Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu

Saturday, March 5, 2022

Today's Passage - Matthew 21:28-32

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

Matthew 21:28-32

"What do you think about this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' " 'I will not,' the son answered. But later he changed his mind and went. "Then the father went to the other son. He said the same thing. The son answered, 'I will, sir.' But he did not go. "Which of the two sons did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered. Jesus said to them, "What I'm about to tell you is true. Tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God ahead of you. John came to show you the right way to live. And you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. You saw this. But even then you did not turn away from your sins and believe him.

Jesus taught us that obedience in our daily life is more precious than sweet talk. When we serve God and follow God, it is very easy to say, "Lord, we love you." But in real life, we may never follow Him. Our spiritual lives seem out of touch and yet we don't see anything wrong. Just like the second son, saying he would go to father, but did not in the end, their problem is that they took belief too lightly and casually, regarding it as merely words, no need to take it seriously. May the Lord help us not be self-righteous. On the surface, the second son was very obedient, being pious in meetings and services; but he actually did not follow God's word. On the contrary, while the elder son was sometimes disobedient, he was in fact the real obedient one.

In other words, if we only sing and say God's word, but do not follow God's will, no matter how righteous you feel, it's nothing to God. On the other hand, even though prostitutes are less righteous than you and I, but they listen to the gospels of Jesus, repent, and thus are more righteous to God. May God help us being obedient not only in words, but in our lives as well. If we are disobedient, God cannot use us as His vessels. We have to totally sacrifice ourselves on the altar of God, allowing Him to use us.

There is too much formalism in the church. What God really values is not our words, but our hearts and deeds. Do we really follow God's words in our daily lives? If we do not, may God shine upon us, forgive our disbelief, so that we can turn to Him once again. Prostitutes and tax collectors were the ones despised by the world, and they are sinners in our eyes; however, because they were obedient and they turned back to God, the Lord call them righteous. May God have mercy on us, not to be bound by outward appearance and formalism, but simply follow Him obediently every day.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we thank you. May you help us be the elder son, not the second son, in our daily lives. May we happily follow your word so that Your will can be fulfilled through us. Prayer and thanks in the glorious name of Jesus, amen!

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

Friday, March 4, 2022

Today's Passage - Matthew 21:23-27

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

Matthew 21:23-27

Jesus entered the temple courtyard. While he was teaching there, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "Who gave you this authority?" Jesus replied, "I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. Where did John's baptism come from? Was it from heaven? Or did it come from men?" They talked to each other about it. They said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' But what if we say, 'From men'? We are afraid of the people. Everyone believes that John was a prophet." So they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Jesus said, "Then I won't tell you by what authority I am doing these things either.

The reason that Jesus rebuked Pharisees and authorities on the law was that they had hardened hearts. They heard the teachings that the Lord had preached, they saw the miracles that the Lord had performed, yet their hearts were still closed. Not only did they not humble themselves to received the work of God, but also did they tried every way to resist.

The way they resisted was to doubt the source of Jesus's authority. Since they could not deny the power of miracles, at least they could say, this power was not from God, but from Satan. That's why they asked Jesus, "Who gave you this authority?" The same thing happened today as well. We often hear people criticizing evangelists, much like how Pharisees resisted Jesus. They saw miracles, and yet had hardened hearts. They say that those are not from the Lord. Some say that those are from the will of human. Some say that those are trickeries. Even some say that those are the work of evil spirits. Of course, some evangelists did bear bad witnesses. But what if what they did was from God? Who can be sure which deeds are false? If those were real, aren't we the same as the Pharisees - seeing miracles yet still not believing?

Quite often, we don't know the condition of our hearts. May God shine His light upon us and examine our hearts, so that we will not offend God and fall into the circumstance of denying Holy Spirit and denying truth. When we see the work of God's Spirit, let us not question and criticize easily, but keep a humble heart to seek Him and receive His work every day!

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, may you open our eyes so that we can see your wonderful deeds and the condition of our hearts. May the Spirit of the Lord rebuke us if there is anything inside of us that resists you. May you soften our hearts, get rid of all darkness, and let we receive you love and mercy again. Prayer and thanks in the glorious name of Jesus, amen!

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

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Today's Passage - Matthew 21:18-22

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

Matthew 21:18-22

Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked. Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Lord said clearly in this passage that "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." It doesn't mean that we can pray for anything we want according to our own desire, and it will be accomplished. The "believe" in this passage doesn't mean that whatever we wish for or desire for, but it's an assurance from God. Hebrews 11:1 says that "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." The assurance of faith should be established upon the foundation of God's word. Romans 10:17 says that "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." God's word is our foundation, so we need to first believe in the word of God. If we believe the word of God and we pray and plead according to God' word, then everything we pray for will be accomplished. As long as the foundation of our faith is in the word of God, God is faithful and He never lies, so His word will come true.

In all the things that you are praying for today, you need to first receive the assurance of God's word. Once you have such assurance, you must believe that God's zeal will accomplish them for you. During the process, you should obviously ask God to help you deal with the sins hidden in your heart. If there are things that you cannot forgive others for, you need the Lord's help. If there's anyone you cannot forgive, God cannot forgive you either, and your relationship with God will be severed and you won't be able to understand His will. When we encounter any difficulties in getting prayers answered, we must ask that God's spirit to shine upon us to see what the hindrances are, and also ask God to remove those hindrances.

May the Lord help us to experience how real He is through our daily prayer. Let us bear fruit in our life so that the Lord will be pleased with us. If you have any special needs in your life, or if you are searching for the way and answers, you must come before God and look upon Him by faith. Read God's word and stand on the foundation of God's word, and you will experience God's faithfulness and abundance.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, I thank you because you gave us such a precious promise: As long as we believe, we will receive. May the Lord help us to place your word deep down in our hearts. Let us experience your abundance and victory daily by faith. 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 2, 2022

Today's Passage - Matthew 21:12-17

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

Matthew 21:12-17

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,'but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'" The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, 'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise'?"...

When we praise Jesus as the King of the Highest, we may overlook the fact that He's also the Holy Savior. When Jesus entered into the temple, He saw the temple filled with traders. The services of exchanging money and buying and selling livestock and pigeons were actually valuable to people, but some of the Jews considered those businesses were more important than God. The focus of their faith shifted from God to people, so Jesus had to cleanse the temple, since Holy God cannot tolerate the presence of sin. When light is shined into a dark room, darkness will be cast out; in the same way, the coming of Jesus Christ will bring upon blessings, and darkness must be cast out before the blessings come.

A speaker in a conference once said: "The weakness of Christian is not the result of the evilness of this generation, but rather the result of sin inside them." So many Christian think they are always good and always right, they cannot see their darkness inside. May God have mercy on us, because our faith is not supposed to lead to self-righteousness, self-centeredness or our own ambitions. We are supposed to focus on God's way, God's will and God's plan. May God enter into our hearts, remove all the self-centeredness and disobedience. If our personality needs to be dealt with, the may the Lord come and deal with us! If our lifestyle needs to be changed, then let the Lord come and change us! If we are bound by hatred and need to be released, then let the Lord release us! If our hearts do not eager for God and we need to be revived, let the Lord revive us!

Our Lord can drive out and overturn what is undesirable. Even though a holy life requires discipline, but it will bring us joy, peace and love. Even though the Lord can drive out bad things, He will still accept out; even though the Lord will overturn the undesirable, He will also build us up. Our Lord is filled with grace and mercy, so let us turn back to the Lord again and come before Him without any fear.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, I thank you, because not only you are God who can overturn, you are also Lord who can rebuild. May you tear down and overturn the undesirable things in our lives, so that we may be released from all the authority of darkness and bondage of sin. Let us experience the rebuilding by the Holy Spirit, and help us to live our daily life according to your will. 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 1, 2022

Today's Passage - Matthew 21:8-11

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

Matthew 21:8-11

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosannato the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest heaven!" When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?" The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

Throughout the life of Jesus Christ, He went in and out of Jerusalem many times, but He never attracted so much attention and caused so many conflicts as this time. In fact, what happened on that day was covered extensively in all of four books of gospel. Apparently, his journey has an important place in the work of Jesus Christ. In fact, even Jesus considered it a special day.

Before that day, after Jesus healed the sick, He would tell people not to spread the news; when the crowd looked for Him and hoped He'd become the king, He would go and hide in the mountain. There are also times when He entered into Jerusalem secretly, not wanting anyone to know. This time, however, He intentionally revealed Himself to the crowd. That's why before He went into Jerusalem, He sent two disciples to prepare the colt for Him. He even allowed the crowd to cheer for Him along His way, praising Him as the King of the Most High. Why did Jesus use such a different way to enter into the city? It was for declaring to the people that He's the Messiah, Savior and King.

Many people misunderstood what happened, thinking that riding a colt must be the sign of humility; they thought that when a king comes, there should be an army of people with Him. That's why even though the arrival of Jesus startled the whole city of Jerusalem, the Roman government didn't pay much attention to the event. The reality is that, back in the Old Testament time, when kings are enthroned they didn't ride a horse, but rather a donkey! Therefore, when Jesus purposely rode the colt in to the city, the Jewish people and Pharisees immediately realized that Jesus wanted to reveal that He's the prophesied glorious king.

Even though Jesus entered into Jerusalem as the king, He was still filled with humility and gentleness, as He never forced anyone to accept Him. He could have brought the army of heaven with Him, wiping off all the forces that rejected Him, but He rather draw us with His love on the cross. He wanted us to love Him and serve Him willingly. Revelations chapter three says that He's still knocking on our door - Not banging or kicking down the door, but just knocking. He said that if we hear His voice and open our door, He will come into our life and guide us. Jesus Christ came to be the king of universe and also master of our life. Are you willing to welcome Him to be the Lord of your life today?

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we thank you because not only you are the glorious king, but you are also the gentle savior. May you come into our lives and be our savior, and let us become witnesses for your glory in your hands. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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