March 3, Sunday

Spiritual Food for Thought for the Weekend

“The Voice of Self-Condemnation”

1 John 3:19-24 (ESV)

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

The story of the woman caught in adultery out of John 8, illustrates powerfully how Jesus frees us from condemnation. We are told that the religious leaders brought this woman into the temple courts, in the middle of a crowd having Bible study with Jesus, and demanded a verdict regarding her sin.

These religious leaders wanted to trap Jesus either by making him out to be an enemy of the Roman Empire or a false teacher. In the first case, no one could pass a sentence of death without knowledge of the Roman authorities. In the second case, if he simply let the woman go, he could be cast as a teacher without moral convictions and little regard for the Mosaic Law.

Imagine the humiliation, the isolation, and the fear of this woman as the weight of her sin was exposed to the church. As the passage unfolds, Jesus bent down to write on the ground. What did he write? The classic Christian commentaries suggest that Jesus wrote on the ground to remove attention from the condemned woman and to place the crowd’s focus onto himself. This was a way for Jesus to protect this woman’s dignity and personhood.

Then Jesus speaks the famous words that lead to this woman’s freedom: “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” One by one, each of these men filled with anger, drop their stones, and leave until only Jesus and the woman are left alone. In that divine moment, Jesus turns to the woman and asks, “Has no one condemned you?” In response to the woman’s answer of “No one, sir,” Jesus sets her free by stating, “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” To be sure, Jesus did not minimize the serious nature of her sin, even as he forgave her. In a manner that is consistent with both grace and truth, he commanded her to leave her life of sin.

In going through this passage, it dawned on me that not many of us will fall into public condemnation, but we leave ourselves open to a much greater threat: the voice of self-condemnation. Like this woman, we have to get to a place in our relationship with Jesus, where we are free enough to say, “There is no one left to condemn me, not even myself.” The promise of forgiveness that is found in the gospel is greater than what our fickle hearts often feel. In fact, it is impossible to be freed from our patterns of sin unless we truly receive the love of Christ, and open ourselves to share that love with others. Then and only then, are we able we come to God with the confidence that is promised us through the sacrifice of Christ.

Prayer: Jesus, I pray that I would encounter you in such a powerful way that reminds me that you are greater than my heart. Help me to overcome the temptation of self-condemnation and to fight against the accusations of the enemy. May I come to realize that whomever you set free, will be free indeed!

Bible Reading for Today: Matthew 21

March 2, Saturday

Spiritual Food for Thought for the Weekend

“A New Name”

John 1:35-42 (ESV)

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

We often overlook the significant actions that Jesus performs in the gospels. In this passage, Jesus changes the name of a man whom He has just met. This is clearly not an ordinary everyday event, which, to the modern reader, sounds completely random. However, the Jewish people would have understood the two-fold significance of someone changing their name. First, only God has the right to give you a new name. This makes a lot of sense. Other than your parents, no one else should have the right to change your name. Second, your new name speaks a new identity and destiny over your life. Names in the ancient Middle East meant much more than the arbitrary labels that we give our children. Changing your name meant changing who you are and the purpose of your life. When Jesus met Simon, I’m sure he knew how unstable this young man was—how impetuous, and how unreliable. But Jesus, seeing who he could be, that is, his potential in God’s hand, called him Peter—the rock on which He would build the church.

Like Peter, God has a better name for each of us but we have to be willing to receive it and live it out. There is an interesting British reality show called the Monastery that takes completely irreligious people and challenges them to spend several weeks living as monks in a monastery. In one of the shows, there was a young man who had been working in the porn industry and at the end of his time in the monastery, he realized that he didn’t want to go back to his old life. He was afraid that he would lose everything that he had gained during his time separated from the world and separated from sin. When the monk who has been his spiritual director saw this young man struggle with this decision, he told him slowly and deliberately, “You have a name given to you at birth but you also have a name that you don’t know.” The monk then described how in the book of Revelation, Jesus tells us that our true names are written down in heaven on white stones, and this name on the stone is our real name, which points to our true identity: “To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it” (Rev. 2:17).

In the final moments as this young man began to prepare to leave the monastery, the monk took one smooth white stone out of his pocket and gave it to this once hardened, insensitive English hooligan and told him, “This is a symbol of your quest to find out who you really are before God.” Needless to say, the young man left his job, began to attend church, and started to meet regularly with the spiritual director. It’s a deeply moving story that reminds us that whether you are Christian or not, we all share this quest to find our true identity, to receive the name that God has reserved for us. To receive this name, you have to overcome and conquer the pull of the world that is constantly trying to dictate to you what your identity should be instead of what it is in Christ. Perhaps, you need to start that journey today.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to see that my true name and my true identity is only revealed when I am found in you. May my life be hidden in you so that I no longer live but you live in me. Give me the eyes to see that titles like “successful,” “wealthy,” “powerful,” and “intelligent” will all fade away. Help me to reject the many different but temporary names that the world tries to label me with. Only then can I receive this glorious name that you have written down on a white stone, a name that will last into eternity.

Bible Reading for Today: Matthew 19-20

(Oops—The Thursday Bible reading should have been Matthew 17 instead of 16. We are now back to the correct reading plan.)

March 1, Friday

Devotional Thought for Today

“A Corresponding Justice of God”

Exodus 7:14-25 (ESV)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent. 16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed. 17 Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.” ’ ” 19 And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’ ” 20 Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. 21 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile. 25 Seven full days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

Before God called upon Moses to deliver the people of Israel, we are told that God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and that He saw the suffering of His people and knew their pain. This first plague is a clear sign that the injustice that the Israelites suffered at the hands of Pharaoh was not overlooked nor forgotten by God. It is no coincidence that the waters of the Nile that claimed the lives of so many innocent children, sentenced to drown by Pharaoh, was justly turned into blood. The stench of death that the Nile had come to represent now filled the conscience of every Egyptian that allowed such an atrocity to happen. I’m sure that Moses, who was saved out of the Nile, would have understood the deep significance of the life-giving waters of the Nile being turned into a lifeless cesspool of blood. God had remembered.

In a world that is filled with so much injustice, it is easy to believe that God doesn’t know, doesn’t care, or has forgotten about the plight of the oppressed. This passage comforts us with the fact that He does not forget and that in due time vengeance will be His. Of the ten plagues, only this first one is given a specific duration of time, seven days. In the Scriptures, the number seven is a symbol of God’s completed work and is usually connected to the finished work of creation. However, in this case, the seven days of the bloody waters of the Nile are a promise that God’s justice would be made complete.

All injustice and oppression will one day come to an end and although we may never understand the timing of God, nevertheless, we can rest assured that His justice will be done on this earth.

Prayer: Father, help me to fight for the cause of the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized. When I feel like I am losing that battle, help me to find comfort in knowing that one day Your justice will prevail. May You give me the faith to see that You know and care about the suffering of the world and the courage to wait for the day of the Lord to come. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Matthew 17

Lunch Break Study

Read Psalm 94:1-23: O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth 2 Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve! O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. 5 They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; 7 and they say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.” 8 Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge—the Lord—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath. Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. 14 For the Lord will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage; 15 for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. 16 Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers? 17 If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. 18 When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. 19 When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul. 20 Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute? 21 They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. 22 But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. 23 He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the Lord our God will wipe them out.

Questions to Consider

Why do evil people persist in their sin?
What is the promise of God in the midst of our suffering?
How does God minister to the downtrodden?

Notes

Verse 7 tells us that people persist in their evil ways because they do not believe that God sees their sin—leading them to assume that they have free reign to continue their exploitation of the fatherless, widow, and sojourner.
The promise of God from verse 14-15 is that He will not forsake us or abandon His people into the hands of wicked. Instead, His justice will return to those who follow Him in righteousness.
In the last stanza of this Psalm, we see that many ways that God ministers to those who suffer injustice. God alone is our stronghold and refuge and able to bring consolation to the soul. In a world filled with people damaged by the trauma of sin, God becomes our ultimate protector and healer.

Evening Reflection

In the West, we tend to shrink back from the idea of a God of justice but Miroslav Volf, theologian at Yale, talks about the need to have a God of both justice and love, and that ultimately men cannot be freed from the cycle of vengeance and hatred unless they believe God to be just. He writes:

“My thesis that the practice of non-violence requires a belief in divine vengeance will be unpopular with many…in the West…[But] it takes the quiet of a suburban home for the birth of the thesis that human non-violence [results from the belief in] God’s refusal to judge. In a sun-scorched land, soaked in the blood of the innocent, it will invariably die…along with other pleasant captivities of the liberal mind.”

Strangely, when we allow God to be the final arbiter of justice, it frees us to forgive and love one another. Pray that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

February 28, Thursday

Devotional Thought for Today

Exodus 7:8-13 (ESV)

8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Many skeptics of Christianity have tried to explain away the miracles described in the Bible as simply being natural phenomena that have been misunderstood by ancient man. Like Pharaoh, they believe that man is able to replicate the miracles of God through their own means, and in very much the same way, they harden their hearts towards Him. For modern man, we have simply replaced the secret art of Pharaoh’s sorcerers with the science of our PhDs and technologists. By no means am I saying that science is inherently evil or wrong, but simply the fact that we have to discern the difference between the practice of science and the philosophy of scientism. The first is a helpful tool to aid man, the latter is a dangerous religion that aims to negate God and his miracles.

C.S. Lewis, in his thoughtful essay The Magician’s Twin, argues poignantly against the potential dangers of scientism that is unchecked. He reminds us that the atrocities of Nazi Germany were carried out using the concepts and language of science to justify its evils. Like the sorcerers of old, scientism can function like a religion that demands absolute obedience, and ironically it promotes a type of groupthink that negates healthy skepticism. Sadly, it comes to dominate our worldview so that we cannot see the miracles of God even as they are happening right before our very eyes. Like Pharaoh, the modern world calls in their magicians to refute the works of God, but even as His staff devours the staff made by man, the world remains unconvinced and unmoved. This is precisely the reason why those of us who call ourselves Christians must continue to see the world through the eyes of faith.

Prayer: Lord, would You help me to have faith like a child, to be able to see the world with eyes of wonder and awe, to behold the beauty of Your creation and the miracles that You have wrought with Your hand. Keep me protected from the deception of the enemy so that I would not become cold and callused towards all that You are doing in my life. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Matthew 16

Lunch Break Study

2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Questions to Consider:

Describe Timothy’s relationship to the Holy Scriptures.
What is the purpose of Scripture?
Why is faithfulness to the Scriptures important, especially today?

Notes:

It’s clear that Timothy has a rich history with the word of God. He was acquainted with it from an early age, familiar with its teaching from childhood, and it was taught to him accurately. Paul now exhorts Timothy to continue in what he has learned and come to firmly believe.
Verse 16 and 17 are great reminders of the purpose of the Scriptures. Too many times, we reduce the word of God to bite-sized slogans of inspiration, but they are so much more than that. It is the basis for reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. As we diligently study and apply the word to our lives, it creates spiritual growth and provides the tools that are necessary to live out the Christian faith. Without them, we have no hope of growing into spiritual maturity and being equipped to face the challenges of life.
In our post-modern and post-Christian world, truth has become more and more arbitrary. We want to hear what we want to hear and are driven solely by our feelings. This is the type of spiritual climate that leads to people listening to only what they want to hear, as opposed to what they need to hear. Paul warns against surrounding ourselves with pastors and teachers who cater only to people’s desires, knowing that our emotions can be a poor measure of what is true.

Evening Reflection

Have you spent time allowing God’s word to permeate your mind and thoughts? There is no better way to combat the lies of the world than to meditate and study the truth of God, and to allow that to guide your way of thinking. Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you to a particular book of the Bible to read, study, and even memorize. Ask for God to protect your every thought with the helmet of His salvation.

February 27, Wednesday

Devotional Thoughts for Today

“Be Careful What You Wish for from God”

1 Samuel 9:1-27

There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. 3 Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.” 4 And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them. 15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.”

One of the questions that have always come to my mind in reading 1 Samuel 9 is: “Why did God direct Samuel the prophet to choose Saul as the first king of Israel?” For those who know the story, Saul was a horrible king who rejected God’s commands and was self-serving, murderous, and insane towards the end of his life. God certainly could have kept this man from the throne, yet not only does He permit Saul to become king, but He is the active agent in the process of bringing Saul to power. Was this simply a case of not reading Saul’s resume carefully and making an unfortunate hiring blunder?

Actually, God hired exactly who the people of Israel wanted. They wanted a king just like the kings of the surrounding nations, and so they received the desires of their heart. In the text, we are told that Saul was a head taller than any of the people. From a human perspective, it would seem good for a king to, at least, look the part, but the problem is that in the Old Testament, descriptions of stature are only given to the villains (remember Goliath?). In fact, the good guys are identified primarily by their ability to tend their flocks, like a good shepherd. We read in the story that Saul falls woefully short in his capacity to find the animals in his care. This is all a foreshadowing of the type of king that Saul would eventually become.

It is so easy to judge everything by its exterior appearance and forget about what truly matters. Like the people of Israel, we too can become consumed by our desire to achieve the world’s standards of prestige, fame, good looks, and fortune. A sobering thought is that God sometimes gives into our illegitimate demands in order to teach us the hard lesson of humility and to point us towards Christ. Unlike Saul, Jesus, the true King, was lowly in stature and despised in the eyes of men. Yet for those of us who believe, He is our Good Shepherd, who has come from heaven to earth to find us and to care for us.

Prayer: Father, help us to remember that You do not judge by the outward appearance, but by what is in the heart. May we clothes ourselves in the humility of Christ and help us to reflect this attitude in the things that we desire and pray for. Above everything else, purify our motives and give us pure hearts that yearn to do Your will.

Bible Reading for Today: Matthew 16

Lunch Break Study

Read James 4:1-6 (ESV): What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Questions to Consider

What is the main cause of fighting and quarrels among believers according to James?
Why are prayers not being answered by God?
What is the solution that is given for these problems that we find in the church?

Notes

The primary reason for quarreling among Christians is the spiritual war that is within each of us. All of us are a mixture of good and evil, and simultaneously both saint and sinner. Much of our conflict with others is simply an overflow of the uncontrolled conflict that resides inside our own hearts.
The main cause of unanswered prayer is asking with the wrong motives. Even the most legitimate prayer request can be corrupted by our selfishness and desire to satisfy our own passions.
Simply put, we need more of the grace of God. If we continue to depend on our sense of self-sufficiency and pride, we compound the problem by facing the opposition of God. Humility releases the grace of God into all of the relational issues that we face in the church.

Evening Reflection

Is there someone that you have been fighting with recently, perhaps your wife/husband, children, friend, etc? How did your pride make the problem worse? How can humility bring reconciliation? Pray to the Lord for more grace in the midst of conflict in your life.

February 26, Tuesday

Devotional Thought for Today

“A Great Mystery of God”

Exodus 7:1-7 (ESV)

And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

When I first became a Christian, this passage gave me a lot of trouble because it seemed on the surface as if God took away Pharaoh’s freedom of choice by hardening his heart. How was it possible to blame Pharaoh for his wrongdoing if God was actively making him resistant to making the right choice? I looked into classic Calvinism which taught that God predestined both who would be saved and those that would reject Him. Clearly, Pharaoh had not been elected to salvation. Initially, that seemed to solve this problem but it also seemed to paint a very stark view of God. Cognitively this made sense but my heart was still unsettled.

In the end, I came to the conclusion that the intersection of man’s freedom and God’s sovereignty is one of life’s great mysteries. It is hard to avoid the theological truth that God creates individuals with the foreknowledge that some will be saved and others will harden their hearts towards him. However, to say that God does not love those who will ultimately reject him is contrary to the witness of Scripture. On the way to the cross, Jesus pleaded for the Father to forgive the ignorance of those who were rejecting Him. I can’t imagine this being an empty gesture by the Son of God.

Over the years, what has given me comfort in accepting difficult passages like this is knowing the heart and character of our God who does not want any to perish but all to have everlasting life. Knowing that this is God’s desire is sufficient enough for me.

Prayer: Lord, I confess that there are certain things that are too weighty for me to understand. Indeed, the secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things that are revealed belong to us forever. Help me to trust in your goodness and love and to share that with both believer and non-believers. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Matthew 15

Lunch Break Study

Romans 9:14-24 (ESV): What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

Questions to Consider

For what purpose was Pharaoh created?
What gives God the right to create people for different purposes?
What is God’s attitude towards the objects of His wrath?

Notes

We are told that the purpose of Pharaoh’s life was to display God’s power in the life of Moses so that His name would be proclaimed throughout the world. God took the wickedness of Pharaoh and turned it into an opportunity for his glory to be revealed.
God is likened to a potter who has the right to shape clay into whatever he chooses. There will be some vessels that are used for common things while other vessels that will be used for noble purposes. As believers, we are encouraged by the fact that we have been for a noble reason.
We read that God endures with great patience the objects of wrath. This is clearly because of his grace and compassion towards them. As we read in Ezekiel 33:11 – “As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live, turn back, turn back from you evil ways; for why will you die.

Evening Reflection

A positive spin on the doctrine of election is that we can be sure that people can be saved because God has already chosen them. This should give us the confidence to share our faith with the lost because we know that God is already working for their salvation. Pray for the unbelievers around you so that God would give you an opportunity to share the gospel.

February 25, Monday

Today’s AMI QT Devotional is provided by Pastor Mark Chun who is the lead pastor of Radiance Christian Church in San Francisco. He has been contributing to this ministry since its inception in 2013.

Devotional Thought for Today

Psalm 25:16-21 (ESV)

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. 18 Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. 19 Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me. 20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. 21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.

Henry Thoreau is famous for his statement that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. The general context in which this quote is written deals with the plight of the common man who has no time to pursue anything of significance and is relegated to living life as a machine.

The vast majority of us live at such a hectic pace that we simply feel like we don’t have the time to deal with the emotional wounds that linger deep within. Everyone goes through seasons of life where loneliness, distress, affliction, and anxiety are acutely felt but never examined. When life seems to crash in from all sides, it is easy to distance ourselves from our emotions and bury our heads in our careers or families. Eventually, these emotional wounds will catch up to us if we don’t take the time to deal with them at the spiritual level.

The psalmist understands that God is the guardian of our souls and the healthiest response to our troubles is to turn to Him for protection and forgiveness.

So, this morning, identify some of the negative emotions you have been dealing with recently. Turn to the Lord and pray for protection and deliverance.

Prayer: Lord, help me to pray daily for your protection and deliverance so that I can be aware of feelings and thoughts that are a result of enemies working in my life. Give me the strength to deal with all my wounds by turning to you in prayer. In the end, it is the healing found in your grace and forgiveness that can restore my soul and bring me the peace that surpasses human understanding.

Bible Reading for Today: Matthew 14

Lunch Break Study

Read John 16:33 (ESV): “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Questions to Consider

Why did Jesus say this to the disciples (John 16:32)?
Is the Christian life devoid of trouble and grief (John 16:33)?
What is the ultimate source of peace that Jesus promises (John 14:26-27)?

Notes

Jesus said these things because he knew that his death on the cross would lead to anxiety and discouragement amongst the disciples. Many would fail him and lose their sense of purpose but in the midst of all the confusion, Jesus promises that he would never leave them nor allow the enemy to snatch them out of his hands. (John 10:28)
In the Gospel of John, the troubles that come with discipleship are plainly laid out for the reader. Although the health and wealth movement has misled many people in regard to the true blessings of God, John spells it out very clearly that believers will have trouble in this life. Though we are not of this world, our presence in this suffering world is God’s ways of communicating the Gospel.
The peace that God offers us is found in the Jewish understanding of shalom. It is not simply an absence of turmoil but a restoration to wholeness in every aspect of our being. As Jesus tells the disciples about his departure (ascension into heaven), he reveals that the Father will send a Helper, the Holy Spirit, to teach and guide the believers afterwards. The believers will have a newfound peace in their reconciliation with God and the ministry of his Spirit.

Evening Reflection

Did you make the most of your time and the opportunities that God gave you today? Write down any convictions that God has placed on your heart.

February 24, Sunday

Spiritual Food for Thought for the Weekend

“Speaking Before Others“

Exodus 6:30

But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?”

As a pastor, I preach a few times a month now, but it wasn’t long ago that I was incredibly fearful of public speaking. I remember when I first told my mom about feeling called to ministry about 12 years ago, one of the first things she said (in Chinese) was, “But you’re so scared of talking in front of people.” She was right, of course. A couple of years after that, I was tasked with the simple assignment of giving announcements at services on a regular basis. The first time I was frightened despite preparing for hours. But even after doing it dozens of times later, giving announcements would give me so much anxiety. You can guess how I felt then when I was asked to preach.

I can only imagine how Moses felt as he was called to speak before Pharaoh. Whereas I was being asked to speak before a friendly and receptive church crowd, Moses, on the other hand, was going before a king who likely thought of himself as a god and demanding that he do something that was completely against his own self-interests. Pharaoh was a one man hostile crowd. On top of this, Moses was being asked to go to Pharaoh for the second time, after having been harshly rejected the first time. I think we can all understand why Moses tells God that he isn’t capable.

Speaking about God to others, friendly or hostile, can be nerve-wracking. The reason Moses struggled—and the reason many of us struggle—is that when we stand before others to speak, we feel the spotlight. We can sense all of the eyes fixed on us, looking at us and hearing us, like everyone is noticing all of our weaknesses. Just like many of us, Moses in this moment is reacting out of his insecurity.

So how do we overcome our insecurities and fear of speaking before others? My solution was and is still… worship. Whenever we’re faced with our insecurity or inadequacy, the answer is to take our eyes off of ourselves and direct them to God. It can be frightening to speak to others about Jesus, but if in those moments, we can remember who we are speaking for through worship, we can speak with confidence knowing that it is not about us,but it is about Him.

Most of us are not preaching from the pulpit this Lord’s day, but all of us have opportunities to speak about Jesus to others. Whether we speak to 300 people or to one, let us fix our eyes on Jesus and find the strength to speak boldly for His name’s sake.

Prayer: Jesus, give me a heart of worship this today. Help me to fix my eyes on You and not myself, and give me the words and the boldness to proclaim Your Name to others. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Matthew 13

February 23, Saturday

Spiritual Food for Thought for the Weekend

“Rescued for Relationship”

Exodus 6:7-8

I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.’”

In the past decade or so, our culture has been enamored with superheroes. So many people love all different movies and TV shows about these heroes who are gifted in some supernatural way; they rise up to save lives or save the world. We of course know that superheroes aren’t real; nevertheless, they are the picture we have in mind when it comes to what it’s like to be a champion or rescuer of people. We rally around the gifted and popular politicians, CEOs, doctors, entrepreneurs, etc. to be the ones to bring change to this world. With this superhero mentality in our minds, perhaps this is how we view God as well. There is in fact a worship song called “Jesus You’re My Superhero.” We can imagine Jesus like a superhero flying into our lives out of nowhere to rescue us from a burning building or helping to fix our messed up lives.

While this view of God isn’t completely wrong, there’s something missing if we imagine Jesus as our superhero. The superheroes in media or even the heroes of our culture today, they don’t know usually have much relationship with the people they are rescuing. When Batman or Spider-man swoop in to save someone from a fatal car crash, afterwards they don’t sit down and grab a meal with them. And our own cultural or political heroes, whoever they are, we typically don’t know them and they almost assuredly do not know us. Sure they may be trying to help us as a people, but they don’t really have time or the inclination to be in relationship with us.

Jesus is our superhero, but unlike the superheroes of media or our society, his goal isn’t just to rescue and redeem us. His ultimate desire, as we see in Exodus 6, is for relationship. God tells Moses and Israel that He is going to bring them out of the slavery and bondage and into freedom. God is angry at the injustice that His people are facing. But He doesn’t want to just set his people free and leave them alone. Instead, He tells Moses that “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.” He set his people free so that He could be in relationship with them.

Jesus came to us to set us free from the slavery of sin. Jesus went to the cross so that we could be rescued and redeemed and made whole. But Jesus didn’t come to us just so that we could live good and righteous lives. He came so that we could be in an eternal love relationship with Him. Our God is not an impersonal superhero who is here to fix our problems; instead, He is an all-powerful God who wants to be in relationship with us. Let us remember to turn to him for rescue and relationship.

Prayer: Jesus I thank you that you came to save me and to be with me. I pray that I will daily remember that you desire a relationship with me, and that, in turn, I will strive to be with you. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Matthew 11-12

February 22, Friday

Devotional Thoughts for Today

“A God Who Hears”

Exodus 6:5-6

Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.

Prayer can seem to be a pretty mundane or ordinary activity. To the world, they may think of prayer as just mere words, and even within the church, prayer can sound like a sentimental thing or just a nice thing to say: “Oh sorry to hear that. I’ll pray for you.” In the past couple of years, as our world has faced different tragic events, people have begun to mock the term “thoughts and prayers,” because to many people prayer is just empty words. And even for some of us, we can be tempted to believe this to be true as well, because sometimes we may feel like our prayers are just words.

When we read this passage, and all throughout the Bible, prayer is far from empty words. The people of Israel has been enslaved by Egypt and they cry out to God for help; and what we see very clearly in Exodus 6 is that God hears the cries of His people. And not only does God hear, but He responds and acts on His people’s behalf.

That God hears our prayers is a simple yet amazing truth. Perhaps we’re so used to thinking that it’s true that we forget how incredibly amazing that really is. We should daily be in awe and grateful to God that He cares for us so much that He listens and responds to our prayers. It’s not dependent on our righteousness or holiness, or how much we’ve done for him or how spiritual we are—it is all God’s grace. God hears our prayers because He loves us.

Even if you’ve lost sight of this wondrous truth, even now you can speak to God and He will listen. Let us go to God, and in faith, trust that He is hears us and will respond.

Prayer: God I thank You that You love me and hear my prayers. I pray for greater faith to know that You hear me, and I pray for perseverance to keep on going to You in prayer. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Matthew 10

Lunch Break Study

Read Matthew 7:7-11: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Questions to Consider

What reason does Jesus give to us to pray to God?
What keeps us from asking from God in prayer?
Jesus says that all who ask God receive from Him. How has God answered your prayers in the past?

Notes

Jesus compares God to our earthly fathers who want to give good things to their children. And if our earthly fathers, who are imperfect sinners, are able to give good gifts to their children, just think about how much more so God our heavenly Father wants to give to us.
There are many different reasons, but I think one of the biggest barriers to prayer in our lives is self-sufficiency. We are trained by this world to learn to be independent and trust in our own work to provide for ourselves.
Personal reflection question.

Evening Reflection

Prayer is a gift from God that we don’t take advantage of enough. Tonight, as you close out your day, spend some time just talking with God about what’s going on in your life. Ask Him for strength and provision, and be confident that He hears you.