https://odb.org/2023/11/17/the-adventure-2

In Ephesians 1:13-14, Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as a seal and a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance in Christ Jesus. 6 years back, I received a prophesy that God would bless me with a big inheritance. I can’t forsee any in the natural and thus assumed that the preacher was speaking of this Ephesians 1 inheritance we have in Christ Jesus.

A deposit is a down-payment before the real thing comes. So we pay a deposit to buy a house before we use a bank loan to settle the balance of the purchase price. It makes the offer and acceptance legally binding on both the seller and the purchaser. Thus, a seller can not subsequently change his mind on the sale after accepting the deposit as there is a remedy of specific performance in equity by the purchaser to enforce the sale. Correspondingly, the purchaser will forfeit the deposit if he changes his mind.

The Holy Spirit is both a seal and a deposit. As a deposit, it means that our heavenly inheritance is guaranteed. It will come through one day. God will not change His mind about us. The power and authority of the Holy Spirit working supernaturally in the natural is a foretaste of heaven for us as believers. As Jesus performed miracles and signs and wonders while on earth, we may do so too with the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. As a seal, He will ensure that our destiny and place in heaven are assured and fulfilled, as planned for us by God, before the foundations of the earth. We are marked as belonging to God by the seal of the Holy Spirit.

I think the only complication we may face is that we still have our own free will and freedom of choice as human beings despite being children of God. It’s a no-brainer to choose God as the rewards are infinite – we have eternal and everlasting life. But will we? Will we live our lives as a living proof of us having chosen God?

https://odb.org/2023/11/15/one-thing-needed

Every now and then, we come across this issue of Mary and Martha as enumerated in Luke 10:38-42. Do you serve the guests or sit down and listen to the teacher? Do you do the work or just commune with God? For example, the church needs to be vacuumed, and the toilets are to be cleaned. Someone needs to prepare the message. The worship team needs to prepare for worship, and that includes not only singing the songs but preparing the slides for Zoom and projecting the lyrics. We need to make sure the sound system and the microphones work and the musical instruments are tuned. We can not have a worship service if everyone just comes to church and silently listens to God. If we are breaking bread, someone needs to prepare the bread and the juice or wine.

Yet, in the midst of all the activities needed to run a church, in particular, a Sunday worship service, we need to remember what’s the most important thing. The work must continue, but the objective and goal must always be remembered, and that is to sit at His feet and listen to Him. That is why, in addition to all the work and preparation that everyone else is doing, we must prepare our hearts to listen to Jesus when we go to church. We must open up our hearts to receive from Him as the congregation. His Word to strengthen and encourage and guide us along our lives, especially our spiritual life. Even those of us who are doing the work, we must remember the ultimate objective of reaching out and touching the train of His robe. We want to have a touch of Him, to see Him face to face in the spirit as we worship Him. To hear His voice speaking to us as the preacher delivers the message. What is God saying to us through all the noise, words, and music? Can we allow His Word to cut through all that as it is, after all, a two-edged sword?

We always need Martha as time waits for no man – life goes on. We can not freeze time to catch a breadth. Reach out to God and seek Him amidst the “busyness” of our lives. We need to be Mary, to just chill and listen to Jesus as He speaks and comforts us. The guests needed to be attended to, but we also need to sit down at His feet to listen to Him. Find that quiet time and pray and commune with Him as our Lord always does Himself when He was ministering on earth. It will make a difference, believe me!

https://odb.org/2023/11/14/remembered-no-more

Jeremiah 31:27-34 is interesting because it was written in ancient times, and it foretold what Jesus did many years later in Jerusalem. It’s a prophesy of God making the New Covenant with His people and putting His law in their minds and writing it on their hearts. They will be His people, and He their God. All of them will know Him, from their least to the greatest, for He will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.

As believers of Christ, we have no issues coming to terms with God’s forgiveness of our past sins. We had started anew and He had placed us on a fresh piece of paper when we first accepted Christ. What occurred in the past is in the past. It will not be brought up again. God will paint our lives in a new white canvas with His master brush strokes.

The issue is, do we still intentionally sin? Do we still intentionally sin when God has written His law in our hearts and minds? Even then, Father God still forgives us. But can this pattern go on indefinitely, in perpetuity? That we still sin despite our redemption by the blood of the Lamb, despite being filled with the Holy Spirit? Yes, we are human, and we are “work in progress,” but surely the fruit of the Spirit is already manifesting in our lives? Surely, the Holy Spirit is already working in our lives to change and transform us?

There is no need to live a life filled with condemnation and guilt as there is no condemnation in Christ. Break free and break through from recurrent and intentional sins and live victoriously in Christ and in the Holy Spirit! Then there is true meaning to the phrase that He remembers our sins no more and forgives us our iniquities, for we are strong and courageous for Him, living our lives to the fullest for His Kingdom and His purposes! Praise the Lord!

https://odb.org/2023/11/13/the-card

As believers, we have the unique ability to reach God the Father through prayer. Our access was restored because Jesus died for our sins. He became the Lamb of God, the Son who was sent to earth that whosoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life per John 3:16. But we know that everlasting life is not just heaven. It is also heaven on earth. It is the Kingdom of God in our lives here on earth. We have an ongoing relationship with God while living here in our earthen vessels, waiting for the trumpet call to be united with our Lord in the sky when He returns. Our spirit and soul will be clothed in our glorified bodies. We will be like Christ after He was resurrected.

As we pray, I’m sure there were times when things misplaced were found because God helped us remember where we placed them earlier. Or the times when we found a parking spot after praying. The sceptic in us may want to contend that it was pure coincidence, but we know that there is something supernaturally natural there – supernatural in the natural as God in the heavenly realm penetrates into the physical realm here on earth. The same principle works when confronted with spiritual forces of the air. Prayer can contain and destroy their evil plans. Prayer moves moutains as Jesus taught that if we have faith the size of the mustard seed, we may move mountains. Prayer moves the hand of God, no matter how dire a situation looks from the outside. Nothing is impossible with God.

This week, as we start work after the public holiday, let us focus a little more on our relationship with God and begin to talk to Him more constantly. Speak to Him if we are troubled. Pray when we face obstacles at work. Pray when we are frustrated by our work environment. The LORD both hears and remembers. God remembered the Israelites in misery and raised up Moses, an adopted son in the house of the Pharoah, to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. He will not forget us too! Commit our troubles to Him, He will make our paths smooth.

https://odb.org/2023/11/12/cling-to-me

I have probably read the story of the woman with the issue of blood many times but didn’t see the challenge she faced and the significance in her determination to touch the cloak of Jesus. It was, of course, a miracle and significant because just touching Jesus’s robe healed her. The incident has the vibes of Isaiah 6:1, where Isaiah declared that the train of His robe filled the Temple.

In other words, the edge of a man’s robe or that of the LORD in Isaiah 6:1 speaks of His power, authority, and covering (protection). Seen in that context, the woman in Matthew 9:18-22 actually knew the significance of touching the edge of Jesus’s robe. It’s not just a question that even His robe can heal but rather the edge of His robe signifies His authority as the Son of God, and therefore, it can surely heal.

But it was no ordinary woman facing an ordinary illness. It is a long, outstanding illness that must have weakened her considerably. Coupled with the social stigma associated with it as women having their periods, they were considered unclean, and this woman have been having this condition for 12 years! It is somewhat similar to the social shame associated with HIV in our current context.

We could be facing an illness that we are too shy to voice out. But if we have the determination and faith of the woman in Matthew 9, the Lord in His grace and mercy will heal us and make us whole again. Trust in Him and act on His power and authority. It will come to pass.

https://odb.org/2023/11/10/love-through-prayer

I think the commandment to love your enemies like yourself is probably one of the most challenging and perplexing to come out of Christianity. It is counter-intuitive, and although there have been reported instances of believers doing so in terms of forgiveness of crimes done to their family members, I doubt that it is commonplace. If this commandment is freely practised by many of us, there will certainly be fewer conflicts, misunderstandings, and feuds among believers. Churches will not split up and go separate ways. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand. You can not love without forgiving. They are very much two sides of a coin.

Forgiving those who had hurt us may be rationalised by the metaphor of drinking poison to kill someone else. If we keep hate and spite because we have a vengeful spirit, we are only destroying ourselves from within. So it becomes easier to forgive once we see the utility in forgiving and letting things go. We need to move on with our lives from a natural perspective. We need to move in God and take hold of His specific will for us in the spiritual realm. We can not afford to live and dwell in the past. It is both inhibitive and destructive.

To conquer this commandment to love your enemy – perhaps we could look to God Himself. The rationale is that He is actually like that. He loves everyone and even those who are against Him, who persecute and oppress Him. Jesus was the perfect example. He died on the cross willingly and focussed on His mission until the very end. He could have called upon the legions of angels to rescue Him, but He would have compromised His ultimate objective to become the second Adam and reconcile man to God. Until today, the Jews do not believe in Jesus and reject Him. So we see the current situation in Gaza. Israel has vowed to kill every single Hamas militant and will turn Gaza into rubble to do so. Certainly for them, it is not forgiveness and loving your enemies!

The message today is to pray for your enemies in order to love them. If we take the effort to pray for our enemies, we will somehow see God’s heart in all that. That’s the key to how we may actually love our enemies. Practically pray for both Israeli soldiers as well as Hamas militants and Palestinian civilians. Everyone deserves God’s love and compassion! Pray that there will be a reasonable resolution to the conflict. Pray that both sides will be able to live in peace with one another and accept certain realities of the situation.

https://odb.org/2023/11/09/sing-for-victory

I’m currently in Langkawi island, the largest island in Malaysia, for a team building event with my fellow lawyers from my company’s group legal department. We had a gala dinner last night, and our chief, the Group General Counsel, sang a few songs with the lead singer of the 4 piece live band we had. When I heard the songs sang. I realised that I had limited repertoire of non-church songs, whether oldies or contemporary, rock, pop, or jazz, that I could actually sing and perform. I realised that I had never properly learnt even a simple and popular oldie like Stand By Me. The reason is probably that in my past 40 years’ journey in music, I have mostly played and sang worship songs. If you want to be an accomplished musician, this is certainly not the way to go as we need to learn the standards to expand our skills and repertoire.

However, if you are a believer, singing and playing worship songs have their own distinct benefits. As we learned today from 2 Chronicles 20 during King Jehoshaphat’s time (one of the few God-fearing kings Judah or Israel had), he won a battle purely by worshipping God, with singers and musicians. There is power, authority, and victory in worship! That is why churches always start off services with praise and worship as worship ushers in the presence of God. It lifts our hearts and prepares us to see and experience God in the spirit. Corporate worship is a powerful means to get into the attitude of heart to experience Him in a worship service, especially on Sundays.

On top of that, worship can be at the personal level, and as we worship God on our own, we will usher in His presence and may well taste victory like Jehoshaphat did. It is easier to worship if we could play an accompanying instrument like a guitar or a piano, but that’s not a prerequisite. We don’t even need to pitch well (sing in key) as personal worship is our own personal time with God to recharge our batteries and hear from Him.

The message this morning is that we must cultivate a habit of worshipping God, particularly as part of our quiet time with Him. Cast our troubles and worries unto Him and trust in His unfailing love that is renewed like dew every morning. Sing songs of praise and worship, sing from the bottom of our heart, and bless Him for He alone is worthy of our worship! Amen!

https://odb.org/2023/11/08/knowing-the-shepherds-voice

Ivan, my elder son, rescued a kitten who suddenly appeared at our home two years back. She was probably just two weeks old only then. Ivan then left for the UK to complete his 3rd year law degree and has been working there on a graduate’s visa since he graduated. So, as I had taken over caring for Cotton, she is now de facto my cat, although perhaps she is de jure still Ivan’s. Res ipsa loquitur- the facts speak for itself! (Pardon my use of legal latin – just exercising my mind on the possible layman usage of these terms).

Thus, Cotton will come to me when I call her as she recognises my voice. Actually, not only mine but my wife’s and my younger son’s and also Ivan’s when he’s home. The point is that Cotton is ours and we are her family (in fact, her world), so she knows and responds to our voices. She meows away when she hears us call!

This is what, in my view, Jesus was trying to convey when He taught in John 10:1-10 that the sheep recognises and listens to the voice of the Shepherd. Like in the case of Cotton, He is now our world, and we are His. We will, therefore, listen to Him and follow Him. Christ emphasises this point further in verse 9 by declaring that He is the gate, and whoever enters through Him will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. Elsewhere Jesus taught that He is the river of living waters that whoever drinks of Him shall never thrist – alluding to the fountain of water of life that we so long and look forward to one day in the new heaven and new earth as revealed to John in Revelation 21:6.

In John 10, Jesus warned of thieves and robbers who came before Him whom the sheep would not listen to. But are we heeding His advice? Are we instead listening to and following thieves and robbers who are hell-bent (how apt!) to steal our blessings and rob us of our inheritance in Christ? We are supposed to find pasture in Christ, the gate, and the Shepherd, but are we? He is the true pasture that feeds both our body and soul. Don’t be distracted, and don’t be led astray. Don’t be like Esau signing away his father’s blessings for him, his birthright, in exchange for a bread and a lenthil stew (Genesis 25:32-34). Always think and act with eternity in mind!

https://odb.org/2023/11/07/destruction-destroyed

There is something alluring about forbidden fruits that ping our curiosity and will potentially lead us into trouble. In horror movies, there is always a room that is kept sealed, but somebody will open it to see what’s inside and unleash a trail of terror and destruction.

In Genesis 3, the serpent started his deception by asking Eve, “Did God really say that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” That created a doubt in Eve’s mind. Eve gave the correct answer that God did say that they can not eat the fruit from the tree in the middle, for they will surely die if they touch it. Yet the serpent could still twist the correct answer by lying to Eve that they will surely not die! Instead, the serpent said that they would be like God knowing good and evil, which Eve perceived as gaining wisdom. So Eve ate of the fruit and gave some to Adam for the fruit looked good and they would gain wisdom in the process. Alas, they were scammed, and sin came into the world! Humankind was then banished from Eden. God had to send His only begotten son to the world so that whosoever believed in Him shall not perish but have eternal life – John 3:16.

Satan is still at his game today to deceive mankind and create doubt in their minds about God by lying to us that the broad path is the best path for our lives that is most beneficial to us. He still lies to us to lead us into the wide gate where the way is broad, which leads to destruction.

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. The gate is small, and the way is narrow, which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Jesus Himself said this in Matthew 7:13-14.

As believers, we must always be extra careful and vigilant not to be deceived by the devil by him creating doubts in our minds and lying to us about God, His son, His Holy Spirit, and His Word. This is particularly so during these end times when Satan seeks to drag as many souls as possible with him into the lake of fire through whatever means, including false teachers. The first deception of the devil brought sin into the world. The continued deception of the serpent seeks to draw, even us who have seen the light and are living in the light, into darkness and destruction. Never doubt God or His Word. Proverbs 9:10 already taught us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. We do not gain wisdom when we believe in Satan’s lies or partake of forbidden fruits. Instead, we are wise if we fear God.

https://odb.org/2023/11/06/persistent-pizza

When I was growing up in primary school in Situawan, a small town on the West Coast of Malaysia, I was a baby Scout. If Boy Scouts may be equated to wolves, we were cubs. Although we were only cubs, we did most of the things the older ones did, including doing voluntary work for donations like mowing lawns or washing cars. We also went camping, albeit in a very much controlled environment like in a school as we were 10 to 11 years old then. Our most notable duty was to keep the crowds in line during sports days. Besides rope work and basic first aid, one of the things I still remember till today is the motto to do a good deed a day. As Scouts, we were supposed to do a good deed a day. Like help someone cross the road or hold the lift for someone or help hold the ladder. It promotes civic consciousness and helps us do our duty for society at large.

This is somewhat similar to Paul’s exhortation in Galatians 6:9 that we do not become weary in doing good. As believers, we have a duty to do good – for Christ, for the church, and for society. We will likely not be appreciated, but that’s not the point. We do good because we love God and want to reflect His glory, but more importantly, because this is who we are as believers. Our relationship with God would have made us better human beings. Our faith would have made us people who wanted to help others. It has become second nature to us to always want to do good. Like Scouts, we want to at least do a good deed a day as believers of Christ.

This is a simple message this morning for us all to start off the week. Do not cease to do good. Do not give up doing good works. Faith without (good) works is dead (James 2:26). Have a great and blessed week ahead, everyone! Take care and be strong in the Lord!