Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 15:32-33   "...So that I may come to you with joy, by God's will, and in your company be refreshed. The God of peace be with you all. Amen."   Our God is the one that gives us peace. This world is the one without peace. There is not only turmoil between countries and disturbance in the society, but also restlessness inside people's heart. Many people are afraid to face the future because they don't know what the future will be like. Everyone in the world is looking for peace. He also desires for peace in his heart. Once someone was looking for peace, so he posted the word of peace everywhere in his house. Other people saw it and asked him: "So there is peace in your house?" He replied: "Not really", for the peace doesn't come with the circumstances, nor can it be forced out from the bottom of our heart. The real peace only comes from God, who is our support, our shield, our fortress and our refuge. There is true peace in Him. In fact one of God's name is "Jehovah Shalom", which means the Lord gives peace. In the time of Gideon in Judges, the Medianites came to attack the Israelites and abuse them. At that time Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press instead of doing it one the field, because he was afraid of the Medianites. So when an angel appeared and said to him: "you mighty warrior", he looked around, wondering "how can I be the mighty warrior, otherwise why would I hide in here to beat out wheat?" God said to him: "Peace be with you. Do not fear, you shall not die." Then He revealed to him that His name is "Jehovah Shalom", which means the Lord gives peace.   The peace of the Lord doesn't just come when everything is all right. It even keeps us still and satisfied in turmoil. Actually the greater the turmoil is, the more precious God's peace seems. A better interpretation for "Jehovah Shalom" is "I am your peace", like what God tells us. May the Spirit help us receive His promise by faith, and proclaim by faith that God is Jehovah Shalom, our peace.      Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, thank you for being our peace. No matter how much disturbance we may face, we will always proclaim by faith that Jehovah Shalom is our God. We rebuke all the attacks from the enemies and Satan in the victorious name of Jesus. May you hide us under your mighty arms so that we may enjoy the true peace. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 15:30-31   "I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord's people there..."   Verse 30 is very important, because it talks about the Person of the Spirit. The God we trust in is the true God of trinity, which means there is only one God but he is in three Persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three Persons have the same divinity, but different jobs. The Father plans the salvation; the Son carries out the salvation; while the Spirit finishes the salvation. For the salvation, the Father was its designer. But the one who actually came to the world and died for the sins of the world was Jesus the Son. He was the one that carried out the salvation. However, after the salvation was done, it is the Spirit through whom the grace comes upon us to make people born again and holy so as to enter into God's glory. Therefore, the three Persons have the same divinity but different jobs.   The so-called Person means that He has the independent mind, will and emotion. The Father, the son, and the Spirit all have their independent minds, wills and emotions. 1 Corinthians 2:10 says that the Spirit searches everything, which shows that the Spirit has his mind. 1 Corinthians 12:11 says that the Spirit allots all the gifts to each one individual just as He chooses, which shows the Spirit has his will. Romans 15:30 talks about the love of the Spirit to show us that the Spirit has his emotion. So the Spirit as an independent Person has his independent mind, will and emotion.   I can really feel the love of the Spirit in my life. His love is like the motherly love that never forsakes. So is the work of the Spirit on us. When I was backsliding and rejecting God, the Spirit kept supporting me with his loving hands. His guidance for me is like the motherly one, which is the never-forsaking love that keeps guiding me. Likewise, God has been guiding you through the Spirit like this. Do you know that God loves you? The Spirit is the best counselor and guide God provides to you, so that you can understand His grace and love throughout your life. Let's welcome the work of the Spirit together.      Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we thank you for giving us the Spirit in our life so that we can experience the love of the Father and the grace of Christ. May your Spirit flow so we can experience your experience every day. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 15:28-29   "So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.  I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ."   Paul said here that no matter where he goes, he will always go "in the full measure of the blessing of Christ."  "Full measure of the blessing" shouldn't just be preached and felt in the church, because blessing of Christ should be brought out of the church.  We shouldn't just sing Jesus is Lord at church, but also bring full measure of the blessing of the Lord back home.  Many people go to church dressed neatly because they are prepared to meet God; it's great to have such proper and respectful attitude, but often when they leave church, they say "see you next week" to Jesus.  They never brought Jesus back to their homes or offices.  Actually, the church is not a building with four walls, but it's you and me.   The real church has no walls, for it is present wherever we are.  When you are in the market, the church is there; when you are in the office, the church is there; when you are at home, the church is there too; even when you are alone, the church is with you.  No matter where you go, you should bring the abundant blessings of Christ with you and to proclaim God's blessing no matter what your daily circumstances are.  When you are in difficult circumstances and your heart is filled with bitterness and heavy yoke, you must proclaim that the Lord's blessing is sufficient for you; when you are hurt and your heart is filled with sorrow and bondage, you must proclaim that the Lord is our help and strength, our refuge and our shield.   As soon as you start proclaiming, your life will be filled with the Lord's blessing that will even overflow.  Not only should you proclaim it for yourself, you also need to proclaim it on people around you.  When you see someone in despair you need to say to him "you must believe that God's your help"; when you see someone in sorrow, you need to him "depend on God, because He is your hope."  No matter where you are, remember to bring the abundant blessings of Christ with you.       Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we thank you because in you we have abundant blessings.  Not only should we talk about it at church, we should also bring the blessings into our life.  May your Spirit come and release us; let us experience your abundant grace everyday, and let us proclaim that such blessings will come upon people around us.  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 15:25-27   "Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there.  For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.  They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings."   In this passage, Paul talked about brothers and sisters supplementing for each other's needs, which is actually a precious asset in our faith.  Christians are not supposed only seek our own good; since the Lord was a great example of supplementing for us, we ought to supplement for the needs of one another in our daily life.  When the Lord was in the world, He turned water into wine in Cana when He saw that the wedding banquet was running out of wine, and He used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed five thousand when He saw that the crowd listening to His sermon had nothing to eat.  In another part of the Bible also describes how He fed four thousand people with seven loaves.  He ultimately died on the cross for us, sacrificed His life so that we can gain life.  Corinthians 8:9 says that "for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."  Since we have received all types of grace, we ought to follow the example of the Lord to supplement one another.  Paul mentioned one example in this passage, which was between the churches of Jerusalem and the gentiles.  The church of Jerusalem was rich spiritually and they sent coworkers to gentile lands to preach the gospel.  The gentile church gained spiritually from the church of Jerusalem, so when Jerusalem had famine and people became poor, the gentile church was willing to make contribution to help resolving the crisis at the church of Jerusalem.   Brothers and sisters, do you ever think about the needs of people around you in your daily life?  The main reason why we don't supplement for each other's needs is that we don't know where the needs are.  We need to come before God and let the Holy Spirit help us.  First, we ask God to reveal the needs of brothers and sisters or friends around us.  When we pray, let the Holy Spirit guide our thought and mind; when the Holy Spirit prompts you to have burden for someone, we must keep on praying for them.  Second, when you find out who you ought to be helping, ask the Holy Spirit how you should be helping them.  Holy Spirit clearly knows the needs of every brother and sister among us and He will prompt others to meet their needs.  In the church today, the reason there would be anyone with unfulfilled needs is because someone in the church is not following the prompting by the Holy Spirit.   May the Holy Spirit freely move among us today, help us to supplement each other's needs like back in the early church so that everyone's needs will be fulfilled.  Starting today, may God help us to become more sensitive to the needs of brothers and sisters around us.      Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you because you are our God who supplements our needs.  May the Spirit of the Lord give us wisdom and insight to follow your example in our daily life in order to supplement each other's needs.

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 15:22-24   "This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.  But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while."   Paul was indeed a man of the gospel.  In verse 19 he said that "from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ."  He wasn't boasting at all, as in verse 23 he said "there is no more place for me to work in these regions."  Think about it - He worked so hard for the gospel that he left no more place to preach the gospel in a city!   Why was Paul so motivated to preach the gospel?  There are several reasons.  First, Paul had a clear vision.  When he encountered the Lord on the way to Damascus, a great light shined on him, and he knew that the one speaking to him was the master who would change his life.  Although he didn't know this master, he knew that it was his Lord.  He then fell on the ground and asked two very important questions.  First he asked "who are you, Lord", which acknowledged that the one shining the light on him was his Lord; then he asked, "what should I do?"  Paul knew that he needed to commit his life completely to this master and he needed to followed whatever the master commanded him.  Therefore, as soon as He met the Lord, he committed his life to Him and had a clear vision.   Second, Paul had a clear mission.  God clearly told him through Ananias that he was going to become the apostle for the gentiles.  God gave him a mission of pioneering - Not in Jerusalem or Antioch, but going where the gospel was never preached.  God entrusted a clear mission of becoming the apostle for the gentiles.   Third, Paul had a clear motivation.  In Romans chapter one, he said that he felt obligated or indebted to the non-believers of the time.  When someone indebted is chased after by creditors, he will tried hard to repay.  When Paul said that he felt indebted, he felt that the non-believers were chasing after him, compelling him to preach the gospel to them.  When he was in Lystra, he was almost beaten to death and dragged out of the city for preaching the gospel, but even then he went back into the city as soon as he woke up.   Brothers and sisters, you need to have clear vision, motivation and mission so that you won't feel drained in your ministry, and you will be able to keep on serving God until you see Him face to face.      Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we thank you because you are our vision, motivation and mission.  As we serve you, we ask that you open our eyes to see your glorious beauty so that we will follow you closely.  Let us not be hindered by circumstances or feel sad about discouraging things, but let us only focus on you.  We will be empowered in our ministry because of you.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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