Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 3:19-20   "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.  Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."   The purpose of the law is for us to "become conscious of sin."  The book of James says that the law is like a mirror; if you look in the mirror in the morning you can see whether you have any dirty spots on your face; however, just seeing the spots won't cleanse your face, because knowing that the spots exist on your face won't make them go away.  When you step out of your house, everyone still see a dirty face.  We often don't understand this, and we think that knowing more about the law will make us more holy, and that the more restrictions we impose on ourselves the better we will become.  The fact is that more law simply brings on more mirrors.  If you look at yourself from different angles, you will see yourself more clearly and you'd be more terrified, but that won't help you to become more holy at all.   Our faith does not teach justification by obeying the law, because it is our heart, not our outward actions, that make us sin.  The Lord said that when we judge and curse someone, it's same as committing murder, because deep inside we want to get rid of the person.  The law can only regulate your actions, but it won't change your heart.  We need to come before the Lord and accept salvation, for only the precious blood of the Lord can cleanse all sins.  In your life, are there spots that you have not been able to remove?  Perhaps you are the only one who knows about this spot through a little mirror, or perhaps everyone can see this spot because it's showing up on several large mirrors.  No matter how big the spot is, we can come before the Lord by faith and ask the Lord to cleanse us with His precious blood.  The Lord said that "...though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow..."  May the precious blood of the Lord cleanse you now and once again renew your life.                                                 Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you because not only did you give us the law so that we know about our sins, your precious blood can also cleanse them all.  May the precious blood of the Lord come upon each brother and sister, so that everyone will be cleansed and also healed.  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 Romans 3:10-18   "As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.  Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.  The poison of vipers is on their lips.Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.  There is no fear of God before their eyes."    The word of God is very clear - "There is no one righteous!"  Can't we use our good deeds to save ourselves?  Totally impossible, because in the eyes of God there is no one righteous in the world.  It's not a matter of whether we are righteous or not, but only a matter of how unrighteous we are.  Before the completely holy God, we are simply all sinners.  Paul sited many Old Testament scripture passages to illustrate the rottenness of people.  First of all, the words in our mouth often bring on destruction and damage, as it says here: "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.  The poison of vipers is on their lips."  Aren't most conflicts in our relationships caused by our mouths and lips?  On the one hand we are hurt by words from others, but on the other hand we hurt others with our words as well.  We you are angry and upset, or you feel jealous of others, perhaps you don't even remember what you said, but your words might have hurt others tremendously.  Our mouths and lips are very important, as it says James 3:5 that "...Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark."  May God help us not to speak words that exaggerate or gossip about others, and often speak words of thanksgiving and edification.   Also, our sinful action will bring forth consequence that we deserve.  Not only is our unrighteousness revealed through what we say, it will also manifest in our actions in daily life.  We often do unjust things to others because we lack the merciful heart of God, or we simply keep our merciful heart silent while we do evil to others.  Many Christians behave righteously at church but are utterly unrighteous outside of church.  They claim to fear God but their hearts are distant from God, thus the actions in their life stumble many people.   Brothers and sisters, you need to ask God for a fearful heart in order to defeat the authority of this type of sin.  The evildoers do not fear God, thus we need to learn to fear God in our daily life in order to overcome such authority of darkness.  Starting today, let's love God wherever we are!                                               Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you because you never treat us the way we deserve according our actions, and you always cover your face from our sin.  May your Spirit fill us now so that we will become vessels for your blessing.  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 Romans 3:9   "What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin."   Everyone is living in sin.  As long as we are living in the world, we are living under the authority of sin.  Human beings often don't know our own limitations and we always believing that we are mightier than others.  That is the most serious threat for our spiritual life and Christians are not immuned either.  In the Corinthian church, some brothers and sisters followed Apollo and they focused on analyzing and interpreting the Bible, some followed Peter and focused on signs and wonders, and others followed Paul and focused on the work of evangelism.  Therefore, in the church they often say to one another to whom they belong to, and some even claim to belong to no one but Christ.  Actually, claiming to belong to Christ is also a matter of pride because it implies others don't belong to Christ.   People like to think they are right and they like to form small groups, or even form circles to quarrel against each other, and none of these is from God.  We need to remove all these thought that are not from God, because we must first understand that before God we are all sinners and we are no better than others.  I became a pastor not because I am better than you, but only because of God's mercy.  You became a Christian not because you are better than others in the world, but only because of God's mercy.  Everything is from God's mercy, and therefore Paul said we have absolutely to boast about.   I've seen a great bumper sticker that says "Christians are not perfect, just forgiven."  We are just sinners who've received God's grace.  Also, in order to overcome the attitude that we are better than others, we need to have the spirit to think the opposite - We need to see that others are better than us in everything.  Ephesians 2:3 says: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."  We need to be humble, because as Chinese idiom says, "wherever there are three people, I have something to learn from at lease one of them."  We can always find something that we can learn from others.  May the Lord help us, let us tear down the walls inside the church so that we may accept one another in Christ, and so that the heart of Christ can be satisfied.                                               Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, please help us to take on the heart of Jesus Christ, give us a soft and humble heart so that we can see the grace of God given to us through others.  Also, let us always see in Christ that others are better than us.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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