Devotional Time with God

I have to ask myself, what matters most? Is it my job? My family? My posessions? My health? They may seem important, but they ought not to be. The bible says in Romans 6:13,

Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

I am to be used for God’s purposes! I’m not here to look good, feel good, and have the goods. I need more than that! I need the purposes that God has for me. Jesus came to earth to give Himself as a sacrifice, and to give us a new life. He is giving us God’s amazing grace for every race.

I thank you, Lord, for saving me. Your birth signifies the new birth in all of us. I don’t deserve to be saved, but you’re a God of love, and you want to save me. Thank you, Jesus for everything you have done. Let your will be done, in this day and the days ahead. Amen.

From last week, the study of the nativity story revealed the 4 feelings during Christmas: afraid, uncomfortable, occupied, and awstruck. I noted that I was occupied. But this week it had turned into afraid. I just got into a big fight with my wife about my behavior in front of our neighbours. She laid out the problems on me like a carpet bomb. I wasn’t helping when the ice was spilled. I was lazy when she asked to look after the kids. I was complaining when the shrimp was too hot to handle. I wasn’t appreciating the hard work that they had put together dinner for us. I was being awfully selfish, not being sensitive to other’s needs. For that, my wife scolded me and my emotional faults forced me to fight back. We did not get along last night and we even said the dreaded “D” word again. I hate that word. She knew that if she used it, her discontent was at its peak. I should know that. Now, with my stupid stubbornness, we still haven’t resolved this yet. This is a scary situation. I am afraid if I ever be able to learn from these painful lessons. I’m afraid I don’t know how to say sorry. I’m afraid I don’t resolve this problem! Christmas is coming and all we can do is fight about our appearance to others.

I read the verse John 12:23-26,

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

I must let go of my ego and pride. I must “lose my life” and concentrate on giving attention to God and others. I will glorify Jesus name through this hour of hardship and heartache. Even if I don’t feel like I’m glorifying God at this moment, God wants me to shine through the darkness, and lift Him up anyway.

Jesus, I thank you for the cross. I thank you for coming to this earth and save me from myself. I don’t want to be selfish anymore. Please teach me to be more sensitive. Give me the strength to get out of my lazy self and be a useful person. Show me the way, Lord. I want to glorify your name and if I have to go through fire to do it, so be it. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. Amen.

[Update] I have resolved this issue with Yantie the next day.  She talked about it with my neighbour and poured her hearts outs out.  Sometimes, talking about it is the best therapy.  She also prayed that God would give her the peace, and control her emotions.  God sent the holy spirit to calm both of us.

I said to myself, I would make a blog entry here, every monday, to start off my week. I skipped yesterday because I was too busy and distracted with other things. Today, I felt I was running on empty and unprepared. I’m glad I’ve done my devotion this morning because God spoke to me in these two verses:

All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.

Proverbs 21:2

Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;

Psalm 26:2

I must look at my heart and my motivation.  Am I missing the “routine” of devotional blogging on mondays, or am I missing talking to God?  God will speak to me at any day of the week.  His message is always relevant.  I have to present my heart to Him and set my motivation for God’s work.  That is all He wants me to do.

Thank you, Lord, for revealing your truth to me.  Examine my heart and correct my motivation.  All I want is to listen to your truth and serve you.  I want to give you my best.  Remove any self-righteousness that may have creep out of me.  Cleanse my thought so I may walk in the right direction – towards you, God.   Amen.

Christmas is coming up. Pastor Doug Fields challenged me to answer these questions:

1. Identify which of the four feelings (afraid, uncomfortable, occupied, awestruck) best describes your response to Jesus? [WHAT do I feel when I focus on Jesus?]
2. Clarify what might be happening within your life that makes you feel that way. [WHY do I feel that way about Jesus?]

After reading the biblical events surrounding the birth of Jesus on Matthew 1:18-2:23 and Luke 2:1-20, I extract the following:

I feel “busy” or occupied.  Just like the innkeeper rejected Mary and Joseph when the rooms were all full. My schedule is full too. I have to take my wife to her wedding anniversary dinner, my kid to Christmas events around the community, write and mail Christmas cards, plan for vacation, and of course, a lot of shopping. Whenever I focus on Jesus, I realize that I don’t have to so busy. He is the reason for season! Why should I put a priority on the other things? I feel this way because I figured I talk to Jesus every day. He’ll be there when I do all of those other tasks. Come to think about it, Jesus is no longer the focus this way. It is wrong and I must change that.

Jesus, in this busy season, please make me stop and focus on you. I don’t need to make plans to keep me busy and forget this time is actually for you: your birth into this world. You’re here to safe me. Safe me one more time! I only need you. I only need to focus on you. Give me the peace and joy that can only be from you, Jesus. Thank you for saving me from my own busy-ness. Amen.

How can I stay righteous? That word has been abused many times by secular people who want to point out the hypocritical ways of religious folks. Being righteous is a natural result when my center of the universe is God. In Deuteronomy 18:17-19 (Message):

And God said to me, “They’re right; they’ve spoken the truth. I’ll raise up for them a prophet like you from their kinsmen. I’ll tell him what to say and he will pass on to them everything I command him. And anyone who won’t listen to my words spoken by him, I will personally hold responsible.

Like the prophets, God will speak the right words through me and will make His words come true. It is important that I must follow God’s instructions: to love by forgiving and comforting others. The actions I do today will have repercussions in the future, so I must be careful with what I say (and do).  The motives of my heart must be right.  I must let God be the guiding star in the night.

This December 10, the first installment of my property tax is due. It’s not a small amount. In fact, it’s big enough to force me to withdraw money from my savings. Every time I do that, I get nervous and worry. Funny thing, this is not the first time I have to do this. This is my 3rd year paying this high property tax installment. I should be used to it by now. But it’s never easy to “give away” that money to the government. It is the law and I have to obey it. This morning, I had the conversation with God about my finances. God responded.

John 4:10 – I feel tired of this life’s obstacles and “thirsty” for God’s comfort and miracles. All I have to do is ask.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Lamentations 3:31-33 – When God sees me (or my family) in trouble or in distress, He will have pity on me and takes care of me. That’s just who He is, a loving and kind God.

For the Lord will not turn away from a man forever. For if He causes sorrow, He will have loving-pity because of His great loving-kindness. He does not want to cause trouble or sorrow for the children of men.

John 11:40 and 43 – God tells me to believe and have faith that He will take care of me. But with this faith, I must also do my part and do what He says. When I’m down, I must get up and walk again! It’s not enough that I believe, I must also do what is necessary. In this case, I must be more frugal and manage my spending.

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

Thank you Jesus for being there for me. I don’t like the troubles that I face in this world, but because you’re there offering to help, I am comforted. I ask, in Jesus name, to take care of my finances. I ask that you give me the wisdom to spend less on needless things and take away the shopping temptations. Amen.

This is going to be my first monday devotionals.  A collection of inspirational verses that put focus on what I have to do to start off the week.

John 11: 1-6 – Lazarus, Jesus’ best friend, was sick. However, Jesus stayed in Bethany for another 2 days. God works at His own time.  I must wait for God’s time.

Ephesians 5:15-20 – Be very careful on how I proceed with my daily routine.  Evil lurks in every corner of my life.  I get to stumble easily.  I need to focus on God’s will and always give glory to Him.

Philippians 3:12-21 –  Look out and Look Up!  Focus on heaven, a place where God wants me to belong.  I should not look at the earthly riches.  I must expect heavenly reward for it is more satisfying than worldly reward.

2 Corinthians 5:21 – Jesus saved me.  I am right with God if my life is with Jesus.

What now?  I must include God in my daily walk, keep looking for heavenly goals, and be careful doing my due diligence – not rushing God.