Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : DAY 37 (2019) - Why a demolished church painting in a hotel room in Berlin, Germany? (Please click here for English podcast)

*If this is your first time to have daily devotion or you have not had daily devotion for a long time, I suggest you to use this link for a 40 days of daily devotion through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, my Break.Build blog/podcast:

40 Days Break.Build daily devotion:

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

**If you would like to have me to walk with you for three years and three months to read through the whole Bible with one chapter a day, please click my fist blog "Devotion on Fire":

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

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

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, Time with Abba (Psalm 21:1-7; Exodus 23:14-25:40; Matthew 24:29-51, Proverbs 7:24-27)

Bible link:
English(NIV):https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+17&version=NIV

PAUSE HERE!!!

Please read all four passages first before reading my sharing.

To know, learn and practice this method of Time with Abba, please click this link:

http://api.pastoralcareschool.org/twa/

Please see below the passages I copied today:

My Listening

The topic I received from Jesus today is: "Why a demolished church painting in a hotel room in Berlin, Germany?"

I experienced two wonderful acts of the Holy Spirit this morning:

1. Wake me up around 6am to remind me to have Time with Abba to copy today's Bible passages

2. When I was copying Exodus 23:24-25, the Holy Spirit reminded me to look at the painting in our hotel room(Michelle and I are in Berlin, Germany), and helped me to compare that painting with Exodus 23:24-25:

Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. 25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you,

The Holy Spirit reminded me of a very horrible situation of this painintg. As you can see from the photos I took from my hotel room and a picture I found online of a Russian Orthodox Church, the painting is actually a demolished sanctuary of a church. What is so horrible is that this modern culture and art put a desolated hall as a good painting in a hotel room and in fact that is a demolished church!

Why could this happen? We can find the reasons from today's passages:

1. Without the joy of the presence of God

Today's Psalm 21:6 tells us that King David had that kind of "the joy of your presence", and so because of this kind of intimate relationship David's trust to God had not been shaken for he was in God's unfailing love!

It is so sad that in this modern culture, being able to listen to the voice of God and to experience the joy of His presence is like imaginary stories for children!

Many Christians do not have daily devotion, going to worship on Sunday is like a habitual action and to make offerings is like paying the bill!

Without the joy of the presence of God makes many churches close down. In some statistics, there are around 6,000 to 10,000 churches in North American close down each year!

If we do not work hard, not listening to today's Jesus warning to "keep watch", may be someday you would see your close down church's painting in a hotel room somewhere in Europe! Sad!

2. Not willing to demolish those idols this world has been worshipping but instead to follow their practices

We can see that many years later the Israelites lost their nation and God's Holy temple being demolished is because they were not willing to demolish those idols. Actually, similar situation is happening now all over the world! What can you do?

3. Not willing to make offerings

I aware that right after God's declared the Ten Commandments, the first thing He ordered the Israelites to do is:

a. To build an altar and to make offerings

Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. Exodus 20:24

b. No one is to appear before God empty-handed

Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed."
Exodus 23:15

I deeply believe that to turn the right side up it has to start with you, first you need to spend time with God, Time with Abba everyday! So that you can experience the joy of His daily presence. Then, you need to demolish all kinds of idols in your heart. Then, you need to make more and more offerings. And, because of your vision, mission and action, you can be used by God, renewed by the Holy Spirit to become Discipler, Evangelist, Mentor and Planter to help more people to experience the joy of God's presence, to demolish the idols in their hearts and to make offerings that your church can be built up and to plant more churches.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to follow your command so that we can experience the joy of your presence daily and that we are willing to demolish all the idols in our hearts and to be willing to make offerings to you to build up your churches. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

1. What kind of importance is today's message to you personally?

2. What is your next step for this to happen?

3. What have you heard from Jesus today?

Please click "Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone" to receive more messages from Jesus to you and the fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbe7OruLk8I&frags=pl%2Cwn

To know and learn how to have time with Abba, please go to this site:

http://api.pastoralcareschool.org/twa/

Please find below today's "Abba's Heart: A daily Inspiration from Time with Abba" written by the founder of Time with Abba and Pastoral Care School. I have received his permission to put his write-up each day from now on.