Daily Encouragement

October 4, 2009 - According To Your Faith

Meditation on Matthew 9

Jesus would answer our prayers according to our faith and not according to our self- righteousness. How much we believe will determine how much He will do for us. Jesus forgave the sins of a paralytic and healed him because of the faith of his friends who carried him to Jesus. What a tremendous comfort to us who care for our suffering friends!

He called Matthew, a tax collector to be His disciple and declared that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

He announced a new standard: Do away with our old custom and religious beliefs but put our faith in Him. (v. 14-17)

As the synagogue ruler believed, his daughter was raised from the dead. As a woman believed, her discharged of blood for twelve years was healed. "Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well." Jesus said to her. (v. 22 ESV)

In the next incidence, Jesus asked the two blind men who came for healing. "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said yes and Jesus touched their eyes, saying "According to you faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened. (v. 28)

People were marveled at the power of Jesus because He even caused a mute man to speak.

Today, Jesus is calling us to pray that there may be laborers for His harvest. I believe He wants those who have faith in Him. Only they can be touched with His power to help others.

October 5, 2009 - Parables For The Kingdom

Meditation on Matthew 13

Each of these parables in Matthew 13 should be of paramount interest to us. Pick one and study it carefully for your understanding of God's program and principles.

As a whole, the emphasis seems to be on the understanding of the word of the kingdom. When we valuate the word of the kingdom of heaven, we will begin to understand it and then we will bear fruit. See the explanation of the parable of the sower. In verse 23, it says, "As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understand it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another, thirty." (ESV) Those who do not value the word will never understand it.

Then form the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the pearl of great value, we see the great significance of getting into the kingdom because it is more valuable than all our possession.

Furthermore, the parable of the weed shows us that the kingdom is so valuable that Satan would try to disturb its growth by sowing counterfeit seed into it at night. But other parables tell us that the kingdom will continue to grow quietly and greatly until the end of the age when God's harvest time will come and He will send His angels to separate the sinners and throw them into the fiery furnace.

Therefore we pay much attention to God's word today and grow in the kingdom of God.

October 6, 2009 - Know What You Are Mindful Of

Meditation on Matthew 16

In Matthew 16:16, Simon Peter answered Jesus' question of who He was by saying "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (NKJV) Jesus blessed him and then declared His mission that He will build His church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (v. 18 )

Later on when Jesus revealed to His disciples his coming suffering and resurrection, Peter rebuked Jesus for saying those things. This time Jesus turned to him and said, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." (v. 21-23)

From Jesus' rebuke here we learn the absolute necessity of focusing on the things of God. When we make decision from man's stand point only, we may offend the will of God regardless of how reasonable and caring our thinking might be.

Jesus then went on to instruct His disciples the sacrifice they had to make in order to follow him. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me.", He said, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (v. 24-26) When we are mindful of the things of God and pursue it, we will have our reward when Jesus comes. (v. 27)

The Pharisees and Sadducee could not understand Jesus because they were only interested in man's tradition and the things of man. So, Jesus did not respond to their request of a sign from heaven but instead warned the disciples against their doctrines. (v. 1-12)

Therefore, let us learn to be mindful of the things of God.

October 7, 2009 - Vital Principles For The Kingdom Of Heaven

Meditation on Matthew 20

Jesus' story of the laborers of vineyard is puzzling for many of us. Why is it that the master would give the same wage for those who worked only one hour during the afternoon as well as those who have worked for a whole day? Simply speaking, Jesus wants to treat everyone the same in His kingdom whether you are the first to work there or the last. He would pay everyone as He has agreed to. But He is gracious to those who could not find work the whole day. He wants everyone to have enough pay to live on.

I agree with those Bible Scholars who said that Jesus was trying to warn the Jews that just because they were chosen by God earlier does not mean that they will get a better treatment than the Gentiles. Also many of us today should not think that those who have been in a church for a long time should automatically get a higher privilege than the new comers. We are all saved by grace and equally important to God. And our concern should not be how much we can get out of our service to God. All of us can serve is only because of His calling by grace alone.

As to the incidence of the mother of James and John asking Jesus to grant special position to her two sons in God's Kingdom, we learn from Jesus' reply another vital principle in the kingdom. Those who want to be first must learn to serve and give their lives. The servant leader concept is the way Jesus' kingdom operated. Quite different from the way of the world.

For those of us who can't see these concepts, we can learn from the two blind men. Right away call upon Jesus to help us to see. He will have compassion on us and make us see so we can follow Him. (v. 29-34)

October 8, 2009 - Be Ready For The Return Of Christ

Meditation on Matthew 25

The three parables by Jesus in this chapter teach us how to prepare for his return.

The first one was about wedding which was a very important event in the lives of the ancient Jews. People could take off from work and study in order to participate in the celebration. Usually the wedding invitation was announced ahead without specific date and time of the arrival of the groom. So the bride's party would start celebrating and dancing in anticipation. When the groom's party arrived usually at night, they would walk back to the groom's home with lamps.

In this case the groom's arrival was delay. (v. 5) The virgins who were the bridesmaids felt asleep. Five of them had prepared enough oil in their lamps but the other five did not. Those who were ready to meet the Groom and joined in the procession were called wise ones. The others were foolish ones because they did not understand that one could not get prepared for the coming of the groom at the last minute and that you could not borrow your oil from someone else. May we learn to be ready for the coming of Christ all the time.

The second parable dealt with the use of what the Master had given to the servants. Two were good and faithful in using their capital by multiplying. At the time of judgment, they received the same commendation and reward. But the third one was lazy and gave excuse for not doing any thing but hid his given possession. Thus he was thrown out in the outer darkness with great remorse. Christians must learn from this to be good and faithful in using their ability, spiritual gifts and possessions to serve God. That is being ready for the coming of Christ. Otherwise what we have will be given to others who serve God faithfully. The lazy ones will suffer total loss.

The third parable describes the future judgment of Christ when He will come. Those who have met the needs of needy with compassion will be rewarded to inherit the kingdom prepared for them by the Messiah. But those who did not take care of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, or the prisoner at all will go away to eternal punishment. This parable tells us that those who are true Christians will take on the character and mission of Christ to minister to the needs of our neighbors. If not, that is faith without work, it is dead. (James 2:26) We are not saved by work but we do serve Christ if we truly have faith. That is the indication of readiness for His coming.

October 9, 2009 - The Darkest Day In History

Meditation on Matthew 27

During the trial of Jesus, Governor Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent. He gave the Jews a choice to release Jesus or a known criminal and murderer, Barabbas. But the crowd under the persuasion of the religious authorities chose to crucify Jesus instead. Pilate washed his hand in front of the crowd to shun his responsibility of convicting Jesus. But he handed Jesus over to be flogged and crucified anyway.

The solders set a crown of thorns on Jesus' head. They tortured him and mocked him before they brought him to a place called Golgotha (skull) and nailed him to the cross. Crucifixion was the most cruel, painful and shameful execution. Jesus endured that without drinking any drug. The crowd and passerby and the religious leaders all hurled insults at him.

"From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?'- which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (v. 45-46 NIV)

Indeed it was the darkest hour when the Son of God bore the sins of you and me in His body on the cross. (1 Peter 2:24) That was the reason why Jesus felt the greatest pain because God the Father had forsaken Him because of the load of sins He bore.

When Jesus gave up his spirit, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rock split. Matthew said that the tomb broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. The centurion and the guards who saw all these things and the earthquake were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!" (v. 54)

Jesus was later buried. The Jewish authority obtained a special team of guards on his tomb which was also blocked by a huge rock. But death could not confine the Son of God. Another earthquake was coming! (Matthew 28:2)

The darkest hour of history was but a prelude to the greatest victory for mankind.

October 10, 2009 - How To Handle A Busy Life

Meditation on Mark 1

As Mark introduced to us the ministry of Jesus, we find that His life was absolutely too busy. There were at least ten times the word, "immediately" or the phase, "as soon as" were used in chapter one. Mark was describing the efficiency and hurried nature of Jesus' schedule and actions. He called His disciples, He healed, He cast out demons, He cleansed the leper, He preached and ministered to Peter's family. The whole city came to seek Him for one way or another. Yet in this kind of atmosphere, Mark said, "Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." (v. 35 NKJV)

That was the secret of Jesus for all of us to handle a busy schedule. You take time out to talk to God first in a quiet place before anything else. Jeremiah said, "Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23) He will strengthen you, guide you and give you new wisdom to handle the busy tasks of your day!