February 28 2009 - Knowing that God Loves You

The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.  

Zephaniah 3:17

Short and sweet. Jesus loves us. Do we recognize this fact more or do we pray for everything else that comes with this relationship? I know personally that I have been praying for too many things recently and worrying about the future than I have proclaimed that God's love is always there for me and that I receive it. I am too preoccupied with what is going around me that I become so faithless and pray for God to "enhance" myself instead of praying that He would use me for His glory in whatever ways. The barebones are that we must not worry so much. God, the Mighty One will save according to Zephaniah 3:17. When we sing praises and worship songs to Him, In similar ways, He is showering love and blessing to us in return. 

Amen. 

February 27, 2009 - Your Sphere of Influence

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16, NIV

If you were taken away from your group of friends, church group, or classroom of any sort, would people recognize that you're gone? Sometimes I think about my sphere of influence towards others and wonder if its any good; if it was any way good enough for God. I know that I have been slacking towards my leadership responsibilities and that I would rather assign the responsiblities to another. But what I don't realize is that I am the light of the world. Doesn't matter how strong or weak the flame is, if you are willing to do good, what else is there to fear? I was afraid. I was always afraid that my light was not strong enough and that someone else should just take my place as a leader. But this verse pushes me because, regardless of what I know or what I can do, I know Jesus. 

Amen. 

February 26, 2009 - Looking for Wisdom in All the Wrong Places

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. 

James 1:5

Ah perfect timing Mr. Devotional Writer Dude. I'm always discouraged because of the amount of wisdom I lacked. I would pray for wisdom but it was selfish. My intent was to become a good small group leader; one who was able to be able to give out all kinds of answers and be the ones the members would look up to. Of course God gives generously without any blame, but according to James 3 : 13-15, there are two types of wisdom: earthly wisdom that entails selfish ambition and envy and heavenly wisdom from above. I realize that what I am asking is not glorifying to God, but to glorify myself. I need to realize that this lack of wisdom in the first place is because I was selfish. I worried more about what people would view me as instead of what God viewed me as. But I need God's help so bad. I will continue to pray for wisdom, but I will remember now that everything that I ask for as well, must glorify Him. 

Amen. 

February 25, 2009 - Dancing Backwards

Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. 

Psalm 31:3

Psalms are literally prayers; an outburst to God proclaiming the distain in our lives and that we need Him to purify us. Psalm 31:3 is a clear and honest prayer I wish I prayed everyday. The second part of this verse hit me the most. This psalmist has a special request for God. He wants God to be the leader; someone to lead and guide him throughout all aspects of life. Usually when we seek help, its for the benefit of ourselves. But this psalmist wants more than just good for himself. He wants to glorify God with his own body. 

The thing is, I understand this psalmist completely. He wants to do good, but he cannot and therefore requires the guidence of God. Rob brought up 1 Peter 3:13 today, "Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?" This verse spoke to me as well. I am always worried about what I don't know or how I am incapable when all it boils down to is the heart of worship. 

If you don't believe in yourself, believe in God who believes in you. 

If I don't believe in myself, believe in God who believes in me.

Amen. 

February 24, 2009 - Spring Training for Christians

We don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong.

2 Corinthians 5:16

 The Message

-or-

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, 

we do so no longer.

2 Corinthians 5:16 

NIV

The writer for this devotion was paralleling Christian life with baseball or whatever. One main thing that stuck out was this: 

Sacrifices - When the coach calls for you to bunt another person into a more prominent position, will you obediently lay one down? When you can bring in a run by hitting a fly ball for an out will you gladly do so? 

Christ was a sacrificer. As a matter of fact, He alone was the ultimate sacrifice. He was killed because people did not believe Him to be the actual Son of Man. They viewed him as a lunatic and a mad man instead of our one and only Savior. They viewed Jesus as another worldly man and persecuted Him because He was blaspeming against God. Imagine of someone today claimed to be Jesus or the Messiah. Imagine the craziness it would stir up. 

The main point of this verse is that we changed or need to change. Christ is not just a man, He is THE man. The Message's translations is kinda off but it brings out the message perfectly. We viewed our God Man as no one special and got it all wrong. We need to view everyone as a spiritual person. We need to see people for more than they are on the outside and see what they are made up of on the inside. Praise the Lord for opening up my eyes for others. 

Amen. 

February 23, 2009 - Ashes to Ashes

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return. 

(Genesis 3:19)

Because of the original sin from Adam and Eve, we have recieved death. Ashes resulted from the burning of a body after it has died, but that is not all that it stands for. Ashes also became the symbolic spiritual death. In the Old Testament, we see mamy accounts where Isrealites would wear ashes to repent for their sins. 

Wearing ashes and recognizing that we are sinners is a big symbolic act towards God. Daniel openly proclaimed, while wearing ashes, that he did did not deserve salvation because of his righteousness but because of God's grace and overflowing mercies. This attitude leads to Lent and Ash Wednesday where we try hard for 40 days and 40 nights to get closer to God. 

I believe that I need to die again to Christ. I take for granted His mercies. Sometimes I feel sad because it is a one sided relationship and God is the one trying so hard. In my case, Ash Wednesday needs to be Ash Everyday. But I can't help but come back to the Lord everytime I screw up. I am so thankful for his mercies for they are new everyday.

Praise the Lord. 

February 22, 2009 - Change is Stressful

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

Whenever I think about changes, nothing comforting comes from it. Why can't things just stay the same and we can remain happy with the things the way that they are now? But sometimes we want change because things aren't working out. That is when we realize that we are just plain confused, weak and weary. I, myself, know that there are things that require change in my life, most, if not all, of these things are things are not pleasing to God. But luckily for us, God gives us a choice: "do you want my help or not?" I feel so conflicted because deep down in my heart I know that I should be doing something productive, but instead I squander my time. In a way, I choose not to take God's yoke and learn from him and just run around by myself yoke-less doing whatever I want. Knowing this problem and not solving it, my soul is pained and conflicted. 

God save this foolish man that is Aaron Lam. I need your yoke and your guidence. Change me into a man who is worthy to lead your sheep. Change me into a man that will take your yoke and know that God, you have my back. 

Amen. 

February 21, 2009 - Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from 

the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

I just wanted to bring up one of my favorite verses. This verse really encourages me that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate me from the love which is God through Christ. Everytime I commit a habitual sin, the burdens of knowing that it is not pleasing to God disturbs me so much that I feel as if I cannot accept God's love because I am such an imperfect being. But I know that this is just another one of the devil's ways of separating us from God. 

Because...

               nothing...

                                not death nor life... 

                                                            angels nor demons...

    present nor future...

                                          any powers....

                                                                 anything in all of creation...

can

separate

us

from

the

LOVE

of 

God

that

is

in

Jesus Christ

our 

Lord.

Amen.

February 19, 2009 - Are You Afraid of the Light?

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

John 8:12

The Light. How is it possible to see this Light when we cannot run from sin? How is it possible to see the Lord when we are so imperfect?  We, I sin without knowing. Sin is so embedding in my life that it has become habitual. But praise the Son who is the Shepard. He never lets me go. The Light never lets me go. No matter how troubled I feel or what I've done, I am always reminded of Him. No sense of failure, loneliness, despire, anger can allow me to forget the Father who has cared for me so. 

Thank you God for allowing me to walk in the light with your Son for I was once dead in my transgressions but saved by the grace of God. This is my prayer to you on my blog. Forever the Son. 

Amen.  

February 17, 2009 - The Fool for God

“Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe."

1 Corinthians 1:20-21 

The philosophies of this world and the so called social truths that are followed; are they all that is to be? How much joy will knowing the entire Periodic Table of Elements or knowing how to draw a Glucose molecule entail? For it is by God's Word that all knees will bow and tongues will confess. Only the knowledge of God will give us satisfaction and keep us longing for more. Knowing that we have been love even before we were out of the womb, knowing that our sins have been excused, knowing that Jesus Christ died for us, knowing that there is nothing in this world that can love as God has loved us, KNOWING that we have the ultimate LOVE is foolishness that I believe in. 

February 16, 2009 - Genesis 1

Reading chapter 1 made me realize how much of an artist God is. Looking at this world, there are millions among millions of different creatures living in this world most in which scientists have yet to discover. How complex and amazing this feat of creating such unqiue creatures, every single one of us, to the mere cell and quark disregarding the millions of differernt spontaneous functions occuring all at once inside of our bodies is simply mind boggling. Our God is a genius. 

And when I read verse 27, I feel so honored to be one of God's most important creations; one that is the ruler of all plant and animals on earth. We have been given so much by God and its just hard not to praise Him with all we do. 

Amen.

February 15, 2009 - Romans 16

This passage was not merely about Paul sending his greetings to the men and women of Christ whom has assisted him throughout his journey. He gives his heart to them because of their help and encouragement. When I read this passage, it reminded me of what my friend Joe Kim mentioned last Friday before Large Group began. He said that Cornerstone as a whole will not work out if its people did not encourage one another or be with one another. We have to be more open with one another and share with each other not only the good/bad of our days, but our spiritual lives as well. And with that encouragement and communication lead one another to growth under the Holy Spirit so that the congregation can grow as a whole and not just one person or a group of persons separately.

Because we are different parts of the body (lungs, heart, stomach, cells, etc.) that make up the entire body that is Cornerstone headed by Christ our Savior.

Amen.

February 13, 2009 - Romans 15 : 23-33

Paul is constantly traveling and feeding others the fruit of the Spirit. From Macedonia and Achaia, to Rome and Jerusalem, he never stops. This gives us the image of a man who is completely devoted to God. This also gives us the image that God's work is never done. Even though you are surrounded by Christians day after day, there are billions of people in the world who has yet been saved lest heard of the Gospel. Will these people become saved if no missionaries reach them? 

But that is not the point of this passage. Paul acts because he knows that God calls him to spread the word to other nations. And as Christians, we must take Paul as an example and be like him. Spreading the truth of the Gospels is doing God's work and it brings him glory. I need to be like Paul, but I lack wisdom as a missionary as well as a leader. I will continue to pursue God and pray for wisdom so that I can do His work. 

Amen.

February 12, 2009 - Romans 15 : 14-22

"I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done..." 

In this passage, Paul devotes his life into the teaching of Christ and what he has done in his life. He takes his testimony and whatever Christ has accomlished in his life into this ministry. Paul's ambition and heart was placed at the feet of Jesus. He encourages the Romans that they are complete in knowledge and competent in teaching the Word of God. He was basically trying to encourage them to serve the Lord just as he has felt the grace of God upon him. 

Amen. 

February 11, 2009 - Romans 15 : 1-13

"For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth..." 

This specific verse broke my heart. Our Prince steps down from his throne in Heaven and came down to earth to become a "servant". Besides servant slave also comes to mind. Jesus gave away his life just so He could serve man. By being so selfless, He did only what was glorifying to God despite the persecution from man, the same people He came to save. He could have so easily left us to die or to wither without God on earth until we burned in Hell, but Jesus decided to die for us on the Cross. 

This act of selflessness is one thing I really admire about Jesus. He gave it all. I mean literally gave it all for God's glory. The guy was sinless! As Christians, we aim to be like Jesus, but how is that possible? Jesus was a perfect man! It is not possible at all to be like Jesus! But for me, even though it is impossible to be as perfect as Jesus was, we can try our best for God and God will know how hard we fought for Him. For me, I am working on trying to be less selfish with my own time and learning to give it all to God so that he may be glorified in everything I do. 

Amen.  

February 10, 2009 - Romans 14

It should not matter if you eat meat or vegetables. It should not matter if you see one day as better than the next or if you consider everyday the same. The main message Paul is trying to explain with these images is that we should not judge others Christians as well as other non-Christians according to how their faith leads them. Because God is the king of all kings and can ultimately change their ways in the end if He wants to or not. 

"To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand."

It all comes down to God's will and what he wants to do with us. 

Especially for me, since I am put in a leadership position, it is so easy to be disillusioned with the fact that I am more spiritual than.. lets say.. my small group members. I need to realize that this is a pursuit of holiness for all of us because no one can be perfect like Christ. Drop that pride and pick up the Cross. 

Amen.  

February 9, 2009 - Romans 13

"Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." 

The passage rang loud and true in my heart for it is definitely true that our Lord Jesus is much nearer than before; that the time He is going to claim His sons and daughers have become much nearer and only draws closer. Personally I fail to realize this fact. I live everyday as it comes and not realizing that the Son can return at any moment. Because we speak of the second coming in church so often, it tends to slip our minds, my very own mind especially. Because we do not see His coming to be anytime soon, we do not fear the judgement that we will recieve when we see God. Our lives go on filled with sin disregarding the fact that at ANY MOMENT Jesus could reappear. 

What if Jesus reappear at the exact moment you are arguing with someone? Punching someone? Cursing under your breath? What kind of excuse would we give Jesus? The same one that we've been giving Him all our lives? 

"The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

So love as Jesus has first loved us. Let that be the end of all our ends. (Let love be the reason we do everything)

Praise the Lord. 

Amen.  

February 8, 2009 - Romans 12

We need to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to the Lord for it is an act of spiritual worship to Him. This passage also states that conformity to the world and its desires is evil whilst renewing the mind in the presense of God is the way to go. 

None of these things are easy to do since we are living within the world physically. There is a constant battle between our minds on what is right and pleasing to God and what is not. Even though there is this constant struggle, Paul reminds us to be humble in our thought that even though we are Christians, set with the mindset of superiority because we are following Christ Jesus, we need to humble ourselves and "not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." 

And it all comes down to pleasing God with whatever we have. Paul gives the analogy of a human body composed of many differernt, very unique working organs. We all have differernt gifts given to us by the grace of God. Whether it be serving, leading, encouraging, giving, whatever! We come together and form one body in Christ and each member belongs to all the others. Let us be a part of this unified body with Christ and glorify God with everything that we do. 

Amen.

February 7, 2009 - Romans 11

Paul speaks to the Isrealies and Gentiles as one of the same people that God offers his love to. 

"Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off". 

God love everyone the same and offers everyone his love. It is up to us to accept it or not. It is up to our decisions and choices in our daily lives that reflect our perception of God's love. So I ask myself, "What if I sin and forget about God?" The passage gives a vivid description of an olive tree. The olive tree represents God and his followers. The branches are the Jews and those who do not believe. According to this passage, we are the branches. DEAD and cannot survive without nourishment from the roots and the trunk. BUT because we are branches, we can be cut off easily. BUT luckily for us, we can ALSO easily be GRAFTED 

GRAFTED - a bud, shoot, or scion of a plant inserted in a groove, slit, or the like in a stem or stock of another plant in which it continues to grow.

WHAT??? INSERTED INTO THE GROOVE AND STILL GROW?? NO WAY!! YES! We are the dead branches that have been cut off and by the grace of GOD stuck back into the olive tree and is reunited with God! In the same way, even though we are cut off from God because of our sins, God makes it so easy for us to come back in fellowship with Him because He is so merciful... so, so merciful... 

Praise the Lord!

Amen. 

February 5, 2008 - Romans 10

I've been asked before, "Aaron, are you sure you sure that you are going to Heaven?" At that time I didn't know. I knew I was a sinner and deserved death, but I had already accepted Christ. So I said, "No". 

Its often confused whether or not we are Heaven or Hellbound. Christians who sin fall waist deep in their own sin and lose all hope. At this point, guilt and shame has an overbearing power amongst them that the most important person is forgotten: Jesus Christ. 

Jesus has already died for us and our sins. In this passage, Paul says that "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That is the one and only condition. It is through Jesus and Jesus alone that we are justified and it is through Him alone that we live to see the light of day. On this very day, I admit that I am a sinner, but I also know that Christ is by my side. All I had to do was to believe with all my heart and all my soul and I gained salvation "for Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord [Jesus] will be saved" and that is the only condition. Praise the Lord for being so merciful!

Amen. 

February 4, 2009 - Romans 9 : 16-18

"It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."

This passage sums it up. Ultimately, God can do whatever he wants. Not at all does it depend on what we do or how we feel. Our desires or effort does not determine our relationship with God. Only God can decide what happens. In this case, he decides to love us; to give us the grace that we do not deserve. The Love that saved mankind which in turn could so easily have destroyed mankind showed us mercy. God raises all of us up so that we may glorify him. It may seem selfish, but we were made to glorify him, nothing else. His love changes us so much that we can help but to. And these verses have really hit me. My purpose in life is to live out his will and glorify him in everything i do. because he has given me mercy. 

Amen.

February 3, 2000 - Romans 8 : 28-37

God love those who calls on Him and love Him. Jesus was not sacrificed because God did not love, but because he loved man too much that he was able to give us his one and only son. And because of this, God is graciously giving us all other things as well because he was able to give his son who was so much greater. 

Christian = Pesecution 

No, because we are more than mere conquerors. Conquerors, in this context, is a man fighting for God's will only to die in vain. But we are more than that. God will never leave us nor foresake us. 

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

Praise the Lord. 

Amen. 

February 2, 2008 - Romans 8 : 18-27

This passage describes a confused Christian. The weakness of this Christian is the impatience that he has with God. We "groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies". It is easy for Chrisitans to grow impatient, especially those who have known Christ for a longer period of time. We take for granted God's grace and become selfish in this heavily one-sided relationship with God. God seems to favor a relationship with us a lot more than we even attempt to show him love. 

So you know Christ and you know that salvation is on its way. Verse 24: "For in this hope we were saved. But hoped that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?" This is a trap that most Christians fall into. It is not by hope that we are saved, it is by faith. Hope is the accompaniment of salvation. We have faith and know that Christ is coming back, not because we hope for it. Hope implies an insecurity where as faith defines a definite belief that Christ is going to return. 

Because we are stupid humans (I am a uber stupid human) and sway towards the uncertainty, we have doubts at times. And it can't be helped because Christians are always challeneged while living in this world. Luckily ".. the Spirit helps us in our weakness...

... We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will". The Holy Spirit will continue to guide us on our journey to Christ. This verse was so refreshing to me. Even though we cannot understand the Spirit at times, it will always be there because our goals are the same. 

Amen. 

February 1, 2008 - Romans 8 : 1-17

Christ was the requirement for man to be saved. It was necessary because man was too embodied with sin to see the light of God. And through Christ, "he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us... 

who do not live according to the sinful nature buy according to the Spirit."

Cleansed of sin, Christians have the spirit flowing within them and their minds are changed. We have our minds and our hearts set on Heavenly things rather than those things here on earth. Our minds come in sync with God's and we see what he sees. As we get to know God more and more, as the Spirit flows more and works more within us, we tend to have that mindset of what is more benefical for God. And I am trying to change my mindset to that. 

But sin is so powerful and it still controls me. 

No. God is infinitely more powerful than sin has on us. "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you...  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness." We have become His son and He is our Father "because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Because of God's love, we have inherited the earth and all those treasures that are being prepared for us in Heaven. 

Amen.