Look Again and Consecrate

Verse:

Matthew 6:30

"If God so clothes the grass of the field ... , will He not much more clothe you ... ?"

Lesson:

1. A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us because we are often not simple.

2. How can we maintain the simplicity of Jesus so that we may understand Him?

3. By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, and obeying Him as He brings us the truth of His Word, life will become amazingly simple.

4. Jesus asks us to consider that "if God so clothes the grass of the field ..." how "much more" will He clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him?

5. Every time we lose ground in our fellowship with God, it is because we have disrespectfully thought that we knew better than Jesus Christ.

6. We have allowed "the cares of this world" to enter in (Matthew 13:22), while forgetting the "much more" of our heavenly Father.

7. "Look at the birds of the air ..." (Matthew 6:26). Their function is to obey the instincts God placed within them, and God watches over them.

8. "Consider the lilies of the field ..." (Matthew 6:28). They grow where they are planted. Many of us refuse to grow where God plants us.

9. Therefore, we don't take root anywhere. Jesus said if we would obey the life of God within us, He would look after all other things.

10. Did Jesus Christ lie to us? Are we experiencing the "much more" He promised?

11. If we are not, it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us and have cluttered our minds with confusing thoughts and worries.

12. How much time have we wasted asking God senseless questions while we should be absolutely free to concentrate on our service to Him?

13. Consecration is the act of continually separating myself from everything except that which God has appointed me to do.

14. It is not a one-time experience but an ongoing process. Am I continually separating myself and looking to God every day of my life?

Most Meaningful Statement :

A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us because we are often not simple.

Thoughts :

1. Life should be simple. Our problem is we make it too complicated. We allow ourselves to be sucked into the cares and complications of the world.

2. So how do we simplify our already complicated lives? We do that by trusting God for who He is. We must remember that we are eternal beings created by God to have fellowship with Him.

3. Lillies grow where they are planted. Do we grow where we are planted? Birds live according to God's plan for them, and they soar freely. Do we?

4. Often we worry and take things into our own hands. How nice if we lived according to God's plan and remain carefree.

5. We spend too much time asking God too many senseless questions and asking for too many useless things. Instead we should be concentrating on knowing Him more.caught up with the concerns of this lifetime.

Who me ? 

Recall What God Remembers

Hi guys,

This is another look at some of my thoughts whilst I was thinking about what God really wants from us. My next chapter of the Purpose Driven Life will be held back till the next posting.

Verse:

Jeremiah 2:2

“Thus says the Lord: ‘I remember ... the kindness of your youth ...’.”

Lessons:

1. Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me?

2. Does everything in my life fill His heart with gladness, or do I constantly complain because things don't seem to be going my way?

3. A person who has forgotten what God treasures will not be filled with joy.

4. It is wonderful to remember that Jesus Christ has needs which we can meet — “Give Me a drink” (John 4:7).

5. How much kindness have I shown Him in the past week?

6. Has my life been a good reflection on His reputation?

7. God is saying to His people, “You are not in love with Me now, but I remember a time when you were.” He says, “I remember ... the love of your betrothal ...” (Jeremiah 2:2).

8. Am I as filled to overflowing with love for Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him?

9. Does He ever find me pondering the time when I cared only for Him? Is that where I am now, or have I chosen man's wisdom over true love for Him?

10. Am I so in love with Him that I take no thought for where He might lead me?

11. Or am I watching to see how much respect I get as I measure how much service I should give Him?

12. As I recall what God remembers about me, I may also begin to realize that He is not what He used to be to me.

13. When this happens, I should allow the shame and humiliation it creates in my life, because it will bring godly sorrow, and “godly sorrow produces repentance ...” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Most Meaningful Statement:

Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me?

Thoughts:

1. In our relationship with God, we tend to forget to treat Him kindly and well.

2. We have not learnt how to consider His feelings for certain things.

3. Our relationship with God tends to be one sided as we constantly expect to receive from Him. What about giving to Him?

4. Life in Singapore tends to be full of hustle and bustle and quite materialistic. Often we see God as a material provider. Does He ever find us pondering about what He cares for?

5. We should ask ourselves what is God passionate about.

What on earth am I here for?

After friends introduced me to the book entitled "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren, I found that I couldn't stop reading it. Sometimes I would go over the same set of pages several times just to make sure that I have absorbed the essence of the passages.

What's the book all about ? Well, it concerns "What on earth am I here for?". Therefore, I thought I'll start a BLOG to capture my thoughts about this very important topic and share these with all the world.

Here goes ..........

Chapter One: It all starts with God.

Thoughts:

1. It's not about you.

2. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness.

3. You were born by HIs purpose and for His purpose.

4. Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you won't discover your life's meaning by looking within yourself.

5. You can usually succeed in reaching a goal if you put your mind to it. But being successful and fulfilling your life's purpose are not at all the same issue.

6. God's purpose for our life predates our conception.

Thinking about my purpose

Point to ponder:

It's not about me.

Verse to remember:

Everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him, Col 1:16.

Question to consider:

In spite of all the advertising around me, how can I remind myself that life is really about living for God, not myself?

The Voice of the Nature of God

In between reading the next chapter of the Purpose Driven Life, I was set to think about the call of God. How do we hear the voice of God in order to know what is His calling for us ?

Verse:

Isaiah 6:8

“I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’.”

Lessons:

1. There are many things calling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard. When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls.

2. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize that call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God's nature, not ours.

3. God providentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the threading of God's voice directly to us over a certain concern that makes it useless to seek another person's opinion of it.

4. The call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God.

5. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul.

6. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed.

Thoughts :

1. One of the most significant concepts here is that God calls us based on His will and His nature. It has got nothing to do with our nature, what we are, and what talents we have. As long as we keep having the impression that our call is based on what we are suited for, we will never hear God's call.

2. We have to be in the right relationship with Him and be in the same condition as Isaiah. We must be changed.