Devotional Time with God

I remembered the first time I accepted Christ. I was excited. I was ready to learn, contribute, and do something for God.

Then, the church decided to give me medial jobs – to pack up the chairs, help haul away the musical instruments.  Nothing significant. Nothing people would notice. I was a teenager.  I needed something more so people would notice me.  I wanted to make an impression.  I wanted something more significant.

Little did I know I have to keep working on it.  I have to be able to overcome many things, including my pride and vanity.  I need to experience the triumphs of being a Christian, such as leading people to Christ, pray for others, serve others, and turning away from sins and temptations of sins.  I failed all of that. I turned away from Christ and rejoined the world again: selfish, prideful, care free, blasphemous, and unteachable.

Over ten years later, I realized what a fool I’ve been. I saw the consequences of being away from God for so long. My life went no where. My priorities were wrong. I could’ve been somebody – but instead I was just drifting, not setting roots, felt so lonely and lost.  That’s when I met my wife and I returned to the path that God had originally set for me.  I set my life straight with Jesus, again. I’ve accomplished a lot since then and felt useful again.

I experienced victory. Long after my early years of accepting Christ.  I want to keep this fire alive. Not be shaken by this world or the devil’s temptations. My Jesus is stronger and I will stay faithful, as He’s faithful to me (Hebrews 13:5). God is my strength. I will always have His victory!

I can’t go through this life without God’s help and promises.  He gives me hope and a reason to live.  God always catch me when I fall.   God always fulfill His promises.  God wants to help and He’s very generous!

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

Help me, O God, in this time of despair and uncertainty.  The future seems bleak but you give me hope.  I hold on to your promises.  It’s my desire to honor you, so help me be the salt and light that you intended me to be.  Amen.

I have this bad habit of losing my focus.  My thoughts constantly wander around from one idea to another.  I suppose it’s a product of my wild imagination, but it’s also a lack of discipline and meditation.

Luckily, the bible has some encouragement for me:

Fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.

Philippians 4:8

Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.

Proverbs 4:23

Fix your thoughts on Jesus.

Hebrews 3:1

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Hebrews 6:12

It’s been almost 2 months since I updated this devotional.  I have been praying to God, but I have not been writing down what I’ve learned.  I admit it’s due to laziness in my part.  I believe laziness is a sin.  In my case, it led to complacency and ultimately a stagnation (and even breakdown!) in my spiritual growth.  I can’t let this happen.

As stated in Matthew 20:6-7, I can’t just sit around and wait for things to happen.  I have to go and do something to get earn my blessings.  Jesus has given me grace when I don’t deserve it.  I have to try and match his effort.  I can’t die on the cross, but I can pick up His cross.

Lord, thank you for the grace you’ve given me.  Thank you for saving my life, even though I don’t deserve it.  I get the message, loud and clear, I have to wake up and follow your hard work to save myself.  I know I can’t do this by myself.  I know you’ve been helping.  Lead me to your living water so I can live another day, with your strength and wisdom.  Amen.

Give thanks with a grateful heart,
Give thanks to the Holy One,
Give thanks because He’s given
Jesus Christ His Son.

And now let the weak say “I am strong.”
Let the poor say “I am rich.”
Because of what the Lord has done for us.
Give thanks.

Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.

Hebrews 12:28

How can I start treating other believers like members of my own family?

The Purpose Driven Life, p. 122

We have a couple of friends from a church in San Diego, let’s call them Chris and Robin (for anonymity). Back in early 2000, they were newlyweds, like us, so we got a long very well. We started going to their bible study and they would visit our church on sundays. There was a day when Chris and Robin got into a big fight and she decided to leave out of town without letting him know. He would call me, told us what happened. Yantie and I would drive to his apartment, and tried to help him out by talking to him, and going to the airport to see if she was still there. We stayed with him the rest of the day, prayed with him. We sought updates the weeks after, sharing the pain he was going through, as he felt really abandoned at this point. Eventually Robin would return and they sorted out their issues.

This is what God wanted us to be: a family. When a member of the body is in pain, the body feels it. We felt each other’s pain and we tried to help the healing process. We love Chris and Robin very much. We continue to pray for their well being and God’s grace in their lives. I am glad to be able to call them my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jesus and the people he makes holy all belong to the same family. That is why he isn’t ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.

Hebrews 2:11 (CEV)

How can I stay focused on God’s presence, especially when he feels distant?

The Purpose Driven Life, p. 113

I have been in that dark moment when God seemed to have been missing from my life. I’m not just talking about when I haven’t been serious with God. It also happened after I had accepted Christ into my life and pledged myself to be His servant. As a young believer (in my early 30’s), I had everything. I could afford a big wedding. I had a great job in a booming dot.com era. I had bought a house that I previously thought I couldn’t afford. I got to work from home, with flexible hours. Everything was working great, until everything started to fall apart – dot.com bust, got laid-off work, uncertain about my house payments. My future seemed bleak. For over 5 months I was looking for resolution from God, but He wasn’t giving me a clear way out.

Then I realized this had to be one of God’s answer: wait. God always has one of the three answers: Go (yes), No, and Slow (wait). I knew God would save me; He is a loving God. I knew God was in control; He is a powerful God. Even though God told me to wait, He took care of us in our time of need. He provided us with the basic necessities and a supportive group of friends and family.

As stated in my previous devotional blog entries, I finally got another job, got my green card, and eventually moved to a bigger and better things in my life. God told me to wait because He had something else planned for my life. I am not suppose to question God’s timing (although He does allow me to complain about it to Him). I must stay focus on God’s unchanging nature and His promises.

The following bible translation of sums up what I have to do with my pursuit of a “comfortable life”:

Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” we can boldly quote,

God is there, ready to help;
I’m fearless no matter what.
Who or what can get to me?

Hebrews 13:5-6 (Message)

I was listening to one of my old CD in the car this morning, and I heard a very familiar tune from Maranatha 30 Years of Hope CD called “You’re Worthy of My Praise”. I reminded me of a time, in late 2001, I was in an unfortunate situation where I was out of a job for a few months. The support from my church and family were tremendous, but it was still a test of our faith in God. Pastor Greg in San Diego gave my wife and I, a scripture, Hebrew 11:1 which simply said,

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Having faith in God will give us hope for the future. Sure, we still have our worries, we are only human, but Jesus has never let us down. We kept believing God will give us something good. In May 2002, I received the baffling call from my current employer: they were offering me a position with an increase in salary! We couldn’t be any more excited and the first thing I did was to play the Maranatha song and gave praises to God. That was one of the significant turning point of our lives, the one that we will never forget.

I will give you all my worship.
I will give you all my praise.
You alone, I long to worship.
You alone are worthy of my praise.

– Maranatha Singers, “You’re worthy of my praise”