Wednesday, September 21, 2016

OT DAY 539 - It Is God's Guidance, Or Is It A Coincidence? (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

       Therefore let everyone who is godly
    offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
    they shall not reach him.
        You are a hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from trouble;
    you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

        
                                     Psalm 32:6-7

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 8:1-6)


Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years.” So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land. Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.”
                             2 Kings 8:1-6

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

           There are lots of coincidences for this Shunammite woman in this passage. Is that coincidence, or is that God's guidance, provision and protection? 
           
     Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 
     (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) : 
              Coincidence plays a big part in the Shunammite woman's story. It was through coincidence that she knew Elisha, as he happened to travel her way, though it was not through coincidence that she suggested to her husband that they support him, and it was not through coincidence that she was able to have a baby and then able to ask Elisha to intervene when the child died (2 Kings 4). It was that earlier consequence that ultimately resulted in her getting the heads-up to take refuge elsewhere during a famine…
          The Shunammite and her family arrive back in the country, and she needs to appeal to the king for the restoration of their land, which has evidently and naturally been taken over by someone else…
         She shows up to make her appeal at just the time Elisha's assistant is talking to the king about what he did for her. When Israelites read this story, did they ask what had happened to the skin disorder that Elisha had called down on Gehazi, which was to attach to him and his descendants forever (2 Kings 5)? Did they infer that this did not stop Gehazi from living an ordinary life? Or did they infer that he had repented and found restoration?
   
John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Kings for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.134-135.


       "When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don't, they don't," says Archbishop William Temple (Archbishop of Canterbury,1881-1944).
       I do hope you pray more often and that your prayer is a way of your intimate relationship with Jesus. Then, coincidences will happen! When that happen, give thanks to Jesus and follow Him each day. Then, more coincidences will happen. Do you believe that? I not only believe, but I experience almost each day! 

    Dear Lord Jesus,
    Lead us to experience all those unexpected coincidences because we love you and love to pray to you each day.  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
    
Reflect on these questions:
   1. Do you believe the happening of coincidences has something to do with your prayer life?

2. How can you pray in a more simple and intimate way so that you can experience more coincidences?

    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:

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:

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


Welcome to use my first blog: Read one chapter of Bible a day 


     http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/day-1-i-am-blind.html


    Today is our 265 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.

    Today is also DAY 1 of Toronto Emmanuel Church's Time with Abba, 9a.m. to 10a.m. I am going to lead them starting today for four consecutive days till Saturday. Rev. Edmund Ho, the Rector of TEC will receive the baton to lead on helping brothers and sisters to be with God each day and to be able to listen to God's voice personally.

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

Pictures of today's 9:00a.m. Prayer Meeting at Toronto Emmanuel Church with Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, Archbishop Yong and Julia Yong came to have Time with Abba with us:




誰能使我們與基督的愛隔絕呢?

  大齋期四十日 "破。立"每日靈修,請按下面連結: http://breakbuild.blogspot.com/   楊平忠大主教領受 "使命113"異象之見證 Archbishop Yong’s MISSION 113 videos,...