Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : DAY 305 (2017) - In faithfulness you have afflicted me so that I can be faithful to you! (Please click here for English podcast)

Silence

1. Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2. Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1. Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2. Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html)

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2. Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word, Time with Abba (Psalm 119:73-80; Proverbs 26:23; Lamentations 4:1-5:22; Hebrews 2:1-18)

Bible link:
English(ESV):https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=列+王+紀+下+13&version=ESV

PAUSE HERE!!!

Please read all four passages first before reading my sharing.

To know, learn and practice this method of Time with Abba, please click this link:

http://api.pastoralcareschool.org/twa/

Please see below the passages I copied today:

My Listening

The message I received today from our Lord Jesus Christ is "In faithfulness you have afflicted me so that I can be faithful to you!"

Wow! Today's four passages gives us the second part of yesterday's key message. What we received yesterday from Psalm 119: 71 is "It was good for me to be afflicted". And today the psalmist explains to us why our suffering is good for us and it is because God is faithful, in God's faithfulness He allows sufferings to happen. Why?

We always want to ask why when we face with suffering we cannot bear. How about thinking on God's side as what we have in the first verse of today's Psalm 119: 73 "Your hands made me and formed me" and yet we "went astray before we were afflicted"(Psalm 119:67). What I sense from today's verses from Psalm 119: 73 to 80 is that we are not faithful, and we have no delight in God's Word, we do not fear God and we do not love God wholeheartedly.

We are just like what it says in today's Lamentations 4: 1, we are gold but we lost the luster and become dull, not gold any more! Sad!

Just like what it says in today's Hebrews 2: 1-4, actually we have experienced God in signs, wonders and various miracles but we do not pay "most careful attention" to what we have heard and experienced. Instead, lots of time we "drift away"! Sad!

God wants to "restore" and "renew" us as says in today's Lamentations 5:21. Instead of not rejecting us and angry with us beyond measure as says in Lamentations 5:22, God chooses to allow sufferings to happen or even to cause suffering on us because of His faithfulness and love so that we might have a chance to return to Him again and to be faithful to Him.

Is that too difficult for you to understand? Is that too hard for you to accept?

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to understand that you can pour down afflictions on us if we go astray because of your faithfulness. Help us to grasp every opportunity during our time of suffering so that we can return to you, to be restored and renewed by you so that we can be faithful disciples of you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

1. How do you understand sufferings after reading the message in today and yesterday's blog?