https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/29/even-if-3

The story Sadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3 is the famous story of how God protected the 3 children of Israel who refused to bow down and worship the golden image made by King Nebuchadnezzar while the Israelites were in exile in Babylon. As a result they were thrown into a burning furnace. What was amazing was that that were not harmed by the fire in the burning furnace and everyone there saw there were 4 people in the furnace; the three of them plus another. But what was more amazing was the reply given them to Nebuchadnezzar that the God they serve will rescue them and even if He does not, they will not serve Nebuchadnezzar’s gods or the golden image he made. Meaning to say that they were willing to die than to deny or betray Yahweh.

Yesterday we just heard a message from Elder Pastor Bernard Chong from Ipoh on the possibility that Christ may return in our generation based on certain signs of times. It is not a prophesy but an observation of prevailing facts as can be seen from world events. Thus, if we believe in the post tribulation theory, that means that the beast will emerge in our generation and we will all go through the great tribulation prior to the second coming of Christ and the day of the Lord.

The question is not whether Elder Pastor Bernard is right or wrong but what if he is right? Will we wake up and start preparing our hearts and lives so that we may go through the great tribulation like Sadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3? Will we refuse to bow down to the golden image and take the mark of the beast even if it means severe suffering and hardship for us and our families? There are practical preparations we need to plan in advance if and when the time presents itself like the appearance of the beast in the world scene. But most importantly I think for us, at this stage in time, is to prepare our hearts and to strengthen our faith so that we will be strong when the time comes. I believe that as we hold tight to our faith, we will experience the supernatural power and presence of God like Sadrach, Meshach and Abednego or if we die in the process, we will get to see Jesus immediately. Trying times with intense persecution will come our way if and when the great tribulation comes as part of God’s sovereign will in our lifetime. Can we go through that intensely difficult period without compromising our faith or betraying Jesus? Read Matthew 24 and 25 for some pointers on what we should do as individuals and as a community of believers.

As I have shared before the destiny of every man is death (Ecclesiastes 7:2) and thus we should start now, at whatever stage of life or age we are, to seek first the Kingdom of God, store up treasures in heaven and fulfil our calling in God. If we have to go through the great tribulation in our lifetime, then there is much greater urgency that we start acting now in those 3 areas in the midst of and despite the daily challenges we face just living this life here in earth! The question is not whether it is true but what if it is true? Are we prepared? Will we thus not prepare ourselves from now on? Food for thought for today and this week.

https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/27/bold-faith

I often wondered how and why some people have so much boldness to preach the Gospel? Why were they able to share their faith so boldly putting themselves in harm, even going through pain and suffering, torture and imprisonment to proclaim Jesus? Or in the case of Prem Padhan who was wounded during the war to walk with a limp, God called him to preach the Gospel in the Himalaya mountains. Surely it is through our weaknesses and disabilities, we find strength and power in God and experience heaven on earth.

I think two things stand out when people of faith respond to God’s call to minister and reach out. One is that they are seldom without weaknesses and some handicap whether physically or in speech or boldness and secondly, they are usually ordinary people like you and I. Usually “unschooled” in terms of spiritual education.

During the time of Jesus, most people are unschooled and illiterate as those that are literate and educated are usually educated in matters of religion like the Scribes and Pharisees. Except for Paul who was from the latter group, the apostles amd most believers were just ordinary unschooled people.

I think that in matters of personal faith, while a bible school education will help us in the long run in ministry, too much head knowledge may well hinder us since we may be thinking and analysing too much. Often most responses in faith to God involves just volunteering and stepping out in faith without too much reasoning as the more we reason, the more we will be overcome with fear anxiety and even doubt. We should respond not without thinking at all, but without thinking too much! In corporate speak, we call this analysis paralysis – we analyse something until we are paralysed with inaction and that will be useless if God meant for us to move forward. To step out in faith means to be considered and yet we leave it to God to work, we depend on Him rather than our natural planning or ability or education and most crucially, failure should not discourage us but motivate us to try harder.

My view is that such boldness to preach, speak or reach out can only come from God. Not only the call, but also the drive and boldness to action the call. Only God can give us that and I believe if we are willing and we raise up our hands, He will give us that boldness and drive. God calls ordinary people to ministry. Education is good and important but not always the prerequisite to ministry. If we are willing, God will use us. We can upgrade ourselves gradually over time. There is no need to have to start with a seminary degree to serve God, just a willing heart and I believe God will give us the boldness and over time educate us!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/26/mighty-warrior

It is a recurring pattern in the Old Testament of Israel’s disobedience and evil resulting in oppression and subsequently the Israelites calling out to God and God then delivers them. Egypt was not like that, but the Assyrians and Babylonians were and in those instances they were exiled in a foreign land. But in the case of Gideon, it was more of them being oppressed by the Midianites.

It is also a recurring theme in the bible of God choosing those who are hesitant and weaker to confound the strong and wise like in the case of Moses and Gideon or David when he was young or Jeremiah or even the 12 disciples, and you and I. While it is true that God will choose us even if we are weak, young and unprepared, it doesn’t mean conversely that God will not choose us if we are strong, matured and trained. The Lord will choose whoever responds to Him in our heart whether our flesh is strong or weak, prepared or not. Paul is a good example of one who is of the finest among the Scribes and Pharisees and God chose him.

But the point remains that if we are weak and not as brilliant or of the pedigree like Paul, that God will still choose us to do His will. God will still call us to be His warrior, to fight for Him in the Promised Land, to be like Caleb and Joshua to conquer and defeat strong armies and fortified cities even if we are outwardly weak, less of a standout, reserved and less brilliant. I guess in the end what matters is our heart. Is our heart for Him? Is our heart fanatically all for Him? Maybe we dare not show this to the world but deep inside us, we will do anything for God. We are not afraid to even die for Him. We love God that much. No one sees that part of us, but only God.

I think if our heart is for Him, nearly 70% of the battle is won. 70% but nevertheless not 100%. We still need to respond to His call. We still need to prepare and let ourselves be trained, to be molded into the warrior that God wants to make us to be. That we alone can slay 100 on the battlefield. That we can bind and break spiritual forces and principalities of the air with the authority and power given us by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us respond if the Lord calls us. Respond to be His warrior, to defeat those who oppress us and the brethren. Doesn’t matter that we are old or young, strong or weak, prepared or not – so long as we are willing, God will prepare and train us. Will we respond to His call?

https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/25/a-thankful-heart

As I have shared before, one of the blessings we receive by having God in our lives, is an uplift of our economic status over generations. This could be indirectly a result of us being a better person and thus avoiding vices like gambling, drinking, drugs and womanising. It could also be due to us having a better education and job or business opportunities as our mind, acumen and soft skills become sharper and better with Jesus in our lives. But I believe it is also just a broad outpouring of heavenly blessings upon our lives that made things just smoother and better over time, say 40 or 50 years in our lifetime or over a few hundred years across generations.

That is why it is good to devote ourselves to prayer, be watchful and thankful. We must acknowledge the goodness of God in our lives as we reach out to Him every day in prayer, as we communicate with Him, even in times of supplication and requests. Be thankful for what we have and who we are. Be thankful that God had called us to be His own. Be thankful for the ministries we have the opportunity to be involved in. Be thankful for the lives who had cared for us and have touched us. Be thankful for the lives we can reach out to. Be thankful for the time and effort put in by various ones to preach messages to us from the pulpit, for the worship leaders leading us in worship, for the time put in by musicians to sharpen their skills. Be thankful for the writers of ODB and for those who take time and effort to help us draw closer to God.

As for me, I’m thankful that I may write these commentaries with the inspiration from the Lord and guidance from the Holy Spirit and for the many who support me in this endeavour by reading my work. I’m thankful for my job for how the Lord protected me and opened up new opportunities within my present organisation that despite earlier setbacks, I can soar with wings of an eagle again! I’m thankful that with the blessings of God that my wife and I are able to support two of our sons who are now in tertiary education and give them the opportunity to broaden their horizons and achieve their dreams. This is supposed to be the most strained times of our lives as parents in financial terms but I’m thankful that God’s blessings are seeing us through smoothly. I’m thankful that despite the economic downturn and uncertainty caused by the pandemic, our respective companies are doing fairly well and are able to withstand the storms coming our way with rising prices and dwindling consumer wallets and customer revenues.

If we have ever helped anyone before, even if we did not expect anything in return, we at least hope to receive an acknowledgement of our help, a note of thanks and a genuine heart of thanksgiving and gratefulness. Most of the times, that would have made our day. I’m sure our God the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are the same. They would also want us to acknowledge and appreciate them as they help us along in our lives and pour down their blessings from the heavenlies to smoothen our paths that we may lead better, more comfortable and more purpose driven lives.

Be thankful to God. It will not hurt. His love and compassion may be steadfast and unconditional, but He has feelings too. Remember that in John 11, Jesus was moved by the mourning crowd, and He wept. He loved Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, and He loves us too.

https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/24/hey-soul

Jesus taught us to pray to our Heavenly Father that Your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. We pray for the sovereign will of God be done and yet we know that it will be done regardless of what man does like the coming of Jesus through the line of David, the death and resurrection of Christ, the choosing of the twelve disciples, the raising up of the apostles through the coming and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, the conversion of Paul and the letters he wrote that formulated the tenets of our faith. We know that Revelation 22 will be real one day and Christ will come again as King and God will once again live among man like He did at the beginning in the Garden of Eden with the Tree of Life accessible to man again.

All those are very big events that affect our life and yet they do not relate to us directly. They affect where we will go after we depart this earth. We know we have an excellent final destination and our life here is temporary. As someone had said, we are pilgrims passing through this earth. 90 or 100 years is nothing compared to eternity and yet every passing second, every passing minute here on earth needs to be lived here on earth. This is the reality we know of now, one that we can feel, see and touch and experience in our flesh and blood.

What then is God’s will for us? My soul waits in silence for God. Yet David tells his soul – my soul, wait in silence for God alone. God’s timing is perfect and sovereign. He cannot be rushed and neither will He rush. Our role as His children and servants is to wait upon Him. Let His will come to pass in our lives here on earth as it is in heaven as He had intended and planned for us even before we were formed in our mother’s womb. As we investigate, seek and discover His calling for our life as we discover what is His will for us – fulfil it and let it come to pass that we may see and experience His glory here on earth. As some say, let us experience a touch of heaven here on earth, let us have a glimpse of heaven as we live out our life here on earth. Sometimes and to some of us, our lives may be so tough and difficult that we are tempted to give it all up, to give up on God. But don’t! No, don’t! For Jesus is our rock and salvation, He is our hope, our real and genuine hope and help in times of trouble.

Truly my soul finds rest in God. He is my rock and salvation, He is my fortress and I will never be shaken.

I believe that as much as our final and true destiny is in heaven, we have a separate destiny here on earth. We have a specific calling. There is God’s will personal to and for us, that relates directly to us. Yield and surrender to Him our lives and He will make us into fine vessels for His glory to shine forth. My soul, wait in silence for God alone. My soul, find rest in God alone. Amen

https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/23/walking-bibles

In my sermon last Sunday that I shared in my local church, I structured my message by starting with the narrative on Lazarus in John 11 and from that last miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead after 4 days, I expounded on the two points that God put in my heart to speak on: (i) the perfect and sovereign timing of God, and (ii) that nothing is impossible with God. However, as Lazarus was raised from the dead in his own same natural body unlike Christ’s glorified body, he eventually had to die even though as we can see in John 12, his resurrection from the dead was a marvel that brought many to believe in Christ. Then I moved on to Ecclesiastes 7:2 where Solomon (as believed by most) declared that the destiny of every man is death and thus the living must take this to heart since Lazarus later had to eventually die. Thus I asked the question by just picking on 3 verses – what should we do in the meantime before our destiny comes a calling? I shared from Matthew 6:33 (seek ye first the Kingdom of God), Matthew 6:19 (store up treasures in heaven) and Jeremiah 1:5 (our calling in God).

The structure of my message was a departure from my usual exegesis of a chosen text or narrative, which would then form the gist of my sermon. This time the Lord led me to use a chosen text as a springboard to deliver a reminder on what we should all do before death comes a calling; no matter what is our present age, education, social status, ministry or calling in God.

I believe that my daily reading of ODB and the accompanying Scriptures have helped me to have this versatility to expound on a topic beyond a selected biblical text and I am grateful to the Holy Spirit for teaching and guiding me along the way. I never believed that I am able provide an exhaustive exposition on any given text or topic in the bible but I believe that those 3 Scriptures were timely reminders to all that there are just some things that we must always aspire to do amidst our “busyness” in coping with life and its pressures, to earn a living and live in this world but always deferring to God’s will for our life.

My exaltation to all of us this morning is to strive on reading God’s Word as the more we read, the more may the Holy Spirit teach and guide us in the knowledge and fullness of God and His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The more we read the Bible, the more we may be transformed into the image of Christ, in our actions, reactions, thoughts, motivations and character. We cannot avoid but become a better person in Christ as we allow the Word of God to speak to us, change and transform us from within! Amen

https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/22/true-worshipers

We know now what Jesus meant in John 4:23 that a time will come when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. The place of worship matters less than the spirit that has been renewed and born again, we worship from deep within us and empowered and prompted by the Holy Spirit that lives within us. And in truth meaning to say that we worship God based on what is revealed about God in His Word. Like His greatness, His steadfast love, His grace and mercy, His forgiveness and providence. He is a great and mighty God and He has compassion and love for His people!

Having re-experienced physical on site church worship for the past two Sundays now after such a long break, I have to say that it’s indeed good and great to worship together as a congregation at a physical place. Zoom works as we are not limited by space or place when worshipping the Lord and yet physically worshipping together as a congregation works better despite us all wearing face masks and having muffled voices. It is still better than hearing only our voice and the worship leader’s during Zoom! We could hear some variations and harmonies in the distance as we all give our best to God in singing and worship with the songs led by the worship leader.

I pray that this pandemic situation will quickly become andemic and life will become normal again albeit a new normal. We may get infected but it will be mild like the common cold even if we have comorbidities. That even the older and weaker ones will be properly protected as our community immunity through vaccination becomes stronger and the virus becomes overall weaker.

In the meantime, let us all continue to walk this walk of faith and worship the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost wherever we are as God seeks true worshippers who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. We wait for the day when more and more of us can worship together again at on-site worship services to celebrate and proclaim the goodness of God and His abundant mercies!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/21/labrador-angel

For those of us who have pets, particularly dogs and to a certain extent cats, we will most likely experience the unfailing love of our pets. They are faithful and will love us fully. Of course we need to feed them and shower them but there is something about a pet’s love that is different from a human’s love – it is much simpler, less complicated, less demanding. It is thus a good picture of God’s unfailing love as illustrated by the writer of ODB today. Our pets’ love is unflinching, undivided and totally focused on us.

God’s love for us is unfailing. It is steadfast and unflinching. As much as God cares and loves millions of others, His love is still focused on us. Jesus is there with us every moment of what we are going through and His love never changes no matter what we do. Sometimes we feel we are a failure in our faith. We are not able to overcome some sin or some wound in our hearts that is causing unforgiveness and bitterness. Although sin and unforgiveness can separate us from God, they will not change God’s love for us. God’s love remain unfailing. If we turn back to Him and seek His help to overcome, He will help us through and help us to forgive and forget. So, that we will move on and progress with Him.

If we look at Psalm 43 carefully, we will see that David sought God’s rescue through His unfailing love. For His name’s sake, David prayed that God preserves his life. In His unfailing love, David prayed that the LORD silences his foes. I experienced this before even though I didn’t pray to that extent. In the end, the LORD intervened and silence my enemies and as I reflect upon it, I now realise that it is the LORD’s unfailing love that He rescued me and silenced my foes. He preserved my life for His name’s sake. Like David, I remembered the days of old, of what He had done for me before and because of that, I know that as I put my trust on Him, He will see me through again. That’s because His love is unchanging. The LORD will rescue me and will not allow me to fall into the pit or let my spirit grow faint or my heart within me becomes dismayed. He is my God, my fortress and my salvation!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/19/when-you-cant-go-on

If a situation arises when it looked like it is impossible to go on, know that as we seek out the Lord, He will help us through that seemingly impossible to go on situation. Perhaps God allowed that situation for a reason, perhaps to strengthen our faith or the faith of the people around us.

As we read Lamentations 3:21-23 and the context of Nebuchadnezzar laying seige over Jerusalem and eventually conquering Judah and destroying the city and the temple, and bringing the Israelites to exile into Babylon; the sense is that God is still their only hope. God punished Judah for their disobedient and wicked ways and yet only God can and will be their Saviour and redeemer. That is the trend of the LORD’s dealing and interaction with the children of Israel as seen in the Old Testament. But before the punishment, the LORD repeatedly sent prophets to warn them to turn away from their wicked ways and return to Him and when they still refused to obey and repent, the LORD allowed the situation to turn really bad. And yet despite all that, if they repented and returned to Him, He will nevertheless save and rescue them.

Sometimes certain events occur and we cannot be certain of its reasons. Maybe it’s just life, and that’s part and parcel of living. Maybe God wants to teach us something, wants to strengthen and mould us. It could be the fire that refines us, to make us become pure gold and to burn away the chaff. Whatever the reasons, one thing is certain – even if we are the reason for that situation, the compassion of God is not restrained. Like Judah, the LORD remains their sole hope and history has shown that He will nevertheless redeem and restore. No matter at what point of the bottomless pit we are, the LORD is and will bring us back up to ground if we are willing to acknowledge the error of our ways, repent and come back to Him.

“Because of the LORD’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

https://odb.org/MY/2021/11/18/its-broken

No doubt we are broken one way or another by what we had gone through in life. Our failures, disappointments, tragic events, betrayals or u-turns by colleagues, family, friends or special friends even spouses. No doubt too that as we come to Jesus we are reconciled to the Father and He heals our brokenness, makes us whole again and come alive in Christ. We have a new repurposed life and we have now become more like the Wolverine, our heart heals much faster than it used to because of the power and grace of God in our lives. Do we go through brokenness after knowing Jesus? Yes, it’s part of life but we are more forgiving, less bitter, more compassionate. Things that used to rile us up – we are more relaxed. Why? Because of the grace of God in our lives.

In Ephesians 2:7, Paul writes about God raising us up with Christ and seated us up with Him in the heavenlies in order that in the coming ages He may show us the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. It is this grace that we are saved through faith, it is a gift of God, not from ourselves or by works.

We should look forward to this increasing grace in the coming ages, the incomparable riches of His grace. That as we walk with Him in faith, we will experience more and more of Him, His presence and His grace upon and in our lives. Perhaps, we can’t heal internally like the Wolverine yet. Perhaps we still take time, not instantaneously yet. But it will become faster and we will recover better. We will no longer hold bitterness in our hearts that poisons and kills us slowly. When people hurt us, we can let it pass. We can forgive and sometimes even forget. If Christ can forgive and erase our transgressions, we too can do so of the transgressions of others. We are receiving and experiencing more of the incomparable riches of His grace in our lives as we walk this path of faith. Our walk of faith is exciting and will be full of wonders and surprises as God reveals more of Himself to us, as we put our trust and faith in Him! Perhaps, one day our brokenness will no longer bother us anymore. Let’s continue walking this walk of faith in Christ Jesus, giving our all to Him in all that we do! Praise the Lord for the goodness of God in our lives! He is good, all the time!