Tuesday 24 January 2012
“A minute to learn, a lifetime to master” – that’s the phrase on the box of my first othello set. It’s so true, othello is an easy game to learn, but a difficult game to master. Likewise, the Christian faith. Important truths such as “trust and obey”, “keep in step with the Spirit”, “count it all joy when the trials come” are easily understood but require a lifetime to master. To make matters worst, the enemy complicates things and deceives us. He would do everything to make a non-believer think that it can’t be so easy to get saved – how is it possible for a person’s sins to be forgiven just by believing in Jesus and what He did on the cross? Many non-believers have said how can one man’s death two thousand years ago make a difference in my life today? The devil is also successful in deceiving believers! As a result, there are Christians who are so distracted by the things of the world that they find it really difficult to simply trust and obey. They are so busy with the concerns of life that going to church or cell group meetings or church prayer meetings has become a burden rather than a joy. Serving the Lord has become drudgery instead of a refreshing service. As a young believer in my early 20′s, the Lord taught me about trusting and obeying Him. We were encouraged by our pastor and prayer ministry leader to attend the weekly Tuesday night prayer meetings, to gather together as a group of believers each week to pray and intercede. I was a student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic then and I had an accounting tutorial every Wednesday morning which required some serious preparation each week. Thus, Tuesday night was an important night for me to finish my assigned accounting homework. Since it was clear that Tuesday night prayer meetings were important for the life of the church, I decided to attend it every week (and I did most of the time) and trusted the Lord to help me finish my accounting homework in a shorter time that normally required. In response to my simple act of trust, the Lord did just that and helped me finish all my accounting homework every week! It was truly fascinating! A non-Christian classmate of mine often rang me about 10 plus in the evening on Tuesday to ask me how to answer certain questions. I would tell him, “let me have a look at the questions”. He would ask, “have you done the work yet?” My reply was usually, “not yet, but I’m working on it now, I just came back from church prayer meeting.” He often questioned my commitment to attend prayer meetings when there was so much work to do. At the same time, very often on Wednesday mornings, he would be really surprised that I’d be at the accounting tutorial with all my work done. Eventually, the Lord gave me the privilege of leading him to receive Jesus as His Savior. Today, my friend is still a believer in Christ and I thank God for that. As you begin your walk with God today, don’t allow the enemy to clutter your life, don’t allow him to complicate your faith, instead simply trust and obey, faithfully practice and live out the plain truths of Scripture and God will certainly honor you and bless you. Enjoy Him, love Him, serve Him.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall make your paths straight.” (Prov.3:5,6)
Pastor Barnabas Chong
Email us at twc@cairnhillchurch.com
P.S. My apologies for the lateness of today’s post. Had a long first day of Chinese New Year, I had a headache and overslept ……
Today’s recommended video: Trust Him more (believe me, this video will send shivers down your spine) ……
