meal, the man got up and walked away dejectedly. Without missing a beat, she turned to the next person at the table and continued talking about her daughter. I had a pretty strong reaction at the time. I remember thinking, "you don't care about his situation! You just wanted an excuse to start talking!"
It's easy to be critical of this young woman, but realistically, this kind of thing goes on all the time. I have done it to my wife and she has done it to me. I have seen pastors do it on many occasions. Few of us are immune. We are rarely listening; usually, we are just waiting impatiently for our turn to talk. We nod and agree in all the right places, but really we are pondering the next thing we are about to say.
It's a shame that so many of us are guilty of this offense, and it speaks volumes about how most people really feel about themselves and those around them. If you struggle with this as much as I do, then it ought to be very humbling when you realize just how difficult and rare it is to have a conversation with someone during which you are far more interested in what they are saying than what you are about to say. It's hard to clear our mind, offer our undivided attention and just listen.
If we dig deeper, we will discover that our egocentric conversations are just a symptom of a deeper problem, the most obvious and common of a whole litany of ways in which we fail to really love our neighbor. I could just as easily point to any of a long list of ways we fail to keep this commandment. I chose this one because it is so subtle and pervasive that for the most part, we've simply stopped noticing that we've stopped listening. I'm sure if you were to ask the young woman at the lunch table, she wouldn't have any idea that she had done anything wrong.
The next time you're speaking to someone, especially if they are hurting, make an effort to erase any thoughts of yourself. Instead, give them one hundred percent of your attention. Make a commitment to ensuring that they are able to get their point across, and don't worry about yours. It seems like such a small thing, but it will make a huge difference in not only how people perceive you, but how you perceive them.
You see, loving your neighbor is not like loving your spouse. It's not something you feel; it's something you do. It's the act of sacrificing your own needs and desires for the sake of someone else.
You can demonstrate that love in such a meaningful way by just listening.
I overheard a conversation yesterday at lunch which began when a young woman noticed one of her co-workers looking downcast. She sat beside him at the lunch table and asked him if he wanted to discuss what was bothering him. He began to talk about the recent trouble he was having relating to his daughter, and it was obvious from his tone and his expression that this was a serious matter which was weighing heavily on him. He had barely begun to explain the essence of the problem when the young woman interrupted, exclaiming, "I know exactly what you mean! My daughter..." And just like that, the conversation shifted as she went on for several minutes describing her own situation. When she finally paused to take a bite of her meal, the man got up and walked away dejectedly. Without missing a beat, she turned to the next person at the table and continued talking about her daughter. I had a pretty strong reaction at the time. I remember thinking, "you don't care about his situation! You just wanted an excuse to start talking!"
It's easy to be critical of this young woman, but realistically, this kind of thing goes on all the time. I have done it to my wife and she has done it to me. I have seen pastors do it on many occasions. Few of us are immune. We are rarely listening; usually, we are just waiting impatiently for our turn to talk. We nod and agree in all the right places, but really we are pondering the next thing we are about to say.
It's a shame that so many of us are guilty of this offense, and it speaks volumes about how most people really feel about themselves and those around them. If you struggle with this as much as I do, then it ought to be very humbling when you realize just how difficult and rare it is to have a conversation with someone during which you are far more interested in what they are saying than what you are about to say. It's hard to clear our mind, offer our undivided attention and just listen.
If we dig deeper, we will discover that our egocentric conversations are just a symptom of a deeper problem, the most obvious and common of a whole litany of ways in which we fail to really love our neighbor. I could just as easily point to any of a long list of ways we fail to keep this commandment. I chose this one because it is so subtle and pervasive that for the most part, we've simply stopped noticing that we've stopped listening. I'm sure if you were to ask the young woman at the lunch table, she wouldn't have any idea that she had done anything wrong.
The next time you're speaking to someone, especially if they are hurting, make an effort to erase any thoughts of yourself. Instead, give them one hundred percent of your attention. Make a commitment to ensuring that they are able to get their point across, and don't worry about yours. It seems like such a small thing, but it will make a huge difference in not only how people perceive you, but how you perceive them.
You see, loving your neighbor is not like loving your spouse. It's not something you feel; it's something you do. It's the act of sacrificing your own needs and desires for the sake of someone else.
You can demonstrate that love in such a meaningful way by just listening.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
devotionSIXTEEN - WHAT CAN YOU HEAR?
THINK ABOUT IT
When she asked whose cell phone it was, the students were surprised and asked her how could she hear it when it should be inaudible to adults. But apparently her ears had not yet lost the sensitivity.
TAKE A LOOK
kev
A ringtone which prying elders can't hear -- if you think it is just a teen fantasy, step aside. Cellphones, which youngsters can hear but most adults can't, are now in vogue in American schools.The technology is based on the fact that most adults gradually lose the ability to hear high pitched sounds and was developed in Britain.But recently, it has spread to the US where schools are banning students from bringing cell phones to class rooms.The use of peculiar ring tones came to light recently in a school in New York where the cell phones must be turned off in class rooms, New York Times reported.
The Times said last week, a high pitched ring tone went off that set teeth on edge including their 28-year old teacher.
When she asked whose cell phone it was, the students were surprised and asked her how could she hear it when it should be inaudible to adults. But apparently her ears had not yet lost the sensitivity.
TAKE A LOOK
1 Corinthians 2:9-16 - (NLT)
9That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." 10But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit, and his Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God's deep secrets. 11No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God's thoughts except God's own Spirit. 12And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world's spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 13When we tell you this, we do not use words of human wisdom. We speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit's words to explain spiritual truths. 14But people who aren't Christians can't understand these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means. 15We who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can't understand us at all. 16How could they? For, "Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give him counsel?"But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
9That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." 10But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit, and his Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God's deep secrets. 11No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God's thoughts except God's own Spirit. 12And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world's spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 13When we tell you this, we do not use words of human wisdom. We speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit's words to explain spiritual truths. 14But people who aren't Christians can't understand these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means. 15We who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can't understand us at all. 16How could they? For, "Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give him counsel?"But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
ACCORDING TO TODAY'S SCRIPTURE, WHO CAN HEAR WHAT GOD IS SAYING?
Here's some insight notes:
2:14-15 Non-Christians cannot understand spiritual truths, and they cannot grasp the concept that God's Spirit lives in believers. Don't expect most people to approve of or understand your decision to follow Christ. It all seems so silly to them. Just as a tone-deaf person cannot appreciate fine music, the person who rejects Christ cannot understand truths from God's Spirit. With the lines of communication broken, he or she won't be able to hear what God is saying to him or her.
If you know Christ as your Savior, you have ears to hear God. If you are not living in obedience to Christ every day, your spiritual ears will lose sensitivity to God's Spirit and you will not understand God's communication to you.
Listening to Jesus and obeying His commands will keep you hearing the ringtone of God's Spirit.
TALK ABOUT IT
Thank God for the presence, power and work of His Holy Spirit in you. Confess any way in which wanting your own way has dulled your spiritual hearing. Thank Jesus for always listening to you. Ask Him to help you listen to Him and obey His commands consistently. Praise Jesus for revealing His mind and truth to you as you respond to Him in love.
TRY IT
Here's some insight notes:
2:14-15 Non-Christians cannot understand spiritual truths, and they cannot grasp the concept that God's Spirit lives in believers. Don't expect most people to approve of or understand your decision to follow Christ. It all seems so silly to them. Just as a tone-deaf person cannot appreciate fine music, the person who rejects Christ cannot understand truths from God's Spirit. With the lines of communication broken, he or she won't be able to hear what God is saying to him or her.
If you know Christ as your Savior, you have ears to hear God. If you are not living in obedience to Christ every day, your spiritual ears will lose sensitivity to God's Spirit and you will not understand God's communication to you.
Listening to Jesus and obeying His commands will keep you hearing the ringtone of God's Spirit.
TALK ABOUT IT
Thank God for the presence, power and work of His Holy Spirit in you. Confess any way in which wanting your own way has dulled your spiritual hearing. Thank Jesus for always listening to you. Ask Him to help you listen to Him and obey His commands consistently. Praise Jesus for revealing His mind and truth to you as you respond to Him in love.
TRY IT
- Read today's passage again and "listen" to God's Spirit.
- Be consistent in a daily time with Jesus. Remember that intimacy with Jesus through time in God's Word and through prayer and worship. This will make your spiritual ears very sensitive to hearing God.
- Whenever you hear your cell phone ring in the next few days, let God remind you that you can hear from Him through His Holy Spirit.
kev
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
devotionFIFTEEN - Prayer: Our Bodies
“[Jesus] walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed” (Luke 22:41).
In The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, an elder demon schooling a younger in deception says, “[humans] can be persuaded that the bodily position makes no difference to their prayers; for they constantly forget, what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls” (Screwtape, Letter IV).
Read it again: whatever our bodies do affects our souls.
While many of us pride ourselves in the fact that we may spontaneously pray to God whenever, wherever, and however we please, such freedom should not—must not—keep us from formally and intentionally praying before God. We must enter our closets. We must get on our knees. Or our faces.
Some of us do a bang-up job of disconnecting our bodies from our souls—but they are not separable. The body reflects the spirit. We are material as well as immaterial. We are not simply spirits and neither should we believe ourselves to be. God created us body and spirit. Our bodies are part of us, just as Christ’s body is part of Christ. Therefore we stand in reverence or kneel; we lift up our hands; we dance; we cover our faces and beat our chests. We adore God in spirit and in truth, with our bodies and our spirits. Love the Lord your God with . . . all that you are. And we are bodied.
When I love my wife in the future, I do more than simply speak my love (and even speaking to her is, in itself, a physical act). I hold her hand; I fold the laundry; I kiss her lips. I show my love and affection for her, body and soul.
We are wrong to believe that our relationship with God ought to be devoid of our bodies. That is the error of the Gnostics. The body is not evil; God made it. God himself now possesses a body, and has ever since Jesus was born some two thousand years ago. So when we are commanded to love our God with all our being, it includes loving him with our bodies.
The Scriptures speak of standing, raising our hands, beating our chests, falling on our faces, and kneeling in prayer (e.g., Acts 9:40; 20:36; 21:5; Eph. 3:14), but they do not speak of sitting or reclining in prayer. The biblical narrative is full of the stories of God’s people engaging their bodies in prayer.
We stand to honor a person—the President, or a woman who excuses herself from the table. We kneel to show reverence and fealty to royalty. And yet as we approach the throne of God—we sit? Our standing signifies something. Our kneeling signifies something. Our sitting signifies nothing. Or at least, our sitting signifies what we ought not to signify in the presence of the Almighty.
You can certainly pray spontaneously as you go—while walking, cooking, driving, working, diapering, or gardening. But when you are intentional in vocal prayer—voicing your heart in words, spoken or unspoken—show your intentions with your body. As you come before him in prayer today, kneel or stand in reverence. Open your hands to receive him. Raise your hands in adoration of your Creator, your Savior. Beat your chest, cover your face, and pray for mercy.
“To human animals on their knees [God] pours out self-knowledge in a quite shameless fashion” (Screwtape, Letter IV).
kev
In The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, an elder demon schooling a younger in deception says, “[humans] can be persuaded that the bodily position makes no difference to their prayers; for they constantly forget, what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls” (Screwtape, Letter IV).
Read it again: whatever our bodies do affects our souls.
While many of us pride ourselves in the fact that we may spontaneously pray to God whenever, wherever, and however we please, such freedom should not—must not—keep us from formally and intentionally praying before God. We must enter our closets. We must get on our knees. Or our faces.
Some of us do a bang-up job of disconnecting our bodies from our souls—but they are not separable. The body reflects the spirit. We are material as well as immaterial. We are not simply spirits and neither should we believe ourselves to be. God created us body and spirit. Our bodies are part of us, just as Christ’s body is part of Christ. Therefore we stand in reverence or kneel; we lift up our hands; we dance; we cover our faces and beat our chests. We adore God in spirit and in truth, with our bodies and our spirits. Love the Lord your God with . . . all that you are. And we are bodied.
When I love my wife in the future, I do more than simply speak my love (and even speaking to her is, in itself, a physical act). I hold her hand; I fold the laundry; I kiss her lips. I show my love and affection for her, body and soul.
We are wrong to believe that our relationship with God ought to be devoid of our bodies. That is the error of the Gnostics. The body is not evil; God made it. God himself now possesses a body, and has ever since Jesus was born some two thousand years ago. So when we are commanded to love our God with all our being, it includes loving him with our bodies.
The Scriptures speak of standing, raising our hands, beating our chests, falling on our faces, and kneeling in prayer (e.g., Acts 9:40; 20:36; 21:5; Eph. 3:14), but they do not speak of sitting or reclining in prayer. The biblical narrative is full of the stories of God’s people engaging their bodies in prayer.
We stand to honor a person—the President, or a woman who excuses herself from the table. We kneel to show reverence and fealty to royalty. And yet as we approach the throne of God—we sit? Our standing signifies something. Our kneeling signifies something. Our sitting signifies nothing. Or at least, our sitting signifies what we ought not to signify in the presence of the Almighty.
You can certainly pray spontaneously as you go—while walking, cooking, driving, working, diapering, or gardening. But when you are intentional in vocal prayer—voicing your heart in words, spoken or unspoken—show your intentions with your body. As you come before him in prayer today, kneel or stand in reverence. Open your hands to receive him. Raise your hands in adoration of your Creator, your Savior. Beat your chest, cover your face, and pray for mercy.
“To human animals on their knees [God] pours out self-knowledge in a quite shameless fashion” (Screwtape, Letter IV).
kev
Monday, March 3, 2008
Prayer Request
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. - Philippians 4:6
Eugene Lim: I need prayer for my assignments and also wisdom to guide my cell group members.
Lee Ling: That'll just be exams in May. Im definitely not prepared for mocks, so pray that I'll stay focussed and have that determination to study my best for the next 2 mths before finals.
Richard: Pray that I have wisdom, time management, sensitivity to hear God, in different areas in life.
Myrtle: Pray that I'm able to send out resumes soon! n take time to do my projects.(dont want it to be so last min..)
Christine: Please pray for more manageable exams in the upcoming weeks.
Kevin: Pray for directions of which church/cell group to settle in. Pray for my preparation for my upcoming prelims/final papers. I need to have more motivation and focus in my studies.
Glory: pray for God's guidance in preparing for g cube camp. lots of things to be done. need to prepare for scenarios, etc and we don't have much time. everyone's busy with exams. have to meet up this wkend to prepare and there's another paper next mon. yup. so keep me and my group in prayer!
Jessica/Gillian: All from UOL, so lets' keep them in prayer too as they are going through their mocks. Pray for good health and good spirit as they take time to prepare for exams.
Let us continue to keep one another in prayers daily. It can be a general pray to cover health, studies, family or anything. Prayer is a power weapon that God has given to us, so lets' use it to the fullest shall we? Lets' work hand-in-hand with our God in prayer and we will see wonders happening. Amen to that? Have a blessed week ahead guys!
Eugene Lim: I need prayer for my assignments and also wisdom to guide my cell group members.
Lee Ling: That'll just be exams in May. Im definitely not prepared for mocks, so pray that I'll stay focussed and have that determination to study my best for the next 2 mths before finals.
Richard: Pray that I have wisdom, time management, sensitivity to hear God, in different areas in life.
Myrtle: Pray that I'm able to send out resumes soon! n take time to do my projects.(dont want it to be so last min..)
Christine: Please pray for more manageable exams in the upcoming weeks.
Kevin: Pray for directions of which church/cell group to settle in. Pray for my preparation for my upcoming prelims/final papers. I need to have more motivation and focus in my studies.
Glory: pray for God's guidance in preparing for g cube camp. lots of things to be done. need to prepare for scenarios, etc and we don't have much time. everyone's busy with exams. have to meet up this wkend to prepare and there's another paper next mon. yup. so keep me and my group in prayer!
Jessica/Gillian: All from UOL, so lets' keep them in prayer too as they are going through their mocks. Pray for good health and good spirit as they take time to prepare for exams.
Let us continue to keep one another in prayers daily. It can be a general pray to cover health, studies, family or anything. Prayer is a power weapon that God has given to us, so lets' use it to the fullest shall we? Lets' work hand-in-hand with our God in prayer and we will see wonders happening. Amen to that? Have a blessed week ahead guys!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Performance By: A Sunday School Girl
This little girl is amazing, her voice is sweet! Totally melts my heart to the max! Pse enjoy this youtube post. Be us alway be still in the Lord and find rest in Him during this busy period of examination.
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