Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: March 2022

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Today's Passage - Matthew 25:41-46

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

Matthew 25:41-46

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

How different are giving and taking! The end result differs greatly whether or not we are willing to do on the least of our brothers. Truly, we need to understand the servants on the left: they really could not see. We felt mistreated as well, because if we could have seen then we would have done the right thing. But the Lord showed up at the least expected time. He didn't mean that we have to help every poor person we encounter, but to do under the touching of the Holy Spirit. As servants of the Lord, we need to keenly aware the communion of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, we won't know how to work for the Lord, but merely work according to our own wills, and ended up being reprimanded by the Lord. We feel guilty and don't know what it was for.

Actually, God reprimands us for our lack of a proactive attitude. There are countless examples in the Bible. When prophet Elisha asked Jehoash to strike the ground with arrows, the arrows of victory, Jehoash stroke three times. Elisha was angry and asked him why he only stroke three times, which meant that Jehoash would only defeat Aram three times. A few more and Jehoash could have completely destroyed Aram. In this example, Jehoash felt being wronged as well, "You didn't tell me how many times to strike!" It was possible that Jehoash had a wrong attitude. When Elisha asked him to strike the ground, he did so half heartedly, stroke a few times and be done with it, without a real belief. Had he had real belief, when the prophet asked him to strike, he would have kept striking. Knowing it is the arrow of victory, and moving forward with faith, one will be rewarded by God. May God give us a sensitive heart in our daily lives, help us to act bravely and rely on faith and not sight. When you move forward with your faith, you will witness the glory of God descending upon you!

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, may you open our eyes and give us sensitive hearts so that we can complete your work based on the communion of the Holy Spirit, not our own will. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

River of Life Christian Church | office@rolcc.net | ROLCC Website

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Today's Passage - Matthew 25:31-40

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

Matthew 25:31-40

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"

The Lord specifically mentioned that when we do good things on the least of brothers, we are doing them for the Lord. Being a Christian, action of mercy is very important. I once heard the testimony of Voice of Pentecost of San Francisco. For the sake of the Lord, they entered into many gay communities to serve the homosexuals. They did not to preach gospel to them or try to get them into churches, but just to serve them based on the loving heart of Jesus. Many people were sick and in pain, or they were suffering from the agony of AIDS. Those brothers and sisters went into the communities delivering food on time, taking care of their bodies. As they were doing these, one day, the leader of the homosexual community was having dinner with the pastor. He said to the pastor, "I really don't know how to respond to your love. I thought that you are here to judge us. But you didn't. You loved and served us. I finally understand what is the love of Jesus Christ!"

The love of Jesus is not by words, but by the action of real mercy. One day in heaven, there might be many surprising things: you will find surprisingly that something that were thought to be greatly rewarded on earth are not so in heaven. Those who you thought are the lowest people on earth have great rewards in heaven. May God help us, not to judge success or failure from the point view of men, but from the point view of God.

Have you seen the needs of brothers, sisters, or non-believer friends around you? May God make us do one good thing to them today, not to get anything in return or to show how loving we are, but just simply doing something good on others. When we start loving each other, others will recognize that we are the real disciples of the Lord. May God help us to live a life of mercy starting today!

Pray with Pastor Tong

May the spirit of God open our eyes to see the needs of people around us. Can you think of someone's need that you can help out with? May God give you wisdom and courage to do good things on this person today, so that he understands how wonderful and abundant the love of God is. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

River of Life Christian Church | office@rolcc.net | ROLCC Website

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Today's Passage - Matthew 25:24-30

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

Matthew 25:24-30

"Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 'So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The third aspect of serving as a steward for the kingdom of heaven is that one day our master will come back and review our accomplishment with us. God has given us all kinds of resources in our daily life, and we need to understand that they belong to God and we must use them for the kingdom of God. When will the master come back? It's the day that Jesus returns. The Lord will ask us whether we have faithfully taken care of everything entrusted to us. The point of this parable is not how much each person received, but rather whether we have been faithful. The one who receive five bags of gold and the one who received two bags of gold received the same reward because they are equally faithful. We often compare ourselves with how much others have received, but we overlook that fact that those who received different amount of gold received the same reward. If we are only given one bag of gold and we earn another bag of gold with it, we'll receive the same reward as the one who received five bags of gold to begin with. May God open our eyes and see His will, and to understand that this parable is about being faithful in the work that God entrusted us.

Why was the one who receive one bag of gold rebuked as wicked and lazy? He's wicked because the master gave him one bag of gold, and it was his responsibility to saw the seeds and reap the harvest; instead, the servant blamed the master as hard. He's lazy because he didn't want to do what he was supposed to; even though we might know that God wants us to be faithful steward on earth, we might lazy and just don't want to do the right thing. Also, was the servant characterized as "worthless"? Worthless means that not putting things to use; we might have received all kinds of gifts from God, but we hide the gifts and don't use any of it for the expansion of God's kingdom. God's grace came upon us so that we can use it, since it's God's principle that the more we use the more we'll have, and the less we use the less we'll have. Many are accustomed to using their right hands, so their right hands become more useful; their left hands, on the other hand, become less useful because they seldom use them. Success according to God is to see whether we have been faithful in the work that He entrusted us. May the Lord help us to learn how to become a faithful steward before Him!

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, please help us to be determined to be faithful before you, so that we won't be wasting our life away. Let us make up our mind to please you in our daily life, and allow you to use us and help us to be faithful stewards, so that your will may be done. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

River of Life Christian Church | office@rolcc.net | ROLCC Website

Monday, March 28, 2022

Today's Passage - Matthew 25:19-23

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

Matthew 25:19-23

"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' The man with two bags of gold also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'"

As a servant, one does not only need to know all that we have are from God, but also that his or her responsibility is to "earn money", which is to use all kinds of resources God has given us to expand His kingdom. To expand God's kingdom is not merely to spread the gospels, but also to bring the fairness and righteousness into this evil generation. Expanding kingdom of heaven is not limited in churches, but in everyone's life and work. We need everyone to fulfill their duties of a servant. The kingdom of God should not rely only on pastors, or lord loving brothers and sisters who are trying their best, but on every christian. Each and everyone of our situation is different. Only you can be the testimony for the Lord in your life. No one can substitute you. Only you can manifest the heavenly glory in your life, and to bring peace and happiness to your surroundings.

Have you thought of expanding the kingdom of heaven in your work? When everyone else is complaining, can you still have happiness and softness? Don't believe that we are just singing spiritual high tunes. Jesus said, "anyone who does not pick up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." You and I must truly face our belief. If Jesus is truly our Lord, we should follow Him happily, allowing Him to use us in our daily lives.

Have you ever thought of how to expand the kingdom of heaven with the skills you have? Serving God is not necessarily leading a bible study at a church. God gave different blessings to each and everyone of us. Some of us know how to file tax returns really well, and they can service others during the tax season. Some are doctors and nurses who can treat brothers and sisters for free. Someone has never heard of gospels. But through the work of those people, they are attracted to churches. Similarly, how are you used by God in everyday life? God wants us to be the servant of the heavenly kingdom relying the resources that God has given us, so that the heavenly kingdom can be expanded. May God help us to use what He's given us wisely!

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we thank you because you have blessed us with all kinds of resources. May the Lord help us to use the resources given to us to expand Your kingdom. May Your will be fulfilled in us in our daily lives so that we can be your good and faithful servants. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

River of Life Christian Church | office@rolcc.net | ROLCC Website

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Today's Passage - Matthew 25:14-18

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

Matthew 25:14-18

"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. "

In this passage, the Lord is teaching us about being a steward in the kingdom of God. First of all, as a steward, we must understand that all that we have belongs to God. The "bags of gold" here were referred to as "talents" in the King James Version; it not only represents our money and talents, but also everything that we own. In other word, as a steward of the kingdom of heaven, nothing we have actually belongs to us, but all belong to God. Our time, money, talents, spiritual gifts are all given to us by the Lord of all things, and they are to be used on earth for His Kingdom.

A while back when I first became a Christian, I used to have the wrong idea that because the Bible says that we ought to tithe, it means one tenth of our income belongs to God, but the other nine tenth belongs to myself. When I received my salary, I would quickly offer ten percent of it to God to say: "This tenth is yours, and the other nine tenths are mine." It's the same way for me in money and serving. I often said to the Lord: "I won't be absent in Sunday service, because that time belongs to you; I will serve in fellowship and small group because I think they need help, but rest of the time is mine, and you better not touch it!" I often separate everything into His and mine, thus my Christian journey wasn't a pleasant one, because I felt that the Lord was aggressive in wanting more from me and He wanted more than ten percent. After my spiritual life grew and I learned more about God's truth, then I realized that everything that we owe actually belongs to God. Not just the one tenth, but rest of the nine tenth as well, because everything we have is given by God, and God wants to use the nine tenth for His Kingdom.

Jesus shed blood and died for us on the cross. With His precious blood He has redeemed us from sin and law. As soon as we are saved, we no longer belong to the kingdom of the authority of darkness, but rather to God. If we belong to God, then everything that we owe ought to be used by God. Paul said in Corinthians 4:7, "What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" Our role on the earth is to be the steward of God, so we don't have any right to argue with God what's His and what's ours. It's our responsibility to simply follow God's will and use all the grace that He's given us, so may God help us!

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we thank you, because all that we have are from you. May the Lord help us to be determined to let you use all that we have, and may the Lord use our life to become channel of blessings for many. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

River of Life Christian Church | office@rolcc.net | ROLCC Website