Posts tagged quiet time with God

QT: 13/5/13

Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. (John 12:26 NIV)

Jesus was talking with his disciples and the Greeks who came down to see him. Jesus use the word, “anyone”, in NLT version it says that anyone who wants to be his disciple must follow him. Everyone is welcome to be with Jesus. Everyone has a privilege to become his disciple but there is only one requirement. It doesn’t matter which part of the world you came from, you just have to follow Jesus. Following Jesus is walking in obedience to his commands.

Following Jesus ways on how he loves people, how he serves, how he shows his humility and forgiveness to the people and how he was surrendered to God despite of the trials that he faced, he still displayed a remarkable act of obedience to God.

Jesus is indeed our Master and we are his servants. Our Master is very different from the world. For He cares and loves us. Our Master does not only commands us what are the things to be done but He himself showed to us how to do it. And our Master loves us so much that those who follow him, he wants them to be with him in heaven.

And God will give honor to those who serves Jesus. God will recognized and acknowledge all the things that you have done when you serve Jesus. That’s the most amazing feeling we, as son’s or daughters can receive from our Heavenly Father.

QT: 10/5

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increase, for he will take nothing of it when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him. - Psalm 49:16-17

The world today are now filled with materialism from people who prefer to be rich rather than living a simple life. They kept on being competitive and desiring to have more wealth rather than being grateful for what they have. People tend to become workaholic to become rich to the point of sacrificing their time for their family.

The things that don’t last were invested more rather than to the things that last.

Being envy or being jealous to what others has results to discontentment. The psalmist tells us that worldly things don’t last. No matter how rich you are in this world, you cannot bring all those things when you die.

Godliness with contentment is grain gain, for we brought nothing into this world and we cannot take anything out of it. - 1 Timothy 6:6-7

God tells us that we need to learn to be contented. Being contented doesn’t mean that we don’t do anything anymore to achieve our goals or dreams in life but rather having a godly attitude in achieving those dreams. We must always remember who gave all these things to us. And we should be more grateful for it rather than complain or compare our life to other people.

God is a very generous Father. He gave things that we deserve according to our capabilities.

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. - Matthew 25:14-15

God entrusted us all the resources that we need to make it grow and use it to glorify Him. We must remember that we are not the real owner of all the things that we have, but God alone. Therefore, we must not love the material things as if it is our god, nor the power, glory and fame. All these things will be gone when we die. The things that we should invest more is our relationship with God. For when we die, that’s the only thing that we can bring to our real home - which is in heaven.

QT: 7/5/13
John 12:18
Many people who heard Jesus’ miracles went out to meet him.

These people didn’t even saw with their own eyes how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead neither they haven’t seen Jesus perform miracles compared to the first group of people mentioned in v. 17.

But what convicted me in this scripture is that they went out and decided to meet Jesus. These people who just listened to the word made a decision to meet Jesus. Whether it is out of curiosity or whatever reason they have, there hearts were moved to make that kind of decision.

I was reminded of the people whom we shared our faith. It gives me hope that even though this people did not know us nor see the miracles Jesus did into our lives, it gives me hope that they will still be moved by how eager, persistent and bold we are to share Jesus to them. And through that, they will also make a decision to meet Him one day.

QT: 25/4/13

John 12:3

In this verse, Mary showed her deep love and reverent submission to Jesus. This verse really convicted me and learned 3 points:

1. Mary’s anointing of Jesus feet with an expensive perfume. She used a pint of perfume which was approximately 12 oz. It’s quite a lot.
Symbolically, it may be something that is our precious material things. Normally, in today’s world, we use a perfume especially if we know that it is expensive, only during special events or occasions.

This shows how Mary was able to give up the material things whom people thought of as impt for Jesus. It plainly shows how she loves Jesus so much that she wanted to give her best.

2. Mary wiped Jesus feet with her hair.
Why did Mary did that? She can just use a cloth instead or other things but she didn’t.

I believed that, the reason why, is because it shows how she is willing to surrender even herself to Jesus. This part of what Mary did really convicted me. She don’t care what other people will say to her, what she cares more is Jesus. Mary was not only able to give up her material things on earth but she was also able to give up her own self, willingly, for Jesus. And I believed that that is the kind of love and reverent submission we need to imitate from Mary. We give our best!

3. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Literally, the fragrance of the perfume describes as something that is good, pleasing and relaxing. Symbolically, it is describes as the love that we received from God which helps us to feel good, rejoices our heart and influenced other people because it is reflected in our lives. Mary anointed Jesus feet as a sign of her gratitude and love for Jesus which influenced and impacted other people around her.

How do you respond to all the things that God did into your life? How do you respond to God’s love? How do you show your love and gratitude to Him?

QT: 15/4

John 11:47-48

The chief priest and the Pharisees called for a meeting regarding on what they will do with Jesus. The hearts of these people can be described as prideful. They were afraid that Jesus popularity will overpower them because of the increase number of people who believed in Him. In v.48, they said that the Romans might take away their place and their nation. Probably, for them, power and glory are the things that they can’t let go which keeps them from not believing in Jesus. They used the word, “IF”… “If we let him go on like this… Etc.” there is this fear in their hearts.

Is there a point in our lives that we are afraid of what will happen if we follow Jesus?

For me, I remember when I was still studying the bible for almost 2 years because just like the Pharisee, I refuse to let go of things and I was afraid of the changes that will happen into my life if I became a christian. There are thoughts like, “If I go on studying the bible and become a christian, my parents and friends would be against me. That I need to let go of my bad habits and even the relationships that I had with someone. It was so hard for me to let go. I became so prideful telling myself I am ok even though I am not a christian. But as months pass by, it turns out that God is making me realized that I need Him in my life. Because I refuse to let go, God take away all those things in my life that I am holding on until I had nothing left. Then and there, I realized that, “God you are right, I need you in my life. And I am so sorry.”

Until now, I will always remind myself of the changes that God did into my life and on how Jesus saved me from the grave. It keeps me to be right on track with Him because I don’t want to go back to my sinful life before. And it helps me to let go of the things that can stop my relationship with God. To God be all the glory.

QT: 11/4/13

John 11:41-42

Jesus prayed with thanks giving to God. When Jesus said, “I knew you always hear me..,” it display the close relationship of God and Jesus. These scripture reveals the entire reason of Lazarus death. So that they may believe that He is the Messiah. Jesus said that it is for the benefit of those people standing there. And who are those people?
Mary and Martha
Jesus’s disciples
Jews

The first 2 groups may already believe in Jesus but it is not yet solid. Jesus wanted them to have a strong faith and conviction.

The last groups are the Jews. Some of the Jews here are against Jesus while some are not. But regardless of which part of the group they are, Jesus wanted them to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. That He is the one sent from God.

The greatest struggle about believing is doubting. When I read this entire chapter, most of the people surrounding Jesus displayed doubt in their hearts. And Jesus knew about that. Jesus was telling everyone of us that we should take away all the doubts that is blocking us from believing in him.

For me, the death of Lazarus is one of my fav story in the book of John. It reveals how Jesus works his wonderful miracle when we least expects it. It challenges me to trust God more even when it seems cloudy or even when God is silent for a while. It challenges me to view God as the most loving and compassionate Father who would never ever leave us and who understands what we are going through.

God loves us, cares for us and understands us, all we have to do is to BELIEVE IN HIM.

QT: 9/4/13

John 11:38-40

In NLT version, it says that Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb. Jesus was angry with the unbelieving heart of the people surrounding him. When Jesus gave them instructions to take away the stone from the tomb, noticed how Martha reacted. She said, “but Lord,” and then she gave reasons for her excuses. Noticed that Mary didn’t even interrupted Jesus. It was only Martha who reacted. Previously, Jesus had spoken with Martha about believing in him. And Jesus reminded her that if she believed she would see the glory of God. Martha forgot about those because she was too focus on the things that she can see now rather on the things that she cannot see yet.

When God asked us to do something, sometimes we tend to give excuses to God, “but Lord….” But… But…. But…. We can’t do it… It was actually a test of our faith on how much we are willing to trust God and believed in Him. That we obey God even though we haven’t seen the outcome of things because we know and believed that the outcome would be good.

In my life, I also became like Martha. Sometimes whenever God asked me to love my neighbor as my self, I would reason out to God and tell Him, “but God, he is bad,” “but God, he is so unlovable,” etc…. Which leads me to the point of not trusting Him. This scripture reminded me of having that full confidence and trust to God even when I haven’t seen the outcome yet, even when I don’t have a clear picture of things. Because I need to believe that God will bring out the best in that situation. And just like what Jesus told Martha, if I believe, I would see the glory of God.

Trust and obey for there is no other way but Him.

Yey! Im already in chapter 7 in the book of Joshua! I always do my quiet time per chapter a day. But sometimes there are chapters that I dont understand and it requires me to read it all over again. In every chapter of the bible we must ask ourselves whenever we read it; What it is all about? What does God wants me to learn? What is the character of God that is shown in the chapter? What can be the implications to my life? - and because of this, I learn to get to know God more and make deeper my quiet time with Him.

Okay, and just to share with you what I had for today in Joshua 7. God bless everyone!

Joshua 7:11-12 NIV

Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

In this chapter, Achan from the tribe of Judah disobeyed God by taking some of the possessions in the city. When the Israelites were having a battle at Ai, some of them were killed and so their hearts melted like water. Joshua knelt face down and asked God why God brought them across Jordan to be destroyed. God told Joshua about the disobedience of the Israelites. What struck me most is that, even though God already knew who is the person who disobeyed Him, He didnt tell it to Joshua, instead He just used the term, “Israel” and another thing that made an impact to me is that when God told Joshua that He will not be with them anymore UNLESS they will destroy the person who disobeyed Him. God can just easily destroy that person without the need of telling it to Joshua but He did not. Why? Because God wanted them to realize the importance of obeying Him. And I can see the character of God here in this chapter how loving and merciful He is. Loving because even though He is angry because of the disobedience of Achan, He didn’t just destroy Him immediately and tell to Joshua who it is. Merciful because even though He told Joshua that He wont be with them anymore, He used the word “unless” they would destroy the person who disobeyed Him. He still gave them chances. From the day that God created us up until now, the mercy of God for us is immeasurable, and His love is incomparable. Giving Jesus Christ to us is the greatest love that God had shown to everyone.