Thursday, June 18, 2009

~~Live to give Jesus away~~

Finally I am done with my final examinations (praise the Lord for that!!~~), finally I have more free time to put into words what have been lingered around my mind while I am studying the book of Corinthians. My heart sank when Paul, one of the apostle of the heart set free (thank you Bill for giving me a lovely book by F.F. Bruce of this title) pleaded to the Lord to take away a thorn in his flesh that tormented him yet the Lord said to him, " My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." What a mind provoking answer, isn't? Little do we expect, our Heavenly Father who always has the best interest in mind for His daughters/sons when it comes to such a sure YES request, the answer is quite the opposite. (Father, I pray that you will use the Holy Spirit to guide and to help me to unpack Your word accurately. I pray that You will continue breathe in better understanding and apreciation of Your word into our lives. Help me oh Lord, help me to know You and have a better grasp of Your truth. Open up our eyes to see You, our ears to hear You and our souls to learn from You. It is my desire to know You more and becomes more and more like You. Amen.)

Like Paul, like it or not, all of us have thorn(s) in our lives. It can be physical or mental torment. What kind of thorn(s) do you have in life?

Could it be the abusive spouse?
Could it be betrayal?
Could it be your loved one walk away from your life?
Could it be disease that torture your days and nights?
Could it be spouse/family members that turn away from God?
Could it be the death of your loved one?
Could it be poverty?
Could it be infertility?
Could it be abusive family members?
Could it be lay off?
Could it be the mounting debts?
Could it be children that go off track?

The list can go on and on. Whatever it might be, take heart my dear friend. God reigns and He is always in full control. More often than not, it is those thorn(s) in life that keep us going and help align ourselves with God. When we are rendered powerless by the situation, we will learn how to surrender, submit to and humble before God. When we are weak, then God is strong. It is on those darkest hours that God's power will shine all the more. It is also at that very moment, our pride, our boasting and our self-centred deception that hinder our fellowship with God will be completely shattered and destroyed. No wonder Paul takes delight in boasting his weaknesses and he boasts all the more so that all the glory will go back to God. By doing so, he not only set himself free from the predicatement, more importantly he finds comfort and rest in the Lord.

Problems will always come and go like the waves that hit the shore. Different seasons of life pose different kind of problem. The only different is have you learn to lean solely on God's power and not yourself? Have you put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand firm on your ground? (Father, I pray that you will help us to stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around our waists, with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all these, equip us with the shield of faith, helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.)
Make an effort to dissociate and look beyond the surface of the difficulties of life and you might (in God's perfect timing) have a glimpse of His mystery and beauty of life He has for you. That's why from the very beginning we are teach to live by faith, not by sight (c.f. 2 Corinthians 5:7) The more you exercise your faith, the easier it will become to unleash your faith in God.
Like thorns of the roses, those thorns are important to protect and shield us from turning away from our great God. When God no longer be our top priority, what is left for our broken bodies? What hope and motivation of life do we have? What kind of future we are going to have?
Indeed underlying the answer that we perceived to be NO, there are lots more deeper and greater significant into it. There is always a reason for everything just that most of the times our puny minds are incapable of fathom the underlying mystery that God has instored for us. We are unable to see the whole picture of life. Only God has our blue print of life on hand and know what is the best for us. The question is in those dull and suffering seasons are you willing to live a life in such a way that we live to give Jesus away? Are you willing to follow Him daily? How much do you allow God to take you to the place that you never dreamt of going, height you never expect to achieve and things you never think of possible? What have you done in return of His great love for you? Have you chosen to lead a life worthy of His blood on the cross?

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

My little whispering to Abba, Father:
Father, I pray that You will grant me the peace and comfort to accept the fact that God gives and God takes away. In all circumstances, help me to have the discernment to acknowlege and recognize Your sovereignty and magnificient power. You reign forever.

"Jesus knows best"
Special thank to LiFang for sharing this with me =)

"I don't know about tomorrow
I just live from day to day
And I don't borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to gray
And I don't worry about my future
For I know what Jesus said
And today He walks beside me
For He knows what lies ahead
Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand"

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