Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 2 Timothy 2: 24-26     And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.                  Paul teaches us to become the Lord's servant, and a servant needs to follow the Lord's command. In the entire New Testament, it's not difficult to discover the greatest mission given to us by the Lord is to preach the gospel. Many people living among us do not necessarily have material needs, but their hearts are not satisfied. Many young people's careers, marriages are at the crossroad and they are lost; many middle-aged people can't decide what path to follow with their burdens of life and pressure at work. These people are all around you, we are responsible to bring them the good news, and to preach them the gospel.                   Paul mentioned the three requirements with respect to the attitude of preaching the gospel. The first is gentleness. Neither screaming nor self-righteousness is necessary when preaching the gospel; people are always willing to listen when you have a gentle heart. Although Paul has a strong personality, he is very gentle when preaching the gospel. He talked about in 1 Cor. 9 his attitude of preaching the gospel: To what kind of person, he became one of them. It meant not to join with the vicious, but to learn to empathize with others, and to sympathize with the needs of others. A gentle person often sees other people's needs, and uses the right words to comfort others.                  The second is to have wisdom; when Paul talked about able to teach, it is to use every kind of wisdom to preach the gospel. Do not bombard people day and night such that they shy away from you. Lend books to people who love to read, invite music lovers to musical events, bring people who love to make friends to cell groups; use different methods to teach, instruct to lead people to the knowledge of the truth. Finally it is patience, not everyone would receive upon hearing the gospel, some people will even oppose to the gospel that we preach. So be patient, pray for them, because only God can open people's eyes, let them see the darkness of their sins, and seeing that in the bondage sin, there's the urgent need for Jesus Christ's salvation. So pray for them with no resentment until God fulfills his work for one another.                                      Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we leave our non-believer friends and relatives in your hands, we ask you to give us gentleness, wisdom and patience to pray for them, until the Spirit works in the depth of their hearts, rescuing them. We give thanks and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

Forward email This email was sent to devotion1.89u5hjfejfdsa@blogger.com by edevotion@rolcc.net |   Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. River of Life Christian Church | 1177 Laurelwood Rd. | Santa Clara | CA | 95054

Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 2 Timothy 2: 22-23   Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.   But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.    Paul suggested two ways to sanctification: first is to passively avoid sinful deeds.  Youthful lusts refer not only to the lust of the flesh, but also to the bitterness, fighting, jealousy and pride.  Paul wanted us to avoid them altogether without feeling self -assured else we would fall into the traps of these sins.  We need to stay away from the sinful places so that these thoughts would not take root in our minds.   Looking back at the church history,   every time there was a spiritual revival, they were all preceded with deep repentances of sins many of which may not be those unspeakable ones, but a little bit of filth under spiritual illumination would totally take our peace away.  During the spiritual revival of 1971 in Canada, many called shop owners confessing their past shop-lifting ; while some other had told lies and thought nothing of them, but now they had repented because of the reproach by the Holy Spirit.   When we recognize we are openly naked and nowhere to hide in front of this holy and righteous God, we would realize that our thoughts, no matter how small they may be, cannot evade His attention.  We should, therefore, prostrate before Him, confess our sins, put away our pride and non-belief, asking for His blood of forgiveness.  We should first learn to mourn over our sins, only then can we experience the joy of healing.  An apostle once said, "A person must learn to hate himself first, before he can truly serve God."   Second, Paul also suggested that we should actively pursue with those pure in hearts praying together for righteousness, faithfulness, kindness, and peace.  You should also look for such spiritual friends as prayer partners because the Lord says, "Blessed are those pure in hearts, for they will see God." As we spend time praying together, turning our eyes from this world onto God, we would come to know God and understand His will more.  God will also work in our hearts so that we would become more like Him.  May the Lord help us finding our spiritual partners who can pray together with us in our daily lives so that we may be transformed through the help of His spirit in prayers.                                   Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we thank you for your words come with the power of cleansing.  Examine our hearts so that we are kept away from the lusts of the youth.  Help us find our spiritual partner so that we may seek Your face together. With thanks we pray, in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

Forward email This email was sent to devotion1.89u5hjfejfdsa@blogger.com by edevotion@rolcc.net |   Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. River of Life Christian Church | 1177 Laurelwood Rd. | Santa Clara | CA | 95054

Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 2 Timothy 2: 20-21   In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use.  Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.   Paul describes a church is a like a large household with many different types of vessels with various functions. Similarly, in our God's family, we are also like vessels with different purposes. When I came across this verse in the past, I felt I was only a lowly clay vessel incapable of doing anything great.  In reality, a useful vessel depends not on what it is made of - gold or clay, but whether it is clean. If there is a gold vessel which looks pretty outside, but filled with dirt inside or even moldy, nobody would want to use it; even if you would, nobody is willing to consume what it contains.  But if a non-attractive clay vessel is clean inside, it would be put to good use by its owner.   In order to be used by God, sanctification is the first thing we need to do.  Do not feel that nobody cares if one leads a sanctified live as the morality of this world is worsening day by day. But from the reactions of the mass population towards the recent failures of church leaders, we know that the expectations for the Christians today if still different. "To be sanctified" means to be separated in the original text - separated from sins; separated not only from sinful actions, but also from sinful thoughts.  We belong to God, therefore we should no longer behave like people of this world who worship money, lust and fame.  We should be severed from our sins and our self-center lives to stride for sanctification so that others can see that our lives are different in the Lord.  What kinds of vessel are you in God's hand? It does not matter if you are a gold, silver, wood or clay vessel, what is important is whether you are a clean vessel usable by God.                            Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we thank you for people only look at our appearance, but You only see if our vessels are clean.  May the Lord prepare us, cleanse us so that we may glorify You in our lives.  With thanks we pray, in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

Forward email This email was sent to devotion1.89u5hjfejfdsa@blogger.com by edevotion@rolcc.net |   Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. River of Life Christian Church | 1177 Laurelwood Rd. | Santa Clara | CA | 95054

Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 2 Timothy 2:19   But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity."   The Lord knows those who belong to Him - not only He knows us individually among His children as it is recorded in John 10:3, He also calls His own  sheep by name.  If you have the experience of tending a flock of sheep, you will find they all look alike and hard to tell them apart.  It is, however, quite different for a shepherd as he can identify the one that limps, or another one that likes to run around.  Our Lord knows you as an individual as He calls out by your name and, what is more, He knows your needs.    As recorded in Psalms 23, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."  We are no longer in need because the Lord knows what are needs are - He knows where the pastures and streams are, and leads us according to His will.  When this truth is revealed to us, we cannot help but jump up with joy!  When the Lord tells us in our hearts, He knows us personally, we would be so excited saying, "Lord, You truly know me, You truly knows my church!"   As recorded in Psalms 139, "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.   You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain."   Knowing this truth enables us to "enjoy this peace."  This, however, doesn't mean we should be content and do nothing, but we should try to do better instead. To be able to enjoy this peace is an assurance to  our faith knowing that God is working today  and He will guide us even through the valley of death, we will not be afraid because the Lord is with us.  Are you in the midst of tribulations?  You may feel lonely, scared and skeptical, but do not forget, for those of us who believe in the Lord, we have an uncorruptible seal saying, "The Lord knows those who belong to Him!"                         Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we thank you for calling us by our names. May you grant us the comfort of the Holy Spirit so that no matter what situation we are in, we'll have the assurance that we belong to you. May you also guide us and provide for us according to our needs.  With thanks we pray, in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

Forward email This email was sent to devotion1.89u5hjfejfdsa@blogger.com by edevotion@rolcc.net |   Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. River of Life Christian Church | 1177 Laurelwood Rd. | Santa Clara | CA | 95054

Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 2 Timothy 2:15-18    Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.     Paul says that a worker who does not need to be ashamed has 2 traits: First, he will do his best to please God. A good worker is surely a hard worker. He will strive to make his boss be satisfied with his work. Workers all have this experience. If a person meets difficulty in his work, he will surely do everything he can to solve the problem. He will never say immediately, "Sorry boss, this is too difficult, please find someone else to do it." In the same way, in knowing God's word, we should also do our best to pursue it and not just let it go if we don't understand. We need to pay careful attention and spend time to read and to truly understand. Devotional bible reading is the greatest challenge Christians have to face. When you want to draw near to God, the devil will make your body very busy and not able to quietly sit down. After you have sat down with great difficulty and just opened the Bible, you discover things that you usually don't think about all of a sudden start to come into your mind: the trash haven't been take out, the phone call you need to make,...etc. The devil uses all kinds of methods to hinder us, doing his best to make us not be able to do our best. That's why a pastor once said, "In the matter of 'doing our best' we should learn more from the devil."  May the Lord help us so we will do our best to make every effort to know God's word, and remove the hindrances of busyness and laziness so our lives may be pleasing to God.     Next, we need to correctly handle the word of truth. Not only do we need to do our best to read the Bible, but even more we need to know what is God's will. "To correctly handle the word of truth" in the original language means being in forest surrounded by thick trees and opening a way so that others can successfully pass through. This is exactly our responsibility. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom from the Lord, otherwise we will be like Hymenaeus and Philetus whom Paul mentioned. They only depended on man's wisdom to explain God's word and wandered from the true word of God. They not only failed to build people up, but instead they destroyed the faith of others. May the Lord help us so that we can do our best to be workers who does not need to be ashamed and who are pleasing to the Lord.                         Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, please watch over my thoughts so I will stay far away from worldly vanities and irreverent speech. Lord, please watch over me to do my best in pleasing you, to be a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who can correctly handle the word of truth. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

Forward email This email was sent to devotion1.89u5hjfejfdsa@blogger.com by edevotion@rolcc.net |   Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. River of Life Christian Church | 1177 Laurelwood Rd. | Santa Clara | CA | 95054