Saturday, June 14, 2008
Use Me

Better is one day
In Your courts
Better than anything
I could have
Teach these hands
To serve Your heart
All that I am
belongs to You, Lord

Use me
As I lift my voice to You
Use me,
To glorify Your name
Won’t You Use me
To shine my light for you
Father use me,
To be the light of this world
Oh Jesus,
There’s no one like You

©13 Jun 2008, Aaron Wu Junhao
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In John 4:23-24, Jesus says 'Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth.'

I want to have the right heart to worship. This song is my prayer to the Lord. This song contains some messianic chord progressions that gives it a rather dreamy feel. The feeling that God is just so close yet far at the same time.

I thank the Lord for always being there for me. This is my song to Him and I will continue to 'Sing a new song to Him, play skillfully and shout for joy' for He is the only God I worship. Use me to shine my light for You, for great is the Lamb of God. Thank you Lord, for all you've done for me. For there is no one like You. May I continue to find joy in worshiping You in spirit and in truth.

Labels: Devotion, Songs

Thursday, June 12, 2008
Humility

John 3 contains a verse that is very familiar to us. It is a verse that represents the Gospel in a nutshell. This verse is John 3:16, which says ‘for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ Indeed, this verse shows the extent of God’s unfailing love for us.

Though we were undeserving of this love, He still chose to send his one and only son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us. He came to save us, to wash away our sins and shame with his blood so that we may come before God blameless. Jesus made it possible for us to live for righteousness. His death made possible a future when all that is wrong on earth will be set right.

There is no doubt that God’s love for us is everlasting, however there are times where we upset him by certain wrong attitudes and actions that we do. I felt that God was speaking to me on the issue of men’s pride. This was something that could hinder us from drawing close to God.

God does not find delight in one’s boasting of his strength, riches or knowledge. If one loves the praise of men more than the praise of God, he would find it hard to listen to God and align his heart to that of God. God wants us to imitate Christ’s humility as stated in Philippians 2 and not have our eyes blinded and our hearts hardened to our very own pride.

I believe that God would have to break this very pride of ours to mold us and transform us into the person that he has designed us to be. Truly, we ought to humble ourselves to be like a servant and acknowledge that God is above all things. We have to work towards Christ-likeness, as seen in John 3:30-31.

God so loved us that He gave His son, the very least we could do is to do our very best to love the people around us no matter how unlovable they might be. I pray that God would teach me how to live a life of humility, even if it means the breaking of my very pride.

Be humble. Be a child of God and a servant to Man.

Labels: Devotion, Devotion:John

Monday, June 9, 2008
There Can Be Miracles...When You Believe!

In John 2:1-11, the story of Jesus changing water into wine is told. This was the first miracle that was recorded in the book of John. The setting takes place at a wedding at Cana in Galilee. "Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding."

At a point of time, the wine ran out, wine that was probably for the people attending the wedding. In verse 3-5, Jesus mother then told him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."

After reading v3-5, one may find it a bit confusing as to Mary’s statement in v5, after listening to Jesus’ seemingly unconcerned reply. From what I gather, I drew out 2 assumptions.

1.Mary knew Jesus was a special child. As Jesus’ mother, she probably saw the miracles that he did through out his growing stages. Hence, she believes that Jesus was able to help her with this matter. True enough, Jesus told the servants to fill six stone water jars with water and draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. The water was not only turned into wine but I believe it was turned into the best wine for that day. (V 10)

2.Mary knew the very nature of God, that if she ask for something and believes that it will be given to her, it will be done. As mentioned earlier, Mary knew Jesus was a special child. More importantly, she knew that Jesus was God. I believe Mary knew Jesus would indeed be her solution to the small issue she was facing.

The main point for these 2 assumptions was that she believed in Jesus for the miracle that He was about to do and God was testing her on this trust that she had. I felt that God has tested me on this very same trust for the miracle and solution that I needed regarding a situation I faced today.

My aunt and I went to Malaysia to do some shopping and some other stuff. While we were on our way back from JB to SG, we somehow followed the wrong crowd into the wrong queue and ended up back in SG without an exit permit chop from the custom officer. As we were not sure of the procedures, we assumed that these could be some of the new changes that were implemented. And so we went onboard our bus and started heading home. A quarter-way through the trip, we felt very uneasy about what had happened and I decided that we had better get back and clarify with the officers.

At that point of time, I was reminded of the story of how Elijah told his servant to go back and look toward the sea. Somehow, this urged me in my decision to ask my aunt to turn back and make the clarifications. We went back and found ourselves in a rather tight situation. However, I reminded myself that God is my protector and in Him I find my strength. I solely trusted in God for His help and the miracles and solutions started falling in place.

1.The ICA officer told us that she had problems deleting our entry in Singapore
- Praise be to God, the ICA officer’s supervisor said that the entry can be cleared by doing some special procedures
2.We were told that we might need to see the high comm. in Malaysia but as it was already evening and the office is probably closed.
-Praise be to God, we did not need to see the high comm.
3.We could have been detained in Malaysia for further investigation
-Praise be to God, the custom officers in M’sia was rather helpful. We were not detained and even if we were going to be detained, the ICA officer’s supervisor said that we could call the police for help.
4.We could have problems entering M’sia in the future if we had delayed any further.
-Praise be to God, there were no complications. We cleared everything smoothly.

Indeed the lesson that God has reminded through this was
A) Always trust in Him no matter what happens
B) Seek Him first in everything
C) Never make assumptions

Praise be to God for His miracles!

Labels: Devotion, Devotion:John

Sunday, June 8, 2008
The Journey Begins..

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:1-3

God was here in the beginning and He created the heavens and the earth as seen in Genesis 1:1. He spoke once and all creation sprang to life. He was called the Word and as seen in John 1, the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. He came and spoke in the only way that we could truly understand, by becoming one of us.

The book of John spells out the basis of our faith so clearly. In fact, its purpose is shown in John 20:31, which says
“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

In one of the three points in Pastor Khong’s message, ‘Starting Points’, it states that Jesus Christ is the eternal God who lived among us. Jesus is the very same God who created the universe as seen in John1: 3, Colossians 1:16-17.

I have to constantly ask myself whether I believe that Jesus is the Lord God Almighty. If I truly believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, I should be living a life that God finds pleasing. If Jesus is the Lord of my life, I will give my all to him. Whatever God says, I will do it in obedience even if it means giving up on things that may mean a lot to me.

God is not a silent God, He reveals Himself to us in everyway. He wants to have a living relationship with us. It is through His grace that I have received so many blessings in my life. He was the strong tower and refuge that I could seek during times when I was down. I do believe in Jesus and that He loves me. The times that I felt his presence during worship were real and not a fig of an imagination.

How then shall I live my life? Reading through the book of John again has open up my eyes to make me realize that the Word is God. I admit there were times where I read through the bible like it was a story, often missing the essence of what God was trying to speak to me. From that moment on, I believe that my quiet time with God will always be an exciting one of knowing more of God and what He has installed for me regarding my life.

Labels: Devotion, Devotion:John

Saturday, June 7, 2008
Embarking on a journey with Jesus

Pastor Seng Lee visited our cell group today and I thank God for the lessons that we learnt from Pastor's short sharing. Before the cell group ended, pastor asked each one of us to think of 1 application which we could do for the next 1 week. I thought about it for quite a while and I felt led to do my daily devotions on the book of John and do a reflection on each chapter a day.

It's a blessing to have pastor here in our cell group though Timothy was not here with us. I remember Pastor Seng Lee reminding us that we should not only just do a reflection and leave it just as it is, but in every way ask ourselves 'how then shall we live?' and how we can apply this teaching in our lives. Indeed, I pray that I will have the desire to live out a life that is pleasing to God and be transformed by Him.

'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' I'm looking forward for the next 1 week as I embark on a journey with Jesus and spend time with Him going through the book of John.

Labels: Devotion, Devotion:John