Thursday, September 23, 2021

DAY 43 (2021) - Are you wearing the wedding clothes? (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:
   

Matthew 22

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”


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 isAre you wearing the wedding clothes?

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless” 
                                                     Matthew 22:11-12 

Have you been rejected when you invited someone to have dinner with you? 
If you have, then you must feel discouraged, being rejected is not a good feeling! 

But Jesus told us today that it’s OK. But, the Lord reminds me of a more serious question than who receive and who reject our invitation. It is whether we wear the wedding clothes. 

Many years ago I baptized a 90 year-old new convert at Mount St. Joseph’s Hospital. I said, “You know that your son had been a gambler for so many years. You know that he has changed now and only Jesus can change him? ” 
He said, “Yes, I know and I need Jesus.” 

Nothing in my 33 years of priesthood is more joyful than seeing a non believer to be willing to receive Jesus as his Savior and Lord of Life with real life changes. That's what wearing the wedding clothes means!

Nothing is more rewarding than what I experienced when I saw with my own eyes that Jesus changed someone’s son and then he had no hesitation to receive Jesus because he saw his son wearing the wedding clothes. 

On the contrary, there are so many people who do not believe Jesus because of the bad examples of their relatives and friends. They do not wear their wedding clothes! 

Are you wearing the wedding clothes that you can be a witness of Jesus or are you wearing a filthy and smelly clothes?


Dear Lord Jesus, 
Please help us to wear the wedding clothes daily that we can honor your holy name. 
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 for the video version of this blog:

Noontime Prayer: 
        


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

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