Sunday, January 3, 2016

OT DAY 414 - Are You Willing to Tell Other People What God Has Done 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
3.   Open your heart to praise the Lord

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
    and all your saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
    and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds,
    and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
                    Psalm 145:10-13

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 (1 Samuel 1:23-2:11)

 23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24 And when she had weaned him,she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young.25 Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. 27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.”
And he worshiped the Lord there.

And Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the Lord;
    my horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
    because I rejoice in your salvation.
2 “There is none holy like the Lord:
    for there is none besides you;
    there is no rock like our God.
                    Psalm 1: 23-2:2

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

My Listening

           If you cried for God's help and He answered your prayer, delivered you from your suffering and oppression, do you think you will keep your promise and then tell other people about how great God is? Hannah did. 

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 
    
      Her visit thus involves her personal thanksgiving and praise. What God has done for her makes it possible for her to reaffirm, "There is no one apart from you." Yet the vast bulk of her praise is not addressed to God. It speaks about God in the third person. It is addressed to other people (eventually to people like us who read her story). In its nature as address to God, it is thanksgiving, but in its nature as speaking about God, it is testimony. Gratitude for what God has done is not complete until one tells other people about what God has done…
          Her sacrifice involves not only the slaughter of a bull (a costly gift for a family) but the giving up of her son. We may be inclined to wonder how she could do this, but she knows that the meeting of her need relates not merely to her personally but to a much bigger purpose. So she can trust him to Eli and the sanctuary - or rather, to God.  
          
John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.23, 24.

       
          
       If you find yourself making less and less offering, not tithing anymore and I guess at the same time you stop to tell other people about God because you have nothing to tell. You are farther and farther away from God.

        If you find yourself making more and more offering, more than tithing and I am sure you love to tell other people about God because you have lots of testimonies to tell. You are closer and closer to God.  

        Your willingness to make big offerings to God and to tell other people of what God has done to you is the evidence of your true relationship to God. 

Dear Lord Jesus, 
    Help us to keep our promise to you and that we can have the urge to tell other people about what you have done to us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:
1. Do you think your offerings and your urge to tell other people about what God has done to you has anything to do with your relationship with God ?

2. How are you going to keep your promise, offer more to God in lieu of time, money and everything? How are you going to stir up your urge to tell other people about what God has done to you?

3. What have you got from Jesus today?


Today's Time with Abba daily reading:
Psalm 2:7-12
Genesis 5:1-7:24
Matthew 3:7-4:11
Proverbs 1:10-19

Photos of my copying the Bible today using Time with Abba passages 







Praise and Thanksgiving

Let's give thanks for God with us. Let us praise Him:
10,000 Reasons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

Please click the link below to my new 40 days Break.Build site any time you like to having a 40 days "Break.Build" daily devotion with one to two people as a discipler to help those Jesus prepares for you to disciple. You need to know that the call and purpose of my Break.Build and this Discipler123 blog/podcast is for you to become a discipler to help more people to have a daily intimate relationship with Jesus and then they can become disciplers too:

Please click these links to the app. Andy Ng wrote if you have an Android cel.:



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Daily Devotion on Fire: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/
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是時候回頭轉向神了!

   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=94c5e0eae4 Nicky ...