He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:29-31
Previously... on Stronger-Than-Yesterday... We see differences between Inner Strength and Outer Strength, the Strength of God and the Strength of Man... And it is plausible to conclude from the verse today that our strength will one day fails us, if all we depend on is outer strength and our own strength.
But the Bible gives us this assurance that when that day comes, there is an alternative far better: to receive strength and power from God. And this promise is available to anyone who's willing to relinquish their own and put on Christ. Jesus says this:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
That rest that Jesus gives comes as we "wait on the Lord". And the Bible says that as we wait on the Lord, God will renew our strength. Interestingly, the word "renew" in the original Hebrew means "to pass on or away, pass through, pass by, go through, grow up, change, to go on from", "to come on anew, sprout again (of grass)", "to show newness (of tree)", and "to change, substitute, alter, change for better, renew".
So, to "renew" your strength requires a certain passing away and dying of the old strength. It requires a "change, substitute, alter, change for better, renew". That's why the process of waiting on God is not just a passive "waiting", but an active one, where you are changed and renewed.
So the big question/s right now is this:
- Are you coming to the end of your own strength?
- Do you need rest from the work you are doing?
- Are you waiting on God to renew your strength today?
Let's all become 昨日の自分より強く... Stronger than the you of yesterday!!!
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
Heroes-of-Faith #03: John Calvin
John Calvin was born on 10th July 1509 in Noyon, Picardy, some seventy kilometres north-east of Paris, the second son of Gerard Cauvin (Calvinus was the Latinised form of his name) and his wife Jeanne la France of Cambrai.
John was religiously inclined from an early age, and his father, a diocesan legal official, sent him to Parish University to take an arts degree in preparation for the priesthood. By John's graduation, however, his father had changed the plan and directed his son to Orleans University for legal studies.
Then came John's "sudden conversion" from papist prejudice to Protestant conviction, and this brought with it a spiritual quickening that made legal studies seem tame and dull by comparison with Scripture and theology. Soon Calvin was preaching, teaching, and pastoring informally among his peers, though his wish to enjoy a life of a leisured, learned, quiet-living Protestant Erasmus remained - as he wrote later, "literary ease, with something of a free and honourable station." In 1532 he produced a commentary on De Clementia of Seneca, a Stoic philosopher believed at that time to have had Christian sympathies. Calvin hoped that this would establish him as a humanist scholar. But this was not to be.
In 1534 the French Protestants were posting placards in the major towns attacking the Roman mass. Official persecution then threatened, and Calvin moved to Basel, where in March 1536 the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion appeared. In the Preface, addressed to the King of France, Calvin stated, "My intention was only to furnish a kind of rudiments, by which those who feel some interest in religion might be trained to true godliness." His Preface was a fine apologia for the Protestant faith, and the six catechetical chapters into which his 516 small-format pages were divided (on the Law, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the dominical sacraments, false sacraments, and Christian liberty) were brilliantly written. The work was an immediate success, and it was as a distinguished young Protestant author that Calvin arrived in Geneva five months later.
In fact Calvin was on his way to Strasbourg when someone recognised him and too him to meet one of the leaders there, William Farel. Farel told Calvin he must stay and help, and when the latter pleaded other plans, he replied, "You are following only your own wishes, and I tell you, in the name of God Almighty, that if you do not help us in this work of the Lord, the Lord will punish you for seeking your own interests rather than his." So Calvin stayed and continued his Geneva ministry without a break (apart from three years of banishment between 1538 and 1541) till his death in 1564.
Calvin's goal in Geneva was a teaching, nurturing church, embracing the whole of society, and honouring God by orthodox praise and obedient holiness. There should be daily gatherings for psalm singing and expository preaching, monthly administration of the Lord's Supper (Calvin wanted this weekly but could never secure it), and an autonomous ecclesiastical court for censuring, and if necessary, excommunicating delinquent members.
Bible-centred in his teaching, God-centred in his living and Christ-centred in his faith, he integrated the confessional emphases of Reformation thought - by faith alone, by Scripture alone, by Christ alone, for God's glory alone - with clarity and strength. He was ruled by two convictions - that God is all and man is nothing; and that praise is due to God for everything good. Both convictions permeated his life, right up to his final direction that his tomb be unmarked and there be no speeches at his burial, lest he become the focus of praise instead of his God.
In the Institutes, Calvin uses the Biblical theme of the knowledge of God. Knowing God is religion, and what is known about God is theology. Both theology and religion are to be learned and taught from God's own teaching, i.e. from Holy Scripture. To know God means acknowledging him as he has revealed himself in Scripture and through Christ, worshipping him and giving him thanks, humbling oneself before him as a sinner and learning from his Word, loving the Father and the Son for their love in adoption and redemption, trusting the promises of pardon and glory that God has given in Christ, living in obedience to God's law, and seeking to honour God in all human relationships and all commerce with created things. This knowledge of God comes from the Holy Spirit, speaking in and through the written Word and uniting us to the risen Christ for new life.
John was religiously inclined from an early age, and his father, a diocesan legal official, sent him to Parish University to take an arts degree in preparation for the priesthood. By John's graduation, however, his father had changed the plan and directed his son to Orleans University for legal studies.
Then came John's "sudden conversion" from papist prejudice to Protestant conviction, and this brought with it a spiritual quickening that made legal studies seem tame and dull by comparison with Scripture and theology. Soon Calvin was preaching, teaching, and pastoring informally among his peers, though his wish to enjoy a life of a leisured, learned, quiet-living Protestant Erasmus remained - as he wrote later, "literary ease, with something of a free and honourable station." In 1532 he produced a commentary on De Clementia of Seneca, a Stoic philosopher believed at that time to have had Christian sympathies. Calvin hoped that this would establish him as a humanist scholar. But this was not to be.
In 1534 the French Protestants were posting placards in the major towns attacking the Roman mass. Official persecution then threatened, and Calvin moved to Basel, where in March 1536 the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion appeared. In the Preface, addressed to the King of France, Calvin stated, "My intention was only to furnish a kind of rudiments, by which those who feel some interest in religion might be trained to true godliness." His Preface was a fine apologia for the Protestant faith, and the six catechetical chapters into which his 516 small-format pages were divided (on the Law, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the dominical sacraments, false sacraments, and Christian liberty) were brilliantly written. The work was an immediate success, and it was as a distinguished young Protestant author that Calvin arrived in Geneva five months later.
In fact Calvin was on his way to Strasbourg when someone recognised him and too him to meet one of the leaders there, William Farel. Farel told Calvin he must stay and help, and when the latter pleaded other plans, he replied, "You are following only your own wishes, and I tell you, in the name of God Almighty, that if you do not help us in this work of the Lord, the Lord will punish you for seeking your own interests rather than his." So Calvin stayed and continued his Geneva ministry without a break (apart from three years of banishment between 1538 and 1541) till his death in 1564.
Calvin's goal in Geneva was a teaching, nurturing church, embracing the whole of society, and honouring God by orthodox praise and obedient holiness. There should be daily gatherings for psalm singing and expository preaching, monthly administration of the Lord's Supper (Calvin wanted this weekly but could never secure it), and an autonomous ecclesiastical court for censuring, and if necessary, excommunicating delinquent members.
Bible-centred in his teaching, God-centred in his living and Christ-centred in his faith, he integrated the confessional emphases of Reformation thought - by faith alone, by Scripture alone, by Christ alone, for God's glory alone - with clarity and strength. He was ruled by two convictions - that God is all and man is nothing; and that praise is due to God for everything good. Both convictions permeated his life, right up to his final direction that his tomb be unmarked and there be no speeches at his burial, lest he become the focus of praise instead of his God.
In the Institutes, Calvin uses the Biblical theme of the knowledge of God. Knowing God is religion, and what is known about God is theology. Both theology and religion are to be learned and taught from God's own teaching, i.e. from Holy Scripture. To know God means acknowledging him as he has revealed himself in Scripture and through Christ, worshipping him and giving him thanks, humbling oneself before him as a sinner and learning from his Word, loving the Father and the Son for their love in adoption and redemption, trusting the promises of pardon and glory that God has given in Christ, living in obedience to God's law, and seeking to honour God in all human relationships and all commerce with created things. This knowledge of God comes from the Holy Spirit, speaking in and through the written Word and uniting us to the risen Christ for new life.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Heroes-of-Faith #2: John Wesley
John Wesley was the child of a rectory, the fifteenth son of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. He was educated at Oxford and ordained a priest.
Much of his early life was his own spiritual quest. His Journal gives the reasons he was going to the American colony of Georgia in 1735. "Our end in leaving our own native country was not to avoid want, God having given us plenty of temporal blessings, nor to gain riches and honour, but simply this - to save our souls, to live wholly to the glory of God."
Wesley's idealism received some heavy blows in America. He returned to England disillusioned in January 1738, expressing his personal uncertainty more clearly than ever - "I went to America to convert the Indians, but oh, who will convert me? Who, what is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief?"
The climax of his personal quest came on 24th May 1738. "In the evening, I went, very unwillingly, to a society in Aldersgate Street where one was reading Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt that I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
That evening marked the turning-point in his life. The personal faith in Christ to which he had come had now to be shared with others.
He came into conflict with representatives of the Established Church, because he believed he had an extraordinary commission from God to evangelise Great Britain. In fact, he regarded the whole world as his parish.
Wesley was tireless as he pursued his task. For fifty years he travelled an average of 8000 kilometres a year, mainly on horseback, rising at 4.00 am, filling every moment with work and living frugally. He preached some 40,000 sermons. The number of hymns he and his brother Charles wrote ran into thousands.
Wesley instructed his helpers, "You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore, spend and be spent in this work."
When Wesley spoke about "saving souls", he was emphasising evangelism and personal conversion, but was also relating to whole people, in their lives, environment and society.
Before his conversion, Wesley had been for a time the leader of a group in Oxford nicknamed the Holy Club. It was a society for spiritual improvement. Its members were committed to a rigorous discipline. In addition to spiritual exercises, this included visiting prisoners, relieving the poor and maintaining a school for neglected children.
Following his conversion, Wesley continued to be involved with the practical needs of people. In fact, his care for people deepened and his insight into their problems sharpened. We find him setting up schools and conducting medical clinics. We hear him speaking out against slavery and against war. He continued to visit the prisons and sought to arouse the national conscience on the state of the prisons.
Secular historians have commented that the impact of the revival that swept England in Wesley's time was so strong and deep that a revolution such as occurred in France was averted in England.
Much of his early life was his own spiritual quest. His Journal gives the reasons he was going to the American colony of Georgia in 1735. "Our end in leaving our own native country was not to avoid want, God having given us plenty of temporal blessings, nor to gain riches and honour, but simply this - to save our souls, to live wholly to the glory of God."
Wesley's idealism received some heavy blows in America. He returned to England disillusioned in January 1738, expressing his personal uncertainty more clearly than ever - "I went to America to convert the Indians, but oh, who will convert me? Who, what is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief?"
The climax of his personal quest came on 24th May 1738. "In the evening, I went, very unwillingly, to a society in Aldersgate Street where one was reading Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt that I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
That evening marked the turning-point in his life. The personal faith in Christ to which he had come had now to be shared with others.
He came into conflict with representatives of the Established Church, because he believed he had an extraordinary commission from God to evangelise Great Britain. In fact, he regarded the whole world as his parish.
Wesley was tireless as he pursued his task. For fifty years he travelled an average of 8000 kilometres a year, mainly on horseback, rising at 4.00 am, filling every moment with work and living frugally. He preached some 40,000 sermons. The number of hymns he and his brother Charles wrote ran into thousands.
Wesley instructed his helpers, "You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore, spend and be spent in this work."
When Wesley spoke about "saving souls", he was emphasising evangelism and personal conversion, but was also relating to whole people, in their lives, environment and society.
Before his conversion, Wesley had been for a time the leader of a group in Oxford nicknamed the Holy Club. It was a society for spiritual improvement. Its members were committed to a rigorous discipline. In addition to spiritual exercises, this included visiting prisoners, relieving the poor and maintaining a school for neglected children.
Following his conversion, Wesley continued to be involved with the practical needs of people. In fact, his care for people deepened and his insight into their problems sharpened. We find him setting up schools and conducting medical clinics. We hear him speaking out against slavery and against war. He continued to visit the prisons and sought to arouse the national conscience on the state of the prisons.
Secular historians have commented that the impact of the revival that swept England in Wesley's time was so strong and deep that a revolution such as occurred in France was averted in England.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Heroes-of-Faith #1: Mother Teresa
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born in August 1910 to well-to-do Albanian parents in Skopje, now within Yugoslavia. A deeply religious person and wanting to help the poor, at the age of 18 she went to the Sisters of Loreto Abbey in Dublin, where she studied English. That same year, 1928, she was sent to Darjeeling in the Himalayan foothills to begin her novitiate. By 1931, she was at a Loreto Convent School in Calcutta as teacher and later as principal.
On the other side of the concrete wall which guarded Loreto's green lawns and uniformed schoolgirls, is the Moti Jheel slum of mud lanes and wretched hovels. Sister Teresa's room overlooked the slum. She saw the dirt, the ragged children. the open sewers, the disease, the hunger in a city that was and is one giant quagmire of pestilence, poverty and famine. After school she would often go among the slum-dwellers, bringing them medicine and bandages.
She was on a train to Darjeeling in 1946 when she heard her second call - it was "quite clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order."
She was then just an obscure nun with a powerful will, and it took her two years to get through a sceptical Indian Roman Catholic hierarchy and win permission to be a "free" nun outside the cloister. She took intensive if rudimentary medical training at Patna, in north-eastern India, and returned to the slums of Calcutta.
Her first school was a bare patch of ground, where she drew Bengali letters on the earth with a stick. for five or six children. The slum families took notice, and some tables appeared, then benches and a blackboard. And more children. We see here an important pattern which has continued over the years. Mother Teresa sees a basic need, and begins to address that need directly with what there is. The people who are assisted, then the wider community, see the good that is happening and help.
Sister Teresa was joined in Calcutta in March 1949 by former student from Loreto, Subashini Das, 19, who took the name Agnes. She is still Number Two in the Missionaries of Charity. Then others came. They lived on the top floor of a large house offered by a Bengali Christian. They begged for food and medicines for the poor, for spare land and shacks for dispensaries and schools.
The Order formally began in October 1950. Sister Teresa, by now an Indian citizen, became Mother Teresa. While other Christian orders have been in decline, hers has surged ahead in members and in works on the simple principle that in serving the poorest they are serving God.
Mother Teresa has been criticised for failure to lead public crusades against the root causes of poverty, but says, "That's God's business. It's not my business. Someone once said to me, 'Why do you give them fish to eat? Why don't you give them a rod to catch the fish?' And I said, 'But my people can't even stand. They're sick, crippled, demented. When I have given them fish to eat and they can stand, I'll turn them over and you give them the rod to catch the fish!'"
Mother Teresa and her missionaries do teach by example the one essential that, she says, God would have the world do about poverty. "The only thing that can remove poverty is sharing. Jesus came among the poorest, to teach people to love one another, which is to share to use the gifts that God has given to people who have, to share with those who have not."
"The poor," as Jesus said, "we always have with us" - and not just in India, but in every country the "hidden poor" must be sought out. There are 21 Missionaries of Charity houses in America, two in France, 133 in Italy . In Australia, the Order's 38 sisters dispense love and care from seven Missionaries of Charity houses - in Melbourne; in Bourke, Queanbeyan and Orange, New South Wales; and in Darwin, Katherine and Tennant Creek, Northern Territory. Much of their work is among Aboriginals, drug addicts and alcoholics. In Melbourne, Sister Magdalena, an Indian who is regional superior for Australia and New Guinea, says, "We go where there is the greatest need - and God points the way. Nothing is planned beyond making ourselves accessible to the poor."
Some of these countries would seem to have resources enough to care for their own poor. But Mother Teresa says, "There are hungry people everywhere. They have soup kitchens in New York, London, Canada. But poverty is not just being without food. It is the absence of love. I can tell you there is more warmth in Calcutta, where people are willing to share what there is, than in many places where they have everything.
"There are people who have no one. They may not be dying of hunger, for they are dying of hunger for love. Especially the drunkards, the drug addicts. We give them tender love and care. Often in big cities, big countries, people simply die of loneliness, unwanted, unloved, forgotten. This is a much more bitter poverty than the poverty not to have food."
How did one woman achieve world recognition, a 1979 Nobel peace prize, the founding of a religious order that, in less than 40 years, has soared from a membership of one to some 3000 sisters and 400 brothers? "It is God's work that has done it, not my work," she says, "because humanly speaking, it was not possible. He did it."
On the other side of the concrete wall which guarded Loreto's green lawns and uniformed schoolgirls, is the Moti Jheel slum of mud lanes and wretched hovels. Sister Teresa's room overlooked the slum. She saw the dirt, the ragged children. the open sewers, the disease, the hunger in a city that was and is one giant quagmire of pestilence, poverty and famine. After school she would often go among the slum-dwellers, bringing them medicine and bandages.
She was on a train to Darjeeling in 1946 when she heard her second call - it was "quite clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order."
She was then just an obscure nun with a powerful will, and it took her two years to get through a sceptical Indian Roman Catholic hierarchy and win permission to be a "free" nun outside the cloister. She took intensive if rudimentary medical training at Patna, in north-eastern India, and returned to the slums of Calcutta.
Her first school was a bare patch of ground, where she drew Bengali letters on the earth with a stick. for five or six children. The slum families took notice, and some tables appeared, then benches and a blackboard. And more children. We see here an important pattern which has continued over the years. Mother Teresa sees a basic need, and begins to address that need directly with what there is. The people who are assisted, then the wider community, see the good that is happening and help.
Sister Teresa was joined in Calcutta in March 1949 by former student from Loreto, Subashini Das, 19, who took the name Agnes. She is still Number Two in the Missionaries of Charity. Then others came. They lived on the top floor of a large house offered by a Bengali Christian. They begged for food and medicines for the poor, for spare land and shacks for dispensaries and schools.
The Order formally began in October 1950. Sister Teresa, by now an Indian citizen, became Mother Teresa. While other Christian orders have been in decline, hers has surged ahead in members and in works on the simple principle that in serving the poorest they are serving God.
Mother Teresa has been criticised for failure to lead public crusades against the root causes of poverty, but says, "That's God's business. It's not my business. Someone once said to me, 'Why do you give them fish to eat? Why don't you give them a rod to catch the fish?' And I said, 'But my people can't even stand. They're sick, crippled, demented. When I have given them fish to eat and they can stand, I'll turn them over and you give them the rod to catch the fish!'"
Mother Teresa and her missionaries do teach by example the one essential that, she says, God would have the world do about poverty. "The only thing that can remove poverty is sharing. Jesus came among the poorest, to teach people to love one another, which is to share to use the gifts that God has given to people who have, to share with those who have not."
"The poor," as Jesus said, "we always have with us" - and not just in India, but in every country the "hidden poor" must be sought out. There are 21 Missionaries of Charity houses in America, two in France, 133 in Italy . In Australia, the Order's 38 sisters dispense love and care from seven Missionaries of Charity houses - in Melbourne; in Bourke, Queanbeyan and Orange, New South Wales; and in Darwin, Katherine and Tennant Creek, Northern Territory. Much of their work is among Aboriginals, drug addicts and alcoholics. In Melbourne, Sister Magdalena, an Indian who is regional superior for Australia and New Guinea, says, "We go where there is the greatest need - and God points the way. Nothing is planned beyond making ourselves accessible to the poor."
Some of these countries would seem to have resources enough to care for their own poor. But Mother Teresa says, "There are hungry people everywhere. They have soup kitchens in New York, London, Canada. But poverty is not just being without food. It is the absence of love. I can tell you there is more warmth in Calcutta, where people are willing to share what there is, than in many places where they have everything.
"There are people who have no one. They may not be dying of hunger, for they are dying of hunger for love. Especially the drunkards, the drug addicts. We give them tender love and care. Often in big cities, big countries, people simply die of loneliness, unwanted, unloved, forgotten. This is a much more bitter poverty than the poverty not to have food."
How did one woman achieve world recognition, a 1979 Nobel peace prize, the founding of a religious order that, in less than 40 years, has soared from a membership of one to some 3000 sisters and 400 brothers? "It is God's work that has done it, not my work," she says, "because humanly speaking, it was not possible. He did it."
Bonus Series
The Crossroad Cafe is proud to present the Heroes-of-Faith series, a bonus series in conjunction with the Stronger-Than-Yesterday series. This bonus series will strengthen your faith as you read of men and women just like you and I, but have risen as missionaries to a lost world.
Get ready to be challenged as the lives of these great men and women are shown, here in Crossroad Cafe.
Get ready to be challenged as the lives of these great men and women are shown, here in Crossroad Cafe.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Stronger-Than-Yesterday #2
So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Judges 13:24-25
Previously... on Stronger-Than-Yesterday... We see the story of Samson and we see two types of strength that we need to have: the outer and inner strength. Today, we will look at Samson again and we find two types of strengths again: the strength of man and the strength of God.
When Samson started out, God "move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol". Despite the fact that Samson was anointed with strength to be a deliverer, he used that strength to his own benefit and believed on his own strength, more than God's strength. Important lesson: Even though we may be anointed with gifts in our life, we must remember the source of our gifts and strengths.
And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
Luke 2:40
Compare this to our Lord Jesus Christ. He started out similar to Samson but He learnt to grow in his strength in God. He learnt to depend on God more than Himself. In so many situations, He would separate Himself from the crowd just to pray and get strength from above. In His life, we see that the strength of God is more important than his own.
Key lesson of today: Always relinquish your own strength and return to the strength of God.
Though Samson's story was one of tragedy as he depended on himself, we can take comfort in the fact that he ended well and was honored as one of the heroes of faith. He humbled himself, returned to God and depended on Him for strength.
Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, "O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!"
Judges 16:28
In the same way interestingly, we see Jesus returning to the strength of God at the last moments of His life.
And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.' " Having said this, He breathed His last.
Luke 23:46
As we see earlier, Jesus "grew and became strong in spirit". His spirit represents His strength and life. So when Jesus cried out "into Your hands I commit My spirit", it is as though He said "I've come to the end of my strength. Father, now come and take over."
Always remember, your strength is limited. God's strength is limitless. That's why the bible says:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
So the big question/s right now is this:
- Do you depend on your own strength more than God's strength?
- Have you reached a cap or "limit" in your life?
- If you have, what are you doing to receive the strength of God today?
Let's all become 昨日の自分より強く... Stronger than the you of yesterday!!!
Judges 13:24-25
Previously... on Stronger-Than-Yesterday... We see the story of Samson and we see two types of strength that we need to have: the outer and inner strength. Today, we will look at Samson again and we find two types of strengths again: the strength of man and the strength of God.
When Samson started out, God "move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol". Despite the fact that Samson was anointed with strength to be a deliverer, he used that strength to his own benefit and believed on his own strength, more than God's strength. Important lesson: Even though we may be anointed with gifts in our life, we must remember the source of our gifts and strengths.
And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
Luke 2:40
Compare this to our Lord Jesus Christ. He started out similar to Samson but He learnt to grow in his strength in God. He learnt to depend on God more than Himself. In so many situations, He would separate Himself from the crowd just to pray and get strength from above. In His life, we see that the strength of God is more important than his own.
Key lesson of today: Always relinquish your own strength and return to the strength of God.
Though Samson's story was one of tragedy as he depended on himself, we can take comfort in the fact that he ended well and was honored as one of the heroes of faith. He humbled himself, returned to God and depended on Him for strength.
Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, "O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!"
Judges 16:28
In the same way interestingly, we see Jesus returning to the strength of God at the last moments of His life.
And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.' " Having said this, He breathed His last.
Luke 23:46
As we see earlier, Jesus "grew and became strong in spirit". His spirit represents His strength and life. So when Jesus cried out "into Your hands I commit My spirit", it is as though He said "I've come to the end of my strength. Father, now come and take over."
Always remember, your strength is limited. God's strength is limitless. That's why the bible says:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
So the big question/s right now is this:
- Do you depend on your own strength more than God's strength?
- Have you reached a cap or "limit" in your life?
- If you have, what are you doing to receive the strength of God today?
Let's all become 昨日の自分より強く... Stronger than the you of yesterday!!!
Friday, September 21, 2007
Stronger-Than-Yesterday #1
So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Judges 13:24-25
What is strength? When asked about strength, it is inevitable that most people would reference to the strongest man in the Bible: Samson. Modern day cultural conditioning has caused many of us to identify strength with someone of physical stature, someone who look as though they could literally move mountains. Probably someone who think when the Bible says "faith can move mountains", he or she would probably say "who needs faith to do that".
But what is strength really? From the story of Samson, we know that though he is the strongest man externally, he was not strong on the inside. And we see this in modern society. Recently, OJ Simpson was arrested for crime again, this time robbery. Someone who was a respected sports personality, probably idolised for his image of strength.
Strength really entails more than just the physical. It includes the spiritual, emotional and mental as well. It is the strength on the outside, as well as the strength on the inside that makes the man.
Look at Jesus Christ and you'll see a Man that is strong on both arenas. Here's a Man who was a carpenter who had the strength to go into temples, overturn merchant stalls and even carry the weight of the cross. At the same time, here's a Man who dared stand against the criticism from religious sects, stood His grounds on convictions, yet at the same time, when reviled and accused, remained silent, trusting that God was His Vindicator.
So what is strength? Mahatma Gandhi put it in this way: "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."
So the big question/s right now is this:
- Do you have inner strength, apart from outer strength?
- Do you have an "indomitable will" that could withstand the storms of life?
- If not, what are you doing today to gain that inner strength?
Let's all become 昨日の自分より強く... Stronger than the you of yesterday!!!
Judges 13:24-25
What is strength? When asked about strength, it is inevitable that most people would reference to the strongest man in the Bible: Samson. Modern day cultural conditioning has caused many of us to identify strength with someone of physical stature, someone who look as though they could literally move mountains. Probably someone who think when the Bible says "faith can move mountains", he or she would probably say "who needs faith to do that".
But what is strength really? From the story of Samson, we know that though he is the strongest man externally, he was not strong on the inside. And we see this in modern society. Recently, OJ Simpson was arrested for crime again, this time robbery. Someone who was a respected sports personality, probably idolised for his image of strength.
Strength really entails more than just the physical. It includes the spiritual, emotional and mental as well. It is the strength on the outside, as well as the strength on the inside that makes the man.
Look at Jesus Christ and you'll see a Man that is strong on both arenas. Here's a Man who was a carpenter who had the strength to go into temples, overturn merchant stalls and even carry the weight of the cross. At the same time, here's a Man who dared stand against the criticism from religious sects, stood His grounds on convictions, yet at the same time, when reviled and accused, remained silent, trusting that God was His Vindicator.
So what is strength? Mahatma Gandhi put it in this way: "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."
So the big question/s right now is this:
- Do you have inner strength, apart from outer strength?
- Do you have an "indomitable will" that could withstand the storms of life?
- If not, what are you doing today to gain that inner strength?
Let's all become 昨日の自分より強く... Stronger than the you of yesterday!!!
昨日の自分より強く
昨日の自分より強く..... Stronger than the you of yesterday......
A great motto to live by in life... To become stronger than yourself more and more each day, but to think of it... What does it mean to be "stronger"? What does it mean to be "strong" in the first place?
Join me as we walk this path of discovery to understand strength and what it means to be stronger in our life: to e stronger than the you of yesterday.
Welcome to the 1st series in Crossroad Cafe: Stronger-Than-Yesterday Series.
A great motto to live by in life... To become stronger than yourself more and more each day, but to think of it... What does it mean to be "stronger"? What does it mean to be "strong" in the first place?
Join me as we walk this path of discovery to understand strength and what it means to be stronger in our life: to e stronger than the you of yesterday.
Welcome to the 1st series in Crossroad Cafe: Stronger-Than-Yesterday Series.
Grand Opening of Crossroad Cafe
When was the last time you hear a colleague say early in the morning "I need my morning dose of coffee"? Or "I need my shot of Expresso, or else I cannot work."
It was one of those mornings and it's the first time in many months (or even years) that I actually drank a cup of ice-coffee in the morning. Why I suddenly had a craving for coffee, I really have no idea. But that cup of coffee gave me a great idea.
Instead of having a shot of Expresso or coffee every morning, why don't we have a shot of inspiration every morning? Starting your day with a dose of inspiration that you could carry for the rest of the day. It must be better than any Expresso, Latte or coffee we could drink.
Well, this marks the launch of Crossroad Cafe.
Everyone of us will arrive at our crossroads at different points in our life. So why not drop by Crossroad Cafe and you might just get a hint where you should walk next. Get your dose of revelation and shot of inspiration every morning here at Crossroad Cafe.
It was one of those mornings and it's the first time in many months (or even years) that I actually drank a cup of ice-coffee in the morning. Why I suddenly had a craving for coffee, I really have no idea. But that cup of coffee gave me a great idea.
Instead of having a shot of Expresso or coffee every morning, why don't we have a shot of inspiration every morning? Starting your day with a dose of inspiration that you could carry for the rest of the day. It must be better than any Expresso, Latte or coffee we could drink.
Well, this marks the launch of Crossroad Cafe.
Everyone of us will arrive at our crossroads at different points in our life. So why not drop by Crossroad Cafe and you might just get a hint where you should walk next. Get your dose of revelation and shot of inspiration every morning here at Crossroad Cafe.
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