Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 42:6-11   My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon - from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life.    The psalmist taught us here that no matter what the circumstance is, we must look upon God, because He is our help and He's the light on our face and our glory. Verse 7 says that "Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me." This contrasts sharply with the deer that longs for water back in verse 1, which describes someone who's thirsty and eager for God. Verse 7 starts by saying that God is an abundant God, because in God there are waterfalls and waves. God is willing to provide us with all that we need, and even more precious is that He's willing to help us with a smile on His face. In other word, God is not helping us reluctantly, but He's more than happy to do so.   It's hard for Christians to believe two things. First, apart from God we can do nothing. We think that there are plenty we can do apart from God, so why does the scripture say that we can nothing without God? Perhaps we could do many things, but we can't accomplish what God wants us to do, please we'd be doing things for ourselves according to our own will. We won't be able to accomplish God's work because we don't know what's on God's mind. Also, it's hard for us to believe that we can do all things with God. Not only that it's puzzling to us, our rational mind also tells us: "How's that possible, it's impossible!" In God, however, nothing is impossible! May the Lord help us to truly believe in Him!   Today, Christians are often hanging up in the air. We don't feel worthy of the heaven, but we are not willing to go down the hell, so we are in middle of nowhere. May the Lord help us to continue to follow Him and trust Him, for He is still the most faithful and trustworthy God! Let us look upon Him in our daily life, asking the Lord to give us our daily bread, and entrust all the difficult things in life to Him. We know that God can guide us through His skillful hands, even to surpass all that we desire and please for, hallelujah! He always has answer to our life, answer to our church and the only answer for the whole wide world!   Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, we thank you because you are happy to provide for us abundantly. May your give us a spirit that thirsts for you amongst us. Let us continue to look upon you and depend on you, and trust that you are the only answer in our 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 Psalm 42:5   Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.     Not only does God help us, he actually helps us with smile on his face, because he is more than happy to bring joy back to our life again! When Abraham grew old but did not have his own son, it was a shameful thing in the society of his time. God, however, told him that He will give Abraham a son through Sarah. Abraham bowed on the ground, but didn't really believe what God said, so he told God: "May Ishmael stand before you." God said it's not Ishmael, but a son through Sarah, and his name will be Isaac, which means laughter. In other word, God was telling Abraham: "I will affirm the covenant I made with you. I will affirm the covenant with laughter!" Later on, God actually gave Abraham a son, and he was named Isaac. The name given by God was so precious - God made him laugh, and people who heard also laughed with him. Try to imagine that whenever Sarah calls the name of Isaac, she was actually saying "my laugher, my laughter!"   Psalm 126 talks about the outcry of the Israelites when they were in captive at Babylon, and Psalm 137 says that whenever they thought about the time in Zion they would sweep, all because they could only sing the song of Jehovah in gentile land. In our life, we also often fall into the state of captivity. Sometime we feel like we are captured by disease, circumstance in life, or the wound and curse we suffered from the past. Sometime we have dream and wish deep down inside: "Lord, please bring down revival! Please manifest your presence!" It's like how the Israelites cried out to God when they were in captivity in Babylon. Imagine if you were awaken from your dream and discover that your dream was true. Wouldn't that be wonderful! Psalm 126 says that when those in captivity were returned, we become like dreamers. Actually, we weren't dreaming, for God actually did great things for us! Those who sow in rears will reap in joy, hallelujah! Brothers and sisters, our God really did great things for us, so we must rejoice, because our God will help us with smile on His face! Let us continue to thirst for Him, wait upon Him and follow Him!   Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, I thank you because not only did you help us, but you always helped with smile on your face! Let us look upon Him daily, be our strength and help, and let us keep on being thirsty for you. 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 Psalm 34:9-11   Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.   The psalmist encouraged us here to fear God, because those who fear God "lack nothing." Hallelujah! Do you wish that you lack nothing in your daily life? There's a secret here, and that is to learn to fear God in our daily life. Fearing God means to seek His will in everything, to respect His authority, and to seek to please Him in every little thing in our life. Fearing God means that we don't just care about what we think or what we want to do. When we fear God, He will take full responsibility for our life!   Verse 10 says that "The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing." When we seek God, God will provide us will all that we need. Psalm 23:1 say that "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing." Lions may experience starvation and birds in the sky need to find food, but those who seek God have the promise from Him that we shall lack nothing! God will personally provide us with all that we need, and He will be our help and strength. It's just like Elijah - When he faced the drought years, even he was affected and had nothing to eat. Elijah still trusted God in his heart under such difficult circumstance, and God rescued him, even send crows to bring him meat every day, how precious is His grace!   Are you lacking anything in your life? When you need anything, don't just depend on your own stamina or trying to stretch yourself to figure out solutions, but first bring your needs before God. Look upon Him with a fearful heart and obey His word in everything that you do, and the benefit of seeking God will once again come upon us. May the Lord help us, let us know how to depend on Him every day. The Bible says that those who depend on God will not be put to shame, because God is faithful and He's more than happy to extend His right arm to become our help and strength. Just like how Jabez prayed, let us also pray this: "Lord, bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain, so that our hearts will follow you closely!"   Pray with Pastor Tong         Dear Lord, thank you because you are our God who provides for us abundantly. Even if we live during the difficult drought years, your grace is still sufficient for us, and you will provide for us and satisfy our needs. 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 Psalm 34:1-8    ...I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.Those who look to him are radiant;their faces are never covered with shame.This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;he saved him out of all his troubles.The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,and he delivers them.Taste and see that the Lord is good;blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.   Once we experience the Lord's blessings, we will "taste and see that the Lord is good." Each time visit West Africa for mission trip, I always enjoy the local tropical fruits tremendously. Whether it's mangoes or pineapple, they are really sweet and juicy, especially the pineapple that melts in the mouth. No matter how I describe it to you, however, it's hard for you to understand. You must personally visit Africa and taste the fruit there in order to really know what I am saying here. In the same way, our faith must progress from understanding of knowledge to actually experiencing it our real life, and that would make our faith life much more solid. Brothers and sisters, salvation can be understood and tasted. When we taste how wonderful the Lord's grace is, we'd really know how wonderful He is, and we will depend on Him in our daily life even more.   How should we taste the wonderfulness of the Lord? It's easy, just obey God, and follow Him and His promises. The Bible has more than five thousand promises - someone even said there are more than seven thousand! With so many promises, have we tried to follow God's word to see whether the promises will come true? When you read God's promises in His word, have you thought about trying them? Are you eager to see God's promises come true? The Bible talks about tithing, and how the window in heaven will open when we give God one tenth of what we make, what a great promise it is! Let us try tithing and give God even more. As soon as you take a step of faith, you will experience the blessing of the more you give to God the more you will have. Hallelujah!    God's grace needs to be tasted, otherwise we'll always just be sitting in a chair in church to listen to wonderful testimonies from others and wonderful sermon from the pastor. It would be a pity if we can never experience God's grace! Brothers and sisters, let us come before God with an eager heart and pray to God: "Lord, let us taste your grace! Give us a courageous heart to follow your word and your promises, so that the grace and blessings that you promised will come upon us because of our obedience."   Pray with Pastor Tong         Lord, may you bless our brothers and sisters. In our daily life, let us courageously follow your word and your promises. When we do this, the blessings that you promised will come upon us! 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 Psalm 33:16-22    No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield...    Verse 16 and 17 said: "No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save." The things mentioned in this passage are those considered as essential elements for victory in a battle from human perspective - They needed big army, great strength, and horses. It's easy for us to depend on our own power and might, but the Bible says that we should not depend on them. We can't depend on our own resources, our own wisdom, intelligence, degree, wealth or relationships, but God said that we ought to depend on His Spirit to accomplish things. Brothers and sisters, we need to once again humble ourselves before God and learn to depend on Him. We often just use our own ways and resources to do things that we like to do, no wonder we always encounter obstacles. Even though we might look successful from human perspective, in God's eyes we've actually accomplished nothing.   Verse 18 says that "but the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love..." We need to learn to have a heart that fears God in our daily life. When we fear God, He will give us wisdom in all things. Let us thirst for Him and look upon Him. When we look upon Him, verse 19 says that God will "deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine." Brothers and sisters, do you feel that you're in a drought year? When the economy is not doing well, we want to overcome the circumstance and solve our problems by our own might or through our relationship and authority. Actually, only our God can lead us to proclaim victory against the enemy each and every day no matter what our circumstance is! Verse 20 says that we need to "wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield" that can depend us against all the ploys of enemy Satan. When we depend on God and look upon Him, God will become the joy and happiness in our hearts, and He will extend His love and mercy to us when we look upon Him!   Pray with Pastor Tong         Dear Lord, please come us draw us to you, let us once again depend on you and seek your will. May you give us wisdom and strength, and help us to have the strength and courage to solve all the problems in our daily 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 Psalm 33:12-15   Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth - he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.     When we choose to follow God, God will give us the blessings that He promised. This not only applies to our personal life, but also the whole society or nation! When a person chooses to follow God, he will experience all the blessings that God has prepared through Jesus Christ. When a society chooses to follow God, the whole society will be transformed and God's blessings and grace will come upon it. Even for a nation, when it chooses to follow God, the whole nation will receive blessings from God, and the best example is America.   When the U.S. first became a nation, it was founded on the faith in Jesus Christ and the Bible. Therefore, America has been a blessed nation until today. No matter what the current conditions are, the foundation of the U.S. is still God's Word, and God is still blessing this country. Many in the third world countries would love to be living in a country as rich and powerful as the U.S., and I told them that the U.S. is rich and powerful because they depend on God's word and the nation was founded on God's word. Today, we can easily access any great technology and products, but if we don't have the right values and use God's word as our foundation, we will not be able to receive God's blessings.   Similarly, when a society chooses to follow God, is will be transformed. There's a really poor village in Guatemala that had rather unfertile soil. After they receive Jesus Christ as their personal savior, however, not only did crime rate drop, all the jails had to be shut down because 90 percent of the people became Christians there and no one was committing any crime! Not only that, God also turned the soil fertile. When I visited the village, I saw carrots as big as leg calves. Since they chose to follow God as their Lord, God blessed their land and made the soil fertile! The crops that needed 60 days to harvest are only taking 30 days now, hallelujah! When a community chooses to follow God as their Lord, God's blessings will come upon the entire community. Brothers and sisters, we really need to come before God and set our eyes on Him because He can transform everything, and let us be blessed by Him!   Pray with Pastor Tong         Dear Lord, let us follow you in our daily life starting today. Let us choose you as our God, follow your every step and obey your command each and every day. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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