Today's Passage - 1 Timothy 1:19-20

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 1 Timothy 1:19-20    "Holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme."                  Paul advised Timothy that a person who ministers should hold on to faith and good conscience. A man's conscience is important, since the Spirit can speak to us using this channel, and it is also the moral standards that God puts in the human mind. No matter the place, generation or community, their established laws basically look similar. Kant called them "God's moral laws"; they are the standards that God put in the human mind and are amenable by both the ancient and modern.                  Paul stressed repeatedly in 1Timothy the need to guard our conscience carefully, that we hold on to a good conscience before both God and men. As said in Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." We'll easily go astray if we overlook, or willingly reject the voice of conscience. Here it mentions the example of "rejecting conscience" of Hymenaeus and Alexander. When Paul was captured in Ephesus, both Hymenaeus and Alexander turned out to bear false witness against him. Not only that, they strongly fought against Paul wherever he went, acting against their conscience. So Paul says to the end they are destroyed at the hands of Satan.                  Do you come before God with a good conscience? Ask God's spirit to shine upon us! David's prayer in Psalm 139, "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Once I wrote a letter to a brother, mentioning I have already done something that in fact I have yet to do. That night I came before the Lord in quiet and asked God to check my heart, the Spirit shone upon me, recalling the untruthful thing that I mentioned in the letter. Praise the Lord, that letter wasn't sent; I immediately got it back to rewrite it. Have you asked the Spirit of God to shine upon you today? We need to bring our daily lives before the Lord, when the light of the spirit of God shines, let us confess our sins; ask the Lord's precious blood to cleanse us.                  Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, we ask the Holy Spirit to shine upon us, expose any thoughts, ideas and behaviors that do not please you. We ask you to give us a brave heart, confess our weaknesses, and right ourselves to please you. We give thanks and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!