Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 1 Timothy 4:15    Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.    Paul mentions the following attitude when serving God: Give yourself wholly to them. "Give yourself wholly to them" means to be proactive and not sit back and wait. We should be proactively and not wait to participate in church service. There are many "spectator" Christians who like to watch from the sidelines, but they never open up themselves to share their life in the Lord with others. Even though the people in the church may not be as adorable as we imagined, but thanks be to God, because we are not perfect, so we need to learn to support each other and work together with each other. This is just the opportunity for God to shape our lives. Be diligent, so that everyone may see your progress. To be "diligent" is to be careful, not to be careless. No matter what is your service at church, you should do it with all your heart and all your strength. Never think that it is a small thing. Like being an usher or setting up chairs, don't think you don't need to spend too much energy, just doing it casually. If we cannot concentrate and care about the little things, how can we expect God to use us in the big things? On the other hand, we not only need to be diligent in our service, but even more we need to grow in our service. The secret to growing is to continue to learn through failures. Don't just look at the famous people like they have such great gifts. Behind them there are many teary experiences and failures, which you do not see. In the practice of serving God, failures are unavoidable. However, if we do not go through the path of experiencing failures, how can we have better service? Therefore, don't be afraid of failure! Failure is the necessary process to grow in our service. The important thing is that through the failures we need to learn the lesson God wants us to learn. Thus in service, we not only need diligence, but also continue to grow from learning through practice.       Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, I thank you for reminding me to be diligent and learn to give myself wholly in service. Please help me in every service to offer up myself to you. Let me be a good and faithful servant and be pleasing in your sight. 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 1 Timothy 4:15    Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.    Paul mentions the following attitude when serving God: Give yourself wholly to them. "Give yourself wholly to them" means to be proactive and not sit back and wait. We should be proactively and not wait to participate in church service. There are many "spectator" Christians who like to watch from the sidelines, but they never open up themselves to share their life in the Lord with others. Even though the people in the church may not be as adorable as we imagined, but thanks be to God, because we are not perfect, so we need to learn to support each other and work together with each other. This is just the opportunity for God to shape our lives. Be diligent, so that everyone may see your progress. To be "diligent" is to be careful, not to be careless. No matter what is your service at church, you should do it with all your heart and all your strength. Never think that it is a small thing. Like being an usher or setting up chairs, don't think you don't need to spend too much energy, just doing it casually. If we cannot concentrate and care about the little things, how can we expect God to use us in the big things? On the other hand, we not only need to be diligent in our service, but even more we need to grow in our service. The secret to growing is to continue to learn through failures. Don't just look at the famous people like they have such great gifts. Behind them there are many teary experiences and failures, which you do not see. In the practice of serving God, failures are unavoidable. However, if we do not go through the path of experiencing failures, how can we have better service? Therefore, don't be afraid of failure! Failure is the necessary process to grow in our service. The important thing is that through the failures we need to learn the lesson God wants us to learn. Thus in service, we not only need diligence, but also continue to grow from learning through practice.       Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, I thank you for reminding me to be diligent and learn to give myself wholly in service. Please help me in every service to offer up myself to you. Let me be a good and faithful servant and be pleasing in your sight. 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 1 Timothy 4:13-14    Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.     The church is the body of Christ. We care whether our body is healthy. In the same way, the Lord cares whether his body is healthy and filled with vitality. Health is determined by how well every part performs its function and how well every part works together in the body. God gave every person in the body different gifts. Some people have the gift of teaching. Some people have the gift of comforting others. Some people have the gift of music to serve God. Some people serve God through writing and art. There are also some people who don't have any interests, but they like to do general affairs. Every Christian has different gifts from God. What are your gifts? If you don't know your gifts yet, you need to reflect: What is the role God wants you to play and what function he wants you to perform in the church? If you already know your gifts, then you need to value your gifts and not neglect them.     People like to compare, always envying the gifts God gave to others, thinking those are the "big" gifts. They think the gift God gave to them is small and insignificant. This may be the problem Timothy has. Timothy sees Paul as the servant greatly used by God, traveling and evangelizing everywhere, who can give a gospel invitation and so many people respond and commit themselves to the Lord. But for Timothy, his health is not good, he is the pastor of the most difficult church to shepherd, and no one notice him. He thinks God didn't give him much of a gift, even if he has the gift, it is small and he can't do much with it!     What is a big gift? What is a small gift? The question depends on from whose eyes are looking at it. Is it from man? Or is it from God? In God's eyes, every gift is important. If everyone is a traveling evangelist, then who will shepherd the local church? If everyone only knows how to teach, then who will do the work of caring and comforting? Like in a body, not every part is a hand, otherwise wouldn't it be a monster? That's why Paul reminds us every gift is important, whether it is naturally from the Holy Spirit or through the laying of hands from the elders. We need to value them, not neglect and look lightly upon them. Only when every person works together according to their gifts, then the whole body can function properly. Do you know your own gifts? May the Lord help you to use your gifts!      Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, please enable me to know the gifts you gave to me and submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit to bring your love and grace to the people around me. Let me not look lightly upon my own gifts, because you are pleased when I serve according to my gifts. 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 1 Timothy 4:9-12          This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.  Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.            Why did Paul say "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young"? Because when you are young, it's much easier for you to change. As long as you have a willing heart, you can be changed by God. Paul said that we must set example in speech. What's filling our mouths today? Often it's complaints, negative language or judging others. The Bible, however, teaches us to let our mouths be filled with words of thanksgiving and edification, as well as word of truth. When our mouth is filled with word from God, people around us will be able to enjoy God's grace and joy.   Second, we must set example in conduct. Not only should bear testimony with our words, but also with our action. We've heard the saying that action speaks louder than word. If our action doesn't match our word, others may not trust us. I've heard from those who've attended the "positive living" seminars in the secular world that while those speakers can surely talk, they don't necessarily live accordingly, which makes them much less effective. Thus, we must also set example in our conduct.   Third, we must set example in love. Our human love is limited, but what we want to convey is love of God, for it is a self-less love and a unconditional love. When we manifest such love in our life to the Lord, people around us will be drawn. This kind of love must first come from brothers and sisters in the Lord, because the Lord has said: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." If we cannot love one another, people will not know that we are the Lord's disciples.   Fourth, we must set example in faith. When we make a decision, do we do it by faith or by sight? A ministry that is by faith will ultimate receive the Lord's blessing and confirmation. A ministry by sight will ultimately lead into spiritual death. In spiritual matters, we must have great ambition and aspiration towards God. We do not need to look at the environment, but solely focus on Lord who's sitting on the throne.   Finally, we must set example in purity. Are we living a holy life? We must constantly examine our thoughts and mind so that our conduct in life will glorify the Lord's holy name. Paul's word has indeed reminded us that we must set good example for other believers in every way!      Pray with Pastor Tong            Dear Lord, may your Holy Spirit give us strength, for even though we are willing, but our flesh is often weak. May the Lord help us to set example for people in word, conduct, love, faith and purity. 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 1 Timothy 4:6-8    If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.                 Physical training is taking on importance these days, some people care about food nutrition, and some people care about physical exercises. We try our best to care and protect our bodies, but no matter how much we care, it's inevitable that the bodies will age. So they say the body is just an old skin, and it will expire one day. It is not my intent to suggest not caring for the physical health, rather it is to know there is a limit to caring for the body, as at the end our bodies will perish. Thus Paul said in verse 8, "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things." What is godliness? That is to make us more like God; training for godliness is all the things that can help us more like God. What type of training can make us more like God?                 First, read the word of God every day. The bible tells us that word of God is a lamp for the feet, a light on the path; our spiritual life is impossible to grow if we do not value the word of God. How is your bible reading? Even if you are very busy, you should still at least spend some time listening to the Devotion Hotline, read some devotion articles, such that the life is often in union with the Lord.                 Second, you need to spend time in prayer. Some say prayer is the spiritual breathing; can you spend an entire day without breathing? You will not make it beyond two to three minutes! Likewise for spiritual life, it requires breathing more than once, it must always breathe. Do you often pray to God? Many Christians neither do devotion nor pray, and I worry their spiritual lives may have already died from starvation or suffocation without their knowing! We need to train these things, just like we train our own bodies.                 Then Paul also says this training holds promise for both the present life and the life to come. The promise for the present life is to make our life more abundant, because having the likeness of Jesus, God's joy and peace will fill us; the promise for the life to come will enable us to enter the kingdom of God richly, receiving God's reward. Lastly, godliness needs training, it won't happen naturally. We need to spend time and pay the price for the training; the spiritual life can then grow and mature, meeting the likeness of God. Are you willing?       Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, please help us and us a willing heart to receive your training in our lives, such that our lives can become more the likeness of Jesus. Through daily prayer and devotion, let us get closer and closer to you. With thanks we pray in the name of victorious Jesus, Amen!

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