Monday, September 23, 2013

DAY 492 - Right Way to Discern God's Will (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)


**NEW link for the  14th: 13th 100 days 24 hours prayer campaign (We are going to use this 13th list leads up to the 14th. 13th from March 15 to June 22, 2013. 14th from June 22 to August 31, 2013)


Today's Reading: Romans 12:1-5

** If you would like to learn a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please read my “Count Down 5” from my Devotion on Fire blog:
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html
To use this simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link:
 .Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf


Please click this link to read Romans 12:1-5

Bible Study

      After 11 chapters, Paul concludes that no matter Jews or Gentiles, we are all sinful and we all need salvation. We as human beings cannot discern God's will. His will is too deep and rich for us to discern. Instead, Paul starts chapter 12 with three steps so that we can be in God's will and experience God's will:
1. Offer yourself like a sacrifice in a temple
    That is to put to death all those evil deeds you have so that you have a new life in Christ.

 2. Do not conform to the lifestyles of this present world but to be transformed by God to be more like Jesus, not this world

 3. No matter you are Jew or Gentile, be united into one body as part of the many members

    If you can follow these steps and really live it out, you have a better chance to discern God's will. And, if fact, if you really can follow these steps, discerning God's will may not be your need because you should be enjoying God's will in you and through you to bless other people. Have you got that?

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: Right way to discern God's will

    What I got from Jesus today is a reminder of what happened in 1981 when I was so eager to discern God's will. At that time I was still a young leader in my church without the life of a true Christian. I stirred up a flow of discussion about how to discern God's will and how to be a better Christians for quite a number of choir members of Holy Trinity Church in Kowloon, Hong Kong. I was the choir conductor at that time. 

     I remember one night when I was in a fierce debate with other six choir members in a park, I heard Jesus called my name loudly, "Ng Tak Yin, stop debating. Pray and I will tell you." I was shock at that time. The other six people noticed what happened and I shared what happened to them. Then we prayed like never before for two hours. Mostly confession. We confessed our sins in front of each others for two hours! Within one year, a total renewal happened to me and to quite a number of our choir members. About half a year of that experience, I was having my daily devotion and was in this passage. A very strange thing happened because I could not see anything in the Bible but just one thing "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind". Then Jesus told me, "You have not been transformed yet." After that I heard the call to leave my job as a Music Officer in the Hong Kong Government to prepare myself to become an Anglican priest. 

     Jesus reminds me today that I have been through exactly that three points before I started to discern whether that is God's will to me to become an Anglican priest. The offering of ourselves as a sacrifice so that we can be transformed need to happen before you have a chance to discern God's will. In fact, you do not have the ability to discern God's will. Be transformed, pray and Jesus will tell you in His own time and in His own way. And, you will automatically be willing to function better and better as part of the many members of the body of Christ and taste the sweetness of unity. 

     This is the right way to discern God's will! 

Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us to be willing to offer ourselves to you as a sacrifice so that we have a better chance to discern your will and be able to taste the sweetness of unity.  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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