Psalm 23 - beautifully translated in Bahasa Indonesia

With our choral group Grace Notes not meeting up for practice since the month of March, I am still trying to connect each other by encouraging all of us to do a daily devotion together. 

So some of us are doing this devotion from YouVersion: Journal - Psalms courtesy of International English Service Jakarta.

It is a very good reading plan. 

In the devotion on Psalm 23, we were recommended to read the psalm in Bahasa Indonesia with it being a beautiful translation of the Hebrew. 

I can't find an online Malay Bible, and so looking at the Bahasa Indonesia version, it is indeed very beautiful written:

 

Mazmur 23

TUHAN adalah gembalaku, takkan kekurangan aku.

Ia membaringkan aku di padang yang berumput hijau, 

Ia membimbing aku ke air yang tenang;

Ia menyegarkan jiwaku. 

Ia menuntun aku di jalan yang benar oleh karena nama-Nya.

Sekalipun aku berjalan dalam lembah kekelaman, aku tidak takut bahaya, 

sebab Engkau besertaku; 

gada-Mu dan tongkat-Mu, 

itulah yang menghibur aku.

Engkau menyediakan hidangan bagiku, 

di hadapan lawanku; 

Engkau mengurapi kepalaku dengan minyak; 

pialaku penuh melimpah.

Kebajikan dan kemurahan belaka akan mengikuti aku, seumur hidupku; 

dan aku akan diam dalam rumah TUHAN sepanjang masa.

I'm so thankful to the LORD, kerana saya dapat berdiam diri bukan sahaja di rumah saya sendiri, tetapi lebih pentingnya seumur hidupku boleh saya berdiam diri dalam rumah Tuhan sepanjang masa. 

pearlie

My identity and meaning of life

I checked out today's reading in Paul David Tripp's New Morning Mercies and I loved it.

For someone who is always asking about meaning of life, I have to remind myself that in Christ, I don't have to, because I already have an identity and meaning of life. 

pearlie

From music to mercies

We have completed the book that we were using for our short devotion time during our Grace Notes weekly practice and after hunting quite a long while for a new book, we finally settled on this one.

New Morning Mercies, A Daily Gospel Devotional

by Paul David Tripp

It wasn't easy to find a good book. I had wanted to get one that is music related or one written with musicians in mind like this one were were using.

Crescendos and Diminuendos, Meditations for Musicians and Music Lovers

by Jack Coleman

Every chapter of this book is a short devotion based on an Italian musical term, e.g. Legato, Da Capo, Rallentando, etc. It was very well done and we enjoyed every reading in every practice. 

And so I had quite a high expectation for our next book but I couldn't find one that is both excellent and music related. 

I had to finally settle for one that is not based on music but on the grace and mercy of God. I

hope it will serve to help us focus on God every week when we come to practice and to sing. That would be what's most important, music related or not.

pearlie

A Sandwich from God. Bread/Epilogue: I surrender

This is the final portion of the sandwich God gave me when I asked him for a word. 

In my last account, this final song that God gave me was so unexpected that I had to pay close attention to the third song. 

The final song is last portion of the chiastic playlist God gave me. It began with Mighty to Save and it closes with Mighty to Save. 

This playlist of mine has 60 songs and I do not have duplicates except for Mighty to Save, one by Hillsong and one by a female vocalist. 

What are the odds that the only song duplicated, is both played? I don’t know how to calculate the probability to it, but I believe it is very slim. 

Mighty to Save - Laura Story

Everyone needs compassion 

A love that's never failing 

But let mercy fall on me 

Well, everyone needs forgiveness 

The kindness of a Savior 

The hope of nations 

My Savior He can move the mountains 

My God is Mighty to save 

He is Mighty to save 

Forever Author of salvation 

He rose and conquered the grave 

Jesus conquered the grave 

So take me as You find me 

All my fears and failures 

And fill my life again 

I give my life to follow 

Everything I believe in 

And now I surrender (I surrender) 

Shine your light and let the whole world see 

We're singing for the glory of the risen King 

Jesus, Shine your light and let the whole world see 

We're singing for the glory of the risen King 

Songwriters: Ben Fielding / Reuben Morgan Mighty to Save lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group

All to you I surrender Lord. I surrender. 

pearlie

A Sandwich from God. Filling/Part 2: I firmly stand in the power of Christ

When I received the second song to the sandwich, I thought that was it. But l let my phone continue to play and this was the next song. 

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found 

He is my light, my strength, my song 

This cornerstone, this solid ground, 

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. 

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease! 

My comforter, my all in all 

Here in the love of Christ I stand. 

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh, 

Fullness of God in helpless babe! 

This gift of love and righteousness, 

Scorned by the ones He came to save. 

'Til on that cross as Jesus died, 

The wrath of God was satisfied 

For ev'ry sin on Him was laid 

Here in the death of Christ I live. 

There in the ground His body lay, 

Light of the world by darkness slain 

Then bursting forth in glorious day, 

Up from the grave He rose again! 

And as He stands in victory, 

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me 

For I am His and He is mine 

Bought with the precious blood of Christ. 

No guilt in life, no fear in death 

This is the pow'r of Christ in me 

From life's first cry to final breath, 

Jesus commands my destiny. 

No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man, 

Can ever pluck me from His hand 

'Til He returns or calls me home 

Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand. 

Songwriters: Andrew Shawn Craig / Donald A. Koch In Christ Alone lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol Christian Music Group 

I wasn’t really listening to it and when the song finished, I let it continue playing. But what was next played surprised me so much that I have to now pay attention now. I need to look into the words of In Christ Alone. 

I know you are curious about the next song but I will only talk about it tomorrow. I am still on the central message of what God wants to tell me. 

In my life, I do rely and depend on a lot of things for meaning and purpose of life but they are nothing in the presence of God. 

It is only in Christ that my hope is found. And no power of hell nor schemes of man can ever pluck me from his hand. 

It is in the power of Christ that I stand, every minute, every hour, every moment of my life. 

Amen. 

pearlie

A Sandwich from God. Filling/Part 1: You hem me in behind and before

I was talking about how God gave me a sandwich yesterday when I asked for a word from him. 

As the first song—the bread—was about to come to an end, I tapped on repeat. But I felt an urging to let it play on. And so I did. 

And this song was played. 

Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)

You hear me when I call 

You are my morning song 

Though darkness fills the night 

It cannot hide the light 

Whom shall I fear 

You crush the enemy 

Underneath my feet 

You are my sword and shield 

Though troubles linger still 

Whom shall I fear 

I know who goes before me 

I know who stands behind 

The God of angel armies 

Is always by my side 

The one who reigns forever 

He is a friend of mine 

The God of angel armies 

Is always by my side

My strength is in your name 

For you alone can save 

You will deliver me 

Yours is the victory 

Whom shall I fear 

Whom shall I fear 

And nothing formed against me shall stand 

You hold the whole world in your hands 

I'm holding on to your promises 

You are faithful 

You are faithful 

Songwriters: Chris Tomlin / Ed Cash / Scott Cash Whom Shall I Fear lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group, Music Services, Inc

Even though I have this in my playlist, I was not familiar with it. But as I listened to it, I was strengthened. 

I was taught and ministered by Sunday’s sermon on Psalm 139 and the words in this song reaffirms that he hems me in behind and before. 

O God, nothing formed against me will stand. You hold the whole world in your hands. I will hold on to your promises. You are faithful. 

My story will continue tomorrow. 

pearlie

A Sandwich from God. Bread/Prologue: All My Fears and Failures

I asked the Lord for a word from him today. I really needed it: his presence, his faithfulness, his strength, his assurance. 

He gave me more than a word. 

He gave me a sandwich. 

I have always loved the chiasm literary device. A chiastic structure is one where the central message is in the middle sandwiched by passages before and after. 

I have a playlist of gospel songs and in asking for a word from him, I hit Shuffle and my phone plays Hillsong’s Mighty to Save. 

I felt this is not a coincidence but really a song God is giving me because I have been ministered by it a couple of days ago. It’s like him reminding me, “didn’t I tell you already.”

Mighty to Save 

Well, everyone needs compassion 

A love that's never failing 

But let mercy fall on me 

Well, everyone needs forgiveness 

The kindness of a Savior 

The hope of nations 

My Savior He can move the mountains 

My God is Mighty to save 

He is Mighty to save 

Forever Author of salvation 

He rose and conquered the grave 

Jesus conquered the grave 

So take me as You find me 

All my fears and failures 

And fill my life again 

I give my life to follow 

Everything I believe in 

And now I surrender (I surrender) 

Shine your light and let the whole world see 

We're singing for the glory of the risen King 

Jesus, Shine your light and let the whole world see 

We're singing for the glory of the risen King 

Songwriters: Ben Fielding / Reuben Morgan Mighty to Save lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group

My prayer is that O Lord, in all my fears and failures, please fill my life with you, you are mighty to save and deliver me. You have and you will. 

This is the bread of the sandwich. Tune in as I write about the filling tomorrow. 

pearlie

What is the joy of the Lord?

When I am down, I would always recite to myself Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”

I would regard this joy as coming from the Lord and with this joy that originates from him, it will give me strength to carry on. 

But this time, I thought a little further and realised that it’s the joy of the Lord and not joy from the Lord. 

That is quite substantially different, I thought. When it is the joy of the Lord, it doesn’t even need to be in me. The fact that he has joy is strength enough for me. 

But what is his joy? What does he have joy in?

That’s when I found this article: What does “The joy of the Lord” is our strength mean?

The author gave four things that our God has his joy in, of which I will only state just one. I am not so sure about the other three but you can read it up and tell me what you think. 

His joy is us - God delights in us for he made us out of his love for us and gave his Son for us on the cross so we may reconciled with him. 

For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

~ Isaiah 62:5 ESV

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

~ Zephaniah 3:17 ESV

And this gives me strength because he rejoices in me and delights in me, and what more, he first loved me. And with that I rejoice in him, find strength in him and love him with all my heart, my soul, my might and and my mind. 

pearlie

When and how to surrender when we are conditioned to fight?

I was reading Jeremiah 21 today and when I read these few verses, I have a question,

Jeremiah 21:8-10 (NLT)

"Tell all the people, 'This is what the LORD says: Take your choice of life or death! Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life! For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the LORD. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.'

I understand that God disciplines us to teach us to be mature, more so when we really needed the lesson, when we need to humble ourselves and accept it. 

However here in Jeremiah, God was telling his people to surrender to their enemy in order to live. God did warn them and gave them years and years of warning through the prophet Jeremiah to repent, but they did not turn away from the disobedience. They gave no heed to God and his commands and yielded their lives to other gods. 

And God is telling them to surrender and to be defeated. 

I suppose we are indeed brought up to hold on to what we think is ours, but if you think about it, what is ours? Doesn't everything belong to God? What we are, what we have and what we are trained and skilled in, all ultimately belongs to Him. 

But to surrender to an enemy? To give ourselves to what we know is bad? It is so against what we as human are being taught and conditioned to do. We are taught to fight and stand up for what is ours. 

Is it even right to give up our rights? How will we know that is what God wants from us?

pearlie 

My whole being waits, and it will happen!

Rediscovering Advent, A 30-Day Guide for Family and Individual Reflection 

by Christianity Today

I was searching for some Advent devotional material to use for this season but I didn't really find anything good until I found this one yesterday. I read some excerpts from its preview here and decided to get a copy and spend time daily meditating on God's word in the following four weeks. 

Today's reading was from Psalm 130:5-6 and Isaiah 9:6-7 with the perspective of viewing Isaiah's prophecy through Psalm's lens of longing and waiting. 

Psalm 130:5-6 NIV

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 

Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

This is one thing we have always been doing all our lives. We have always been waiting, whether in anticipation or in fear or in apathy, we have been waiting. As I have noted in yesterday's devotion that it is a gift to be thirsty, I think it is also a gift to be in waiting.

How so?

It is in waiting that we depend on God as we cling to him in weakness and trust. It is in waiting that we learn profound spiritual lessons which will be lost if we ever had the privilege of hindsight. It is in the experience of longing that we value what we will receive when it comes. It is in the longing that we know when to rejoice when it becomes a reality. 

My whole being waits! The emphasis is seen in Psalm 130:6 where "more than watchmen wait for the morning" is mentioned twice. The Psalmist says it and then he says it again, hence we better pay attention. But why would the watchman watch for the morning? Isn't he suppose to watch over whatever he is watching, rather than the morning? The NIV Zondervan Study Bible states that the "watchmen know that the morning will come and provide relief from their burdensome task, but they still must wait for that relief. Likewise, the sinner can be confident that the Lord’s forgiveness will eventually come, but in God’s own timing."

My whole being waits. And it waits in anticipation for the fulfillment of the kingdom of God, and it will happen! We will see justice and goodness and fairness and peace. The Lord Almighty will surely make it happen. 

This is Jesus's message of hope, of Advent. 

pearlie 

Advent begins today

 

It is the first day of Advent today. It is a season lasting four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord, both to celebrate his coming as Immanuel 2000 years ago but more so, the eager anticipation of the second coming of the Lord in glory, his parousia. It symbolizes the present situation of the church in these last days as we await his return to take his place in the eternal kingdom.¹

With this, I meditate on Psalm 42:1-2 and 63:1-8 on this first day of Advent this year: 

As the deer pants for streams of water, 

so my soul pants for you, my God. 

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 

When can I go and meet with God?

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; 

I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, 

in a dry and parched land where there is no water. 

I have seen you in the sanctuary 

and beheld your power and your glory. 

Because your love is better than life, 

my lips will glorify you. 

I will praise you as long as I live, 

and in your name I will lift up my hands. 

I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; 

with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 

On my bed I remember you; 

I think of you through the watches of the night. 

Because you are my help, 

I sing in the shadow of your wings. 

I cling to you; 

your right hand upholds me. 

How do I cultivate and dwell in this longing for God? We need to become the patient, expectant, thirsty people of God. We must, for longer than a moment, see the daily distress of living. Only in view of suffering will we learn to watch for the dawn—and thirst for its merciful rain. To be thirsty for God is in itself a gift.²

In times of contentment, I rarely feel that thirst. What I see as "blessings" of God can ironically be that which draws me away from him. I pray that I will thirst for him like a parched deer that pants for water. And in seeking him, I will be filled with that living water, and only in him will I find life in all I do, in all I am, in all that I find myself in. 

pearlie

1 "What is Advent?", Christianity.com

2 "Rediscovering Advent", Christianity Today, 2016

Being disciplined is hard for me

I have not been doing these two things that I should every day: devotion and gym. 

The thing is I strategize to do them together. I find that each of the activity discipline the other. The reason I can go 30 minutes on the stationary bike is because I want to finish reading a chapter in my devotion material. And the reason I can finish reading and meditating on the material is because I can't get off the bike. 

I used to be able to do this every week day because I need to drive my son to school anyway. I will be early and I might as well go to the gym. 

But now I have to use a different motivation. Maybe the morning traffic? Get out early before the congestion worsens.  

Let me try it out this month. At least I have a goal: do this every week day this month.

pearlie

Living a life in adagio

Crescendoes and Diminuendos, Meditations for Musicians and Music Lovers
by Jack Coleman

I have been using a book by NT Wright for our devotion time in Grace Notes, but I have received feedback that it is too long and deep for our purpose. And so I thought I should go get something better and more suitable for our team, and found this book by Jack Coleman.

What the writer did was to choose fifty two most used musical terms and write about them. They are short and very poignant for us to contemplated as choralists and musicians.

For example, the first devotion I shared with the group from the book today was on the musical term "adagio". It means to be "at east", at a slow tempo. It does not only imply a tempo but also a quality of movement. So if a musician can think of working the movement of their music, it is one without stress or tension, attaining a quality of ease.

Coleman goes on to share that we need to be at ease as well with our fellow partners in service, to be filled with the love of God in our behaviour with one another.

We took the lesson in the sense that we need to also be at ease in our living our everyday life, which is a challenge with life stresses and difficulties. But it is a very good quality of life to have, that is to life our lives in Christ in adagio, trusting in him fully that we are in his hands, whatever the weather, whatever the circumstances.

pearlie

The still small voice

It has been awhile since I've settled down to read a book. There is just too many things happening at the moment that I could not find the time and when I do, I am just too exhausted.

I am still reading Dallas Willard's Hearing God but I have begun to love and appreciate Proverbs 20:27, and what Willard wrote about the still small voice, being one of the ways how God speaks to us. He said,

The final means through which God addresses us is our own spirits—our own thoughts and feelings toward ourselves as well as toward events and people around us. This, I believe, is the primary subjective way that God addresses us. Of all the ways in which a message comes from within the experience of the person addressed (such as dreams and visions or other mental states), the form of one’s own thoughts and attendant feelings is the most common path for hearing God for those who are living in harmony with God. Of all the possible subjective routes, this mode is best suited to the redemptive purposes of God because, once again, it most engages the faculties of free, intelligent beings involved in the work of God as his colaborers and friends.

Thus the familiar King James Version of Proverbs 20:27 says, “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.” This is possibly better put in the Jerusalem Bible: “Man’s spirit is the lamp of Yahweh, searching his deepest self.”

In a passage of great importance to our exploration here, the apostle Paul makes a comparison between humans and God regarding self-knowledge: “For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor 2:11). Paul then points out that we have received the Spirit of God and concludes that we can therefore search out and know the very mind of God by means of his Spirit—in contrast to the proverb quoted earlier, which emphasizes the Lord’s use of our spirit. After quoting the question from Isaiah 40:13, “Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has instructed him?” the apostle replies, “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16).

So God uses our self-knowledge or self-awareness, which is heightened and given a special quality by his presence and direction, to search us out and reveal to us the truth about ourselves and our world. And we are able to use his knowledge of himself—made available to us in Christ and the Scriptures—to understand in some measure his thoughts and intentions toward us and to help us see his workings in our world.

pearlie
Source: Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, IVP, 2012.

My Lectio Divina

I continued reading Dallas Willard's Hearing God, Developing a Conversational Relationship with God last night and it was timely that I came to the section on a Lectio Divina, or Divine Reading.

I needed it because of a challenge I'm currently facing. The passage was exactly what I needed. It was on 2 Kings 6:11-17, where the king of Syria was at war with Israel at the time of prophet Elisha.

Lectio Divina is a traditional Benedictine practice of scriptural reading, meditating and prayer, to have a close communion with God. It has four parts to it: lectio (reading), meditatio (meditation), oratio (prayer) and contemplatio (contemplation).

I found this article helpful: Step by Step Through Lectio Divina, although it's Catholic in context. I will be using some of the material from here and from Willard's:

Firstly, I prepare myself in a quiet place free from distraction. I become quiet before God. I still my heart and place myself in the loving presence of Jesus. I commend to him all my worries, obligations and hassles of the day. They will still be there when I finish, or they will be resolved.

Lectio
I read the passage attentively, reverently, slowly. I patiently wait for God to reveal himself. His divine mystery cannot be contained or controlled by me. I let myself be taken in by his word and be drawn to him. I will not rush. I take my time, with patience and perseverance. I will allow myself to be immersed in the situation, because “those who lived through those experiences felt very much as we would have if we had been in their place”. I will listen with the ear of my heart for a word or phrase, a detail of the story that shimmers or stands out to me. I will see where I find myself in the passage: as one of the people in the passage, or a thing or even a fly on the wall watching it all happen. I do not choose this myself. I let the Spirit bring it to me.

The section that shimmers to me from the reading was v.12, where the king asked his servant if there was a spy in his army. The servants replied, "None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom." And the I find myself as Elisha's servant in v.16-17 when he found an army with chariots and horses all around the city. Elisha said to him, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Meditatio
This is my human response to God in his word. I ponder and ruminate what I have just read. I quietly savor the word and meditate on it in expectation. I consciously open myself to him and let him touch my heart. I will engage my thought, imagination, emotion and desire. I reflect and consider the word or phrase that stood out to me and ask: why do these words resonated with me? Who or what I found myself to be in the passage? How does it feel to be this person or object? What draws me? What am I thinking or feeling about God? I ponder awhile and then I ask God: how does this connect with my life today? What do I need to know or be or do?

The passage stands out for me because God is indeed all-present. Really, whom shall I fear? And as the servant of Elisha, I felt I was in awe of God who is all-powerful and able to protect me and save me, no matter what happens.

Oratio
This is the prayer of my heart: unique, personal, honest and spontaneous, specific to the experience of encountering God in his word. I pray whatever I need to pray. I thank God for something or ask God for something.

I thank God for revealing himself to me, for showing me I need not be afraid because I have a sovereign and loving God who will not leave me or forsake me.

Contemplatio
This stage is God's response to me, totally beyond my control. I cannot create contemplation by myself. It is his divine gift. I do as I am led. I'm totally passive, held by the mystery of God. I will wait on him or simply be with him. I sit in the companionship of God, the one who showed up and can be seen. It's God's gaze on me and my gaze of faith back at him. I become focused on the Lord. It can be deep, intimate, intense and somstones tearful, often too deep for words. It's childlike, a surrender to the loving will of my Father in an even deeper union with his beloved Son. His gaze purifies my heart, illuminates my eyes with the eyes of Jesus, and teaches me compassion. I allow the Holy Spirit to shape me in the form of my Savior.

I nestled into the presence of God and enjoyed his peaceful and complete presence. I then fall into a deep peaceful slumber trusting in his love and righteousness.

I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of God.
~ St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

pearlie

What would it be like if there was no Jesus?

When I was reading my devotional material two days ago on Revelation 4, the author suggested that I close my eyes and imagine how the entire chapter would look, sound and feel like.

Revelation 4 (ESV)
1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."
2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.
3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.
4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.
5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,
6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind:
7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

I tried it, and it was quite vivid. However, my problem was, though I can see and hear it in my mind, I could not feel it. I could not feel the might and glory of the scene.

And because I can't do that, I became quite discouraged.

I felt that for me right now, life in general is lukewarm and mediocre. Things are not bad but not good either. I feel indifferent, which in turn became for me a disturbing feeling.

I came back to the place where I have been questioning about the presence of God. Where is this glorious and majestic God?

It was necessary then today that I continued onto Revelation 5. The author asked a very important question, which is in fact is the answer for me: What would it be like if there was no Jesus?

Exactly! What would it be like without Jesus is exactly the right question to ask. Because I have indeed taken a whole lot for granted.

Without Jesus, there will be no justice, or truth, or love, or peace. Sure, we don't have those in totality right now but really, if it were not for Jesus, there will not be any justice, truth, love or peace. Not at all. Not even a sliver.

With that I am much encouraged. All is not lost. Jesus is here. He lives. He reigns.

pearlie

Why we should pray

I was reading my devotional on Isaiah and Ortlund has this to say about our longing for the love of God, and why we should pray, which I find so apt.

Look how Isaiah describes God: “...the stirring of your inner parts.” Does God have inner parts? Not literally. But God does have deep feelings for us. The Jerusalem Bible translates this, “the yearning of your inmost heart.” Or it could be translated, “the turmoil of your inner being.” What God feels for us he feels deeply, not superficially or sporadically. But sometimes he withholds from us the experience of his love, and at other times he pours out an experience of his love. God is committed to us. The work of Christ on the cross is finished. The Holy Spirit has come. The Triune God never changes. But our experience of him does change, and he is the one who changes it. That’s why we should pray.

pearlie
Source: 'Isaiah: God Saves Sinners' by Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., R.Kent Hughes, General Editor

Jesus was here!

I was doing my devotional this morning when I read this: "We have the finished work of Christ on the cross more than 2,000 years ago."¹

My next thought really surprised me.

"Jesus was here!"

Wait, what was that?

Of course I know Jesus was here. I've known that all my life. And so why this sudden revelation that Jesus was here?

As I take time now to reflect on it, I feel that it is the prompting of the Spirit to me to the reality of God in my life.

I've studied Scripture. I've meditated on his Word. I've worked on obeying him and living my life according to his will. And now it is being impressed on me that God is real, in history, in time, in space, not just in thought and belief, if I can use the word.

This may not seem much to you. And yet, right here, right now, the realization that Jesus became man and lived among men, walked on this earth, breathed the air, amazes me. I don't know how else to put it.

God was here. In person. Wow.

pearlie
1 'Isaiah: God Saves Sinners' by Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., R.Kent Hughes, General Editor

Think with reasonable thinking

I continued with NT Wright's After You Believe for my devotion reading this morning and it was about the renewal of the mind, in Romans 12:1-2.

I like to think. Well, it is the number two theme in my Gallup StrengthsFinder report. And so I learnt a lot from this short portion of his thoughts on the topic, and I like what he said, interpreting Paul: "what matters is thinking...Don’t overthink what you ought to think, but think with reasonable thinking."

There other interesting quotes from my reading are as follows:

When Paul talks about the “mind,” he is not ranking Christians in terms of what we would call their intellectual or “academic” ability. Some Christians have that sort of mind. Plenty of others don’t.

"The way the world is" is a powerful, insidious force, and it takes all the energy of new creation, not least of faith and hope, to remind oneself that the age to come really is already here, with all its new possibilities and prospects.

The antidote to the power of the present age, then, is to have the mind renewed so that one can think clearly about the way of life which is pleasing to God, which is in accordance with God’s will, good and acceptable and (here it is again) “perfect,” teleios, complete.

Abraham is the beginning of the truly human person. He is the one who, in faith which Paul sees as the true antecedent of Christian faith, allows his thinking and believing to be determined, not by the way the world is, and not by the way his own body is, but by the promises and actions of God.

For Paul, the mind is central to Christian character: virtue is the result of thought and choice.

I believe, is that talk about the freedom of the Spirit, about the grace which sweeps us off our feet and heals and transforms our lives, has been taken over surreptitiously by a kind of low-grade romanticism, colluding with an anti-intellectual streak in our culture, generating the assumption that the more spiritual you are, the less you need to think...I cannot stress too strongly that this is a mistake. The more genuinely spiritual you are, according to Romans 12 and Philippians 1, the more clearly and accurately and carefully you will think, particularly about what the completed goal of your Christian journey will be and hence what steps you should be taking, what habits you should be acquiring, as part of the journey toward that goal, right now.

pearlie

Putting on clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience

I decided to read a portion of Wright's After You Believe for my morning devotion and got these few verses I felt I should meditate on.

Colossians 3:12-17 (ESV)
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Compassionate heart, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience: these are not easy virtues to grow in my weakness and state of sinfulness. But I must put it on like clothing every day, every hour, every moment.

But I believe these are not weak virtues at all but strong, bold and courageous ones. It may be easy to practice it in normal circumstances but what if you or your friends are being persecuted, or simply being bullied.

The first section from v.12-15 seem to indicate how relationships should be between believers in the body of Christ. Yes, it should start from within the family of God but it should extend to our lives in total as we engage with all other people. It should become natural for us when we practice it within so that it becomes easier that we will also be natural at it at all times.

How can I have a heart that is compassionate? How can I be kind, humble, meek and patient?

From the second section from v.16-17, the way to grow in these virtues is to spend time together with the family in Christ, letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our hearts to God.

Meeting together then is one very important discipline for us Christians. We learn to accept one another, bearing with each other's faults since none of us is so great ourselves in the first place.

But if I find it so difficult to love my own fellow brethren, how can I even begin to love others, especially those whom I find difficult to relate to?

I have not really encountered many of those but there are a few. I'm trying to keep wearing my clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, but it's getting tough and I'm getting disturbed and troubled.

But whatever I do, in word or deed, I need to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (v.17). This would mean that I act and behave as a child of God. I need to be like Christ and imitate him. Be compassionate but strong and wise, hence to let the word of Christ dwell in me richly (v.16), so that in my weakness, He who is in me is strong.

God help me.

pearlie