Please click this link for the video version of this blog: https://youtu.be/sD7YIqP_ekA
Bible in one year by Nicky Gumbel:
Nicky Gumbel's Bible in one year today:
https://preview.mailerlite.com/a4k9v4q3l3/1972237425900001523/k7i7/
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.”
"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins 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."
“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 sins 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."
The link to today's Time with Abba passages: http://api.pastoralcareschool.org/twa/
Time with Abba passages: (Psalm 133:1-3, 1 Kings 14:1-15:24; Acts 10:1-23; Proverbs 17:7-8)
Today's key passage:
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
Psalm 133:1-3
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 today: Is "family in unity, everything in prosperity" possible?
"Family in unity, everything in prosperity" is a very important golden proverb for Chinese. I think every Chinese knows this in theory, but when we take a look at the Chinese history, it is only in theory or just a golden proverb!
Look at today's 1 Kings of the brokenness of God's family in both the Northern Kingdom Israel and the Southern Kingdom Judah. They killed each others within their own Kingdom and they attacked each others as both were God's family members!
Let's look at today' Psalm 133. This Psalm gives us a beautiful picture of the beauty and blessings of unity in God's family!
Can this picture happen in your family? Can this picture happen in your church?
I think it would be very difficult! Why?
Because Satan's main job is to destroy human families so that God's families could also be destroyed!
Husbands and wives always in disagreement, parents and children always in miscommunication, broken families everywhere! Talking about family in unity is easy, but in reality for many people, it is only a dream!
So, do we have a way out?
Of course, today's Psalm 133:3 gives us a way out:
It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
The only way out is for you to be with God each day so that you can be in His blessings and eternal life each day!
God has promise that we can have this unity but only in Him. We as human beings can't do it!
I would like to have an important sharing to you all:Two years ago when I was having our monthly National Leadership Team meeting I received a call from Rev. Dr. Paul Ng asking me for help. His friend See Min was not allowed to take the flight to Hong Kong after she flew from Regina, SK because her Vaccination expired for an hour and she was asked to stay in Vancouver for three nights before she could take another flight back to HK! See Min does not know English and she was sitting in Vancouver Airport did not know what to do. I told our team that I needed to help her and they prayed for me and See Min( NLT Team has Bishop Peter Klenner, Canon Edmund Ho, Rev. Mike Watson, Rev. Dave De Jong and me). I booked three nights of Hilton Richmond and then arrived at the airport with Michelle within 40 minutes after Rev. Ng’s call. We had not met See Min before but since that day we become good friends connecting with each others through WhatsApp and Michelle sent my daily blog and videos daily since then.Yesterday See Min invited us for dinner with Rev. Ng and his wife. And she told us that she is ready to be baptized by Rev. Ng in a few months time because she has been experiencing Jesus through the four of us and many Christians!We prayed together with tears and thanksgiving yesterday night full of love, joy and peace!In Chinese proverbs it says “To give someone coal to keep warm is better than to give flowers when someone already have lots of flowers”.Let’s wait for the “Kairos- God’s opportune timing” to come and have the heart and courage to act responding to God’s timing.Just as Bishop Ivan shared with me in the airport of Uganda three weeks ago when both of us were waiting for our flight after a week’s College of Consultors meeting, he said, “Silas, we wait for the time of people’s suffering and hardship to come because that’s the time we can help them to experience the love of Jesus and the time for them to receive Jesus.”
Dear Lord Jesus, Help us to understand that we are not able to enjoy unity in our families as human beings. Lead us to be with you to claim your promise of the power and sweetness of unity in our family and our church. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen. Reflect on these questions: 1. How can you enjoy God's promise of living in unity? 2. What is your next step to make this happen?
when God’s people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
Psalm 133:1-3
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 today: Is "family in unity, everything in prosperity" possible?
"Family in unity, everything in prosperity" is a very important golden proverb for Chinese. I think every Chinese knows this in theory, but when we take a look at the Chinese history, it is only in theory or just a golden proverb!
Look at today's 1 Kings of the brokenness of God's family in both the Northern Kingdom Israel and the Southern Kingdom Judah. They killed each others within their own Kingdom and they attacked each others as both were God's family members!
Let's look at today' Psalm 133. This Psalm gives us a beautiful picture of the beauty and blessings of unity in God's family!
Can this picture happen in your family? Can this picture happen in your church?
I think it would be very difficult! Why?
Because Satan's main job is to destroy human families so that God's families could also be destroyed!
Husbands and wives always in disagreement, parents and children always in miscommunication, broken families everywhere! Talking about family in unity is easy, but in reality for many people, it is only a dream!
So, do we have a way out?
Of course, today's Psalm 133:3 gives us a way out:
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
The only way out is for you to be with God each day so that you can be in His blessings and eternal life each day!
God has promise that we can have this unity but only in Him. We as human beings can't do it!
I would like to have an important sharing to you all:
Two years ago when I was having our monthly National Leadership Team meeting I received a call from Rev. Dr. Paul Ng asking me for help. His friend See Min was not allowed to take the flight to Hong Kong after she flew from Regina, SK because her Vaccination expired for an hour and she was asked to stay in Vancouver for three nights before she could take another flight back to HK! See Min does not know English and she was sitting in Vancouver Airport did not know what to do. I told our team that I needed to help her and they prayed for me and See Min( NLT Team has Bishop Peter Klenner, Canon Edmund Ho, Rev. Mike Watson, Rev. Dave De Jong and me). I booked three nights of Hilton Richmond and then arrived at the airport with Michelle within 40 minutes after Rev. Ng’s call. We had not met See Min before but since that day we become good friends connecting with each others through WhatsApp and Michelle sent my daily blog and videos daily since then.
Yesterday See Min invited us for dinner with Rev. Ng and his wife. And she told us that she is ready to be baptized by Rev. Ng in a few months time because she has been experiencing Jesus through the four of us and many Christians!
We prayed together with tears and thanksgiving yesterday night full of love, joy and peace!
In Chinese proverbs it says “To give someone coal to keep warm is better than to give flowers when someone already have lots of flowers”.
Let’s wait for the “Kairos- God’s opportune timing” to come and have the heart and courage to act responding to God’s timing.
Just as Bishop Ivan shared with me in the airport of Uganda three weeks ago when both of us were waiting for our flight after a week’s College of Consultors meeting, he said, “Silas, we wait for the time of people’s suffering and hardship to come because that’s the time we can help them to experience the love of Jesus and the time for them to receive Jesus.”
Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to understand that we are not able to enjoy unity in our families as human beings. Lead us to be with you to claim your promise of the power and sweetness of unity in our family and our church. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.
Reflect on these questions:
1. How can you enjoy God's promise of living in unity?
2. What is your next step to make this happen?
Family Corner:
Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message.
To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link: https://www.pastoralcareschool.org
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