Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Philippians 2:9-11   Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.   Some people described the salvation of Jesus with the English alphabet V.  Jesus was supposed to be equal with God as He sat on the throne in heaven, but because of God's love He was willing to humble Himself and take on the form of man in the world, and was nailed on the cross for the sin of people.  He was even separated from God, which was the lowest point of His life.  Because He is the savior without sin, death could not imprison Him and sin cannot bind Him.  On the third day, God resurrected Jesus from death, which manifested that Jesus is the Son of God with mighty power.  Jesus was humbled and then rose high, which formed a V shape.  V stands for victory, representing the gospel the Jesus brought us is the gospel of victory.   After Jesus resurrected from death, God gave Him a name of every name.  Name represents authority, and God has given all authority to Jesus so that we can together enjoy the authority for victory in Him.  Christ in you is not weak, for 2 Corinthians 13:3 says that "He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you."  As soon as we accept Jesus as our savior, we've also accepted the life that resurrected from death.  This life is moving in our hearts, and it can overcome sin, disease and all authorities of darkness.   As long as you exalt Jesus in the circumstance in your life, and let your hearts bow before Him and declare He is the Lord, Spirit of the Lord will deliver you.  Are you in the bondage of disease?  Just proclaim the name of the Lord that the resurrected life of Jesus will move inside you to remove death and bring life.  Are you finding no way out in the circumstance of suffering?  Just proclaim the name of the Lord that the resurrected life of Jesus will open a door for you.  He is the resurrected savior, He is the reason we observe the Lord 's Day and we can always rejoice.  Do you rejoice when you come before the Lord?  You should, because the Lord has already accomplished great things for us!    Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, I thank you, because not only did you die on the cross for me, you also resurrected from death, and also manifested to us that you are the Son of God with your mighty power.  May you remove all the darkness and illness inside us, and place the joy in Christ back into my life.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Philippians 2:5-8   In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very natureof a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!   The mindset of Jesus Christ is the mindset of a servant.  To Christians, God doesn't want us to just be servants of people, but rather to willingly serve those around us because we obey Him, because that's the example that Lord Jesus set for us.  When Jesus was in the world, He hosted tax collectors and sinners, and He went to those in need.  Many times Lord Jesus wanted to retreat to the desert to take a break, but when He saw the people who followed Him, how they were suffering and wandering, He would serve and heal them.  Even when children went to Him, Jesus said: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."  During the last supper, the disciples were arguing about who should be the leader and no one wanted to humble themselves to wash others' feet.  The Lord picked up a towel, bent down, and washed the feet of the disciples one by one.  Lastly, Jesus came for the sin of all people and He was willing to die on the cross.  When we see the life of Jesus, we understand that He meant by: "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."    This world operates on binding and managing people with tactics and authority, but Lord Jesus has always drawn people to follow Him by setting an example as a servant.  The authority of the world will pass away, but the heart of the Lord will always touch everyone who follows Him.  Has your heart ever been touched by the Lord?  Jesus wants us to live out the heart of the Lord in our daily.  First, we serve others according to their needs.  A servant will not only understand needs, but always takes action to fulfill needs.  A person who's determined to serve will sacrifice themselves to serve others.  Second, servants won't look for reward, because servants know that they're just doing their duty.  Also, our reward isn't what's on earth, but to please God.  Are you someone who's served by people, or you serve people?  God's word asks us to "have the same mindset as Christ Jesus."  Are you willing to do that?   Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, I thank you because even though you're supposed to be rich, you willingly became poor so that we may be rich.  May you give me the heart of a servant so that people around me may become rich because of me.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Philippians 2:3-4   Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.   Humility is the most difficult lesson for us, because we are all naturally self-centered.  I recently read an article which says that if you do exactly the same thing as someone else, you'd have completely different feeling.  They are sluggishly but you are trying to precise, they are wastefully but you are generous, they are picky and critical but you are correcting others out of love, their kids are naughty and mischievous but your kids are energetic and smart.    Relationships between people often break as a result of self-centeredness.  When do we really need to humble ourselves and how do we do it?  First, we must purposely value humility.  Humility always come out from the heart, and we can only recognize how small we are by turning from self-centeredness to knowing God.  When the American astronauts entered into space and saw the immense universe that God created, they turned to Psalm 8 and recited: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?"  Is there anything we have that wasn't received from God?  Since we received everything from God, let us humble our hearts and give thanks to God for all His grace.   Second, let's consider others better than us; in other word, we must appreciate those around us.  A Chinese idiom says that when there are three people together, one of them will have something I can learn from.  No matter how different other people are, we can always learn something from them.  I encourage you to momentarily lay down the work on your hands and all the worries in your heart, look at the people around you, look at your children, colleagues, brothers and sisters, and your better half.  Think about their virtues and listen to what they tell you.  You will suddenly discover that they are all so adorable and they're all little angels that God placed around you.  Appreciate who they are, and your heart will be humbled and you will bring more joy to them.  Are you willing to do that?   Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord Jesus, may you come and change my heart, let me learn to see everyone and everything around me in my life through your eyes.  Give me a humble heart to listen to what others say, so that others may see your example in me.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Philippians 2:1-2   Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.    Paul brought up several important principles of church life for Christians - Encourage one another in Christ, comfort one another in love, share in the Holy Spirit and have tenderness and compassion in our hearts.  Why do we need to share in the Holy Spirit?  Because Holy Spirit is what binds up together.  We accept the Lord and enter into the Kingdom of God individually, and each of our lives is accepted into Christ.  Holy Spirit, however, serves like the glue that tie us together.  Even though we are all different, but because of the Holy Spirit we are one in Christ.  Sharing in the Holy Spirit enables u to break down the walls of culture, language and personal background.  It gives us the same thoughts and mind.  Over the years I've gone to many churches to minister and talked to many brothers and sisters, and it amazes me to find that even though many of us have never seen or spoken to each other, we all see the same picture and have the same burden in the spirit.  It's like we were all taught by the same teacher!  We indeed have the same teacher, which is the Holy Spirit that brings up into the truth.   Finally, we must have tenderness and compassion in our hearts.  Compassion is not just sympathy, but the mercy of the Lord.  In the four Gospels, we've repeated seen how Jesus saw many people and had mercy on them.  When Jesus was walking and He heard a blind man crying out to Son of David for help, the Lord stopped and healed the blind.  Today, we see so many people in need walking by before us, but we're too used to our busy life and it's hard for us to stop.  We allow the prompting of the Spirit in our hearts to disappear and soon we don't even have any prompting when we see a need, as if the mercy in our heart has been stifled.  In our church life, we must learn to stop and follow the prompting for mercy form inside.  Once as start practicing it, we will find that the river of Holy Spirit will flow through the entire body of the church; we will be "like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind."   Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, I thank you because your mercy has first touched me so that I may become a child of Father God.  May you fill me with your mercy so that I won't be bound by my selfish desires, but let the river of Holy Spirit flow through me.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Philippians 2:1-2   Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.   In this passage, Paul mentioned a few principles of church life for Christians.  First, we must encourage one another in Christ.  We must do it in Christ because we are united as one body in the Lord with other believers and we are inseparable.  We need to encourage one another in Christ because it's easy to turn into criticism and judgment.  Only encouragement in Christ will help us to truly encourage one another.  What does it mean to encourage one another?  I think of it like cheerleading during a ball game, except it takes place on a spiritual journey.  If a sports team is playing with anyone cheerleading, there's no one to cheer when they score and no one to pad on the back when they lose and encourage them to try again, the game would seem rather dull.  I have, however, found this to be the case in churches.  When brothers and sisters are strong in serving the Lord, no one is there to tell them "Good job!  Well done!"  When brothers and sisters are weak, no one is there to tell them "It's ok, I'm here to support you!"  In fact, some would even ridicule those who are weak.  It's no wonder that the more we serve in the Lord, the lonelier we become.  This is really our inadequacy, so may the Lod help us to learn to encourage one another in Christ.   Next, we must comfort one another with compassion.  Comforting must take place in the love of Christ in order for us to understand the hearts of people.  Understanding doesn't mean agreeing with them, or doing what others are expecting.  When others know that we are willing to understand them, they will feel respected and comforted.   Is there anyone around you who needs to be encouraged or comforted?  After reading this devotional article, I encourage you to call a brother or sister who's in need.  You don't need to preach anything, but just listen to his or her situation and pray together.  Are you willing to do it?      Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord Jesus, I thank you because you give me many brothers and sisters to that we may courage one another.  May the Lord help me to not only receive grace from you every day, but also be willing to reach out and touch those who are in need.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Philippians 1:28-30   ...without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved - and that by God.  For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.   What does it mean to suffer for Christ?  In verse 30, Paul clearly explained that it's the spiritual battle that Christians face daily.  Christians often have the wrong concept that only pastors and ministers will engage in spiritual warfare.  Paul said here that "you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have."  The circumstances in life that we encounter daily are actually the battlefields for spiritual warfare!  When John the Baptist was imprisoned, the difficult circumstance was beginning to shake his faith, so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?"  The Lord asked the disciples to tell John about all the signs and wonders He performed, and then told them: "Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me."  Is it possible for people to stumble because of the Lord?  Of course!   When God doesn't answer our prayer according to our expectation, we can easily stumble because of the Lord.  That's how the enemy often attack us and accuse us in order to shake our faith.   How do we overcome the enemy in our daily spiritual battle?  First, we must stand firm.  If Jesus is rooted in the word of God, then we also must stand on the promises of God and proclaim by faith: "I belong to the Lord Jesus!  No matter where I am, my God is always with me!  I can do all thing in the One who gives me strength!"  Also, we must understand that because we long to the Lord, the enemy can only intimidate us, but it cannot take away what we have; it can only attack us, but no overcome us.  Therefore, we can boldly rebuke the enemy by faith.  The Lord's promise also says that as soon as we reject the devil, it will flee from us!  Hallelujah!  Are you also in a situation where you are surrounded by the enemy?  Don't forget that as long as you stand firm, there's no reason to be intimated by the enemy!     Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, I thank you because I can proclaim by faith that my God is always with me!  May the Lord strengthen my faith and never let my heart depart from you.  Let me stand firm on the foundation of your promises and proclaim victory against the enemy each and every day.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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