A Conversation with God, Part One

This is a poem I made a few months ago. You may find it does not rhyme, as I intended not to and planned it to be more like what I called “modern poem”. I hope you enjoy it, and stay tuned for Part Two! 😀

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In the twilight of the evening,

in the ruins of a battle

of the war I have been fighting in,

I found God on His saddle

robed in His glory and power

that my unholy being could

not stand in His mighty presence.

I would ask, “Where have You been?”

And He would answer, “I have been here.”

I would ask again, impatiently,

“Where were You?”

And He would answer again, patiently,

“I was here.”

I shouted, desperate,

“I was there fighting, Lord,

and I found You were not there.”

This time, say nothing He did,

but He looked me in the eyes,

and I watched the memories

of the moments when

I faced my opponents in my front

as His mighty hands protected

every essence of my being

and my beloved people who were waiting

for their friend, family, and brother

to embrace His path in God:

the battle for joy and Lord;

of the moments when

I swung my sword

and I remembered

that my strength was not mine

as they were given by God;

of the moments when

my enemies overcame me

and prepared they were

to strike the final blow,

but they fell like chopped trees

as God shot them in their hind

with His might words from afar;

of the moments when

I was not even able to lift a finger

and death was welcoming me as his

in the midst of the war –

and suddenly I was full of power

as God has defeated death

and now I am His;

of the preparations I had made

and the armours and arms I wore

as they all came from the Lord

so do all that I am and have;

of the triumphant moments

over the dull sting of sins –

He named me “victory”

as He made it mine; yet

the last important moment

was the last I perceived

that He has sacrificed Himself

to save a wretched like me

and call me such names:

“son”, “brother”, and “family”.

I am His enemy no more

for He has given me the grace

to save me from wrath and doom.

As my vision of Him returned,

I saw Him in my front,

holding my weary shoulders.

Smiling, He asked, “And what are

you trying to say, my son?”

Embracing Him, I replied,

“My Lord, my Strength, my Song,

my Salvation, my Joy, my Light,

You found me.”

 

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to His name! – Psalm 97:12

A Call to Accept the Fight

The trumpets of war loudly cry;
A path a warrior cannot evade,
to the battle he shall give in,
for the future worth of fighting.

Ministry – More Important than Life

“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 20:24)

According to the New Testament, “ministry” is what all Christians do. Pastors have the job of equipping the saints for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:12). But ordinary Christians are the ones who do the ministry.

What ministry looks like is as varied as Christians are varied. It’s not an office like elder or deacon; it’s a lifestyle devoted to making much of Christ.

It means that we “do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Whether we are bankers or bricklayers, it means that we aim at advancing other people’s faith and holiness.

Fulfilling your ministry is more important than staying alive. This conviction is what makes the lives of radically devoted people so inspiring to watch. Most of them speak the way Paul did about his ministry here in Acts 20. Doing the ministry that God gives us to do is more important than life.

You may think you need to save your life in order to do your ministry. On the contrary, how you lose your life may be the capstone of your ministry. It certainly was for Jesus, only in his thirties.

We need not fret about keeping ourselves alive in order to finish our ministry. God alone knows the appointed time of our service.

Henry Martyn was right when he said, “If [God] has work for me to do, I cannot die.” In other words, I am immortal until my work is done. Therefore, ministry is more important than life.

The Most Important Thing, According to Morrie Schwartz

“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” – Morrie Schwartz

When God Goes Against His Will

But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death. (1 Samuel 2:25)

There are three implications of this text for our lives.

1) It is possible to sin so long and so grievously that the Lord will not grant repentance.

That is why Paul said that after all our pleading and teaching, “God may grant them repentance” — not, “will grant them repentance” (2 Timothy 2:25). There is a “too late” in the life of sin. As it says of Esau in Hebrews 12:17, “He found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.” He was forsaken; he could not repent.

This does not mean that those who truly repent even after a whole lifetime of sinning cannot be saved. They certainly can be, and will be! God is staggeringly merciful. Witness the thief on the cross: “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

2) God may not permit a sinning person to do what is right.

“But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death.” Listening to the voice of their father was the right thing to do. But they would not. Why? “For the Lord desired to put them to death.”

The reason given for why they did not obey their father was that God had other purposes for them, and had given them up to sinning and death. This shows that there are times when the will of God’s decree is different from the revealed will of God’s command.

3) Sometimes our prayers for God’s revealed will to be done will not be done because God has decreed something different for holy and wise purposes.

I suppose that Eli prayed for his sons to be changed. That is how he should have prayed. But God had decreed that Hophni and Phinehas not obey, but rather be slain.

When something like this happens (which we do not ordinarily know ahead of time) while we are crying out to God for change, the answer of God is not: “I don’t love you.” Rather the answer is: “I have wise and holy purposes in not overcoming this sin and not granting repentance. You do not see these purposes now. Trust me. I know what I am doing. I love you.”

Lord Jesus blesses you!

We are Dead to Sin, but We are Alive in Christ

This devotional comes from “Solid Joys,” the Android and iOS app from Desiring God that features daily devotions by John Piper.

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Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. (1 Peter 4:1)

First it puzzles. Did Christ have to cease from sin? No! “He committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22).

Then it clicks. When we arm ourselves with the thought that Christ suffered for us, we realize that we died with him. “He bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). When we die with him we cease to sin.

It’s just like Romans 6. “We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. . . . So consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ” (Romans 6:6–7, 11).

Peter says, “Arm yourselves with this thought!”

Paul says, “Consider yourselves dead!”

The weapon for our vacation is a thought/consideration.

When the temptations of Satan come — to lust, to steal, to lie, to covet, to envy, to retaliate, to put down, to fear — arm yourself with this thought: When my Lord suffered and died to free me from sin, I died to sin!

When Satan says to you, Why deny yourself the pleasure of lust? Why deal with the mess you could avoid by lying? Why not go ahead and get that harmless luxury you covet? Why not seek justice by returning the same hurt you received?

Answer him: The Son of God suffered (really suffered!) to deliver me from sinning. I cannot believe he suffered to make me miserable. Therefore, what he died to purchase must be more wonderful than the pleasures of sin. Since I trust him, my susceptibility to your allurements has shriveled up and died.

Satan, be gone! My mouth doesn’t drool any more when I walk by your candy store!

A Weapon Against Satan’s Summer Siege

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I think we forget about this idea a lot. When we live our daily lives, things just go automatically. We forget God in our daily activities. Bad things come out from our mouth easily. We cheat like it is our nature. But no!

We are not supposed to do sins anymore as when Christ died in the cross, so did our sinful body and we are dead to the sins. But we are alive in Christ and that is what we ought to live our every aspect of our life in.

Lord Jesus blesses you!