Dear…
‘Where I am, there you may be also.’
John 14:3
“Awakened by a close friend,” this was the headline reading for yesterday’s Daily Bread devotion(2nd Aug 2011).
Awakened rudely I was yesterday morning, by the piercing shrill of my house alarm, which was triggered for reasons till now unexplained. God is Sovereign, and in all circumstances, He has His purpose, and it will do us well to always take time to give ear to His promptings.
With the mind now no longer in a state of stupor, I decided that instead of plunging backing into bed, it was better to take time to enter unto the presence of our Lord. And in doing so, indeed God had a message for me. He wanted to remind me that I have plain forgotten about the prayer meeting later that morning. And quite embarrassing for in my 9 years of serving the Lord as a coordinator in the prayer ministry, I have never forgotten a meeting.
‘The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.’
2 Peter 2:9
Last Wednesday I was in torrid Shanghai for a meeting. And after dinner, six of us from the office entered the hotel lift, where a local lady was already waiting patiently, while we sauntered in. The lift works on a card system to restrict access only to hotel guests. Anyway, I was the first one out of the lift, as my room was at the lowest level, and just as I was about to enter my room, I heard the voice of the female who was till recently, in that same lift, making an interesting proposition to me. My carnal desires are still very alive, but by the enabling grace of God, it was a little slow to activate, but the spirit man in me was quicker off the mark to categorically reject the offer of paid companionship. And with the wisdom that God gives me, upon entering the safety of my room, I called the wife to alert her on her potential competitor and with that call, any hope of my mind changing my mind, was now no longer possible, now that the accountability bar has been raised.
‘Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts.”
2 Peter 3:3
The last days are indeed upon us. In the midst of the false vigor in our global economy, lies many a downtrodden with no hope of employment. And amongst the gainfully employed , are many who are weighed down by the demands of work and the deep sense of insecurity with their jobs. The harvest is indeed great and if not for the grace of God, any succumbing to my innate lusts would have deprived me of this privilege relationship with our great God.
And indeed God affirmed the next day when He provided me an opportunity to minister and testify to His love with a dear friend. Had I sinned, I know I will not be able to be used by the Lord.
‘If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.’
1 John 1:10
“Shanghaied” was the title that God placed in my heart just before my trip to Shanghai last week. Never did I imagine that the devil almost “shanghaied” me in my determined journey of faith with our Lord. The word “shanghaied” is defined as the enrolling of a sailor for the crew of a ship by unscrupulous means, as by force or the use of liquor of drugs and in this case, lusts.
It was understandable that in the days of old, much as the world was no longer perceived to be flat, where ships will totter over into the chasm, living conditions was not great and no good man of right mind will want to be a sailor. But what has “shanghaied” got to do with our spiritual journey?
‘For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?’
1 John 5:4-5
Much as I have professed and indeed seek to live a life that will honor God His way, I know that my carnal self is still very much alive and the devil is like the lion always waiting for an opportunity to pounce upon my weakness. This is the reality of the fallen world we live in till Christ return.
‘Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever, Amen.’
Jude 24-25
Yet, in recent months, I have been reminded and is even more cognizant that indeed God is Sovereign and much as the devil might delude itself, the victory of the cross is a fact. And more importantly, God will and has divinely intervene in my life many times over to ensure that sin is not allowed to creep back.
‘As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.’
Joshua 1:5
The Daily Bread has been a wonderful companion that God used to teach and assure me of His presence since I took that tentative step of faith back into His fold in 1998. And I am touched that our Lord chose to use today’s reading(3rd Aug 2011) to complete and affirm these thoughts that He has placed in my heart in share with all of you.
That He is indeed with us always. And as the author of today’s Daily Bread devotion so succinctly put it “When we are doing God’s will, He will be with us even without our asking…”
Do take time to ponder upon the reason for the “absentee God” in your life. Is it not true that God is never the sole focus of your life, nor do you give much thought to His will, when you are too engrossed with your own will?
A decade back, God brought me into the path that He has long laid for me. A path that I never believed existed because like most, I was backward looking, thanking God only after the fact. Today, in my "Heart of the Shepherd" study, the lesson reminded us all that Abraham, a man of faith was forward looking. He went to Where God leads Him, always looking to Him and not upon his own understanding nor circumstances.
I moved from believer to follower that night in Bangkok a decade back, when by His enabling grace, I decided to thank Him for my circumstances much as the desired conclusion had not occurred. That one step of faith was the opening that God was looking for in my heart, and His Spirit sanctified and filled me up. Life has never been the same for me since.
And life will never be the same for you, if you are willing to take that step of faith, to thank God for all circumstances and go where He leads you.
'A man's heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps.'
Proverbs 16:9
Rgds and God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(3rd Aug 2011)
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