OT DAY 527 - Special Message on My Birthday: You Need to Have Enough Space to be Able to Listen to God's Voice (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

       In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
         let me never be put to shame;
         in your righteousness deliver me!

                                     Psalm 31:1

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 (2 Kings 3:1-20)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=列+王+紀+下+3&version=ESV

11 And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” 12 And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the Lordwho has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” 14 And Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. 15 But now bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. 16 And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ 17 For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ 18 This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, 19 and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.” 20 The next morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.             2 Kings 3:11-20

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"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

    My Listening

           I have got a very important message for myself and you all on my birthday today: You need to have enough space to be able to listen to God's voice.

          Elisha asked the king of Israel to find him a harpist so that he could receive God's plan to deal with the national crisis. Can you believe that? Say if you are a member of your church council and your church has some important decision to make, one of the members says, "Let's find our pianist to come here and play some music before we decide what we need to do." Do you think this would happen? Never! But, it happened in today's passage.

           For the past more than ten years, as the Chairman of our Church Council, I always choose a passage of Bible to read, and then we meditate and share what we have got from Jesus and prayed. That's the first item of our agenda. Some people might think that is a waste of time, but for us, we enjoy that as a space to prepare ourselves using a special space to listen to what God wants to say to us and to be in the presence of God.  

     Let's listen to what Professor John Goldingay says: 

     Again like Saul, Elisha is helped in this connection, by some music. Music often has the capacity to open people up to transcendent realities in a way that silent thinking or prayer or reflection cannot. In the Bible, if you want to seek God, you do so with the help of noise and music, not silence.
          So Elisha brings God's word to the kings. It promises the water they need, which comes in abundance. It also promises a conclusive victory, and initially the miraculous supply of water also promises to be the means of bringing about a marvellous victory. 

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Kings for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.116-117.

             What kind of space do you usually give to God each day in order for you to receive words from Him. Or, is all your space being swallowed by your daily busy-ness and you are doing your daily work without God's voice and plan?

            Since 228 days ago, many of us have a space of more than one hour each day to prepare ourselves to listen to the voice of God and to experience His daily presence early in the morning 6:30a.m.. That is a total paradigm change to all of us! How about you, any space?

    Dear Lord Jesus,
    Help us to know what kind of space we need to have each day in order to be able to hear your voice. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

    1. Do you think you have enough space each day to be able to listen to God's voice and to receive His daily plan for you? 

2. How can you make this vital and critical paradigm shift?

    3. What have you got from Jesus today?

10,000 Reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

四十天的"破. 立"靈修:

http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

如果你有 Android cel. 請按此處上載程式,可直接一按收聽最近之十次廣播:

Discipler123: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.rec.app

破.立 Break.Build: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.bb.app

歡迎你使用三年三個月讀完新舊約聖經blog: 

     http://discipler123.blogspot.com/ 

     Thank you for your prayers and blessings, I have a wonderful birthday today:

     

     Today is our 228 days non stop Morning Prayer Monday through Friday 6:30a.m. to 7:30a.m. Saturday 8a.m. to 9:45a.m., Sunday 7:30a.m. to 8:30a.m.

The offering of our First Fruit every morning have changed lots of things: unity, lifestyle, character …and many more!

Pictures of last Saturday morning 8:00a.m. Prayer Meeting at Richmond Emmanuel Church: