Do you take advantage when God opens a door?

 7 Jul 26

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One

Readings:

Job 35

Job 36

Job 37

Acts 14

But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and effective door has opened to me (1 Corinthians 16:8-9). 

Do you take advantage when God opens a door?

Paul’s ambition is to “preach the gospel, not where Christ was named” (Romans 15:20). He asks others to pray “that God would open to us a door for the word” (Colossians 4:3). Moreover, Luke reports, “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia” (Acts 16:9-10). Paul loves gathering the saints to tell them what God is doing. He shares with his sending church “that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). Paul then “stayed there a long time with the disciples” (Acts 14:28). 

Employment Point: Tarry in God’s open door and serve Him well.

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Reflections

Have you experienced a season where you felt like you were being ushered into a ministry and in every step of the way, you just know that God has swung wide open the door for you to help you realised that this is His will for you? Like this is the destiny, His plans for your future? 

I have not experienced it for myself but I happened to bear witness with a fellow sister this journey. It was an amazing place to be and you know it has to be God’s hands in this. It becomes both a confirmation and an affirmation that this is meant to be. So given that circumstances, remember to hold this close to your heart. It will be something that you will revisit often as a reminder why you are here in the first place.

““Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’ Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me, and what do I gain by not sinning?’”

‭‭Job‬ ‭35‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• eh, I don’t remember Job having said such a thing. Elihu seems to go past his head and accusing of Job of things he himself is assuming, which is also not what Job is saying. Now he is no better than Job’s friends, perhaps even worse…
• I look at this and am reminded we cannot assume things and change people’s words to what we want to hear. It is important for us to remain objective at all times, to have an open mind when listening to others, to not judge and try to see things from their perspectives.

“He does not answer when people cry out because of the arrogance of the wicked. Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea; the Almighty pays no attention to it. So Job opens his mouth with empty talk; without knowledge he multiplies words.””Job‬ ‭35‬:‭12‬-‭13‬, ‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• chapter 35! Have you wondered why the bible recorded every word of rebuke by each of Job’s friends and Elihu and each lamentation of Job? It could have easily summed up their arguments and presented it as false accusations. However, we have to read through all these verses and there are no verses in the bible that did not find its worth. There is a reason why it is there.
• My own personal take of the lengthy conversations that were recorded for Job is that the Lord wanted to show us the different angles where one can view another, especially when they are down in the valleys. Of so much that was said, I do not really find that encouraging at all. In fact, if I were in Job’s place, I would feel so defeated and disappointed. Like my own friends were only trying to be self righteous. They were not listening. They were only hearing to reply and respond. Where is God’s love here. If Jesus is here, would He talk like this?
• He told the others to be the first to throw a stone if they themselves are sinless. Who is? 
• Reading the book of Job again makes me reflect even more deeply about the speech and actions that we take and how we treated our fellow brothers and sisters. May the Lord grant us wisdom to pursue peace and love in our lives so others may be edified.

“But if people are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction, he tells them what they have done— that they have sinned arrogantly.”

‭‭Job‬ ‭36‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• this is too heavy a hand to be placed on Job. Having thoughts that when someone is suffering from affliction, it is because they have sinned. We have known and also read God’s word that this is not true.
• The most direct verse is John 9:1-3 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."
• Context: The disciples assumed suffering = punishment for sin. Jesus directly says that’s not always the case.
• The whole book challenges the idea that suffering = sin. Job’s friends say he must have sinned. God says Job was “blameless and upright”and the suffering was for other reasons, not punishment.
• The Bible teaches that we live in a fallen world, so sickness, accidents, and hardship happen. Not all suffering is tied to personal sin.

“The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress. Therefore, people revere him, for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?””Job‬ ‭37‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• Elihu continues in chapter 37, telling Job how great the Lord is and how far above and sovereign He is that He does the things that are far beyond human control and understanding. In a way, he is also telling Job, how can he as a mere mortal challenge God to tell Him that he wants to speak?
• Elihu ends this chapter with another hammer on Job’s head. Stating that the Lord will for sure help the wise men, indirectly pointing out that Job has not the wisdom that he claims he does.

“There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, where they continued to preach the gospel.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭14‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• in doing God’s work, nobody said it’s going to be easy. The enemy will find ways and means to cause division and decrease our numbers whenever and wherever they can. Therefore all the more we ought to be more intentional in sharing the gospel and to spread the good news with the pre-believers. We do not want to sound pushy, yet I believe with every witnessing accounts, the Lord can soften their hearts and eventually open the door to receive Christ into their lives.

“When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭14‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• Ironic-cos that is exactly what Jesus is. He, the son of God, came down to us in human form, went through temptations like us, suffered like us and died for us. The difference is that He was sinless. And all that He did was out of love.
• Paul having filled with the Holy Spirit has the same ability like Jesus to heal and perform wonders. But that’s not the message. The message is the truth- of Jesus that He is our loving and living God. He died and was resurrected, He has overcome life and death and He is here to bring us to eternal life.
• However, the people who were so caught up with the miracles and signs, totally missed the main message.
• This is a reminder to us to not be overly caught up with signs, wonders and miracles. The Lord has the power to do all things and transform all things. 

“But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,”Acts‬ ‭14‬:‭20‬-‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• the gospel is not fixed to be only for certain people or nations. It is to be spread across countries and regions till everyone would have heard of Jesus.
• Somehow this burden seemed to be much stronger during my current season and walk with God. There is a sense of urgency, which I cannot explain. Let us not take the time we have for granted but be more intentional on our sharing of Christ’s love with others.

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All Noble Things Are Difficult

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

July 07

Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. —Matthew 7:14

If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus Christ, we have to remember that all noble things are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty does not make us faint and cave in; it rallies us to overcome. Do I so appreciate the salvation of Jesus Christ that I give my utmost for his highest?

God saves humanity by his sovereign grace through the atonement. He works in us “to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Our responsibility is to work out our salvation in practical living. If we begin to do what God commands, and to do it on the basis of the redemption, we will discover that we have all the strength and resources we need to succeed. If we fail, it’s because we haven’t practiced; we haven’t developed the habit of obeying God. When a crisis comes along, it reveals our level of preparedness. If we’ve been practicing in our daily life what God has put into us by his Spirit, then in a crisis our own nature will stand alongside the grace of God to support us.

Thank God he does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also heroic and holy. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is “bringing many sons and daughters to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of a son or a daughter. God’s grace never produces cowards or weaklings; it produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the noble life of a disciple of Jesus. It is always necessary to make an effort to be noble.

Job 34-35; Acts 15:1-21

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.

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Reflections

So how committed are we to make the effort to be noble? How much do we understand by what it means to be baptised and to be a disciple of Christ? If you are struggling, church happened to have a course name “Follow Jesus the Anglican way” that may perhaps guide you. But this is quite academic so it may not be for everyone. If you are interested, you can sign up here: cathedral.org.sg/discipleship/following-jesus-the-anglican-way/

The fact that Jesus comes to each and every one of us already makes a huge difference. He is unlike other gods who are waiting for people to please them, to offer sacrifices and yet cannot even offer anything in return. Many pray and seek divine intervention but you soon realise there is no difference from where you started till where you end. In most cases, I seen a person becoming much worse than they are.

The Word teaches us about humility, about a totally different mindset, about being totally free. It teaches us to love and especially our enemies. This is not what the whole believes in. In fact, it strongly opposes to this idea. They questioned, why must I forgive, why must I love, when all I got is pain and suffering from them?

The problem with this mentality is that it is based on revenge. It is based on hatred and it didn’t know when or how to stop. How much do you want to hate someone? When do you want to stop? Would you be truly happy if that person is dead? Would anything you do now as revenge, bring you back to the point where things have yet to change? No, you can’t. Simply because we cannot turn back time.

My father passed away four years ago and my attempt of trying to contact someone I know in an attempt to retrieve the documentations lead to a question which made both my sister and I sigh. He asked if we can visit or pay money to the person taking care of his grave as a means to do a good deed for the future generations. Long story short, burial was not our choice and we felt there’s no point doing things after a person has passed. You show the concern, care and love to them while they are still alive. If they passed, whatever things we do is only to help make ourselves feel better. It was never meant to be truly for them. 

We followed the Lord not for blessings, miracles or prosperity. It is on the basis that we want to be saved. We wanted to be restored to our original relationship with the Lord and no one can offer anything except for Jesus Christ who redeemed all our sins and showed us what true love is. Our mission is to love others like how He loves us. It has to be our choice and for us to constantly make this choice.

Let’s pray: 

Dear Heavenly Father, it is impossible for us to be known as nobles without you giving up your life for us. Thank you Lord, for the blood that helps to redeem us from all our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. May you point us the way to walk as nobles on earth and to share your love with others and to all we meet. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.🙏🏻