God intended Gideon to be a mighty warrior and that’s who he shall be. I believe God knows Gideon so well that He understands his heart is for Him but he could be timid and wanted to be assured. I seem to see myself in Gideon: I know God has come through for me and given me the word of Spirit many times in the past. I don’t mean to forget but I feel my short-term memory loss seems to draw me down to feel so blurry to those experiences. However, God is so compassionate and understanding. He doesn’t rebuke me for my memory loss. But He constantly reinforces the learning through many different incidents. It seems that I am learning the same thing over and over again. However, my Master never rebukes me for my slowness to learn and remember. And He always encourages me by speaking to me through His Word. How blessed and thankful I am.
Today, I learn to give thanks quickly as the devil tries to steal it. Therefore, I won’t lose it and fall into the complaining pit. Then, I rebuke the spirit of complaining to go away and continue to give thanks for who God is and what God has done to me and others.
The first prayer meeting in BBC is coming on December 6. I have prayed about this to happen and God is showing me His work. I am so honored to be called and I am willing to follow. Today, God uses Judges 7 to tell me what He will do.
God told Gideon that he has too many men to go with him. There were 22,000 men. So God let those who fear go back (7:3). And there were still 10,000 men. God knows if we are too strong in flesh, we will boast about it and won’t give glory to God. Therefore, God wants us to deny our flesh first. Note: If we give glory to God, God will give us glory in heaven. It’s like my red envelope money is given to my mom, and she saves it for me for later.
God Himself called the people to go with Gideon (v4). Gideon took down the men to the water (v5) and God sifted them. Those who lapped with their hands to their mouths to drink was fewer than those who got down on their knees to drink. So, these 300 men were God’s chosen men to go with Gideon. In my opinion, these 300 men were the alert ones because they kept standing to watch out and did not bow down on their knees.
I learn that I can invite people to come to the prayer meeting. But only God will choose those whom shall go.
God said to Gideon, “With the 300 men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands.” (v7) This matched my praying experience. God not only calls me to pray, but He wants to save me and then lead me to fight against the devil and give me victory. The prayer time with God changes my life. It’s God’s power in the midst of my worship to Him.
God gave Gideon strategy to fight. During the night, the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.” (v 9) Meanwhile, God knows Gideon’s heart. So, He said to Gideon with understanding, “If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” (v10-11)
Praise God for He is all-knowing and compassionate God. God gives me prayer partners and give me instructions to fight and give me prophetic word from another saint in case I doubt what I heard. And “His ways are pleasant and His paths are peace.” (Proverbs 3:17) So, when my heart is joyful and peaceful, I am assured that God’s presence and His guidance.
Gideon did hear the dream of a man and its interpretation, knowing God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands. (v14) Gideon worshipped God right away when he heard it. I shall do the same: when I hear God, I shall give Him praise, glory and thanksgiving because He is worthy of my worship. And worshipping God is the source of my strength to fight.
Gideon has the strategy from God: “Watch me, follow my lead.” (v17) Gideon and 100 men who were with him blew their trumpets. The other 200 men divided to 3 companies also blow theirs and shout, “For the Lord and for Gideon”. (v18)
When we pray, the Holy Spirit is our leader. Each of the saints who have the Holy Spirit in their deep, is calling to another in the roar of His waterfalls, as the rivers of living water flowing from within us (John 7:38). And God’s presence like waves and breakers have swept over us who pray. (Psalm 42:7). What a sight to shout and echo to one another.
The power of the shouting scared the enemies (v21). Then, God caused the enemies through the camp to turn on each other with their swords. (v 22). God has done the impossible for Gideon and his men. Then, all other Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out (v23) to pursue the Midianites.
God wants to give all the saints His victory. Each of us take our positions to capture, kill and pursue the enemies like Gideon’s people (v24-25).
“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory rests with God. (Proverbs 21:31)” God trains us to fight and give us instructions to assure us to take the position faithfully, the rest is with God and God definitely wins because Jesus Christ has overcome the world and the devil. Therefore, we as mighty warriors have been more than conquerors. Praise God!
Gideon was called by God and the angel said to him “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” (v12) In the midst of trial, I feel weak in my prayer without feeling fervent as I often do. I wonder if satan is luring me to doubt or God is testing my faith is depending on God alone, not on my own effort; however, God is gracious to speak to me through His Word. He calls me the mighty warrior. I accept it not out of my own pride, but out of knowing the God of faithfulness, who chose me and is keeping me.
At this moment, Gideon’s faith might not be ready yet spiritually. He asked God many questions like: if God is with us, why has all the sufferings happen to the people? Where are Your wonders that the ancestors told us? (v13)
The Lord said to him “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of MIdian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (v14) God has given me strength to pray against the enemies. God is merciful and compassionate to the lost souls so that He is sending me to intercede for them. If you ask where God is in the midst of people’s suffering, isn’t that God sending you to pray and act on the things you worry or the sins you hate or the people you care?
I see the sinful suffering among the saints in our church. Isn’t that God calls me to go to fight for them? Yes. Indeed. He is calling me to pray. But I worry about my weakness.
So did Gideon. He asked the Lord, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” (v15)
Oh, I feel the same. I doubt if I can finish well the assignment God gives me as an intercessor and prayer warrior.
The Lord answered to Gideon, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” (v16)
What an assurance God gives me that I am not fighting alone; because God will go with me and fight before me and surround me with His shield of grace.
Gideon wanted to offer the Lord sacrifice and the Lord was kind to wait for him. After the Lord showed him the sign that He is the real God, Gideon was terrified for he saw God face to face. (v22)
But the Lord is kind to tell him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” (v23) How kind our Lord is to comfort us when we know we are dust and sinners. However, Jesus once again covers our sins with His blood.
The Lord asked Gideon to tear down his father’s altar to Baal and cut down the false god’s pole beside it (v25). God wants me to tear down the strongholds from my sins or the family and cut down the curses from the devil. God reveals to us the darkness and wants us to destroy them by our hands with a contrite heart. So far, Gideon still felt weak in his faith because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, so he did it at night rather than in the daytime. (v27)
Then, God asked Gideon to build a proper kind of altar to the Lord and offer the sacrifice as a burnt offering. This burnt offering is the propitiation to appease God’s wrath. Now, my burnt offering is through Jesus Christ, who is the perfect and blemishless Lamb to make peace with God on behalf of my sins. I still constantly need to confess and repent when the Holy Spirit convicts me, and offer my body as a living sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ, who God only accepts.
The people in the town were mad at Gideon when they knew he tore down the idols. But God saved Gideon as He promised that “you are not going to die”. Gideon’s father Joash replied to the hostile crowd in a logical sense: If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar. (v31) So people waited for what would happen to Gideon.
Then, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Giden, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him (v34). He also sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them (v35). Gideon was brave to let all his brothers and friends know he would lead to fight with them. When God’s Spirit empowers us, we are not afraid of what people think about us, or doubt if we have the ability to persuade people to fight with us. On the contrary, we will feel bold in the Spirit and feel honored to be called to fight with God. And we are humbled to call more saints to go with us because we believe it’s God’s will to recruit a great army of spiritual warriors to pray against the enemies in the spiritual battle. What a story to encourage us that we can do the same because God’s Spirit are empowering us to conquer the enemies to save God’s people.
After gathering people, before going to fight, Gideon asked God for His divine signs which are impossible for humans to rationalize (v36-40) and confirmed with him about God’s will. I feel I also need to remind myself to pause and pray for God’s will until I am assured. Don’t be hurried or lean on my own understanding even though I know God is leading me. I still need to take step by step each time by checking with God about the strategy and direction in the intercession for individual person and each prayer meeting.
Thank God for teaching me with Gideon’s story and encourage me with His own word. Although I can preach to myself about all the truth I learn and know from my past praying experience, I still desire to hear the great God’s encouragement because it’s the most intimate relationship I may have with the Lord through listening to Him and speaking to Him, which makes my heart joyful and satisfied. Praise God for being kind to me. Thank God for His compassion on me and abundant grace to sustain me.
Take away: God can accomplish great things through us if we forget our weaknesses and follow his guidance.
Pray for Trump rally in Minneapolis this Thursday. May God protect the people in this gathering. May God reveal and repel the evil. May all the saints have unity in “praying, preaching, testifying truth and submitting to the authority, which is the office (not the people) that God set to punish the wrongdoer (Romans 13:4-5).” (quote from Derek Prince’s following video)
Derek Prince mentioned the Soviet Union’s Christians did the same as the first church did: pray, preach, testify the truth and submit to the government without protest. And God opened a way to do the work people can never do.
Christians’ prayer for the government will change it for God’s good purpose to be done.
Peter said to Jesus: I will lay down my life for you.
Jesus said to Peter: Will you really lay down your life for me? (John 13:38)
When I say that God loves me freely and unconditionally, Ask God and my conscience, if I love God with all my heart.
When I say that God is just to avenge for the oppressed and punish the wicked, Ask if I repent for my sins and want to receive His forgiveness and then I can rest in His peace.
When I say that I trust God, Ask if I still have fear in certain areas.
When I say that I love God, Ask if I cannot love someone or forgive him/her/myself.
When I say that I am obeying God, Ask if I choose only what I prefer to do.
When I say that I want to serve God, Ask if I am faithful in small things God has entrusted to me.
When I think that I know God’s mind, Ask if I have a bias or pride in my heart.
When I quickly teach people what to do, Ask if I pray for them in love before I speak.
When I worry about being influenced by the world without discernment, Ask if I am determined to put on God’s armor to fight against lies.
When I want to go to fight with God in the spiritual battle, Ask if I have repented for my hidden sins and follow God’s commands humbly.
Is Jesus saying to you like to Peter: “You are not ready as you think you are.”
Ask and let God’s word prepare you in His way and His timing, rather than your way and the schedule you see fit, because Jesus is gracious and willing to tell you the truth if you ask and listen to Him. Jesus’ truth is meant to give you hope, not frustration.
Therefore, never lose hope because God of hope promises you: Ask and you will receive the Holy Spirit God sends to dwell in you to empower you, so that you will grow to be like Jesus Christ in His way and in His time.
Moab has been at rest from youth,
like wine left on its dregs,
not poured from one jar to another—
she has not gone into exile.
So she tastes as she did,
and her aroma is unchanged. (Jeremiah 48:11)
And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same isthe father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. Gen 19:37-38
The Moabite tribe is the descendant of Lot, Abraham’s cousin (refer to Genesis 19:37–38). This verse implies a spiritual meaning: a person who has easy life from youth, without having struggles, his/her temperament in his flesh is not filtered and purified. Consequently, he/she will taste and smell the same as his/her old nature.
As we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and the Savior, God starts removing our ungodly habits in flesh like tumors. What is in flesh? It’s opposite to in Spirit. For example, when we feel angry in flesh, we want to immediately blow it out to someone without self-control, as in some people’s old nature or habit.
Meanwhile, God gradually builds up in us the godly characters of spiritual maturity like strengthening muscles. For example, gentleness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. With that godly character, our feeling can be supernaturally brought under God’s control even without getting angry with something used to upset us. This is freedom indeed.
For God knows His plans for you: plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). Therefore, whenever we experience the hardship, thank God for the lesson and learn from it because “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28)”.
In the Old Testament, Jacob was born lowly by grabbing his older brother’s foot and later cheated his brother, father and later his uncle as he was cheated by him too. But in his young life, he suffered from leaving comfortable home, being pursued by his brother Esau, spending years of hardworking for his uncle, and not getting his beloved Rachel for his wife as quickly as he desired. Finally, Jacob even wrestled with the angel and then saw God face to face. God gave him a new name, Israel, because he overcame his old nature and God transformed him to be a godly man (Genesis 32:22-32). Jacob’s reverence of love to God was displayed when he worshiped God and blessed his children even on his deathbed (Genesis 49).
We see King David suffered so many trials but would still seek and trust God with all his heart. As David prayed, “I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this. That’s His love for us (Psalm 39:9)”. David was proved to be a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).
That’s our hope. The loving God wants to bless us as His godly children. He will transform us. He is building up His holy characters in us. Let’s humble ourselves to trust and obey God. Whenever we feel frustrated, come to God, not arrogantly complaining or comparing with other people; but be still and silent, remembering it’s God’s good plan for training us to overcome our old nature and to become His beloved children after His own heart.
“Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts.
Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.”
(1 Chronicles 16:9-10, NIV)
“A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his words.”
(Proverbs 12:14a, NAS)
To affirm people is from a heart of glorifying God.
It’s not nourishing pride with empty flattering, but it is putting the sincere appreciation into words to recognize a soul which is made in God’s image.
If you ask God for a mouth which speaks truth in love, you will find yourself speaking compliments and encouragement to people more than criticizing and putting down.
Therefore, the first step of glorifying God as the Creator of all human kinds is to humbling yourself and ask God’s wisdom and love for words to affirm people around you.
Up and down.
When the politicians talk about right or left, we forget about the up and down. Up is the God, and down are the humans.
When God creates us, He put Himself in our heart: our greatest longing is to be accepted by God. Our greatest fear is to be rejected by God.
That’s why Adam and Eve hid themselves behind the bush and covered their naked body with leaves, for they feared their rebellion was not accepted by God.
What is sin?
It is that this God we ought to long and fear is replaced by other idols: longing to be accepted by other people and fearing rejected by other people.
Other people, including self, become our center.
The Fall of humans brings the tragedy: there’s no God in our hearts. That is the sin we have by rejecting and forgetting all about God.
What does sin cause?
Our sin is deadly causing our shame and guilt.
We look for remedy by going to idols: religions, philosophy, fame, money, lust, drug, all kinds of desires which never quench our guilt.
Sooner or later, that unquenchable guilt ignites the fire of anger, either blowing to others or self.
We could run away from another person, from a relationship, from the society, even from our lives.
But the guilt follows us, for it’s in the self.
We could meditate on religious words and try to empty ourselves.
But the ego is still in the self because that’s the subject who meditates.
Pause and Pray
However,
If you pause and pray to God, you may hear His gentle voice: “Who are you?”
Are you the one who cheats on yourself and others by being someone else, just like Jacob cheated his father, Isaac, to get the blessing for his older brother Esau?
Are you trying to run for your life and not confessing your sorry to the people you offended, just like Jacob to Esau?
God is pursuing you.
However,
God is pursuing you.
God is coming down to meet you in the wilderness, through the ladder of the cross.
God says to you: nobody can replace you, for I give you the unique DNA.
Falling is not the worst, but staying on the ground.
So, getting up quickly, not bowing down in shame anymore,
To look up to the God, who lifts up your face and gets you up with His strength.
God sent Jesus to come to the world and wants to assure you:
Your shame and guilt have been completely dealt with through Jesus on the cross.
No shame. No guilt. Only love is lavished on you by this God of love.
Come to God. Just pray with simple faith. And He promises to come near to your heart.
Don’t lose your heart, for God’s Holy Spirit living right there with you.
April 9– Have a heart of empathy by being empathized first
Before departing to Taiwan, I hesitated to ask my Moms’ in Prayer (MIP) group to pray for my luggage to safely arrived with me to Taiwan because it seemed so trivial for prayer. However, after I shared my concern about two times of transferring at different airports, MIP sisters not only related to my worry but also were more than willing to pray for that. Their attitude of casting the burden to God through supplication quenched my anxiety. Their faith to God and care to the weak also warmly encouraged my heart.
After flying from MN to Detroit, we continued to fly to Korea for transfer. The airline counter called me up and confirmed our luggage has been safely transferred from Detroit airport. I felt God was so kind to give me a peace of mind to not worry about the luggage.
As I felt relieved, I noticed my husband, daughter and I didn’t sit together on the plane. The airline staff told me it’s ok to ask other passengers to switch the seats by ourselves. I prayed that someone would be willing. After we got on the airplane, my daughter’s seat was between two big men. She was so tiny and looked like being squeezed. I was on the right side of the plane with two other ladies by my side. My husband was on the other side with two other men by his side. I asked the man next to my daughter if he was ok to switch with me but he preferred the aisle seat. Then I asked the lady close to the window side but she didn’t like to sit between two men either.
My heart was a little bit down for thinking that my daughter would be alone for 13 hours with two strangers. I prayed to God. My husband waited for the passenger next to his seat to come and then asked him. The man sitting next to the window said that he can relate to our feeling because the same thing happened to his daughter too. He was kind to switch with my husband. So, I got to sit with my daughter but my husband went to sit with two ladies by his side.
I feel God wants me to empathize people by having me experienced being empathized first.
April 11–Get rid of ego by thinking about emptying ego?
We flew from Taipei to Peng-Hu island, my husband’s hometown. His family welcomed us with a big plate of crabs, which I thought about eating just before coming to Taiwan. God is so kind to fill my heart with joy before my asking.
Crab
I shared a true story about a Muslim couple who saw Jesus and converted to Christianity with my husband’s big sister. As a Buddhist, she was polite to listen but didn’t feel much interested. At lunch time, my husband’s older brother and his wife joined us. It’s not the first time we shared gospel with them. To my surprise, the couple mentioned their experiences similar to Christianity, like feeling peaceful or touched by reading the Buddhist scripture; or feeling their characters have been more mature after practicing their belief. Instead of preaching the gospel to them, I decided to ask them questions to understand their belief. The more I listened to them, I was convinced that Satan is telling them many lies.
Satan acts like a bad translator, adding many ambiguous ideas to the original plan created by God. They are caught with the lies so that they cannot see the truth. They are fooled by the appearance of the fool’s gold because they have no truth to identify the real gold.
In their belief, there’s no loving Father to restore the relationship with them, no assurance of going to heaven and no absolute truth to follow, but only self-reliance to try to be perfect. One of their confusion is that their ego is the center of their universe because they believe they can emit positive energy from their ego to change the situation; meanwhile, they often try to empty their ego to gain pure hearts. In my opinion, constantly thinking about emptying ego might be another trap of being egoistic.
We could meditate on religious words and try to emptying ourselves. But the ego is still in the self because that’s the subject who meditates.
Old Ally in Peng-Hu
Cactus flower sorbet in Peng-Hu
April 13—Fight against the lies in Buddhism
We flew for 20 minutes to my hometown at Kaoshiung in southern Taiwan around noon. After being welcomed by my family, I set out to meet my high school classmate, Mei. I haven’t seen her for 30 years after graduation. But I learned about her survival of breast cancer last summer when I met with my other two high school classmates. That’s why I contacted her this time.
Her face looks the same as before but just becomes a little bit chubby. She rode a little motorcycle and decided to bring me to her house. When I went into the living room, a big table with the female Buddha image occupies one side of the room. I know there would be a battle.
I asked her about her life these years and she was very open to share. I also shared about my deliverance experience by God. I spent some time to go through the main things in Christianity using BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) booklet. With the knowledge about Buddhism I learned from my husband’s brother, I directly pointed out the myths in Buddhism.
For example, Buddhism doesn’t tell people when they can be delivered to heaven—the world of extreme joy in their term; even no assurance after going through the six or seven rounds of reincarnation. However, Jesus Christ can deliver us from darkness to light, death to life once we believe in Him, who was sent by God to die for our sins and to resurrect from the death for our righteousness. I continue to tell her that our God is the heavenly Father, who is willing to suffer for His children, just like any earthly good parents would do. And that’s why God sent Jesus Christ, His only Son to bring heaven and salvation to us, which displays His great love.
I also mentioned about the power of Jesus Christ’s name, authority of prayer and the meaning of baptism. Finally, I emphasized on the credibility of Bible, which was written by more than 40 authors across the history of thousands of years. Taking myself working as a reporter as an example, I could have been easily make fake news if I was the only one who reported about a certain event. I learned that Buddha contemplated his thought and then one apprentice wrote it down. In my opinion, as far as Buddhism teaching is concerned, it’s from a personal philosophy and cannot represent the universal truth, which is like one plus one always equals two.
Mei cannot deny what I said. So I told her that if she cannot reject the truth, she can consider to accept the truth. Therefore, I asked her to pray the prayer on BSF booklet to confess her sin and acknowledge Jesus Christ. At that moment, Mei seemed to want to open her mouth to say the prayer, but she paused as something choked her from the chest. She looked at me and said she cannot pray. “It’s ok. Let me pray for you first.” I said. So I bound the evil spirit of rejecting God’s truth and released her spirit in Jesus Christ’s name as Jesus Christ taught in the Bible (Mark 3:27, Matthew 18:18).
Then Mei said the prayer on the BSF booklet. Just then, her husband woke up from the nap and got ready to go out to pick up their child from the school. She told me that her husband has been ill for more than ten years. In the end of our meeting, I prayed for her and her husband.
After two days, Mei texted me that she cannot leave Buddhism because Buddha helped her in the past. I told her that it’s ok and just let me know if she needs my prayer in the future.
In the beginning of our conversation, Mei told me that her parents didn’t die in peace and her older brother passed away before turning 50 years old. The continuous sadness overwhelmed her and then she was diagnosed with breast cancer. However, when she asked Buddha about her brother’s early death, she was told that it’s good for him to go to reincarnation and got out of this bitter life as soon as possible.
I feel compassionate for Mei and trust that God’s seed of life is planted somewhere in her heart. May God tear down the thorn choking her heart and bring forth that seed to life someday.
After coming back to USA, I sensed that there’s a spirit of fear in Mei and that’s why she doesn’t dare to leave Buddhism. I searched online and learned that Buddhism considered that gods and ghosts alike should be avoided. So I sent a message to Mei, informing her that our God is not the evil god mentioned in Buddhism; instead, our God is the Creator, who gives her life.
Pray for a lady with fear of eating meat
After Mei rode her motorcycle to bring me to the closest subway station, I rushed to the next stop to take the high speed train with my husband to go to Cha-Yi city to meet another couple.
Zhen and her husband received Jesus as their Savior when we visited them and shared gospel with them in our trip to Taiwan last summer. My husband strongly believed that Zhen’s husband will play an important role to pray for his wife’s healing. Zhen has been suffering with strange illness that no doctors really can find out the root problems. So we scheduled tonight to visit them again and wanted to encourage Zhen’s husband Chin. They kindly treated us dinner and Chin did open up more to share his childhood stories.
My husband found opportunity to share the story about Jesus (refer to John 6:21) who walked on the water toward the disciples. And the Bible said that when the disciples were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. My husband encouraged Chin to have faith on Jesus, who can heal his wife and bring them through the roaring water to the safe shore.
While we were still eating, Zhen mentioned that why she could not eat meat but seafood. She recalled that when she was in school age, one day she saw a man riding on a bike, carrying a bleeding pig which was cut into half on the back seat. The dripping blood left such a dramatic impact in Zhen’s heart. When she arrived home, she told her mom that she decided that she would never eat pork.
Zhen gradually stops eating beef and other meat except fish. I recalled that disgusting feeling in my stomach when I ate beef in my husband’s home days ago. I wonder if there’s a spirit of disgusting meat in my mother-in-law’s house because she often fasts from eating meat due to her Buddhist practice.
Zhen recently moved to another town with her husband. And the nearby market makes pork sausage in the early morning. Zhen feels extremely disgusted with the smell. I know she needs to be delivered from the spirit of fear which got into her when she saw that bleeding dead pig as a child. However, we almost missed our train to go back to Kaoshiung. So my husband and I quickly prayed for her in the train station. I continue to pray that God will deliver her soon.
A boat without an anchor would be shipwrecked in the storm.
While listening to my husband sharing about Jesus’ disciples taking Him into their boat and they immediately reached the shore, I see there is a big contrast with the Buddhist teaching. My husband’s brother’s wife said that Buddhism is a tool like a boat to deliver people from this life to the other shore of heaven.
However, she also said this tool will disappear one day according to the Buddhist scripture. What a tragedy. If the boat would sink one day, and no one could be assured to get to the other shore due to going through unknown rounds of incarnation depending on your good behavior, doesn’t it imply that people on this boat would very possibly perish in the end? Isn’t that an important question to ask before getting on this hopeless boat of human religions?
On the contrary, our Savior, Jesus, is the anchor of our boat. In the midst of storm, when we take Him to our boat, He will hold us tight until the storm passes and we will find ourselves immediately reach the shore of peace.
April 14–Endure the hardship
Job’s suffering, Sunday’s sermon
The sermon this Sunday was about Job in the bible, who suffered from losing possession, children, and health.
Job endured the heavy pain to the degree of hating his life and wished he was never born. God didn’t tell Job why all the troubles happened to him. It could be that knowing the reason for the rational mind doesn’t necessarily give the sweet spiritual understanding about His love. In the end, the Sovereign God, the mighty Creator of the universe came down to meet Job face to face.
As Job got to hear God’s loving voice, Job’s eyes saw the radiant God (Job 42:5). In the presence of the awesome God, Job might felt so foolish that he considered himself to be qualified to ask God to explain Himself.
Besides, we don’t need to explain why people suffer on behalf of God. However, we learn the precious lesson from Job’s experience: our God is loving and faithful and worthy of our trust. He is the anchor of our boat waving in the roaring sea. When we fix our eyes on Him and trust His presence commands the victory for us in the spiritual war, we will not run away or retreat from the battle line; instead, we become strong to embrace the hardship for knowing it will bring us great reward. Just like Job, “Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10), we will reap spiritual blessing with songs of joy by sowing the seed with tears (Psalm 126:5).
Our reward after the hardship is not only in this life, but lasts to eternal life. As Jesus promises to those who believe in Him will live and will never die. (refer to John 11:25-26) Therefore, remember to praise God and thank God, as God’s will for us, is the powerful weapon to fight against despair and anxiety. And trusting God’s righteousness and love shall not open the door for Satan to deceive us to give up on ourselves.
How to develop the endurance for the hardship?
The Bible teaches us the secret of the victorious saints who “triumphed over the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Revelation 12:11) Therefore, let’s open our mouths to proclaim that Jesus’ blood which covers us and our testimony to the gospel , along with a free will of crucifying our old-self to die with Jesus.
Shared gospel with a young couple
After church and Hakka-flavor lunch, we went to a French pastry cafe to meet a couple who finished graduate school in U of Minnesota and moved back to Taiwan for living close to their family. We asked about their work and life as a newlywed.
Then my husband and I respectively shared gospel with the young husband David and his wife Judy. Judy told me that her grandmother was a Catholic and asked me if a Christian can worship ancestors. It’s a pity that the cafe was too busy to allow us to sit longer. So the couple gave us a ride and we prayed for them in the car before saying goodbye. May God continue to grow the seed of gospel in their hearts.
April 15–Jesus never says no to the humble who come to Him. It’s my job to ask God for help. It’s God’s job to answer in His best will for me.
We took high speed train to Taipei for about 1.5 hours compared with the greyhound bus with 4 hours. My husband spent five days in Taipei for a meeting with a group of Taiwanese Americans from USA, sponsored by Taiwanese government.
I read Psalm 130:5, 7-8 this morning:
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in the word I put my hope.”
“Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption. He Himself will redeem Israel (you) from all your sins.”
My husband shared the familiar Bible verses with me from Luke 11:5-8 and Luke 18:1-7 about perseverance in prayer. His divine insight is that Zhen’s husband will play an important role to pray for his sick wife’s healing.
But the Holy Spirit uses the verses to encourage me: Jesus never says no to the people who come to plead with Him. Jesus told his disciples two stories: the hesitant man who wakes up in the midnight to respond to his friend’s audacious knocking on the door; and the unjust judge who finally avenged for the persistent widow. What is Jesus’ point?
He wants to assure us one thing: Jesus is much kinder and nicer than those earthly people who are not perfect but still give help. Therefore, come to God with humility to ask for help. I am also reminded by Nehemiah who worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other (refer to Nehemiah 4:17). I want to pray and write for building the wall of kingdom, instead of listening to enemies and feeling despair by their threatening lies.
Moreover, our persistent prayer might be God’s way to refine and test our faith because God always works everything for good to those who love Him (refer to Romans 8:28). Therefore, my job with a given privilege as God’s child is to submit to God’s way and pray in His will. And it’s God’s job to consider my welfare and complete His work of my faith and others’.
April 16–Enter God’s holy place by His grace, not by my work in flesh.
My daughter helped me with direction on the map as I told her the Chinese names on the sign. We walked out of the subway station, through narrow allies, being squeezed to wait for taxi passing by our side, finally came to the bookstore I read on the magazine.
The bookstore is open on the top (2nd) floor in one of the array of antique houses. There is a flower-carved iron casement door with right-side door open halfway in the first floor, leading up to the store with narrow stairs. I looked at the open space in the doorway and thought: is this place only for people who are thin enough to get in?
Books cafe in Taipei
While I was thinking it’s hard for my trunk to pass through, my daughter pushed the left-side of the door and open up bigger entrance. How embarrassed I felt and laughed to myself.
However, isn’t that Christians often think about themselves: I am not good enough, hard-working enough, or faithful enough, etc. to enter God’s holy place. Until we push the door of grace, probably getting some help from other saints, we learn that we can come to God with confidence, setting aside all the self-judging rules, but only with confession of my weakness and desire to come to Him.
April 17–Plant the seed of gospel to a couple
The buffet style breakfast in the historic and inexpensive Howard Hotel is beyond my imagination. I got to eat everything only in my memory: steam meat bun, salty white carrot cake, fresh guava and starfruit, etc. I noticed the restaurant prepares the grapes by cutting each one from the stem to wash it thoroughly. No wonder this hotel has good reputation for its restaurants.
Howard Hotel in Taipei
After breakfast, my daughter and I set out to the 105-year-old Taipei Zoo. The admission ticket costs only $2. My daughter was excited to see pandas, red panda, otters, penguins, even elephants for the first time, and many other creatures.
Panda in Taipei ZooElephants in Taipei ZooPenguins in Taipei Zoo
There’s a gondola transporting visitors up to the mountain called Mao-Kong where grows tea plants. We got to the top of the mountain and were surprised with several food stands and cafes.
Gondola in Mao-KongMao Kong viewGondola stations
My daughter asked for a tea-flavored ice cream with a cat-shape cookie made of green tea on the top. Why cat-shape cookie? It’s because Mao-Kong is written with two Chinese characters: “cat (Mao)” and “empty (Kong)”. The name of this place derives from the pothole topography, which the local people describe it as “many small holes” in Taiwanese, which sounds similar to “cat empty” in Mandarin Chinese.
Pothole topography in Mao-KongLight Oolong-tea flavored ice cream
My daughter and I skipped the restaurants with tea-flavored dishes but went to the food stands for enjoying small delicacy like oyster-egg pancake, steam rice topped with braised pork, and stinky fried tofu. I was also excited to find the sugar-coated plum on the stick, my childhood snack, and proudly introduced it to my daughter as I often told her about it. She loves it!
Sugar-coated plum on a stick
Tonight we met a couple and their 11-year-old son in the Brothers’ Hotel for dim-sum. They moved back from MN to Taiwan around 13 years ago. In the busy restaurant, we chatted to catch up the years we missed each other. Later at night, only two tables of guests remained in the restaurant and the surrounding became quiet, I noticed we have started to share gospel with them. The husband listened quietly with interest. We believed the seed of truth has been planted that night and we prayed to God for leading them out of fear and into the confidence in Jesus in His time.
I arranged to meet a young lady as my son’s age. She is my college classmate’s daughter. I felt compassionate for her when I know her parents divorced while she was little. She is a well-behaved lady and wants to please her parents by doing her best. I prayed for her and told her to seek the true God when she wants to know the meaning of her life.
April 18–Earthquake. Shine your little light to the world.
After shopping in the department store, my daughter and I went into the subway station and planned to visit a cat cafe. Before getting on the subway, the security guards asked people to leave the underground station immediately. I was puzzled until I received my husband’s text: are you ok?
From the broadcast, I learned that a magnitude 6 earthquake just happened. The epicenter was in Hualien in Eastern Taiwan, where I visited last summer. The magnitude 4 aftershock rippled to Taipei basin, as the biggest one in the recent ten years. There were totally 17 people hit by falling objects and a few cracking in an old building in Taipei. I felt the protection of God through prayer.
I recalled that on September 21, 1999, the earthquake in Taiwan caused more than two thousands people’ death. I was in Taipei and felt the strong shaking on the 4th floor. On September 11, 2001, the terrorists hijacked the airplane to crash into the Twin Towers in New York City. I was notified to pick up my preschooler from school in upper Manhattan.
I remember that I was confused while rushing to the school. Both times, I was kept safe with the presence of God, my Prince of Peace. What a precious gift for Christians to entrust our lives in the almighty God’s hand when the unexpected crisis hit.
It’s close to lunch time. We walked a little distance from the station and chose a ramen restaurant.
Ramen shop
The staff kindly helped us order from the vending machine outside of the store for printing out meal ticket (this is also common in ramen shop in Japan). Since I was not hungry, I asked if I can just order one meal. The staff smiled and said yes.
While sitting in the restaurant, I tried to figure out the bus route to go to the cat cafe because I only know the way by subway. After two hours, the staff said the subway station was reopened so we went back to take the subway to go to the cat cafe for the afternoon tea.
Cat cafe in Taipei
At night, we visited the night market with my parents who came to Taipei from other city about 1.5 hour driving away. We tried a few small snacks and felt satisfied.
Ning-Xia Night MarketRose garden in Hsiang-Shan, Hsin-Chu cityYang Ming Mt with Calla Lily fieldCalla Lily
After leaving the night market, I wanted to visit Da-An Forest Park in the city near the hotel I stayed because the website says there’s fireflies in the park.
We finally found parking place and walked into the park. Many people came to jog or exercise. I looked carefully but could not find any fireflies. How can such a busy city have fireflies? My dad asked a local residence feeding street cats in the park. She told us that there’s a little creek around the corner, where the fireflies are restored. We went there and searched.
While I bent down to look for the firefly, I saw one little light shining in the far distance. To my surprise, this firefly was not just blinking its light, but energetically emitting light as best as it can.
I was not only thankful for God to satisfy me by showing me this “only one” firefly but also inspired by His message: shine your light in the world. No matter how little you consider your light is, it’s visible even from far distance with one condition: darkness. I was greatly encouraged and asked God to give me this energetic motivation to shine forth His light through me to the dark world.
Da-An forest park, photo credit by TaipeiTravel
April 21–Choose the tree of life. Share gospel in the college class reunion.
The Easter Sunday sermon in Taipei’s church focused on Isaiah 53:3-8 about God has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. The pastor defines the death in a human: A person judges self and God by his/her self-centered knowledge.
When Eve and Adam chose to eat the fruit for having knowledge like God, their rebellious hearts were against having God’s way of life. As a result, they separated themselves from God, which is death, spiritually and then physically.
If the time could have been reversed, if Eve would have chosen to refuse eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge but chosen to eat the fruit from the tree of life, her eyes would have been enlightened to discern Satan’s lie. However, after the fall, as Adam and Eve’s descendants, humans were born as blind and naturally they cannot feel the joy of having spiritual eyesight.
I once interviewed a blind man from Taiwan, who came to USA to compete in the blind baseball game. He said that people often feel pity for him to be born blind but he said that he actually doesn’t feel that bad because he never knows what it feels like to be able to see.
That’s the condition of unbelievers who don’t know how much they miss the restored joy with their Creator and Heavenly Father. I feel great compassion to them by recalling my own spiritual blindness when I didn’t know the true God.
Hostel in Taipei we stayed. We love it.
After the church service, the brothers and sisters pray for us because we would host a reunion for our college classmates this afternoon.
We arrived at the event location earlier and met one of our college classmates, who received Jesus as her Savior a few years ago. She was kind to come to pray with us. She told me that she visits different churches these years and observes there are different focuses on doctrines in each church like emphasizing on truth teaching, God is love, and spiritual power of the Holy Spirit.
I agree that her observation reveals the reality of the churches nowadays. I personally stay in the same church for more than ten years. But my personal spiritual journey, guided by the best Teacher, the Holy Spirit, went through from doctrines about truth teaching, spiritual power experienced in the deliverance ministry, and then God is love through my personal encounter with God.
Therefore, I appreciate all the stages God leads me through because I learn more about God in each stage. In my opinion, if there’s a completely perfect church, it may include all of these three elements: God’s word, God’s love and God’s power.
My college in Hsin-Chu city
Emotional burden breaks out to depression and physical illness.
In the college class reunion, 20 people came and each of our classmates shared about their lives. One man said two of his co-workers have died of overwork. He felt the urgency to come to meet his friends in college in case it’s too late. Several men shared the fun memory in college and brought laughter to everyone.
Three of our classmates who came to the reunion are Christians. One of them shared honestly about his journey of being rebellious to parents, hard time of getting a child, and the cancer treatment for his wife, who suddenly died of acute leukemia within one day. These hardship brought him to know God.
The last classmate shared his personality and frustration along the young years. His past emotional burden finally caused depression and physical dysfunction. After long time of treatment, he pursues Chinese herbal medicine and he agrees that most of illness is rooted in mental and emotional issues as I told him that the joyful heart is the good medicine mentioned in the Bible. He said he felt not belonging when he goes to the church. We hope to continue to pray for him and may God grant him peace for his soul.
Mailboxes in Taipei bent by Typhoon in 2015. Near the hostel we stayed.Hsin-Den city
April 23–Every day is a good day. Teaching is another way of learning.
“On a rainy day, listen to the rain with your whole being.
On a snowing day, gaze at the snow.
In summer, feel its heat.
In winter, feel its coldness.
Every day is a good day.”
The poem is from the Japanese movie I watched on the airplane, called “Every day is a good day.”
Japanese movie: Every day is a good day.
The main theme is living at the moment. The story is about a young lady who doesn’t have particular direction to pursue for her life. One day, she was asked to go to the class for traditional Japanese tea ceremony (Sado) by her older sister.
After a few years of learning Sado, she gradually appreciated more about it. The teacher often asks the young lady to observe from the painting, calligraphy or nature. More than ten years passed by, she grew mature with patience and confidence. The aging teacher finally told her to consider to teach Sado to others because teaching is another way of learning.
The Chinese idiom, “Teaching and learning grows together.” conveys the same idea. My spiritual journey is like this lady learning Sado. In the beginning, I was immature and impatient. I often worried if I was a good Christian and tried in my flesh to obey God’s commands but felt more frustrated. However, God’s mercy is new each morning. God reminds me:
“Some things are quickly understood. Other things take time to understand. The things are easily understood only need to go through once. But those other things, you can only understand them little by little through time.” said in the movie.
I am thankful that God gives me time to learn those things which are hard to understand, little by little, day after day, season after season, over and over again. Then one day, I find that I move on to another stage of life to learn more about God by serving others to know Him.
Cherry blossom in Ueno park, TokyoAsakusa, Tokyo
Read God’s love letters every morning.
Talking about learning spiritual lessons over and over again, another Japanese movie called “The 50th first kisses” serves a good metaphor to describe my spiritual struggle.
Japanese movie: the 50th first kiss
After a terrible car accident, the female protagonist suffers the brain injury and only can remember things on that day and then forgets all about it after waking up the next day. The male protagonist falls in love with her but cannot gain her trust to love him because she forgets all about him the next day.
After pursuing her for a long time, the man found a solution to remind her who he is by recording a DVD to show her each morning. In the video, he tells her who he is, what he knows about her, how much he loves her, etc. Finally, the lady trusts him enough to let him kiss her and she always shouts, “The first kiss is amazing” day after day.
I feel I also have “short term memory loss” in my spiritual learning. For example, I have been organizing the summer camp for five years now. But every year I feel uncertain about many things from inviting the teacher, searching for the location, to finding students, etc.
It seems that I didn’t remember how God always provides and comes through for me and I always feel so joyful during the camp and never regrets to do it after the camp. But the degree of being panic is getting less over the years like this female protagonist.
In the movie, the female protagonist keeps a diary about her lover so that she wants to break up with the man for supporting him to go after his own dream in another place. She rejects him by burning up the diary she keeps about him. However, after they break up, she sees his face in her dreams at night. Then she paints his face on the canvas day after day.
I am wondering: when humans reject God, their conscience still remind them about their Creator. That’s why they create religions to worship gods. However, this loving God pursues us patiently and give us His love letters in the Bible to remind us who He is, how much He loves us and what He knows about us.
Each morning, I love to come to read His loving words and fall in love with Him again. Even though I might have short term spiritual memory loss, thank God for His loving letters written in the Bible and in my heart through the Holy Spirit.
I prayed with my prayer partner this morning with Mom’s in Prayer format (Praise, Confession, Thankfulness, Intercession) and we both were lifted up by God’s grace. The attribute for today is God is truth. During praying time, I listened to what she prayed that God is victorious and I shall fix my eyes on Him, not my own negative defeated thought. I think about the Iran Muslim man I interviewed, who saw Jesus coming through the wall: Ah, it’s impossible with man, but everything is possible with God. So this encourages me to not judge people or their situations by worrying if they cannot believe God, but only trust that God is very kind and willing to save everyone.
See my enemies in Spirit.
After we prayed, I read Bible and suddenly I am reminded by my own prayer of discerning any lies in the light of God’s truth this morning. I saw there is a lie, telling me that it’s my freedom not to write even though I want to. I then see there’s a spirit of putting down myself. So, I confess to God by praying: God, I am sorry to let the spirit of putting down my value to lie to me and control me. Please forgive me. Thank You for forgiving me. In Jesus Christ’s name, I rebuke and command the spirit of putting down my value to leave me and go to the pit of hell right now. The spirit of putting down my value and lying cannot have any place in me and control me. I have released myself from your bondage. I proclaim that Jesus Christ has set me free from these spirits.
His sermon speaks right into my need. He mentioned many people have poor image about themselves including him, who suffered from depression for a long time. After he prayed for a while without solving his problem, the dark cloud of depression was still looming over his head.
Finally the Scripture of Bible reminds him to heed God’s word which can deliver him from sin and death. And he believes that God not only give victory over our sins, but over our enemy, Satan (refer to Romans 8:1-2). He was reminded by Ephesian 6:17 to take helmet of salvation, which is hope (refer to 1 Thessalonians 5:8).
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)
But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. (1 Thessalonians 5:8)
He feels that God reveals that there’s a spirit of depression in him. And he is encouraged by Joel 2:32 to call to God to deliver him from the spirit of depression and anxiety. Just like my prayer, he asked God’s forgiveness and rebuked the spirit of depression to go away. And he was delivered.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. (Joel 2:32)
Take captive your thought to obey Jesus and be transformed to have sound mind.
Derek Prince said that he used to worry a lot because his family also often worry if they don’t worry. After asking God to deliver him from the spirit of depression, he also started to practice on putting hope for expecting good thing in God, and “replace negative thought with truthful thought and his old thinking pattern gradually got transformed to godly pattern.” (refer to 2 Corinthians 10:5) I can testify that this is my spiritual practice and it indeed has been transforming me as well.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Restore your image by looking into spiritual mirror.
Moreover, he mentioned how to restore our image by reading God’s word as looking self in the mirror. In the beginning, we may see our errors in the old self. But the more we see God’s glory in His word, and we apply them to ourselves through proclamation by faith, the more glory we shall become like Him because we were created in His image (refer to 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ).
But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. ( 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 )
You are valuable in the sight of God.
Derek Prince said that people often pay for the thing with the cost they think how much it is worth. Likewise, my value is how much God pays for me, which costs Him the blood of Jesus.
Therefore, Don’t listen to any negative thought to put down yourself. Instead, proclaim in Christ: I am infinitely valuable in the sight of God because God bought me with the most valuable thing in the universe, the blood of Jesus, that’s how valuable I am.
I have a great feast through prayer with another saint and from God’s grace in His truth for my spirit today.
The group leader in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) my husband attends said that a wise husband would use Proverbs 31 in the bible to praise his wife, rather than request her to do the same. What a wise husband! Because the affirmation from the husband’s mouth will shape the wife to be the woman of noble character like in Proverbs 31.