Thoughts of Our Fathers (TOF)

READ: 1 Corinthians 1:18-30
...Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 1:24

A leader is someone who employs wisdom as an essential tool of life. Christian leaders have the task of combining the Spirit of God and the wisdom of God. That is the will of God. Every Christian leader must learn to achieve a balance between the power and the wisdom. That is what I want you to get as you read this. Christ Jesus is not only power to us. He is power and wisdom.

When you are able to effectively combine the power and the wisdom of God, you will succeed as a leader. If you are a pastor, do not rely solely on spiritual direction; remember that pastors are supposed to use their minds as well. If you use your mind, God will lift you up in ministry.

I once noticed a church that was meeting in somebody's house in an exclusive and quiet residential neighbourhood. The prayer, the worship and the praise were so loud and offensive that no one on the entire street could concentrate as long as they were shouting through their microphones. The pastor was anointed and he had the power of God at work for him. Unfortunately , he had left out wisdom. They were using a public address system meant for large halls and hundreds of people. I thought to myself, "Very soon this church will be shut down by the neighbours or the police."

Never use power without wisdom and never use wisdom without power!

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
—Matthew 21:22

Prayer is a two-way conversation; it is our talking to God, and His talking to us. As a Christian, you have a heavenly Father who hears and answers prayer. Jesus said, “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Every man or woman whose life has counted for the church and the Kingdom of God has been a person of prayer. You cannot afford to be too busy to pray. A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian. Jesus Christ spent many hours in prayer. Sometimes He spent the night on a mountaintop in solitary communion with God the Father. If He felt that He had to pray, how much more do we need to pray!

Wondering how to pray? Or why God isn’t answering? Read Prayer 101.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Hebrews 2:9

Death. It’s not a popular topic—even among believers. In fact, a great many are just plain scared of it. Oh yes, they talk about having eternal life. Yet when the devil tries to threaten their earthly survival with sickness or calamity, they panic.

Why? Because they haven’t learned to look at death through God’s eyes. Even though their spirit has been made immortal, they haven’t renewed their minds to include that truth. If they had, when the devil tried to push their panic button, they’d just laugh and say, “You can’t scare me, Devil. I’ve done all the dying I’m ever going to do!”

That’s true, you know. The Word of God says that you, as a born-again believer, are never going to see death (John 8:51). Jesus has been your substitute. He suffered death so you wouldn’t have to. And He was raised from death, Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “Destroy[ing] him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver[ing] them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

If you’ve made Jesus the Lord of your life, the only death you’ll ever experience is behind you now. It occurred the instant you received Christ. At that moment, your old self—the one whose nature was to sin and rebel against God—died. Your body didn’t die, but your spirit man—the real you—died to Satan and all of his works. You became “a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17), immortal and absolutely incapable of death!

When you’re finished with your work on the earth, you’re not going to die. You’ll simply shed your earthly shell and relocate to a far more glorious place.

Go to the Word and get God’s perspective on death. Make a study of it. Once the reality of your immortality begins to dawn on you, the devil will never be able to threaten you with it again.



Scripture Reading:

Hebrews 2:9-15

How to thrive in your uniqueness and become distinctly you

Have you ever heard anyone say, “My ultimate dream is to be average.” I haven’t. I don’t know anyone who’s born with a desire to be mediocre or to accomplish nothing in life. If you’re like me, you want to stand out, be special, the best you can be, distinctive.

Well, that is also God’s desire for you. He does nothing haphazard, without purpose. It’s all meticulously planned. He determined our looks, personality, heritage, intelligence, and gender. So that means there is something specific He wants you to accomplish as you, with your blend of abilities. It may take awhile to know what it is, to develop into that you, and be totally comfortable with your uniqueness.

I’m quite familiar with the journey. The struggle to accept my distinctiveness began early for me. Maybe it’s because I have seven brothers and no sisters. My mother said she went to the hospital each time hoping for a girl. On the seventh try her prayer was answered. I was born.

Being the only girl among so many boys, made me special from day one. But in just a few short years, without any coaching, I started secretly comparing my looks and complexion with brother #6 (Darrell), my girl cousins, classmates, and church girls.

I noticed that I looked nothing like Darrell. He was extremely fair. I was very dark. He was adorable. I was very average looking. One day my mother told me a story that confirmed my insecurity. She said when I was born there was a steady stream of traffic to our house. Visitors would come, look at me, whisper to each other, and then leave without saying much.

At first she thought it was because the Martins finally had a girl. Then she found out it was about much more. Because I looked nothing like four-year-old Darrell, the one closest to me in age, and I was considerably darker than most of my brothers and parents, some visitors were questioning my paternity. My mother said one person asked, “What is Rev. Martin saying?” She answered, “When he gets worried, I’ll let you know.” Of course my father wasn’t saying anything because he knew I was his daughter. Plus, he thought I resembled his deceased mother.

At times I wondered, why did God make me look so different from my mother? I thought she was so pretty and my father handsome. When I looked at myself, I could not see my mother in me. This hurt. I told no one about this ongoing dialogue except God. I struggled year after year with this inward battle.

I compared myself with my friends in grade school. I knew which ones were favored because they were pretty. I knew which ones got invited to the popular birthday parties because they were cute. I admired the church girls who got asked out because they were fine. I was never in these exclusive groups.

When your focus is always on what’s "wrong" with you,” you diminish what’s "right” about you. That’s what I did for years. Even though I was soaring academically, my focus was on my shortcomings.

No matter how put together we may look like on the outside, we all face challenges and roadblocks to being the person we desperately want to be, the person God created us to be. All my life I’ve been pressing through the barriers, purposing to never lose hope. I’ve discovered that God will help us when this is our determined focus.

In order to thrive in your uniqueness and be distinct, you need to be aware of what I call "Distinctly You Blockers" and then overpower them with "Distinctly You Builders." I don’t claim to know everything about them, but I believe that what I’ve learned can help you stay in the race (or get back in it), get revved up, and win it. These are proven principles I've applied in my own life.

Memorise: And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 

Matthew 11:12

Read: Mark 2:1-5 (King James Version)

1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.


2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.


3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.


4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.


5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.




Bible in one year: Joshua 3-5, Jeremiah 42:18-43:7, Hymn: Sing hymn 4
MESSAGE:
While some people encounter God and ask Him for nothing, some others ask for crumbs while some few ask big. Also, while some people are ready to wait until their desires are granted, some others are desperate. Even though God has the ability to do all things, how fast your desires will be granted is often determined by your level of desperation. Desperate people do desperate things to get results, and so, the attitude of their prayer is usually different from that of those who can wait. In our Bible reading for today, when four men brought their friend who was paralysed and bedridden down to Jesus, they did not like what they saw: all the doors and windows were blocked and a big crowd surrounded the house. So what did they do? After studying the situation, these four friends observed that only the roof was free, and an idea struck their minds. They wiggled their way to the roof, tore it open, and lowered their friends into the place where Jesus was. The Lord Jesus Christ had to suspend everything else He was doing to attend to their friend. How desperate are you to receive your miracle? If you say you are desperate, where are the signs of your desperation? Desperate people break protocol! They refuse to wait where others would, and try out new measures that others may never think of. Desperate people refuse to be limited by what limits others, and they will do everything possible to get the result they desire.


When God sees desperate faith in action, He is most unlikely to turn it down. If fact, God allows such. Hence, Matthew 11:12 says

“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”


If you are not desperate, you would be placed at the end of the line. If you are a bit violent, you can end up in the middle of the queue, but if you are truly desperate, you will be moved to the front, irrespective of how long others have waited to get there. Desperate people are persistent. They draw up the attention of other people in their bid to get what they desire. Although desperate people can really be a “nuisance”, they don’t care about who they inconvenience as long as they get what they want. How desperate are you for divine intervention over your situation? Cry out to God today and let Him hear the desperation in your voice and see it in your actions, and He will surely answer you.

1 Corinthians 1:27

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

When you are faced with a big challenge, do you automatically look for the most powerful means to solve the problem? Well, my friend, that is not thinking the way God thinks. The Bible tells us that it pleases God to use what the world considers weak, foolish, base and despised to bring to nothing things which are mighty.

“What is that in your hand?” God asked.

“A rod,” Moses said. And with that rod, he performed miracles and confounded the might of Pharaoh.

“Five loaves and two fish,” a little boy said. And with that little boy’s lunch, Jesus fed 5,000 men, and his disciples gathered 12 baskets full of leftovers.

“The jawbone of an ass,” Samson said. And with that, he slew a thousand Philistines, who were the enemies of God’s people.

“Five stones and a sling,” said David the shepherd boy. And with one of his stones and the sling, he brought down Goliath, the mighty Philistine champion.

At a recent conference for Hokkien-speaking pastors, Pastor Mark, our Hokkien and Mandarin services pastor, realized how his spoken Hokkien pales in comparison to the refined and flawless Hokkien spoken by the other pastors there. Yet, it pleases God to use Pastor Mark’s colloquial Hokkien to lead many dialect-speaking folks, especially the elderly, to Christ.

Many of these elderly folks are testifying that for the first time in their lives, they are set free completely from fears of debilitating diseases, loneliness, deep-rooted superstitions, generational curses, the ravages of old age and even death.

My friend, don’t despise what seems weak and insignificant to the world. God can use them to bring down the giants in your life!

READ: John 8:42-47
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever

Psalm 119:160

The truth will tell you where you are and where you are not! The truth will also tell you where to go. Many pastors need to start telling the truth about the size of their congregations. When you know the actual number of souls you are ministering to, you will be motivated to work harder.

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:32

One day, I asked my data officer to tell me how many people were in church. When he gave me the figure, I was depressed for one week. I realized that our church was very small. I had a long way to go! If you cannot tell yourself the truth, you cannot be a good leader.

Many businesses do not make any profit at all! When you add up the real costs of their operations, you discover that they are actually making a loss. If managers were honest, they would take the necessary hard decisions. That is what leadership does.

Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved?…

Luke 13:23

Jesus answered and told him that there is a narrow gate and few people are entering through that gate. This was the truth. Leaders need to deal with reality . Without real figures, a Chief Executive cannot take sound financial decisions. Every leader must ensure that he has the real picture.

Stand steady, and don't be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Bring others to Christ . . .

—2 Timothy 4:5 (TLB)

All the masterpieces of art contain both light and shadow. A happy life is one filled not only with sunshine, but one which uses both light and shadow to produce beauty. The greatest musicians, as a rule, are those who know how to bring song out of sadness. Fanny Crosby, her spirit aglow with faith in Christ, saw more with her sightless eyes than most of us do with normal vision. She has given us some of the great gospel songs which cheer our hearts and lives. In a rat-infested jail in Philippi, Paul and Silas sang their song of praise at midnight to the accompaniment of the jailer’s whip. But their patience in suffering and persecution led to the heathen warden’s conviction.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee…. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

Psalm 91:7,10

Naturally speaking, this is a terrifying world we’re living in today. A world that staggers from one disaster to another. Almost daily we hear about wars, about the dangers of nuclear weapons and chemical warfare, about oil spills and earthquakes and floods, about diseases on the rise and crime sweeping through our cities.

But in the midst of it all, God is promising to be a refuge and a fortress to those who will trust and dwell in Him.

“But, Gloria,” you might say, “He made that promise thousands of years ago when things weren’t in as desperate shape as they are today!”

That may be so, but you know what? That promise is right up-to-date. It was made for our generation. Just think about it. Back when Psalm 91 was written, man hadn’t even invented weapons that could destroy 10,000 people at once. We’re the generation that did that. So when He said, “No evil will befall you,” He was including us.

No evil will befall you. My, what a statement! You need to catch hold of it and believe it today. Believe that God wants to be God in your life. He wants to be your protection. He wants to be your security. He wants to be the first Name you call when trouble comes your way. He wants to be the One you trust in and look to, to keep you safe. And if you’ll do that, He’ll never, never let you down.

He can handle all the dangers that surround you. I don’t care how bad they are, He can handle them! He proved that with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They were bound and thrown into a fiery furnace that was so hot that the men who threw them in were killed by the heat. Now you can’t get in any more trouble than that. But God brought them through and when they came out, they didn’t even smell like smoke. Hallelujah!

So, no matter how terrifying things around you seem to get, trust God. He’ll always be faithful. He’ll never be out doing something else when you need help. He’ll be right there to deliver you from any problem, any catastrophe, any kind of devastation.

Let Him prove in your life what He proved in the lives of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: No other can deliver like He can!

Scripture Reading:

Daniel 3

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

—1 Peter 1:13 KJV

In the days when Peter wrote these words, men wore long, flowing robes that hindered fast progress or strenuous action. They wore broad belts (or girdles) about their waists, and when they wanted to move into action, they “girded up their loins”—that is, they shortened their robes by pulling them up inside their belts. That term is similar to what we mean when we say, “Roll up your sleeves.” Peter’s words here are a serious call to action—a reminder that when we lose our focus, it is time for us to do some serious thinking.

I’ve already talked about how staying too busy can result in an abnormal mind as opposed to a normal mind. Now I want to point out that another way the devil attacks your normal mind is by causing your thoughts to wander. It’s a mental attack. If you do not discipline your mind to remain focused on what is important, the devil will cause it to wander aimlessly to other things.

When this inability to concentrate goes on for a while, you may begin to wonder if there is something wrong with your mind. What you often fail to realize is that when you’ve allowed your mind to wander for so long, you’re hardly aware that it’s taking place.

In some cases, there may be physical causes for not being able to concentrate, such as anemia or certain B-vitamin deficiencies. You may not be eating properly. Or you may have become excessively fatigued. It’s a good idea to consider all the potential causes as you search for a solution. I’ve learned that when I’m excessively tired, Satan tries to attack my mind because he knows it’s more difficult for me to resist him during those times.

Sometimes a lack of concentration creates a lack of comprehension. Perhaps as you are reading the Bible, you find yourself hurrying to get through so you can do something else. Out of a sense of duty, you are determined to finish reading a chapter—and you do. But when you are finished, you can’t recall anything you have read. Your eyes scanned the pages, but your mind was engaged somewhere else.

Perhaps you have even experienced this battle for your mind in church. You attend regularly—and the devil can’t always stop that—but he can cause your mind to start wandering during the sermon. Have you ever been fully engrossed in listening to a sermon, and then you suddenly realize that your mind has wandered and you have no idea what was said?

If the devil can rob you of the benefits of reading the Bible and hearing God’s Word at church, he has won some major skirmishes in the battle for your mind. This is why Peter tells us to “gird up the loins of our minds.” You must take action by confronting your wandering mind and disciplining it to focus on what’s important.

In conversation, I used to fake it when I realized my mind had wandered. Now I deal with it honestly by asking, “Would you please back up and repeat that? I let my mind wander off, and I didn’t hear a thing you said.” This kind of behavior not only interrupts the plan of the enemy but also brings victory over the problem.

It’s not easy to discipline your mind when it has been allowed to wander aimlessly, but you can do it. When you discover that your thoughts have wandered, you must exercise discipline and make the necessary corrections. The devil would like to convince you that you can’t help yourself, but when you consistently come against his bid for your mind, he is defeated, and you have won another battle.

Holy Spirit, I realize how quickly Satan distracts me and then capitalizes on my wandering mind. Forgive me for allowing him to lead me astray. I thank You for giving me a good, clear mind, and in the name of Jesus, I ask You to help me overcome every temptation to lose my focus. Amen.