Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalms 5:1-6    Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest.    The author was crying out to God here. Did you know that the Lord is happy to hear our prayers? Not only does He care about our thoughts and mind, He always pays attention to our words. When you pray, don't just pray quietly. Silent prayer usually has two possible outcomes: Either our mind begins to wander, or we fall asleep. When Jesus and the disciples were praying in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was praying out loud, and the disciples who prayed quietly fell asleep. We need to learn to pray out loud before God, and use words to cry out to God. Praying out loud will help us to focus your thoughts and mind; if you focus on God when you cry out, you will receive answer from Him.   The poet now only prayed to God out loud, he also made praying the first thing he did early in the morning. Perhaps you don't wake up early in the morning, but do you consider praying the most important task in your life? We don't pray because we don't need to depend on God; we think we can handle just about everything. Many people from the Third World having nothing, but they understand how to hold on to God. They cry out to God earnestly, and thus many signs and wonders follow them. In North American, we enjoy abundant material blessings, so people like to depend on themselves; we don't seek God and don't pray, so we don't experience nearly as many signs and wonders. May God help us, let our spirits be awake, so that we will get up early and depend on God every day.   Moreover, the Psalmist also lived according to God's will.   He didn't do things that God abhors, but only whatever pleases God. Brothers and sisters, you cannot cry out to God but at the same time do things that defy God's will. As we pray to seek God's help, we must also live in His will. When we cry out to God with all our heart, and live a life that is compatible with our prayer, we will experience God's salvation and protection!   Pray with Pastor Tong       Lord, we once again come before you with thanksgiving, because you are the God who listens to prayer. May the Lord help us to make praying our top priority in life, and let us follow your will. 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 Psalm 4:1-8    Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. How long will you people turn my glory into shame?  How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord. Many, Lord, are asking, "Who will bring us prosperity?" Let the light of your face shine on us. Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.   We believe in the God who makes us righteous. We were not worthy, but in Christ we can proclaim to the righteous by faith, and we can receive the salvation of Jesus by faith. Our sins can be washed away, and before God we become righteous. In Old Testament time, Abraham was called by God as a righteous man because of his faith in God. It is evident that the God we believe in is consistent from Old Testament time and New Testament time. When we depend on Him by faith, we are justified by faith.   Not only that, our God is also one who vindicates us. When we are wrongfully attacked n any situation, he will make us righteous. In this scripture passage, the psalmist encounter the hardship of being looked down on. Has anyone looked down on you? In our life or your job, we are often looked down on, and sometimes we are even down at look down at home. I thought about David; when Samuel went to his house to anoint one of the children as the king, his father's gathered all his brothers but not him. When Samuel asked whether those were all the children that his father had, Jesse thought of David who was working in the field taking care of sheep. I think David must have been hurt in his heart. Joseph was also look down on; when he was with his brothers, even though he was the favorite of his father, he was looked down on by his brothers, and he was even sold by his brothers to Egypt. In the New Testament Paul was also looked down by people. He once said that the church he visited thought he looked "unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing ", which meant they looked down on him.    No matter what your circumstance is, if God could help David, Joseph and Paul before, He can also help us today. You are not the only one who have suffered in such circumstances, for many saints over the past generations have suffered the same. Then they were in hardship however, they experienced God's help. In the same way, we can also experience God's help in Christ. Let us depend on Him and seek refuge in Him!   Pray with Pastor Tong       Lord, please come help us. Even though we might be looked down by people, we want to depend on you because you are the God who vindicates us, and you will also help us to live in safety in any circumstance. 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 Psalms 3:1-8    Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him." But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.  I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.   The psalmist described his situation with many enemies around him. They were not necessarily enemies who attacked his body, but rather those who criticized him because he wasn't helped by the Lord. We are often like the psalmist, faced with much criticism and judgment. When things are going well for us, some people are jealous of us; when things are not going well, they ridicule us and make us more frustrated. So, how did the psalmist respond? He was sure that the Lord was his shield on every side. When the enemy attacks us, its words are like rockets firing at us, but we must proclaim loudly that the Lord is our shield and it will block all these rockets of word. He is also our glory; if we only value of our own name, we will feel sad, ashamed and hurt. When we, however, know that the Lord is our glory, we will not be harmed by the word of criticism and judgment from others.      Not only that, the Lord is also the one who lifts our head, for He is the one who vindicates us. Don't ever try to vindicate yourself, just leave everything to God's hand and He well save you! You must pray to God like it says in the verse 4 - "I call out to the Lord, and He answers me from His holy mountain." It says here that we should "call out to the Lord", not just pray quietly. Often when we are suffering, we would just pray silently, but silent prayer may not bring out of power and bring forth deliverance in our soul. You must call out loudly in order to experience how God answers your prayer from His holy mountain!    In your circumstance in life, are you like this psalmist, who was faced with much criticism and judgment? We can call out to God loudly, and let Him save us and become our help and strength. When we call out to Him like that, we will also experience how the Lord protects us when we lie down, when we sleep, or when we are awake, because salvation belongs to God!   Pray with Pastor Tong       Lord, I once again give you thanks and praise. Even though we sometimes are faced with difficult circumstances, or even criticism and judgment from others, Lord you are still our shield and our glory. You are the one who lifts our head! We want to call out to you and experience protection in Christ. 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 Psalm 2:7-12   "I will proclaim the Lord's decree: He said to me, 'You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your procession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.' Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him."               The identity of Chris and His deeds are mentioned here: First, the Lord is the son of God. We believe in a triune God that is equal in their status and glory. Matthew 28:19-20 says that the Lord commanded us to baptizing people in the name of the father and of the son and of the spirit. When we pray for others, we often quote "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all," which mentions our triune God.               Secondly, Jesus is the ruler of the heavens and the earth, as well as of the nations. Although from our view, it seems that the nations are under the dominion of darkness, but the Lord is still enthroned above all these. Psalm mentioned that "the Lord sits enthroned over the flood, the Lord is enthroned as King forever." Thirdly, the Lord is the lord of judgment. When He returns, the nations will fall before Him and the world will be judged and destroyed. Ultimately our Lord reign forever more.               How should we respond to the Lord, when He is so majestic? Verse 11 says that "serve the Lord with fear." First, we need to come before him with fear, since He is the righteous God. The reason that we can come before God to worship and praise Him is because of His grace and mercy, not because of us being worthy. If we understand that the holiness of God is with authority, we will come before Him with fear because we know that it is by His grace that we can stand before Him. Not only to come before Him with fear, we need to celebrate his rule with trembling. How can we celebrate while trembling? In fact, real joy comes from obeying the Lord. If we do not obey God, we will have no joy and our lives will be filled with struggles and bitterness. But when we truly obey God and serve Him with a trembling heart, we will receive peace and enjoy true joy.               Thirdly, verse 12 says "kiss His son." Book of James say that if we draw near to God, God will draw near to us. We need to draw near to Him and trust Him with all things within all situations in our daily lives, then God will be our help and our strength.               Pray with Pastor Tong       Dear Lord, I offer thanks and praise to You, for we can only stand before You only because of Your mercy and grace. Even when we seek You in the midst of our difficulties, You will deliver us. I thank you and I pray all these in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 2:1-6   "Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 'Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.' The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, "I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain."               Psalm 2 refers to Christ's deeds on earth. What does the conspiracy and plotting in vain in verse 1 means? From verse 2 we know that this refers to people band together to come against the Lord and His anointed, which refers to Jesus Christ. Over the course of time many kings and rulers arose and came against the Kingdom of God. In reality, it is not the kings and rulers that were opposing the kingdom, but the power of darkness behind them. Satan has been trying to resist the Kingdom of God and His doing through the kingdoms of man and their deeds.               In the time of Moses, the Pharaoh wanted to kill all the male babies of Israelites, but the hand of God protected Moses and kept him to be a deliverer of the Israelites in the future. In the time of Haman, he wanted to kill all the Jewish, but God turned the situation around through Esther, and Israelites survive under the protection of God. In the time of New Testament, King Herod wanted to kill all babies below the age of two when Jesus was born, but God protected Jesus from it. Indeed, Satan has been resisting the kingdom of God via trying to destroy God's people and stop Christ's birth using the power of man. But God's way is higher than our ways. In the times of Joseph, his brothers sold him to Egypt and were terrified when they saw him became the prime minister of Egypt. But Joseph told them, "you intended to harm me, but God intended for good." Hallelujah!               Satan uses all kind of ways to harm the people of God, but God's intention is good and therefore His people will eventually experience victory. Just like when Jesus was betrayed and crucified, from the angle of man it seems like Satan won, but since Jesus is the sinless savior, he rose from the death the third day and destroyed all the plans of the evil ones. You can make the following proclamation in your life: regardless how is the situation, God's will and His way is definitely higher than the enemy's ones, and in Jesus you can experience victory!    Pray with Pastor Tong       Dear Lord Jesus, I thank you, and I proclaim: There is victory in Christ! May the Lord help us to proclaim our victory in our daily lives. I thank you and I pray in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 1:1-6   Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prosper. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.               The Book of Psalms uses many parallels. Some of these are parallels with the same meaning while others are parallels with opposite meaning. Verse 1 to verse 3 are a parallel, in this parallel it talks about not walking in step with the wicked, which is not standing in the way that sinners take, which is also not to sit in the company of mockers. In other words, not only we have to choose not to walk in step with the wicked, we also have to not stand in the way of the sinners. Many times we have the desire not to walk with the wicked, but in our lives we still walk with them. In fact, if we really desire to not walk in the way of the wicked, we should not take on the way of the sinners. This means we should not be friend with them, even to become separated from them.              We need to cut tie with sin from the bottom of our hearts. Not only desire to do so, but also in our daily living and actions. Those who delight in the law of the Lord will definitely meditate on his law day and night. We can't just say in our hearts: I love the Lord and delight in His law but never spend time reading His words or drawing near to him. To meditate on His words have a price to pay, and we have to spend time. But as we meditate on God's words, we will be blessed.               Dear brothers and sisters, what do we fill our mind with? Is it the Word of God or is it things of the world? If our minds are filled with things of the world, our lives will be filled with anxiety and fear, and we become unable to follow God. The one whose delight is in the Lord and His words are like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, and whatever they do will prosper. These are the results of being "planted by streams of water." Do you want to be prosperous in all that you do in your life? When you meditate on the Word of the Lord and stay away from the way of the sinners, the blessings of God will come to you!   Pray with Pastor Tong       Dear Lord, I give you thanks and praise. For you promised that you will draw near to us as we draw near to you. As we meditate on your Word, you will prosper all that we do. May You grant us a desiring heart, and let us be hungry and thirst for you. I thank you and I pray all these in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

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