What's Happening

How do we know God and His works in our midst? A way is to read and meditate the words of God in the scriptures.

Here is one example found in the Twenty-ninth Chapter Tenth Verse in the Book of Jeremiah. "For thus says the Lord, When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and keep My good promise to you, causing you to return to this place." This is the promise of God given to His people through the prophet that God would return His flock from the captivity to the land of Judah.

What God had promised was fulfilled in history. We all know that human life is so complicated and complex that no one can solve its problem, let alone not a single person knows what's going to happen tomorrow. That's us, what we are. But we are not left in darkness because God shines His light out of darkness. The Scripture is given for us to search the light day and night.

We believe that our God knows what he is doing in the midst of so many different voices, languages, cultures, problems, wars, violence, conflicts, diseases, and natural disasters, definitely including the U.S. budget crisis. He is the One who reigns through all these incidents and events in history according to His divine time schedule and plan for good purpose.

What Paul says is quite true eternally. "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:17 NKJV) What we believe is non other than such a kind of God!

Stand Still in the Faith

“From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed. Mark 7:24-30 NKJV

I don’t think that this Gentile woman hid terrible hurt and expressed mere modesty in order to earn a favor from the Lord Jesus Christ. No, she truly accepted Jesus Christ as Lord with tremendous awe and trembling respect. What she found in Jesus was so remarkable that Jesus was the Lord of glory and yet became the least of all in His humility and lowliness.

Since she had such fear and awe for the Lord Jesus Christ, even at the moment of being treated as a dog, her faith in Him was not shaken at all. She stood still on the rock of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For her, it was a test of faith in Jesus Christ. I believe Jesus knew that she would pass the test.

God knows what is inside of man, so did Jesus. Jesus Christ knew that woman and what was inside of her, even the deepest part. No one can fool God. Our Lord Jesus Christ is looking for such a person whose faith rests on the Person Jesus Christ who became a man and yet is the Lord of glory, honor, and praise.

Yes, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of all. Without Him nothing was made that was made. At the same time, our Lord Jesus Christ is so compassionate and sympathetic and merciful that He never turns down any request of His children. Do I have such an awe and fear and trembling respect for Jesus Christ my Lord? I pray each day that I may stand still in the solid rock of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

A New Commandment

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 NKJV

We are told that Christians must love God. Is it possible to command someone to love someone? It is impossible to force someone to love someone. Physically it may seem to be working, but never mentally, nor spiritually. It may make sense to force to love someone visible. However, it never makes sense to order someone to love invisible God.

But the Scripture clearly states that we must love God and Him only. How is it possible? Do not misunderstand that our God forces people to love Him with all His mighty power. The Scripture says that God never coerces the freedom of choice in humanity. God can do it, but he does not, never. Our God wants humans to love him voluntarily and liberally.

There is another great misunderstanding that loving God is the same as loving someone emotionally. It is common for a man and woman to love emotionally. But it is unusual to love invisible God emotionally. Ah, we are not forsaken in finding answer how we can love invisible God. Apostle John said that loving God means to keep His commandments. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15 NKJV)

That’s what our Lord Jesus Christ did to the Father in heaven. The Son Jesus Christ obeyed the Father even to the point of death (Philippians 2:8). Jesus Christ didn’t die by the hands of the devil (John 14:30). There is no power which can hold of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Son Jesus voluntarily and willingly gave His life unto the Father (John 14:31).

This is the reason that Christians must love God and Him only. Yes, God loved us first. So, we respond to His love to keep His commandments. In fact, God loved us when we were still sinners. Love is reciprocal. God is love. So, we must respond to His love in order that the love of God may fully come home in the soul and spirit.

What is then the commandment of God? Jesus Christ gave His disciples a new command in Thirteenth Chapter of John’s Gospel. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (John 13:34 NKJV)

That’s how we love God by loving one another. Of course, we do love one another not because our brothers are lovable, but because Jesus Christ loved us when we were yet sinners. Here are a few practical exhortations how we love one another. We say a kind word to the ungrateful. We do not revenge when reviled. We comfort the hurt. We give a hand to who are in need. John exhorts us in his letter, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18 NKJV) 

Am I obeying the commandment of God by liberally loving one another simply they are brothers in Christ? 

What We Really Are In The Lord Jesus Christ

God is a Person, in fact, Persons, the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Ephesians Chapter 1 describes the works of the Triune God. Verses 3-6 are the works of the Father, verses 7-12 of the Son, and verse 13-14 of the Spirit.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6 NKJV

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:7-12 NKJV

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:11-14 NKJV

The Father God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy [whole] and blameless [sinful yet blameless]. He predestined us to adoption as sons to the glory of His grace. We are here on earth for the manifestation of the glory of His grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Son Jesus Christ shed His blood to redeem us, which has been hidden generations and ages but now unlocked and disclosed when His time has fully met, in order that He might gather together in one all things in Him. In Jesus Christ we have obtained an inheritance which is eternal, imperishable, and everlasting. Thus, we shall live now and forevermore to the praise of His glory.

The Holy Spirit has sealed us by His promise. The presence of the Spirit in every believer's heart is the infallible mark of guarantee of our inheritance until the full redemption [bodily redemption] of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

What a mighty revelation it is in the Lord Jesus Christ! God the Father planned for the redemption before the foundation of the world, the Son Jesus Christ obeyed for the propitiation for redemption, and the Spirit has sealed His children for the guarantee of His glorious promise in the Son Jesus Christ. That's the good news. That's all facts.

At The Last Trumpet Call

“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:1-8 NKJV

The Scripture says that God is Spirit (John 4:24). So are we. We are spirits. What we are wearing now is our earthly bodies. But we will be wearing our heavenly bodies when we enter into eternity. As God is invisible, so are we. What we see is our bodies. But we cannot see our spirits. By the second law of thermodynamics our bodies are being wasted away gradually as well as all the materials in the universe. But the invisible inner man [human spirit] is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). That's our hope for the bodily redemption.

No matter who we are and what we are, we groan at times because we want to be further clothed in our true and eternal home, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. The Father God has prepared for us the wonderful heavenly tents in which we have hope that never disappoint us. Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians. “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 NKJV)

This hope we have, so we are always confident and bold. What is seen is temporal but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Do we really hope for this? I mean always!

God Made His Son To Be Sin For Us

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3,4 NKJV

That's the picture of the cross. Sin must die because there is no other way around. If there was any, God would have not let His Son die. The Scripture says that Jesus died for sin in our place once for all. Jesus will not die again, never. Once for all, he died to sin, rose again from the dead, and lives to God now and forever. His death is a timeless event. Anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior cannot continue to sin but to live to the Lord God because they are born of God.

“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:8-9 NKJV)

That’s the eternal power of the cross manifested by the Son Jesus Christ to liberate His children from the iron grip and bondage of sin. The cross is the only way out of sin. The full and perfect payment for sin has been settled at the cross once for all. Those who believe in Him have begun a new life [eternal life] in Jesus Christ. They were born of God and joined to the family of God, being regenerated in the Spirit. We died to sin and now live to God!

When we were born of God through the faith in Him, Jesus Christ has begun His indwelling within us by the means of the Spirit. That’s all about Christianity. Christians are living someone else’s life, not theirs. It’s an exchanged life. We are created to be the vessel of the Spirit of God, created in Christ Jesus as His workmanship to do good works before the creation of the world (Ephesians 2:10). So, we cannot go on sinning! How can we live in sin any longer? (Romans 6:2)

In Adam, we had no other choice not to sin. However, in Christ Jesus we cannot sin because the new provision has been made for every believer that Christ Jesus is living within. We have power far above all power to refuse to sin and to obey the commandments of God. That power is Christ Jesus Himself. That’s the good news! In Christ Jesus the Lord, we do not have to submit ourselves to sin. Instead, we can obey God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ blamelessly and wholly.

Today This Scripture is Fulfilled

"So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:16-21 NKJV

Our Lord Jesus Christ quoted Isaiah's prophecy in Chapter 61 and yet stopped in the middle of it, because the latter part is yet to be fulfilled. As Jesus Christ our Lord proclaimed, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing," so will it be exactly the same when our Lord Jesus comes again accompanied by thousands and thousands of angels with the thunderous trumpet call of God. The word of Jesus so graciously and vigorously marveled the people at hearing. What a day it will be when we hear Him from His own lips! Thank God for the living words in the Scripture that we hear in this acceptable year of the Lord! Our Lord Jesus repeatedly said to the hearers, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Are you hearing or ignoring Him?

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
And the sons of the foreigner
Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
But you shall be named the priests of the Lord,
They shall call you the servants of our God.
You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles,
And in their glory you shall boast.
Instead of your shame you shall have double honor,
And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.
Therefore in their land they shall possess double;
Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
“For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery for burnt offering;
I will direct their work in truth,
And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles,
And their offspring among the people.
All who see them shall acknowledge them,
That they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed.”
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Isaiah 61:1-10 NKJV

Dig in the Full Riches of Christ

"Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life." 1 John 2:24-25 NKJV

In the Epistle of John, the phrase "from the beginning" means what you are experiencing since you received Christ Jesus as Lord. That release and liberation from fear and confusion has showered you when Christ Jesus comes in you by means of the Spirit through the faith in the gospel of God. It's the Word who was in the beginning and came (incarnated) to the earth, lived among His people, spoke the message of the kingdom of heaven, walked in the land of Palestine, touched the hearts of many, healed the sick, and finally died on the cross, shedding the blood. The Word is Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God the Father, but the Son Jesus Christ has seen Him in the beginning and has manifested the Father who is invisible. 

So, let the Word Jesus Christ abide in you. That is, let the word of God grip [possess] you, your mind and heart and spirit. Then, John says, you also will abide in the Son Jesus Christ and in the Father God. The weakness among many Christians stems out of the lack of understanding of this truth that we abide in the Jesus Christ from the beginning. Many read the Bible mechanically and superficially, so they don’t experience the full riches of the glorious gospel of Christ Jesus. Much worse, so many Christians even don’t read the Scripture at all.

But we shall dig in the word of God until we come to be gripped and enriched by its truth and full riches. We shall read and meditate the word of God until we are filled with the Lord Jesus Christ. If we say that we are genuine Christians at all, we should understand the word of truth thoroughly and completely. That is, we shall act [obey] on what we believe. Jesus says that knowing God is eternal life. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3 NKJV)

What an excited life that will be if you have eternal life! As the Psalmist confessed, so also will you confess that you shall not want (Psalm 23:1). What a vigorous and colorful life that will be since that eternal life lives in you forever! Jesus promised to his disciples that he will be with them wherever and whenever. “…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b NKJV) Don’t forget that you have eternal life in you. That’s the good news!

Do Not Harden Your Heart

“But the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.  Exodus 11:9-10 NKJV

What does it mean that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart? Do not misunderstand as if God forced Pharaoh not to listen to Him. What it means is that God allowed him to harden his heart and not to heed the words of God delivered through Moses and Aaron. Why? It’s because Pharaoh refused God even though he witnessed with his own eyes the things demonstrated which no man could even think to do but God. Such unprecedented and supernatural plagues happened one after another by the hand of God.

What kind of God is He? He is a kind of God who never forces anyone, not a single person, to listen and obey Him. Our God never coerces the freedom of humans to choose. This is true to King Pharaoh and you and me as well. God completely allows you to choose whatever you like to choose. However, the consequences are not free to choose for humans but unavoidable to take. For example, if you choose to do evil, you shall experience the wrath of God unescapably.

But the good news is that you don’t have to succumb to evil anymore in Jesus Christ. How is it possible? A completely new provision has been made to those who are in Christ Jesus the Lord. It is eternal life. Yes, you are given that eternal life, Jesus Christ the Son of God, through faith in the blood. Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again from the dead. In this way, Jesus Christ gives His life to whoever believes in God who sent Him. God implants His Son’s life into the hearts of His children by means of the Holy Spirit.

This is a new arrangement of life available to anyone who by faith accepts the marvelous grace demonstrated on the cross by the Son Jesus Christ. That’s what all humans have been looking for desperately generations after generations. The true fulfillment of life has been made available through Christ Jesus who paid the ransom and defeated death. This mystery of God revealed for you is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Yes, Christ in you! You have eternal life in you now and forevermore.

Died To Sin

Why do people bury the dead body? Obviously, it is because the dead is utterly useless and inactive. So, it should be buried. That’s what happened to us when Christ Jesus died and was buried some two thousand years ago. Our old self died and was buried with Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ is a timeless event. The Scripture does not say that we’re dying to sin or should die to sin. We died to sin once for all. When we died to sin, we also rose with Christ to live a new life. 

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:1-4 NKJV)

If you are a genuine Christian at all who by faith received the Lord Christ Jesus, you died to sin. It means that the iron grip of sin and death in you has been broken in Jesus Christ. You’re no longer in Adam. You don’t have to choose to obey to do evil any longer because you’re freed and liberated from the bondage of sin in Christ. You’re united with Christ Jesus the Lord. So, you cannot continue in sin any longer. By no means! May it never be! 

What does it mean practically? Since we died to sin, when the moment of pressure and stress compels us to manifest the old nature such as anger, revenge, depression, hatred, murder, jealousy, we just remind of the fact that our old self died with Christ. This is the crucial time. When we deny and submit ourselves to our Lord Jesus Christ who is within us, He begins to release His power for us to obey the commandments of God, “Love one another.” Paul exhorts us, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:11 NKJV)

It’s not a mere theology, but fact. Regard yourselves to be dead to sin whenever you are stressed and pressured to rekindle the old nature of sin. Remember that a whole new life is available momentarily from within out of the rivers of living water for all the genuine believers in Christ Jesus the Lord. It’s it a good news? Thank and praise God! That’s what you ought to live which God intended you to be before the foundation of the world.

Far More Exceeding and Incomparable Glory

"For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.  2 Corinthians 1:8-11 NKJV

Sufferings and tribulations among the Christian's experience are inevitable and unavoidable because through which we learn that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. Paul wasn't an exception. He says that he despaired even of his life. You and me either. Yes, everyone, every Christian in all ages. In fact, our Lord Jesus Christ himself went through the sufferings of the cross and the blood. 

They are designed for us to trust in Him only in this age and ages to come. Our Lord Jesus says His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount. "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11-12 NKJV) They are definitely unpleasant at the time and all but painful. Hebrews says, “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11 NKJV).

That’s why Apostle Paul welcomed and gloried [delighted] the sufferings which he had gone through (2 Corinthians 11:22-28). It’s our sure hope that our God is able to deliver us and will do. All the sufferings are working together for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, Paul says. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18 NKJV) 

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NKJV)

Where I Am there My Servant Will Be Also

Jesus transfigured on the Mount Hermon near Caesarea Philippi and three disciples witnessed the Lord transfigured and talking with Moses and Elijah in His majestic glory. This event shows that Jesus Christ doesn't have to die on the cross to enter into the glory where he was from. If he entered the glory that way, he could save himself but couldn't save others. No, Jesus Christ the Lord did choose die in order to obey the commandment of the Father. To die was the will of God for our Lord Jesus Christ. “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.”  John 14:30-31 NKJV

In this passage above, Jesus made Himself clear that He was going to die not by the prince of the world, the devil, but by His voluntary submission to the Father. Here is the parable of the kernel of wheat recorded in John’s Gospel twelfth chapter, in which our Lord Jesus Christ revealed the reason why He must die. 

“But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” (John 12:23-26 KNJV)

Jesus made a decision to obey the Father that He would become a grain of wheat which falls into the ground and dies in order to produce much grain. In fact, we are among the grain produced by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the parable of the grain of wheat applies to our Lord Jesus, so also it does to all of us. The world says that he who loves his life will keep it. But it is the lie of the devil. Jesus says that he who hates his life will be saved. The thought of the world is different from that of God (Isaiah 55:8). What does it mean to hate his life? Do not misunderstand it as if he has to hate himself because he is sinful though it is true. Rather, it means not to trust himself but God only. As a matter of fact, there is nothing we can trust in ourselves. We are born to trust and live in God only.

What does it mean to serve God? To serve Him means to follow Him continually just as our Lord Jesus Christ obeyed the Father to the point of death. Now, don’t miss what Jesus says to his disciples who continually follow Him. “Where I am, My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” This is one of the most wonderful promises in the Scripture. What does it mean? It means if we follow Jesus Christ without ceasing, who obeyed the Father unto death, we also will be where the Lord Jesus Christ is.

We are with the Lord! Isn't it amazing? Where is He? He is resting seated in the right hand of God. Furthermore, there with the Lord Jesus Christ we will be honored by the Father. That’s a profound and transcendent reward for anyone who follows Him. The rewards are the deep sense of love, peace and joy, immovable security, blamelessness, and wholeness. That’s “where I am there My servant will be also” means. I thank God for that true reward.
 

Hidden Secret for Competence

“And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  2 Corinthians 3:4-6 NKJV

We're now under the new covenant of God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ the Lord. Under the old covenant, we tried our best to keep the commandment, but failed miserably all the time. However, the good news has been delivered to us that we now can keep the commandments of God since we’re under the new arrangement of the new covenant. Our confidence no longer rests on our flesh but solely on the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Way to God.

We were not adequate at all to handle our lives since the fall of man. However, our adequate competence is flowing from God who made us confident and sufficient as the servants of new covenant. As Paul confessed, we can do everything in Christ because everything is coming from God and nothing coming from us. This is a Spirit-filled life. We’re in the total communion with God the Father through the Son Jesus Christ. So, we’re God’s treasured possessions and what God has is our inheritance in Jesus Christ the Lord. 

And, don’t be surprised at this. Every Christian is a minister of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. Yes, every believer in Christ! The letter means the Ten Commandments. Once we were defeated all the time due to insufficiency to meet the demand of the law. As a matter of fact, we were killed by the ever mounting mandate of the law. That was what was happening to us before we come to the Lord Jesus Christ who paid the ransom to free and liberate us from the law requirements.

So now, we are liberated by the grace and through the faith in Jesus Christ. As promised even before the creation of the world, God has poured out the Spirit into our hearts since we accepted Jesus as Lord. We live not by the law any longer since we are in Christ Jesus. The life in Adam was terminated for Christ Jesus came into our hearts. Thus, we live by the Spirit now and forevermore. 

However, the Scripture warns us not to go back under the law. In fact, as Galatians tells us, so many Christians are trying to live up to meet the law requirements as best as they could, completely ignoring the fact that they are not under the law but in the Spirit. Inevitably it causes them to experience serious defeat, depression, and shame, despair and guilt because they cannot meet the law requirements.

Since we are freed and liberated from the law requirements, we shall not go back under the law again. If so, it is like denouncing the work of Christ Jesus on the cross. Rather, we can choose to live in the Spirit continually in the midst of this adulterous and perverse generation. For we have the Lord Jesus Christ in us, the way to the Eternal Father. Jesus Christ is compassionate and merciful that he remembers not our wrongs and failures when we confess them to Him (Hebrews 8:12). Remember our sufficiency is coming from God!

Everything Is Under Control

"Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. Job 1:6-12 NKJV

This is a marvelous scene which shows what is really going on in the realm of heaven, invisible yet real. Job knew nothing about why he was suddenly and terribly attacked against his decent and peaceful life. Although Job could not see why such things happened, which completely wrecked and ruined his family like a mist in the morning, we can see how and why.

Likewise, even though we cannot see why unpleasant things happen in our lives, we believe that nothing can happen accidentally or randomly without the permission of God. Whatsoever happens in our midst comes from the Father in heaven. Knowing the fact that God is in complete and total control in our lives is the foundation of faith to stand still and steadfast in the midst of even sudden and unprecedented tribulations and sufferings. "Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:27-28 NKJV)

Also, we can see the fact that Satan cannot work without the boundary of God but only within His allowance. So, do not misunderstand that the devil can work independently and outside of the control of God. Though Satan has still access to God, the scripture clearly tells that he is absolutely under the subjection of God.

Then the question is why such a horrible thing happened to Job. There is something God wanted to teach him through the ordeal and tribulations which were operated by the devil and his angels. Read and study through Job and find out what God wanted to teach him.

 

A Gift

"Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ” Luke 17:1-10 NKJV

Why is such a serious woe spoken to the people who offend the little ones [Christian brothers and sisters] given by our Lord Jesus Christ? It's because they are purchased by His blood of the cross. They are His possessions and treasures. We must take heed what our Lord says that we forgive our brothers who sin against us and repent seven times in a day. That statement Jesus uttered stunned the disciples. Literally they were eyeballed and said, "Increase our faith."

Jesus corrects them that faith is not quantity but quality. If they have faith as small as a mustard seed, they can move the mountain. It's amazing, almost impossible to believe. That's what faith is all about. Faith in God can uproot a sycamore tree. It's so true that when we observe the fact how we were delivered from the iron bondage of sin and death which almost choked us to the point of death.

Everyone who has been delivered from the power of sin should understand what that means. Unrelenting guilt, powerlessness, futility, emptiness, meaninglessness, hatred, anger, jealousy continuously pounded and hammered us without pity. We were the defenseless victims of the evil power.

But when the faith in Jesus Christ comes into our hearts by grace and mercy, a remarkable thing has happened that we entered into the marvelous light in Jesus Christ the Lord. That's what faith has brought for us in Jesus Christ our Lord. It's a gift from the Father who is Immortal, Almighty, and Living God.

So, we cannot boast of it at all. There is not an iota of contribution to earn the gift of faith in our part. In entirety, it depends on the other party, Christ Jesus the Lord. Therefore, the servant says "I am an unworthy servant" after all day's hard work. "We have done what was our duty to do.” We keep on giving thanks to the Lord who has called us into His marvelous light to live a true life in Him forever.

Cause for Living

"Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Philippians 3:1-11 NKJV

Christ is everything and I am nothing. Everything is coming from God, nothing coming from me. I am possessed by Him. I am not my own; I were bought at the price of the blood of the Lord. I am totally bankrupt in spirit to earn the righteousness of God. In entirety, I am under His grace and mercy. He draws me in the Spirit and I humbly and thankfully respond to His unfailing love by faith and receive Him in fullness.

Just as I am His possession, so also He is mine, all His resources like the power of resurrection. So true is His promise that anyone who thirsts just comes unto Him and out of the rivers of living water within he would drink. Christ lives in me, the hope of glory. Whenever and wherever I thirst, I run into the inner sanctuary and drink Jesus my Lord out of the rivers of living water. I live in Jesus the Lord by faith in full now and forevermore.

Just as I have the sure assurance of hope that I inherit everything what Jesus Christ is, so also I have fellowship of His sufferings. So, I delight and welcome the time of pressure and stress like humiliation and shame and despair and guilt not because it is enjoyable but because I know that it produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and charter, hope (Romans 5:3-4). All the sufferings happening in my life are working for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17).

I do not forget that my God knows what He is doing and He cares every child of His day and night. He is my Shield and Reward and Refuge and Shelter. I delight in the hope to know Him and the power of His resurrection, and at the same time the fellowship of His sufferings. That hope never makes me ashamed of because the love of God has been poured out in my heart by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5).

The Mystery of Godliness

"These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.  1 Timothy 3:14-16 NKJV

That great mystery what was hidden for generations and ages has been disclosed now. It is "Christ in you, the hope of glory." The church of the living God is the answer to all the problems of humanity. The church of Christ is the pillar and bulwark of the truth. The church of Christ is the dwelling place of the living God. That church is you and me, every ordinary believer of Christ Jesus the Lord. The church never, ever indicates building, even the tabernacle of the Old in the wilderness. It is just a shadow and picture. The church of Christ is people, God-believing saints who are cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ the Son. Thousands and ten thousands of people has been saved by believing the Person Jesus who is the giver of life.

Do you need any encouragement, any comfort, any understanding, any enlightenment, any power, any forgiveness, anything? Here is the One who is knocking at the door of your heart and wait until you open it. If you open your heart and let Him come in, then He will let you have the perfect communion and fellowship with Him forever. Jesus is Lord of all forever. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." (Revelation 3:20 NKJV) Here is the great promise of Christ Jesus the Lord. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37b-38 NKJV)

That is the mystery of godliness disclosed in this age. Jesus came on the earth in the flesh as the firstborn son of Mary and Joseph in the town of Bethlehem. He was justified in spirit, so whatever he did was acceptable to God the Father. He was seen by angels who marveled at His death on a cross and at the resurrection from the dead. For twenty centuries, He was preached to give life among the nations and many a people in the world believed on Him and were saved. And the Son seated at the right hand of God in the highest glory.

The mystery of godliness is Jesus Christ the Lord. He is the solution to humanity. He is the answer to all the problems and questions in heaven and on the earth and under the earth. He is the only worthy Man who can open the scroll, sealed with seven seals. “But one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.’” (Revelation 5:5 NKJV) That kind of Man is living in you and me. What a wonderful mystery! What He is is what you are. What He has is what you have. Amen.