Category Archives: Meditation

Day 25: Is Your Heart Soft?

Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 25: Is Your Heart Soft?
Passage: Hebrews 3:7-12
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the video above:

Hebrews 3:7-12 warns us that we should not become hardened in our hearts due to sin just like it did with the Jewish nation in the wilderness. If our hearts are hardened, we can no longer experience or see God’s work within our lives, nor receive His promises for us.

How can sin harden our hearts toward God? To name a few, sin causes us to be blinded to our lost condition (2 Cor. 4:4). Sin captures and enslaves us (Prov. 5:22; John 8:34). Sin brings forth death in our lives (Rom. 6:23). Sin is like a disease that eats away our hearts (Psa. 32:1-5). Sin is impurity, causing us to feel polluted within and outside in addition to not being able to stand before God (Psa. 51:2). Persistent unbelief in God’s promises ultimately causes us to be separated from God (Eph. 4:18).

The writer of Hebrews in verse 12 admonishes us, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” Is there anything that you are blind to in your life that separates you from God? What is capturing and enslaving you right now? What in your life makes you feel “dead” with God? What is eating away within you today? Do you feel polluted within and outside of yourself before God? Do you persistently not believe in God? I beseech you, please take a moment today to consider these questions and the power of sin in your own life, and pray earnestly that God will redeem you from sin through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Day 24: Faithfulness of Jesus

Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 24: Faithfulness of Jesus
Passage: Hebrews 3:1-6
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the recorded video:

The writer of Hebrews challenges us with this: “Consider Jesus.” In Hebrews 3:1-6, he wants us to consider how Jesus is faithful just as Moses was to God’s people. We learn that Moses was “faithful in all God’s house as a servant” because He obeyed God and served the Israelite nation while they were in the wilderness. Even when the Jewish people were not faithful to God, Moses remained faithful for their sake so that they could inherit the Promised Land at the expense of his own life. At the end of his life, Moses saw the Promised Land (and probably the Jewish nation prepared to cross the Jordan River).

In a similar manner, Jesus is faithful over God’s house as His son. Moses was not able to enter the Promised Land because he disobeyed God by striking a rock at Meribah. Jesus is infinitely greater than Moses because He was completely obedient to God and didn’t sin against Him once in his life time, and His obedience and faithfulness benefits those who belong in God’s house – eternal life with God in heaven.

Christians are members of God’s house because of Jesus, and God gives us a long list of promises. For example, God promises His people that He will free us from our bondage of sin when we submit to and follow Christ (Rom. 6:22-23). 1 Cor. 10:13 tells us that God is faithful and he will not allow His people to be tempted beyond their ability, but along with temptation he will also provide the way of escape, so that we might be able to endure it. God promises to give us salvation and heaven if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Christ has died for us (Rom. 10:9).

As God’s people, God calls us to hold fast to our confidence and hope in God alone through Jesus. Because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we are able to receive God’s promises and enter into Heaven. Can you say that you have faith in and trust Jesus today?

Day 22: “Send Someone Else!”

Christian, Exhortation, God, Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 22: “Send Someone Else!”
Passage: Exodus 4:13-17

Moses concluded his prayer before God in the wilderness by saying, “O My Lord, please send someone else” (Ex. 4:13). In other words, he said, leave me alone. Go away. Please send someone else.

Then the Scripture goes on, “then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses” – but not so angry that God leaves him. God said “No!” to Moses’ request to leave him alone, but, nevertheless keeps pursuing Moses, even through Moses’ doubts, fears, and rudeness! And says, “What of your brother Aaron the Levite? You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you shall do. Now take in your hand this rod with which you shall perform the signs.”

And Moses does it.

And staggeringly, he becomes this liberator, this general, this builder of a new nation from scratch. That is how a cowering figure becomes a towering figure of history.

I personally take enormous comfort in this prayer that this is the prayer of one of the most important person in Israel’s history whom God used to change the course of human history. Without this prayer, I would not be able to be honest with God on a daily basis and share my fears and doubts. This played a huge part in my sense of God’s call to the gospel ministry.

There are many believers – beyond the ones reading this today – who think exactly the same way as I did; who are cowardly and fearful, and need to hear that God has the power and passion to give you gifts, and has already done so, to help you take whatever that step is to fulfill the call of God for you. This is not unusual for great men and women of God. This is where we often start. And God will take whatever we offer in our prayers and use it as part of an ongoing conversation so that through us, His will is fulfilled on this earth, as Jesus would say, “as it is in Heaven.” Whatever God is calling you to do, God can provide.

Sometimes the call of God is a complete change in your life. You are “here” and you must go “there.” Sometimes that’s how it is, as it was with Moses: go back into the fray, from out in the middle of nowhere, go back in!

But for most people, the call of God is to be exactly where you are and to stick with it when there are obstacles in the way or relationships which are difficult or other problems that come – to be faithful-in-place. Not just because you have to, but because God calls us to be Christ’s followers right where we are, supplying whatever we need for the call of God to be fulfilled.

Take some time now to thank God that, in moments when we are fearful, cowardly, and doubtful in our prayers, God says, “No, I won’t give up on you. You are the one I want!”

Day 21: “I Cannot Speak!”

Evangelism, Exhortation, Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 21: “I Cannot Speak!”
Passage: Exodus 4:10-12

Communication takes place when thoughts are exchanged between two parties. When effective communication takes places, marriages tend to be strengthened, friendships solidified, and business relationships flourish. It is an art that can be learned, and those who harness this skill usually succeed in life.

Prayer is a form of spiritual communication between believers and God, and when Christians pray, their relationship with God grow. While he was praying to God, Moses tried to avoid what God had called him to do by claiming that he cannot speak eloquently before people (Ex. 4:10). He humbly recognized who he was before God and also his own morality in his prayer. Moses was afraid that he would mess up when he speaks before the Pharaoh and the Israelite nation. Even though Moses was raised in the palace of Egypt, he was not quick witted and so he thought he would be inadequate for the task God was calling him out for.

God then reassures Moses that clear communication and speech is only given by God to human beings, and that he will give Moses words he needs to speak before Pharaoh and the Jewish nation (Ex. 4:11-12). In fact, Moses was the perfect man to stand before Pharaoh and be the deliverer of God’s people because he was raised in Pharaoh’s household and knew the ways of the Egyptians. God has already providentially worked in Moses’ life to mold him into just the right person for the work of delivering Israel. All Moses had to do was to know, trust, and obey God if he was to be an effective communicator.

Throughout the Scriptures, God often uses people who appear weak or unworthy to accomplish His mighty work. God desires to use humble people who intimately knows and completely trusts God as His chosen vessels to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world. If people respond in a belligerent manner to the message being proclaimed, believers must continue to love and express kindness toward them. They are to pray for the people who oppose them: “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them who despitefully use you” (Luke 6:28). Above all things, all believers must remember that they are sinners whom Christ died for whenever they share the gospel (Romans 5:8).

Do you love God enough to look past your own convenience and comfort zone? Do you love mankind enough to let yourself to be used by God to reach them with the good news? Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (Matt. 5:9). By biding our time and praying for them we stand ready to be used by God to bring them into fellowship, not just with us, but with God in Christ as well. In every discussion or connection with others – especially during the Lenten season – let us remain humble enough and dependent on God to reach them for Christ.

Day 19: “What Shall I Say?”

Evangelism, God, Lent 2016, Meditation, Preaching, Scriptures

Day 19: “What Shall I Say?”
Passage: Exodus 3:13-22

When Moses began his prayer filled with awe, fear, and doubt, and in spite of God’s assurance that Moses would not be alone, Moses questioned God and asked Him in verse 13, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them the God of your ancestors has sent me and they ask me what is his name? What shall I say to them?”

God, in verses 14-22, revealed to Moses his divine name, a divine self-disclosure of who He is: “I AM WHO I AM.” It is by the power of His name Moses shall go forth into Egypt and proclaim Israelites’ liberation not just before the Pharaoh but also assure that deliverance was at hand before the entire nation of Israel. To the elders of Israel, Moses will declare that they would be freed from the oppressive hand of Egyptians and that they will be divinely protected by God as they face various enemies in the Promised Land. If there was a shred of doubt that the Jewish leaders would follow suit, God reassured Moses that he would not only gain the support of Israelites but also be opposed by the Pharaoh and become an instrument by which God will demonstrate His awesome power and wonders before the entire Egyptian nation. Once all signs were performed, Israel will not only leave Egypt but also be affluent because of all silver and gold jewelry and clothing they would get from the Egyptians as plunder, a prize given to the victors of a war.

All believers are commissioned by God to proclaim the Gospel message (which means “good news”) before all men and women (Matt. 28:19-20). Yet we often ask God out of fear like Moses, “What shall I say?” In other words, what is the Gospel message we must know, accept, and proclaim in order to liberate men and women from the power of sin and death, and to restore their relationship with God again? 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 gives us an apt summary of the message we must know, accept, and proclaim before the world:

  1. Christ died for our sins;
  2. Christ was buried (in other words, literally dead); and
  3. Christ rose from the dead on the third day.

Additionally, we must proclaim that Christ offers His salvation as a free gift to everyone that can only be received by faith, apart from any works or merit on our part (Rom. 5:15; 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9). The gospel is “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16). Apostle Paul, the same author, tells us, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9).

The essential elements of the Gospel are as follows:

  1. All men are sinful, or separated from God;
  2. Christ died on the cross to pay for those sins;
  3. Christ rose from the dead to provide eternal life for those who follow him; and
  4. God offers the free gift of salvation to everyone who believes, accepts, and follows Christ.

Just like the Egyptians did and ultimately failed, the world will resist the gospel message for a while, but Philippians 2:10-11 tells us that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” It is through the power the gospel and of God, the “I AM” of Exodus, that everyone will bow down in this world one day in the future.

What shall you talk about? The gospel message, the good news of how God has been reconciled with sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! The challenge is this: Are you committed to proclaiming the simple yet awesome, grace-filled, and liberating power of the gospel message before all sinful men and women through whatever means possible and wherever you go on a daily basis?