Dear...
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
2 Thessalonians 3:5
A friend just passed away. In a sense, it was long overdue, for his doctor only gave him a year to live, four years back. True fighter my septuagenarian friend was, going for more chemotherapy treatment than medically desirable, but in the end, he succumbed.
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:4
Just yesterday, I caught up with another friend, who was on the mend from a major operation. Interestingly, at the tail end of our otherwise non eventful lunch, without any preliminaries, my friend spluttered in 15 minutes, his experience as an "ex Christian."
From the old school, like many of us, my octogenarian friend experienced Christianity as a poor student, for the church was where a hungry soul gets free sustenance, both materially and spiritually. But now he prefers Darwin, to him more logical and less confusing than the Bible.
And he finds it difficult to accept that God has sole claim to Sovereignty over our lives.
Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:1-2
A vacuum permeates my heart, whenever someone I know leaves this temporal world.
Could I have done a better job pointing my now departed friend to our Lord? Like most men of intellect, he has read about Christianity, had brushes with the Christian faith in his journey of life, but never got to know Christ well.
God brings about the increase, but could I have sown or watered better! The answer to this would be "was my heart" truly aligned with our good Lord? Did my late friend see Christ in me?
"Heart of worship," this was the thought that our good Lord impressed upon me. Interestingly, "Heart of worship" was the very theme that set the tone when I first started this present series "Heart to heart," back in Sep 2011. Below is the extract taken from the banner of my "Heart to heart" series. (http://eng-hieang.blogspot.sg/2011_09_01_archive.html)
'Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.' Psalm 139:23-24)
An imperfect physical heart I have just discovered. God will heal at His timing and in His way, that is not for me to ponder. But God looks for a heart that seeks to worship Him, that is for me to work on by His enabling grace.
May this new leg of my journey with Him and you, be truly a heartfelt time of joy in the presence of our Perfect God, Whose Spirit is at this very moment, not just residing in our hearts, but transforming our hearts to be truly the temple for His Spirit.
It is indeed time to come back to the heart of our faith, to live a life where God is the heart of our worship.
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
2 Thessalonians 2:13
Faith comes from God. But it requires a heart that is willing not just to receive His Spirit, but continues to leave room only for Him. And a heart transforms, when we are willing to let go of our own understanding, and let our mind be renewed by immersing ourselves in the Word of God.
Both my friends, the one that has kicked the bucket, and the other that is still kicking, both think that many Christians become stupid, when they left everything to God, and no longer use their own wisdom.
But are the faithful truly "stupid?" Or it is because we recognize and acknowledge our own limitations and God's omnipresence. The power of the gospel will be manifested in our lives, and the cynical world like my friends will witness the glory of God upon our lives.
But why is it not happening for many "professed" Christians?
Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart, And lean not upon thine own understanding:
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Christmas is a reminder that it is God Who chose to save all of us. We cannot work for our salvation, but we can work on our salvation. It is a mystery of God as to when and whom He choose to lift the veil on our hearts, to elicit that knowledge of His presence and the need for our response. . But as He promised in Matthews, all will "hear" the good news before Christ returns. I believe "hear" is not of our senses, but rather, a heart that will be convicted by the Holy Spirit. But will you have the conviction to follow through?
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee,
Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
Psalms 27:8
King David in Psalms 27:13 rightly proclaimed this experiential truth
' I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of The Lord In the land of the living.'
The year might be coming to an end. Yet for many, the woes of daily living does not dissipate with this year's calendar end. To depend upon our human understanding and resilience to sustain us through our difficult world is too burdensome. But there is a God, and letting go and letting Him will bring us to not just a different perspective of our woeful situation, but empowers us to walk boldly through this fire of refinement, to be embellished in His glory.
My disbelieving friend much as he refuses to surrender to God, in the same vein, tells me that he still regularly ask Him for that elusive enlightenment so he can believe. The mind is perplexed, but I believe God will unknot his convoluted heart. Will I be willing to be that mirror upon which my friend will see God at work, that his heart will be willing to leave ajar, an opening to receive the sanctifying Spirit of our great God? For that to happen, I must come to the "heart of worship,"
- where nothing else matters except a desire to worship God with my all, and more importantly, He is my all.
- And it is about Who He is, not who I am
- not about what I have done, but what He has blessed me with
And Samuel said,
Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:22
Wait on the Lord:
be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
Psalms 27:14
God Blesses
Eng Hieang(16th Dec 2012))
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