Saturday, July 17, 2021

DAY 156 (2021) - Don't burn yourself because of spiritual laziness! (Please go to FaceBook(silastyng) to watch my video of this blog)

 



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.   Sing a song to praise God (you are welcome to use "Father, I adore you" which I have been singing every morning for the past 20 years or your own choice to praise God)

          Father, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.
          Jesus, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.
          Spirit, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.
      

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:


     “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 and having Jesus as my Lord. 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 gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

3.  John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)

(Please click this link to see how God used John Stott to change my life: https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/)

           "Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.

             Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

             Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."


    Bible link: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%207&version=NIV

    Time with Abba one year Bible reading: http://api.pastoralcareschool.org/twa/

    Today's passage:
   

Proverbs 6

Warnings Against Folly

 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
    if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
you have been trapped by what you said,
    ensnared by the words of your mouth.
So do this, my son, to free yourself,
    since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—[a]
    and give your neighbor no rest!
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
    no slumber to your eyelids.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
    consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
    and gathers its food at harvest.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
    When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief
    and scarcity like an armed man.

12 A troublemaker and a villain,
    who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13     who winks maliciously with his eye,
    signals with his feet
    and motions with his fingers,
14     who plots evil with deceit in his heart—
    he always stirs up conflict.
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
    he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

16 There are six things the Lord hates,
    seven that are detestable to him:
17         haughty eyes,
        a lying tongue,
        hands that shed innocent blood,
18         a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19         a false witness who pours out lies
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Warning Against Adultery

20 My son, keep your father’s command
    and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart;
    fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
    when you sleep, they will watch over you;
    when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this command is a lamp,
    this teaching is a light,
and correction and instruction
    are the way to life,
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
    from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.

25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
    or let her captivate you with her eyes.

26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
    but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
    without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
    without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;
    no one who touches her will go unpunished.

30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
    to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,
    though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense;
    whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
    and his shame will never be wiped away.

34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,
    and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation;
    he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.


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 to Jesus as you listen to him. 


    My Listening
    The topic I received from Jesus is Don't burn yourself because of spiritual laziness!

What I got from Jesus today is a warning connecting to two situations in this chapter.

One is the spiritual laziness and the second is someone will be burned if he or she committed adultery!

According to one of my reading source: People who have known God, yet still commit adultery will experience lingering trouble and disgrace. Though the guilt of adultery may be forgiven if a person truly repents, the shame will remain because the emotional and relational scars are never completely removed. No action can ever completely make amends for this kind of unfaithfulness. Because of the far-reaching and fearful consequences of adultery on everyone involved, we should run from every temptation and avoid any relationships that might entice us to be unfaithful to God and others. 

We should pray for strength to resist and be freed from temptation (Mt. 6:13) and then make wise decisions to avoid tempting situations. 

We must also remember the warning God gives us in his Word: 
"So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall." (1 Cor. 10: 12)

Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to get away from spiritual laziness so that we won't burn by all kinds of fire set up by the Destroyer. 
In Jesus name we pray,
 
Amen.

       
      Reflect on these questions:
     1. What inspiration have you received from today's catch and what have you heard from Jesus now?
      
      2.  What is your next step to be more closer to Jesus?
    
           Family Corner:
     Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message. 
     

        
Please click this link to worship with us - 

     To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link: https://www.pastoralcareschool.org

       
    Since January 1, 2021, I started to lead you to read one Psalm everyday for 150 days that you can experience a powerful experience to use Psalm to pray and sing praises to the Lord. I completed that in July 11,2021.

    Then starting on July 12, 2021, I am going to lead you to read one Proverbs a day for 31 days.
    
    Alice Cheung, who is now the Vice Principal of Diocesan Girls' School (https://www.dgs.edu.hk/) drew a painting each day to highlight the key message of that day's Psalm and then had a calligraphy for the Proverbs series. 

     You can see the photos below of Alice, one pictures was taken in Hong Kong of Michelle and me, and Alice and her husband Johnson. The other picture is with her Doctor of Education gown standing besides the Alumni Wall of DGS and with her name and the year 1984, the year she graduated in that school. She had been a principal of a high school for seven years and worked as a Vice Principal two years ago. 








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