"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing, yea, I will sing praises." - Psalm 57:7
Our problems in life are in general of two kinds. The first kind is circumstantial, arising from the turn of events. This may be met and overcome by prayer. The other kind is more personal, the suffering of being hurt or humiliated by others. For such affronts and misunderstandings prayer does not seem to avail. I myself had prayed, and I know. It is futile to wrestle with such problems and to strive in prayer about them. I want to suggest that you should turn instead to praise.
You should bow your head and say to the Lord, 'Lord, I thank you. I receive this bad treatment as from Your hands and I praise you for it all.' By so doing you will find that everything is transcended. What the Lord has permitted to come to you cannot be wrong. Everything that He does is perfect. As you thus praise God, your spirit rises victorious over your problems and God Himself takes care of your hurt feelings.
The Joyful Heart (Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)
Read the Scriptures: Psalm 57
Monday, September 24, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Run With Patience
"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." - Hebrews 12:1
We who are running this race must run 'with patience.' Why with patience? Because the reward is not given at the start, nor in the middle, but at the very end of the course. Before the end is reached, none can guarantee whether he will be rewarded. One may fail at the last five steps. Once in a 200 meters dash, one man ran ahead of the rest by the distance of about twenty meters through most of the race, but then suddenly fell down with only two meters left to the end. In order to win, a person must be very careful. Before the end is reached no one can boast that he has the reward. Even the apostle Paul must say this: 'Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on.' (Phil. 3:12). If such was true of Paul, then what about us?
The Lord My Portion (Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)
Read the Scriptures: Hebrews 12
We who are running this race must run 'with patience.' Why with patience? Because the reward is not given at the start, nor in the middle, but at the very end of the course. Before the end is reached, none can guarantee whether he will be rewarded. One may fail at the last five steps. Once in a 200 meters dash, one man ran ahead of the rest by the distance of about twenty meters through most of the race, but then suddenly fell down with only two meters left to the end. In order to win, a person must be very careful. Before the end is reached no one can boast that he has the reward. Even the apostle Paul must say this: 'Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on.' (Phil. 3:12). If such was true of Paul, then what about us?
The Lord My Portion (Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)
Read the Scriptures: Hebrews 12
Monday, September 10, 2007
Take the Cross
"And he that doth not take his cross and follow after Me, is not worthy of Me." - Matthew 10:38
A burden is not a cross. Burden is something inescapable; the cross, however, is subject to personal choice and can therefore be avoided. What the first cross in history was, so the countless smaller crosses will be which shall follow afterwards: just as the original cross was chosen by the Lord, so the crosses for today must also be chosen by us. Some people assume that they are bearing the cross whenever they fall into some hardship or encounter some distress. This is not true, however, for these kinds of things may quite naturally happen to any person even if that person is not a believer.
What then is a cross? It must be akin to what the Lord Jesus Himself had said: 'My Father,... Thy will be done' (Matthew 26 :42). The Lord asks His Father not to answer as He the Son wills, but as the Father wills. This is the cross. To take the cross is to choose the will which the Father has decided.
The Lord My Portion (Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)
Read the Scriptures: Matthew 10
A burden is not a cross. Burden is something inescapable; the cross, however, is subject to personal choice and can therefore be avoided. What the first cross in history was, so the countless smaller crosses will be which shall follow afterwards: just as the original cross was chosen by the Lord, so the crosses for today must also be chosen by us. Some people assume that they are bearing the cross whenever they fall into some hardship or encounter some distress. This is not true, however, for these kinds of things may quite naturally happen to any person even if that person is not a believer.
What then is a cross? It must be akin to what the Lord Jesus Himself had said: 'My Father,... Thy will be done' (Matthew 26 :42). The Lord asks His Father not to answer as He the Son wills, but as the Father wills. This is the cross. To take the cross is to choose the will which the Father has decided.
The Lord My Portion (Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)
Read the Scriptures: Matthew 10
Monday, September 03, 2007
The Passover Meal
"Thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand: and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover." - Exodus 12:11
The shed blood was for God. It was sprinkled on the outside of the house where it would not even be seen by the first-born son within, he who by its virtue was being delivered. No, the blood was for God to see, and He promised that when He saw it He would pass over the house. God's need is met in the blood, but our need is provided for in the festival meal. Within the house we need to feed on the flesh of that Lamb whose blood protects us. It is by so feeding that we are strengthened for the pilgrim journey ahead. The passover meal was not for those who would settle down in Egypt, even protected there by sacrificial blood. It was for them whose manifest purpose was to move out and on with God. And so it is with us. Our needs we find met in Christ as we partake of Him. But remember, we do so always in readiness for onward movement in the will of God.
A Table In the Wilderness (Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)
Read the Scriptures: Exodus 12
The shed blood was for God. It was sprinkled on the outside of the house where it would not even be seen by the first-born son within, he who by its virtue was being delivered. No, the blood was for God to see, and He promised that when He saw it He would pass over the house. God's need is met in the blood, but our need is provided for in the festival meal. Within the house we need to feed on the flesh of that Lamb whose blood protects us. It is by so feeding that we are strengthened for the pilgrim journey ahead. The passover meal was not for those who would settle down in Egypt, even protected there by sacrificial blood. It was for them whose manifest purpose was to move out and on with God. And so it is with us. Our needs we find met in Christ as we partake of Him. But remember, we do so always in readiness for onward movement in the will of God.
A Table In the Wilderness (Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)
Read the Scriptures: Exodus 12
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)