Friday, May 31, 2013

DAY 377 - (English podcast click here)

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DAY 377 - Have The Face of An Angle under Suffering (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)



No decision from the doctors yet. Let's pray that Leslie do not need a big surgery.



Today's Reading: Acts 6:8-15

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Please click this link to read Acts 6:8-15

Bible Study

       Can you imagine how devastating could that be for Stephen? He was ordained as a deacon not long ago, was filled by the Holy Spirit and being anointed with gifts, wisdom and power. How glory it could be? But, before he could taste the sweetness of his success, he was heavily persecuted to the point of death. If you were Stephen, what would you think and react? 

     Sad, discouraged, in darkness, hopeless, depressed, quit? What do you think you would look like when people see you? I might look like a defeated soldier being hand-cuffed by enemy.  But, Stephen face was like the face of an angel.  What does that mean?

     But perhaps what we are meant to understand is that there was a kind of light, illuminating Stephen from the inside.  A kind of serenity, humble and unostentatious, but confident and assured.  In the middle of arguments, controversies, false accusations, and now a serious charge before the highest court, he found himself standing, as the Temple claimed to stand, at the overlap of heaven and earth. 
     
N.T. Wright. Acts for Everyone, Part 1. Louisville,KY:Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, p.106.



     Do you think you can have that face next time you face with persecution or suffering? 
    
                      
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"



Spiritual Journal

     What I heard from Jesus today is: Have the face of an angle under suffering

    What I got from Jesus is for me to go back to a blog in April 22,  2010. 13 days after my wife Michelle was admitted to Vancouver General Hospital because of leukemia. Look at the pictures, did she has the face of an angel? 

     Just as bishop Wright describes "a kind of light, illuminating Stephen from the inside.  A kind of serenity, humble and unostentatious, but confident and assured.  In the middle of " a big crisis, leukemia. It was so amazing to me that our whole family had that kind of serenity that we should not have in that kind of crisis. I asked our elder son Ignatius why he was so calm a month after Michelle was in the hospital but still in critical condition. Iggy said, "Because Jesus gave me confirmation already that mom won't die." I said, "Oh! I have not received that confirmation." 

     A young man in our church said, "When I looked at your face that few weeks I did not see a troubled dark face but full of light. I asked myself, "Is Silas pretending well but he is actually in chaos? Then I find out you are not pretending. It's a good lesson for me."

     My question to our son is? What if mom really die, could he still have that serenity and calm? May be Yes, may be No. But for Stephen, it is a YES!

     How do people see you each day? An angel, a devil, a defeated soldier or an angry tiger?  

     It's all about whether you have a daily intimate personal relationship with Jesus! Nothing more, nothing less!




 Please click this link to that wonderful post in April 22, 2010 that Michelle had the face of an angle:  http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2010/04/day-246-do-you-really-believe-in-power.html
             
Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us to have the face of an angel in the midst of persecution and suffering so as in everyday.   In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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神救拔我們脱離困苦，因他的慈愛永遠長存!

  今日博客的錄影: Nicky Gumbel  牧師今日靈修博客: https://us17.campaign-archive.com/?e=590b90010b&u=607cd553028b55c8cfb706e8a&id=2636931336 Nicky G...