So often during the last two years have we quoted these verses: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
How wonderful that God speaks to us! Yet, we need to read on: Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Now we are talking! If you went on a road trip recently, you would know how important it is to know the people you're travelling with. All sorts of problems pop out while we're on the road.
You are on a new one from today. Better make sure who's driving...I would suggest you get to know the One who knows what's lying ahead. You must be able to talk to Him, to get His take on things, to call on Him when you're in trouble.
Romans 10:8 & 9 makes it really simple: If you confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Do we really need to be saved? You tell me...what about the bad habits you cannot shake, the wrong choices you've made? The Bible calls it sin and says we need to be saved from that and eternal hell. A future where there is no-one to share His precious thoughts with us and draw us near and say: "I know the thoughts I think toward you..."
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
These holidays I went to China and learned to pray...
Tengyung, Paoshan and Mottled Hill were my destinations, plain boiled rice my staple diet and high mountains my challenge almost every day. I slept in rat-infested huts, sludged through mud and tried to understand a foreign language. My companion was the famous missionary, James O Fraser, lover of the Lisu people from southwest China.
For me, to read a missionary story is like going on a holiday. It refreshes me. Not only do I get to "see" the world, but I learn valuable lessons about the Christian life.
James O Fraser's life is described in detail through letters that he wrote home to his mom who was his main prayer partner. As time passed and disappointments grew, the talented twenty-two year old realized that his battle for the souls of the demon-worshipping tribe was serious. He asked for eight or so more praying volunteers and "rolled the burden of his soul" for the tribe's salvation over to them. He instructed them how to pray: ask for specific things that you know God wants to do, wait for answers, ask God what He wants and be careful of asking for things that are so big that you cannot handle it.
When God answered these prayers over the following years, thousands of Lisu came to know the Lord. A young American girl, Isobel Kuhn, heard Fraser speak at a missionary congress and decided to go to China as well. In her first book, By Searching, she tells her story.
But that is another story for another holiday...
For me, to read a missionary story is like going on a holiday. It refreshes me. Not only do I get to "see" the world, but I learn valuable lessons about the Christian life.
James O Fraser's life is described in detail through letters that he wrote home to his mom who was his main prayer partner. As time passed and disappointments grew, the talented twenty-two year old realized that his battle for the souls of the demon-worshipping tribe was serious. He asked for eight or so more praying volunteers and "rolled the burden of his soul" for the tribe's salvation over to them. He instructed them how to pray: ask for specific things that you know God wants to do, wait for answers, ask God what He wants and be careful of asking for things that are so big that you cannot handle it.
When God answered these prayers over the following years, thousands of Lisu came to know the Lord. A young American girl, Isobel Kuhn, heard Fraser speak at a missionary congress and decided to go to China as well. In her first book, By Searching, she tells her story.
But that is another story for another holiday...
Sunday, January 2, 2011
In whose name are you travelling?
When you were born, you were given a name. You have it for the rest of your life and it is inseparable from who you are. You are.....(insert your name) and it is your identity. If you do something, people will say, so and so did it.
The apostle John said in John 20:30, 31 that he wrote his book to help us believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we can have life in His name. We cannot have eternal life in our own name, because the Bible says that there is no other name on earth than that of Jesus Christ by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12). It wouldn't help to be a famous movie star, the president of the United States or Mother Theresa or to say we know them, they're related to us or they even know us. Only Jesus' name can save us from eternal death.
John says it is by believing that we can have life in Jesus' name. He meant for us to read his story about what Jesus did when He was on earth. If you read chapter 20 you will see John himself running to the tomb, finding it empty and he "saw and believed". Mary did not understand straight away what happened and Jesus had to tell her He was going to God. She was not to cling to Him as she knew Him on earth, but understand that He had really come to connect her to God!
A third disciple, Thomas, wanted to see, feel and experience Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection. Jesus allowed him to and he believed because of this proof. By believing, all these disciples received eternal life in Jesus' name.
Although we were not there at the tomb, all these things were written down by John so that we can believe that Jesus is the Son of God. If we believe, we have life in His name.
The apostle John said in John 20:30, 31 that he wrote his book to help us believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we can have life in His name. We cannot have eternal life in our own name, because the Bible says that there is no other name on earth than that of Jesus Christ by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12). It wouldn't help to be a famous movie star, the president of the United States or Mother Theresa or to say we know them, they're related to us or they even know us. Only Jesus' name can save us from eternal death.
John says it is by believing that we can have life in Jesus' name. He meant for us to read his story about what Jesus did when He was on earth. If you read chapter 20 you will see John himself running to the tomb, finding it empty and he "saw and believed". Mary did not understand straight away what happened and Jesus had to tell her He was going to God. She was not to cling to Him as she knew Him on earth, but understand that He had really come to connect her to God!
A third disciple, Thomas, wanted to see, feel and experience Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection. Jesus allowed him to and he believed because of this proof. By believing, all these disciples received eternal life in Jesus' name.
Although we were not there at the tomb, all these things were written down by John so that we can believe that Jesus is the Son of God. If we believe, we have life in His name.
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