Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 9:51-56   "...but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.  When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, 'Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?'  But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village."   The Samaritan and Jews didn't talk to each other back then, because Samaritans are the offspring of Assyrians and Jews.  The Jews looked down on them, and for years they were in the state of hostility.  When the Samaritans saw that Jesus and the disciples were walking towards Jerusalem, they didn't want to welcome them.  That why the disciples said: "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"  The disciples said that because the hatred from the past still resided in them, so they wanted the Lord to send fire to burn these people that they didn't like.  Jesus, however, told them that they didn't know what's in their own heart.   We do not know what's in our heart before God.  Sometimes we are filled with vengeance, self-centeredness, or self-righteousness, and we don't understand the heart of the Lord.  People often just want to fight for their own right, or to seek justice for themselves, but don't understand that God's will is always to sacrifice and to save the people.   John was later referred to as the "disciple of love," because he wrote the Gospel of John and the letters of 1, 2 and 3 John.  These books are filled with words of love, and John seemed to be a completely different person from how he was described in Luke.  When we examine a person, we shouldn't just examine him once and make judgment, like how John looked like a person who was completely without love.  When you see what God has done on him at the end and how he was used to write the messages of love in the letters of 1, 2 and 3 John, you will see how precious it is for God to accomplish His work on someone.  Brothers and sisters, don't just look at your current situation and think that you don't look like the Lord in any way, shape or form; instead, you must believe that God's work on you hasn't been completed yet.  Let Him continue to work on you until you turn back from your own will and can understand the will of the Lord more and more.  You must be full of hope in the Lord and allow Him to keep on working on you, until His work is completed.     Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, I thank you because your work on us is precious.  We see how Apostle John was in this passage and how he became a disciple of love, and we know that you also want to work on our life until the day your work is done.  May your Spirit help us to open our hearts, and allow your work to continue till it's done.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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