Today's Passage - Psalm 49:1-9

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 49:1-9   ...those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them - the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough...   Verse 6 talks about those who "trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches." Is that how people are nowadays? During our time on earth we also trust in our wealth. After 911, however, our dreams are broken, because we thought we could trust in the economic system and man-made systems of the world, but when these systems are crumbling down there's nothing we can trust and we're lost. Not only do we have nothing to trust in the world, we also cannot face God's judgment in the future. This passage says that one day we will face God's great judgment; no matter how much money you have, none of it will help you when you are before God's judgment stand, for real redemption is only earned by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.   Brothers and sisters, do you know that money is not omnipotent? We often thin that money can do anything, and a Chinese idiom says that money can make a ghost labor for you. The fact is that money is not omnipotent! Many use money to buy insurance, thinking that they will be able to buy peace, but their hearts are without peace no matter how much insurance they bought. Some use lots of money to buy a bed, but they can't buy good sleep, and they end up tossing and turn on the expensive bed but still can't fall asleep. You can even use money to buy relationship with people, but you won't be able to buy love. The love, sense of security and satisfaction that we need in life cannot be bought by money.   So, the most important thing in our life is not money, but having a close and intimate relationship with God who loves us. God is our eternal soul mate, the one we are looking for all our life. We often want to find a soul mate among people, but we're simply repeatedly disappointed, not knowing that our real eternal true soul mate is God Himself! He's the only one who understands everything that we experience in life; there's no burden that He doesn't understand and there's no hardship that He cannot bear! He already experienced all the pain in the world for us; not only does He understand our needs, He also resurrected in the third day and proclaimed that He has come out victorious! He can now lead us to proclaim victory against the enemy every day in our life, hallelujah! Let us come before God to once again learn to trust in Him and not trust in wealth!   Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, may you adjust our eyesight, let us not focus on money and material things, but to solely focus on you, because only you have all the answers and you are the most precious thing in our life. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Psalm 48:9-14

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 48:9-14   Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth...     Verse 9 says that "Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love." Brothers and sisters, we must often come before God to contemplate His love. God really loves us; even when we were still sinners, Jesus Christ came to the world for us, how precious is His salvation! It's wonderful to just think about God's love and creation! Each one of us is unique; even twins are two unique individuals with some difference, and this individual uniqueness manifests the fact that God truly loves us. Not only should we think about God's creation, we should also think about God's redemption. We often disobey God, but we can see that God is willed with mercy, which is why He's willing to turn our lives back to Him. That's why Jesus came to the world - He's willing to die on the cross for us, and personally redeem us from the curse of sin. We are so unworthy and weak, but the Lord loved us first, and such love is beyond what we can comprehend, hallelujah!   Beyond God's redemption, God's provision and guidance are also precious. Psalm 23:1 says that God is our shepherd; not only did He save us, He's also happy to walk with us! Sometimes it's easy to save someone from the ocean, but it's hard to live with the person everyday thereafter. Our God, however, loves to guide us and provide for us in our daily life, how great His love is! Also, God is righteous, so we ought to lift Him high because of His righteousness! God's judgment is always right, for He knows the needs of everyone and He can make righteousness prevail for those who are in hardship. We need to lift God's righteousness high, especially in this crooked and depraved generation, because this world really needs to know the righteous God. Let us once again lift the standard of righteousness high, lift up God's righteousness and let all sinners be ashamed of their sin.   Not only is God the God of love and righteousness, He will also guide us all our life. The way of our life is in front of God, and God will guide us according to His love and correct us according to His righteousness. Let us have an open heart and soul, welcome God to come in and work in our life. Don't reject the work of God, because God always knows what the best way for us. What God has in mind for us is always the best for us. Let us come before God filled with joy, to thank Him and praise Him!   Pray with Pastor Tong          Dear Lord, I thank you because you died for us when we were still sinners, and your love for us is complete! Let us look upon you and trust in you by faith, because we know that you'll take care of us. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Psalm 48:1-8

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 48:1-8    Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress... As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.    In this passage, the "city of our God" actually refers to us. God is living among us, and He's "shown himself to be her fortress." When you in despair and you are looking for a place of refuge, keep in mind that God is our fortress! He's already living inside us; in other word, we don't need to seek refuge elsewhere, because the refuge is right inside us! We can settle down and seek refuge in God with peace, because God is already inside us; we don't need to be afraid of the enemy and seek refuge anymore; when we come before God to look upon Him, and when we withstand the enemy, the enemy will surely flee, hallelujah!   Our God is indeed an almighty God, and in His hands we have the authority for victory. Even though we are weak and we're constantly attacked by the enemy, but we thank God because we can proclaim victory against the enemy in Christ each and every day and we can seek under His wings. He will rescue us with His faithfulness! Very often God's presence seems like a doctrine written in black and white in the Bible, but it never becomes a reality in our life. Actually, God's presence is precious, so let us come near Him to be beside Him, and enter into His presence. As soon as you are in His presence, your heart will enjoy rest, and you will no longer be afraid of storms on the outside or be intimidated by the enemy's threat, because you know that there is complete safety in God's presence! You will have faith to rest in His hands, because you know that God will fight on your behalf. God will be like a shepherd who guides you with His staff and His rod. He will comfort you and guide you, so you can completely entrust your life onto His hands.   May God help us, let us not be afraid or frustrated. We don't need to be afraid of the enemy's threats, but just proclaim by faith in the Almighty God. This victorious commander is living inside us; He is our refuge, He is our strength, and He's always our help in time of hardship!   Pray with Pastor Tong          Dear Lord, even though we are living in hardship, but you are our strength and help. May you once again strengthen the faith of all our brothers and sisters, so that we may live a victorious life each and every day. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Psalm 47:5-9

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 47:5-9    God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.   In this passage, we are told me "sing praises to God, sing praises." It emphasizes "praise" twice, and it's also in command form. We need to praise God, not just quietly praise Him, but to loudly praise, shout and praise. We are not so used to speaking loudly, but if you study the Book of Revelations carefully you'd discover that when we are in heaven we'd be praising very loudly, like roar of the ocean! That's why some people said that we better learn to praise loudly while we're on earth, otherwise once we ascend to heaven we will be poorly adjusted and couldn't stay there. Actually, loudly doesn't mean that we actually produce a loud sound, but to wholeheartedly praise and worship. It's obvious when someone is worshipping wholeheartedly; when a person is praising and worshipping wholeheartedly, his expression would be different; he won't be still or have no facial expression.   Each time I went to Korea's prayer mountain, I saw the hills packed with people in prayer caves loudly praising and worshipping. Sometimes I couldn't sleep at night because the sound of prayer was too loud, making it hard for me to fall asleep. Today, believers in Korea are praying, worshipping and crying out to God wholeheartedly, and when Chinese believers saw how Korean believers pray they would pick up their cameras and take pictures. I felt really sad when I saw it; they were praying wholeheartedly but we were taking pictures of how they were praying. May God have mercy on us because we also need to come to Him wholeheartedly, praising and worshipping Him wholeheartedly! May God help us, let us have a breakthrough in our tradition of being quiet and lukewarm, and let us not be indifferent. Why should Chinese believers always sit there quietly? We need to use our loudest voice to praise our God! Loud or not loud is not a cultural issue, but it's a spiritual issue. Are we willing to have a breakthrough spiritually? When we are willing to discipline ourselves, God's grace will come upon us, because the God we believe in is a wonderful and marvelous God, hallelujah! Let us use our loudest voice to praise Him!   Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, we praise you wholeheartedly because only you are the king who's worthy. May your spirit once again lift us up; teach us to have our strength renew no matter what the circumstance is in our life each and every day, and also proclaim victory against the enemy each and every day. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Psalm 47:1-4

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 47:1-4   Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.   Verse one says that we need to clap our hands. Why do we need to clap our hands? Clapping is to shout to God and proclaim victory, because our God is a victorious God, and by God we can proclaim victory against the enemy each and every day! We are normally not used to clapping in the church. Some people say that clapping is to give glory to people instead of God, but this scripture passage clearly tells us that clapping is not to give glory to people, but rather to shout to God with cries of joy through clapping! Also, traditional churches forbid clapping, which is not really reasonable. When you hear a great performance by a choir that praised our God, after the last high note was hit and song ended, suddenly there's dead silence. Actually, everyone wants to shout hallelujah, but because of church tradition people are afraid of expressing themselves and no one claps, which is not reasonable. We are used to silent prayer and staying quiet, but we lack the ability to shout and proclaim victory!   If you study the book of Chronicles carefully, you'd see that all the spiritual battles are won in the midst of shouting! Each time when Israelites and their kings shout to God, God will fight for them. Brothers and sisters, we really need to learn how to clap to proclaim victory in our life and ministry; when we clap and shout, the enemy will flee, hallelujah! We need to learn to be victorious by the Lord, because our God is God Almighty and He's the king who rules the whole universe! He's the master of all things who's sitting on the throne, so how could there be anything too difficult for Him?   I am often asked this question: "Pastor Tong, how can you be victorious in the midst of such pressure, and still so joyful?" My only secret is to proclaim victory! I often come before God to praise and worship Him, and shout to rebuke all the work of enemy Satan! When I encounter any difficulty in my life or ministry, as soon as I shout and proclaim by faith, the enemy would flee and God will fight for me, and He has personally made way in my life, in the church and in my ministry. In the same way, you can also experience the same grace from God! No matter what kind of difficulty you are encountering now, just come before God by faith and proclaim victory! Shout with the voice of victory so that God's power will be manifested through your life!   Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, I thank you because you have already overcome, and now we can proclaim victory against the enemy. May you help us to truly understand that in Christ we can overcome and we can do everything, hallelujah! I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Psalm 46:7-11

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 46:7-11    The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.    Brothers and sisters, the God we believe in the Lord Almighty; in other word, He is the victorious commander!  A victorious commander is actually with us, isn't that precious! It's like when we are walking in the dark night, we might be afraid that someone will come up and rob us, but if we have a cop walking with us then we won't be afraid at all. We might even be able to swagger down the road because we know that we can depend on the cop. If you know that the Lord Almighty, the victorious commander, will be walking with you on the way on your life, then what are you afraid of? Enemy cannot harm us and ploys of the enemy cannot rule over us, because the Lord Almighty is with us, hallelujah! When you understand this truth, you will be able to proclaim victory against the enemy every day!   Not only is our God the Lord Almighty, it says in this passage that He's also the God of Jacob, the one who has chosen us. The Bible said that Jacob was so weak that he was like a worm. Worms are totally defenseless, but when Jacob learned to depend on God, he became brave and courageous! In the same way, when we come before God, we often feel weak and defenseless, just like a warm who's without any courage and strength. When we, however, look upon God and depend on Him, He becomes our strength and help. Even though we are weak, God still chose us, not because we are good but simply because of His love. Because He's willing to love us and He has chosen us, we can turn back to Him. When you understand this truth, your heart won't be filled with fear, because God doesn't love us because we succeed or fail, but just because He chose to love us. He's also willing to become the strength and help in our life.   Brothers and sisters, if you want God to become your help all the time, you need to seek refuge in Him and look upon Him all the time, and depend on Him all the time, otherwise God cannot bring the power of signs and wonders to your life. May the Lord help us, let us humble ourselves in our daily life and seek refuse in Him with a soft heart. Bring all our needs to God, and He will listen to our cry from the bottom of our soul and answer our prayer!   Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, we thank you because you are the victorious commander. May you help us to proclaim victory against the enemy because we depend on you, and let us live in you daily so that we may enjoy your love and abundance. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Psalm 46:1-6

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 46:1-6   God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. ...God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.   Verse one in this passage says that "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." How could someone who's seeking refuge also have strength? It says here that God is our strength, because he's "the ever-present help in trouble." We often think that God will help us, but we cannot control His timing and we need to wait upon Him. This passage, however, says that the Lord is the "ever-present help in trouble;" in other word, we don't need to wait because He is always there, and He can be our help anytime.   Brothers and sisters, we just need to bring all our needs before God and ask Him for help, then look upon Him with simple faith. When we are in hardship and no one else can save us, He will be our ever-present help, hallelujah! When we come before Him with such assurance, we may look upon Him by faith and we are no longer intimidated by the circumstance we're in, knowing that our God is our strength and ever-present help! Verse 5 says that "God is within her, she will not fall." God will live in His city, and the city is actually us, for God is living inside us. In the New Testament time, Holy Spirit lives inside us, so we become the home of the Spirit, and God is inside us and ever present with us! It says here that "God will help her at break of day," hallelujah! We can experience that God is our ever-present help because He lives inside us so that He can help us any time!   The enemy often deceives us, making us feel that God is not with us and He doesn't help us anymore. Actually, God is always willing to help us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ; in fact, nothing can prevent God from listening to our prayer! Even someone like Samson, who disobeyed God and was defeated in his fight against the enemy, but when we looked upon God in the last moment and prayed to God, God still answered his prayer. Brothers and sisters, let us look upon God with a simple faith, don't be afraid of anything in the circumstance around you. Verse 6 says that "Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts." The God we believe in s the master of all things in the universe, so everything is under in His control. Let us have faith in God, for He is our strength and He is our ever-present help in time of trouble!   Pray with Pastor Tong          Lord, we thank you because you are our help and our shield. Let us solely depend on you in our time of trouble, because we know you will extend your hand to help us, and we will once again experience you abundance and glory.   I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Psalm 45:8-17

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 45:8-17   ...Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention: Forget your people and your father's house. Let the king be enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord...   This scripture passage foretells Christ and the church. The king in this passage foretells Christ, and the woman foretells church and the people of God, which was redeem with heavy price paid by Jesus Christ. We were not worthy, just like the woman before the king. She was not worthy, but was still favored by the king, and the king gave her all kinds of gold ornaments and put beautiful garments on her, so her stature was elevated.  In the same way, we used to be unworthy sinners who were not eligible to stand before God, but become of the redemption that Jesus Christ accomplished for us on the cross, our sins are forgiven and we can stand before Father God without fear. This is such a precious grace!   We were unworthy, but we can now stand before God and be called His children, so we ought to bring all our needs before God in order to receive His grace. Verse 10 says that "Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention." Brothers and sisters, we must think thoroughly about this, because we often take God's grace for granted and don't think it's that big a deal. Actually, we can receive such precious grace because of the heavy price that Jesus Christ already paid for us. We ought to worship Him and give Him all the glory!   "Forget your people and your father's house" means that our hearts must not keep on pondering about our days in the past. Even though we come before God, our hearts are still in the world and we often miss things of the world. It's like the Israelites; after they left Egypt they still missed the food of Egypt. Let our hearts not reminisce things of past, recalling the things that we cared about before, but to thirst for God Himself alone, because God will lead us forward! He is our Lord, so we ought to worship Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength. May the Lord help us, let us understand how to praise God, and also give Him all the glory that He deserves! This passage describes a beautiful relationship between the king and the woman, just like the Song of Songs in the Bible. May God help us, let the love between us and our Lord continuously grow, and let us love the Lord more because the Lord's love for us is already complete. In our daily life, let us love Him and worship Him, so that His will may be satisfied because of us.   Pray with Pastor Tong          Dear Lord, let us exalt you in our daily life, and let us love you and worship you in our daily life. May you draw us near you so that you will follow you closely. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!