I learnt quite a number of years back during a counselling seminar about the power of gratitude, especially thankfulness to the creator. It applies to everyone whether those in the faith and those yet in the faith. Gratefulness releases a combination of dopamine, oxytocins and endorphins in the brain that is similar to a runner’s high. Thus biologically it is proven that gratefulness actually makes people happy and have peace. Something inbuilt and internal.

I however take the view that as believers, gratefulness and thankfulness are even more potent, more powerful, particularly, if we are grateful and thankful to our Father in heaven. If we are thankful for what we have despite what we are going through, if we rejoice in God although we are down and struggling – God sees and emphasises with us. Perhaps He may alleviate our situation or make our problems go away. Or perhaps He does not. But whatever is the outcome, His promise is that He will be with us throughout it all. We may feel we are all alone but He is there with us.

Thankfulness and gratefulness take a deeper meaning as believers because our Heavenly Father is a person like you and I. He created us in His image. He has feelings too. He gets angry and is compassionate as seen in the Old Testament of ancient Israel. When He was personified by Christ on earth, we could see that Jesus is also an emotional being like you and I. He cried when He saw Lazarus dead and his sisters and family in so much grief.

So I’m saying that the same way that we are happy when others express their gratitude and thankfulness, what do you think our Heavenly Father will feel if we do so ourselves to Him? Will He not be happy with us? He will know that we notice and acknowldege His work in our lives. He doesn’t need our recognition as He is God and yet if we give Him due recognition and honour, I’m sure He will be pleased. We always sing we give all honour, all glory and that all power belongs to Him – mean it by recognising and acknowledging His grace and mercy and compassionate work in our lives. It is the Holy Spirit who has shaped our hearts all these years to know God. It is Jesus Christ who died for our sins and liberated us from the clutches and destiny of sin amd condemnation. Thus as believers, thankfulness and gratefulness will not only have internal effects in terms of endorphins but also an external effect as we have an ongoing daily relationship with our God. It will sure be well for our relationship with God if we are thankful.and grateful to Him for all that He has and will do in our lives. Therefore in all things, give thanks and by prayer ahd supplication, present our requests to Him (Philippians 4:6) and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/09/the-power-of-gods-word-2

We all know that there are two aspects of Scriptures as set forth in the Bible. One is the logos side of it which is the rationale and logic and principles as it was written – the meaning of which must be extracted and understood within the context (background, cultural norms and literary forms existing at the time it was written). Like the expression Jesus used, “if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you may move this mountain”. The use of extreme contrasts to express the point that with faith in God, no matter how small and actually it doesn’t really matter how strong, one can do wonders. It doesn’t literally mean moving a mountain but a mountain could mean a community so deep into their cultural norms and yet could still accept and believe in Christ crucified and resurrected. It is not literal and yet it has a literal meaning. Therefore to teach and preach on principles as enumerated in the bible in terms of the logos part of it, we need to limit ourselves within the principles and tenets of our faith.

Yet, we know the Word of God is a living Word. The second aspect of Scriptures is its rhema. An utterance or meaning that we may apply to our situation or to give us direction. Meaning to say lessons taught and directed to, for example, ancient Israel are applicable to us, the modern church, in this present age and time as we are the spiritual Israel and thus even to us as individual believers. It is this aspect of the Word that most preachers focus on as a true sermon must contain a Word that is relevant to what we as a congregation or as individuals are going through. And that is the most difficult challenge for most preachers – what is the living Word of God to speak to the congregation right now for this moment and season of time? Most preachers spend most of their preparation time seeking God on this. So even if we have heard a passage preached many times from various sources, in person or online, God is still able to use the same passage to speak to us at our moment of need to prompt us or nudge us in a certain direction or to comfort and encourage us or strengthen our resolve.

What is the Lord’s message to us this morning? I believe it is to continue to read His Word and don’t neglect that. Maybe we have read the bible through a few times already. Maybe we have doctorates on the study of certain aspects of Scriptures and know the Word of God inside out. Yet, there is always the rhema aspect of God speaking to us that is relevant and applicable for us this morning to help us through and to guide us whether in our life, our work, our relationships, our ministry or just for the plain issues of life that we face. Read the Word daily and may it be a lamp unto our feet (Psalm 119:105) that may brighten up our steps as we walk the pathway of life!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/07/birds-of-the-air

Jesus used the “light and heavy” (gal wahomer in Hebrew) illustration to highlight the point that if God is good in something less important, surely He will be good in something more important. So if He takes care of the birds of the air, what more will He take care of us, His children created in His image for which He had made plans for even before the foundations of the world. He already “invested” in us all these years despite us not being fully committed to Him, will He let all that go to nought? He sent His beloved and one and only Son to die for our sins.

Read Matthew 6:25-33 carefully and we will notice that Jesus said it is the pagans who run after these things – what shall we eat, what shall we drink and what shall we wear? Notice that He said, your Heavenly Father knows that you need them, but seek ye first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. The point is not to run after these things. Our Heavenly Father will provide for us in due course because He knows we need them. Instead focus on Him and the things of God. Elsewhere Jesus said before (Matthew 16:26) – what good is it if a man were to gain the whole world, but forfeits his soul? In fact when Jesus was tempted by the devil, the devil offered Him the world if He were to bow down and worship him.

I believe as a believer we must always keep in mind what Jesus taught in Matthew 6 and 16. We need to know and remember and be reminded what matters most ultimately. Seek His Kingdom first and His righteousness. Material things while necessary for survival will eventually come. If our focus is just on material things, then we will not be going after God and the things of God, and one day we may forfeit our ticket to heaven that was bought for us by the blood of Christ. Always maintain a balance between pursuing our career and vocation (eat, drink and wear) and God. Don’t ever neglect the latter. Keep on at it and the other things will be sorted out by God for us.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/06/envisioning-our-neighbors-future

The LORD’s instructions in Leviticus 25 to the Israelites to help fellow Israelites who are poor like they would of a foreigner and stranger is basically not charging them interest when lending them money or not making a profit when selling them food. The premise was that so those who became poor and unable to support themselves may continue to live among them. It is at the community level. But in this instance like in the other instruction to leave some produce behind in the fields for the widow, poor and the foreigner during harvest, the expectation is that the poor will work to earn their keep. It’s just that they should be helped at cost whether it is capital or food.

But in the New Testament when the struggling church in Macedonia gave sacrificially to financially help believers in Jerusalem, it went beyond providing capital or food at cost. It was an outright grant or gift. It was the same in the case of Noedesha, a small economically challenged town in Kansas, a couple providing a college scholarship to every student in that town to further their studies. The intention was not so they could continue to live among them but to alleviate the social economic situation of the town. In the contemporary Malaysian context it would have meant giving every university student a grant of RM100,000 to pursue a local private university degree. RM100,000 is a lot of money to many struggling families and would have help in raising their social economic status.

What’s the Lord’s message to us today? I believe it is that if we could, we should be generous and helpful. In the modern context that could mean a monetary gift to someone in need or buying someone a meal. It could be to a brother or sister in church or a neighbour or even a homeless stranger in the street. The world is headed towards a recession because the rich nations wanted to maintain control by imposing sanctions. The impact is inflation at home and with interest rates raised to manage inflation, demand will decrease and thus a recession (defined as no growth for 2 quarters). The thing is that the West has not fully grasped the fact that the economy is now a global phenomenon. Sanctions against China and Russia will not only affect the countries concerned but the whole world. Things will become worse at the local level before it becomes better. The days may come when fresh grads will earn RM1,000 to RM2,000 again when they are now earning RM3,000 or more.

Those of us who are better off should thus help those in need when the tough times come. Time to save rather than spend. Prepare for the rainy day as well as prepare to help out when the time comes. Save up so we may have some capital to help others.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/05/grieving-and-grateful

One of those things in life that we will not be able to avoid is grief. As we get older, there will be loved ones and friends who will go before us. In fact some of our contemporaries may have passed on. People die for different reasons. Besides traffic accidents, the other major causes of death are cancer and cardiac arrest. The recent pandemic also led to many dying, with most already having underlying health issues; the virus mostly sped things up.

I think no one will ever experience what Job experienced. One devastating news after another. From his oxens and donkeys to his camels to his sheep and to his various servants and workers, and then his children – one calamity after another, nearly all at once. Yet he worshipped God and proclaimed that with nothing he came to this world, with nothing shall he leave. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken, praise the name of the LORD!

As was said, even one of those would have devastated us and yet Job was able to praise God. He praised the LORD because the LORD spared his life. He was grateful that he still had breadth because in the end, we live at the grace and mercy of the Almighty. People die for a variety of reasons and we could be one of them anytime any day. We are still alive today enjoying the beauty of His creation and the fellowship and companionship of our loved ones because of His love and mercy. That is why we must be thankful and grateful to God for His goodness upon our lives despite the grief.

We may have lost a loved one. But we still have our life and our job. If we had lost our job, we still have our life and our loved ones. Be thankful that we still live. Be thankful that we still have God’s plans and purposes for us to achieve. We still have our work cut out in the Kingdom of God here on earth. We still have a purpose to fulfil for God here on earth.

It’s time to move on and leave our grief behind. Still much to do for God in our life in this world. Not time yet for us to be with Jesus in heaven. Do our part as that brick on the wall. Be grateful and thankful to God that our time is not up yet. We still have much to accomplish for Him! Amen!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/04/our-hearts-true-home

It’s nothing short of a miracle that a dog that got lost 2,200 miles (3,500 kms) away could somehow find its way home 6 months later. It is both spectacular and amazing! Without maps or GPS, how did the dog do it? Perhaps that home was its natural home and thus it will gravitate towards it somehow, sooner or later.

Thus when it comes to our hearts, we as believers in the faith believe that the true home for our hearts is God. That no matter how far away we have spiritually drifted from God, our hearts will naturally gravitate towards God. That the natural home for the hearts of humans is God and hence we will naturally be drawn to God and the things of God even if we had never known God personally in our lives before. Because of the work of the Holy Spirit convicting the hearts of men and women and Jesus having died for our sins, there is a natural tendency for us to want to know God. Christ has opened up the way for us to reach the Father, the Helper is there to prompt us on.

We are shaped by the culture that we live in. Yet God, the one and only true and living Almighty God, can and will reach out to us. Even if it is impossible for some of us to proclaim His goodness publicly out in the open, we could start by proclaiming His grace and love in our hearts. Accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Repent from our sins. Acknowledge that we are sinners and ask God to forgive us our sins and in our hearts, believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was resurrected by the Father 3 days later defeating sin and the devil. As a result we have eternal life and as we have accepted Jesus into our lives, Jesus will prepare a house for us in the Father’s house of many mansions. As God is the natural home for our hearts, it is essential that our hearts find our eternal home in heaven and that one day we will all be resurrected together to live even though we may die. It is my prayer and hope that all of us will find our way to our eternal home through Christ Jesus, our Lord and Saviour! Like the dog that was lost 2,200 miles away, we too will somehow find our true home, the true home of our heart!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/03/mirror-test

Who do we see when we look into the mirror? We obviously see ourselves. We are who we are as in the mirror. We can imagine we are someone else or a more beautiful or younger version of ourselves but we are still who we are. In fact, if we are women devoid of make up, that’s us there with all the ravages of age clearly visible to us in the mirror.

The interesting question posed today is who do we see when we read scripture. Do we only see the characters in the story or do we see God speaking to us? But most interestingly, do we see ourselves in the pages of the Bible as we read what God has to say to us? Seeing ourselves in the sense that as Jesus teaches the parable of the talents, do we see ourselves returning 10-fold or just the same talent (buried it under the ground?? Or when Jesus taught about storing treasures in heaven, do we see ourselves doing so? Or do we see ourselves only busy storing riches on earth? Or when we see Abraham and Moses responding to God’s call on their lives to respectively move out from the Ur of the Chaldeans and to bring the Israeli slaves out of Egypt, do we likewise respond to God’s call upon our lives? Or when we read about God’s laws being compassionate on the widows, the orphans and the foreigners by not harvesting everything from the harvest fields, do we have compassion on others by leaving something on the table as we negotiate or transact? Do we always have to drive such a hard bargain as others need to eke out a living like us too, except that they may not have the blessings and protection of God on their side like we often do? Are we thus compassionate and gracious to the weak and poor since God is on our side?

If we look at scripture as a mirror of ourselves, showing us our weaknesses and yet we see ourselves as victorious and overcoming our self, how wonderful a believer will we be! Seek out the rhema word as we learn of the logos as we read the bible but imagine and see ourselves as the people God is teaching about – we will go a long way achieving God’s image and plans and purposes for us. We will slowly but surely become the person the Lord wants us to be all along! We will be that sunflower standing proud in the desert deserted highway, prevailing against all odds, crushing all enemy plans against us! Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/09/30/where-to-turn

It’s really sad to read about a brother who found Christ and laid off drugs who was athletic and happy doing his sport in high school, to only return to drugs years later and die of overdose. He attended a local church and decided to follow Jesus. However following Jesus is not a flash in the pan or a temporary fad. Neither is it only a high school or college thing. It’s a life long journey, spanning the day we first accepted Christ into our lives until the day we die. We need to go through life’s journey with God by our side and not walk on our own way every now and then.

Who or what do we turn to for our times of misery and pain? Our times of sadness and disappointment or even our times of joy and laughter? Is it cigarettes and drinks? Grass and drugs? Or even high cholesterol inducing red meat like a large juicy steak or loads and loads of cheese cakes and chocolates and ice cream! There are indulgences that are just unhealthy and yet there are avenues that are plain destructive yet familiar. Actually being self indulgent itself is not a good habit as we tend to let ourselves go and forget that we are a child of God.

This story of the Israelites running to Egypt for help when the militarily rejuvenated Assyrians wanted to invade and conquer Israel is a well known one preached by many. The then southern kingdom of Judah ran to Egypt to seek their intervention despite God telling them to trust in Him. I honestly do not know what happened to them? Taking things into their own hands in defiance and against the clear instructions of the Lord!

Israel is however often a picture of who we are in God and as much as we are surprised by the foolishness of the Israelites in not relying on God, we are at times also like that! We go running back to our old habits, our past indulgences. Instead of turning to God, we go back to our past familiar places.

Let’s not do that anymore. Let’s continue to trust God. Don’t go back to our Egypt. Don’t be like that guy who found God in high school to only return to drugs years later and who died of an overdose. Don’t look back to our past familiar places. Find comfort in God. He is the only true and faithful one to hold on to till the end as Christ is the only one with the words of eternal life. Cling on to Him and don’t look back.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/09/29/the-coffee-bean-bowl

Let’s say, for example, the Lord prompts you to give a gift of RM5,000 (and at the rate our currency markets are heading, that is looking more and more like just one thousand US Dollars) to someone who doesn’t appear to be struggling financially. Do you do that or would you instead give that money to a more deserving person like a full time worker or the poor? Of course we do not know the exact situation of that person. But assuming there is no hidden need like he is secretly suffering from cancer and require money for treatment. Let’s assume he is living normally and yet the Lord prompts you to give him that gift.

This is similar to the situation faced by Mary 6 days before the Passover when Jesus visited her family home and for background, at the time when Lazarus, Mary’s brother, was just recently raised from the dead. The Passover was significant as that was the day Jesus had His last meal (which later became our Holy Communion) before He was crucified. Was it wrong for Mary to “waste” a whole bottle of perfume on Jesus’s feet when it could have been sold and given to the poor as Judas Iscariot had suggested. Of course we know Judas was not sincere in his suggestion as he was conflicted. The point remains that it could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor. Jesus however disagreed that it was bad decision.

I think the first point we should take note is that the perfume was Mary’s to give and not Judas to sell. We mustn’t criticise if it is not ours to give. But the more fundamental point is that if it was sold and the proceeds given to the poor, Jesus would not have been honoured in that special way before his death that was just 6-7 days away. The fragrance of the perfume filled the room and everyone enjoyed the fragrance that was honouring Jesus who would soon be dying for the sins of mankind. Surely the Son of Man was worth honouring in that manner. Actually in the larger scheme of things, nothing could have compared to the ultimate sacrifice He made in paving the way for mankind to reconcile with the Father and thus a bottle of perfume although worth a year’s wages, pales in comparison with His sacrifice and is thus still just a token of appreciation.

If the Lord prompts us to give, just give. Don’t question God and don’t question others who are likewise prompted. The Holy Spirit knows best and we just obey and follow His lead. God has a purpose and a plan. We just need to be His facilitator like Mary did in the case of her perfume and Jesus. In the end, at least someone from the human race had made the effort to honour Jesus before He went to the cross for you and I and everyone else!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/09/27/gods-help-for-our-future

Psalm 90:12 teaches: “Number our days so we may gain a heart of wisdom” while Psalm 90:19 prays that, “May the favour of the Lord our God establish the work of our hands.”

As we have previously shared in these pages, the wisdom of the Old Testament, of the Psalms and Proverbs, is often centred on knowing the Lord our God. Thus to gain a heart of wisdom speaks of being wise in our thoughts and actions and that basically means to know God and to keep His laws and percepts. But to achieve that, Psalm 90:12 teaches us to number our days and to me that, in essence, means we need to be fully aware and cognisant that we are not and will not be here on earth for eternity. With Jesus in our lives, we will live on for eternity even though we will die but our time on earth, in this physical realm is always numbered. There is a fixed period of time. Not just a question of old age; as we are all well aware that many have passed on younger for various reasons. Thus to number our days means we need to realise we have a limited time here and that also means that we need to do what’s essential and important first. We are after all pilgrims passing through this temporary abode.

Peter Tsukahira once taught that in the end what’s key for our existence here is God’s plans and purposes for our lives. We exist for a purpose that was pre-planned even before the foundations of the earth were made. God fearfully and wonderfully made each and every one of us (Psalm 139:14). We are all uniquely created in His image for His plans and purposes.

Therefore always seek the Lord on what are His plans and purposes for us? What is the raison d’etre for our being here on earth? Even as life may be a struggle at times with its storms and turmoil, seek God’s wisdom for our lives. Know His sovereign and specific will for us.

And as we go out there in the world and claim our inheritance in Christ and do the things Christ and the Father have appointed us to do, we pray that may the Lord our God establish the work of our hands. May the favour of God be upon us to establish the work of our hands. We sow, we serve, we minister but God establishes and reaps. He will make our work come to life, to blossom and bloom. We do our part to be the hands and legs of the Almighty One, the Sovereign God of Israel. May the favour of God indeed be with us to establish our ways and the work of our hands!