Canaan is God's plan for you!

csldailydevotion

8 Mar 07

Gen 11:31 Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.

32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.

After the story on the beginning of human race i.e. from Noah to his 3 sons, Moses dived right into the beginning of the Hebrew Race.

In v31 above we read that Terah, father of Abram, was leading his tribe to Canaan. But they went as far as Haran and SETTLED THERE!

It was a tragic ending. Terah died there – Haran. You would have noticed that was the name of his son. He could have named the place in honor of the deceased son.

But Haran was not his original plan. He was to lead his tribe into Canaan, the place of promise, the land flowing of milk and honey. But he settled in Haran. Why? Maybe he was too grieved over the death of his son, too tired after the long journey, too comfortable in the plains, too much trouble to persevere further…and the list could just goes on….

But Haran was not God’s idea. That is why when he died, God came and challenged Abram to move on to Canaan. God is more committed to what He has called us to do/be more than ourselves.

Today, as you read this devotional, are you at your Haran or your Canaan? Are you at a place of sorrow, pain, disappointment or are you still pursuing God’s promise in your life?

This is the year of Victory…are you fighting from the position of Victory or have you settled for a draw? Or worst for a lost?

Rise up and press on to your Canaan!


CSL

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What's wrong in telling?

csldailydevotion

1 Mar 07

Gen 9:20-25

20 Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard.

21 He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.

22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.

25 So he said,
"Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brothers."

Why must Ham be so severely shamed by his father? Why is a son cursed for telling his brother what he saw?

For those who attended my BS class, the clue is seen in v23 “BUT”.

The “BUT” reflected a change in atmosphere. It was an indication that there is a difference in response. Shem and Japheth did right but not so for Ham.

The issue lies in the attitude; one for information sharing, the other for protection. Ham saw and shared his father’s nakedness for information. There was no intention to protect or help.

However, the other 2 brothers were mindful of their duties as children that they went in to cover the father’s nakedness. They were also very deliberate to ensure that they do not see his nakedness OUT OF RESPECT FOR HIM. WOW!

Thus, they were praised by Noah.

(btw, it is good to note that bible is silent about Noah’s drunkedness, i.e. drunkedness is not the point of emphasis here)

Do we see ourselves here?

How often we are interested in the INFORMATION of someone’s failing more than the interest to help/protect?

How often we allowed ourselves to “see” more than necessary?

How often we focus on the vulnerability of our leaders (or knowing more about their fallibility) more than our ability to protect them?

Determine today that we will seek to bless more than information gathering.

Determine today that we will be sons/daughters like Shem and Japheth who are more interested in protecting more than gathering of information.


CSL

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Gen 9: Covenant of the Rainbow

csldailydevotion

26 Feb 07

Devotion 13 – Gen 9: Covenant of the Rainbow

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

2 "The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.

3 "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.

4 "Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

5 "Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man.

6 "Whoever sheds man's blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.

7 "As for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it."

This is like a replay in the garden of Eden. Man was given the power and role to dominate the earth again. Here we see Noah receiving a commission from God to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”.

The same condition was also provided for man i.e. other created beings will fear man, meaning man can provide dominance over them. But there is also a condition of limit - do not drink blood/lifeblood. The principle drawn for human is that we must not commit murder.

When we examine these 7 verses, you would see that the commission is repeated in v7. it reveals God’s desire for man to fill and tend the created world by God. Yet so often we desire “closeness” with others > the commission of God.

That is what eventually led to the tower of babel. Be discerning. What is the commission of God in your life? Are you compromising it?


CSL

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Under Cover

csldailydevotion

23 Feb 07

Devotion 12 – Under Cover

This CNY was marked with both joy and sadness in my heart. I was saddened by a fellow pastor’s action. He chose the path of breaking the unity of the Body and in the process, brought much pain and hurt to all.

He decided to move out and start his own church. He must have felt that he could and was called – I will not comment on this subject.

I felt the Lord leading me to reflect on the danger of assuming that we could do what we do because of our abilities.

It is truly a subtle mindset, when one finds success or growth in ministry, to assume we made them happened. We can always camouflage our words with the right vocabulary and slogans. But deep within, it is so easy to accept the view that it was because of us, our anointing, our abilities, ours…..

We need to return to the concept of family again. We can do what we do in ministry only because we operate under cover. We operate under the cover of God through the cover of a local church leadership. God provides our training, our ministry exposure, our “members”, our experiences through the local church. Thus, apart from the local church, we could not have a ministry to start with.

We need to return back to Heb 13:17 - "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. "

Obey your leaders and operate under their cover.

What about pioneers who left their churches to start new movement?

I believe in this but I think there should be proper processes that allow both the leadership and the person to tarry before God. I believe that as in all things, we should honor God, honor His leaders and honor His Body. We should pause and hear God and seek confirmation from a larger body of Christ and not act to tear the Body of Christ i.e. sheep and shepherd stealing resulting in lost and pain experienced by the body.

Enough said.

Let’s guard our hearts and bless our leaders. Let’s arise to be a people that please God in all that we do.


CSL

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Devotion 11 – I like Tradition! (CNY Devotion)

csldailydevotion

22 Feb 07

I was doing my last minute shopping at Kovan NTUC on the eve of Chinese New Year. It was an interesting sight minus the long queue to the carpark, long wait for carpark lot, etc. The whole place was turning quiet and yet with an interesting beat in the air. It was more than the Chinese songs blasting over the air. It was like a calmness before the storm of celebration.

But what struck me was the fact that everyone was returning home for their reunion dinner.

It is an annual event that almost every Chinese observe all over the world. It was reported that China was seeing millions of people moving back to their hometown to celebrate and observe this special meal too.

I felt it was indeed good to have at least 1 day in a year to remind us about the importance of family. No matter what and how one feels, the reunion dinner is a must for all.

I too, was “forced” by my own choice to celebrate families (mine and with my parents) on such an occasion. I refused to check emails, sms, msn, and what have you. I just wanted to slow down and be a son, be a son-in-law, be a husband, be a father, an uncle and a spiritual father to all my families. It is not so much that I need to… it is God’s command that I do my role well for Him.

God is the God of families. He is interested in families. He instituted family structure for the well being of humanity. He intended that all people in this world are housed in families. I thank God for my families and I do my part because I want to please Him!

Give thank to God for our families. They are God’s protection and love for us. Treasure and nurture them for His glory.

Do pause and pray for those whose families are dysfunctional or broken. Pray for the “aliens” among us too, that they would find spiritual families in God’s body. (By “aliens”, I am referring to foreign workers who are not with their families.)

I am blessed by this tradition. This tradition that reminds me of the value of family. And the God behind the families.


CSL

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The day I was asked to be blind

csldailydevotion

17 Feb 07

I was asked to close my eyes “permanently” for 15mins as I sat near the reservoir.

It was a stimulated experience for us to deny our visual ability so that we can tune more to “hear” His small still voice.

It was a good experience to check if our hearts have been overcrowded with noises and demands. Some could not be still because of the overcrowding thus needing more time and will to remove the distraction. Some needed sleep. Some needed tuning in time, some…..

I was reminded that the call to grow deep is more than knowing the Word. It is about deepening our relationship with God i.e. am I growing in knowing Him more than about His word and tasks? (on the task side, am I moving my people the right way? Or am I moving them only to the knowledge realm?)

Thus do I know Him?

I was led to think about my imperfection. My struggle in the flesh… the constant fight… the temptation and all… God revealed to me that it is an issue of affection/love. Who do I love the most? I need to learn to love God more than yesterday. I need to receive His love daily. I need God… I need LOVE.

If the perfect love of God is not in me, then the love I give is carnal. My love is then corrupted. My love is not His love. Thus I am not representing Him correctly.

Anointing and Affection. You can have the anointing without the affection of God or from God. But when you have the affection/love of/from God, you are anointed. Thus seek God’s affection more than His anointing.

"God, help me to set aside time everyday to love and be loved by You. Help me to seek You more than earthly affection and attraction; for they are short-lived. They cannot truly satisfy. Help me Lord to grow in my understanding, knowledge and experiences of You and Your LOVE. Amen."


CSL

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One man, One new generation!

csldailydevotion

12 Feb 07

Gen 4:25 Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, "God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel,for Cain killed him."

v26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.

I was fascinated with the last verse i.e. “Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.”

It was very interesting that Moses recorded that after the birth of Enosh, that the people returned back to worship.

Why was that so?

The principle is the principle of godly man! When Seth was born, he was recognized as a type of Abel. Abel found favor with God because he presented the right sacrifice before God

Gen 3:4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering;

Abel knew that the offering is more than a meal. It is an act of recognizing human sinfulness and the need for sacrifice. Thus, Abel AND his offering were accepted by God. Such is a man that God seeks and has regard – a repentant sinner (Abel) with the fear of God (right type of sacrifice).

Seth came in place of the slain Abel. He too possessed such attributes. And because he is godly, he brought forth a godly generation! Through this bloodline, we would eventually see the new man – Jesus!

Application – One Man One New Generation! The quality of the generation depends on the quality of the man! When our disciples are fully trained, they would be like us! Thus, we need to set HIGH standard so that our disciples (the generation after us) would be godly too! Weed out every compromise and lack of knowledge and GROW Deep in Word and Holiness!


CSL

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Cain's Mentality

csldailydevotion

10 Feb 07

Devotion 8 : Genesis 4 - The Mentality of Cain

1 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."

13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Why was God so unfair to Cain?

Cain was “forced” to kill his brother because he was jealous of God’s favor over Abel. If God had been kinder towards Cain, Abel could have been spared. If God had not been unfair towards Cain, if God had assured Cain of his effort, Cain could have been more worshipful…

Have you ever thought about this passage this way?

I have. And I have learnt to term this thinking as Cain’s Mentality!

Cain’s Mentality, an effort to justify our action without consideration of God’s nature! It is a man-centered approach to God in times of crisis or calamity as well!

God knew Cain! God knew Cain’s ugliness within him. He was disqualified even before the sacrifice was given. He was not equally regarded by God because he was not even equal with Abel before God. God saw through his evilness, his wickedness, his revengeful nature. Thus no amount of sacrifice would draw God to him.

Yet we see the mercy of God when God spoke to Cain in v6 and 7 - God reminded Cain of the reality of sin crouching at the door!

God warned Cain despite His foreknowledge of Cain, i.e. that Cain would kill his brother.

Thus when Cain sinned by killing his brother, he did so through yielding to his evil being.

God is just when He judges.

Thus, when we sense the lack of favor or intimacy with God, or even during times of crisis, it is good to ask the Holy Spirit to search and test our hearts lest there are evil ways within us.

Finally, we need to return back to accept the Sovereignty of God – He is good and He is in control!

And the Sovereignty of God is… He always leads us into Victory!


CSL

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Sin brought about Self-consciousness. DENY yourself today!

csldailydevotion

7 Feb 07

Dear family,

I was meditating on devotion 6 i.e. effects of sins.

I was very convicted that self consciousness was really not of God’s design i.e. vs11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

When man was originally created, there was no need for clothing because man was innocent. Man was created for God, to focus on pleasing God, to be God-conscious…..When sin came into man, the first “awakening” was the realization of self!

That is why sin continues to have such hold on us because we are still very self conscious; our rights, our wills, our choices, our face/reputation, our need for approval…

No wonder the first action of following Jesus was to “Deny ourselves”!

Take some time to evaluate the call/challenge of God in your lives. Chances are the inner struggles within us, to obey God, have to do with our SELF!

Matt 16: 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

vs 25 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Have you taken up your cross?


CSL

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The Effects of Sin

csldailydevotion

4 Feb 07

Dear family,

What are the effects of sin?

v7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

v8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, (H)and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

v9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, " Where are you?"

v10 He said, "(J)I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."

v11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

v12 The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

1. Self Consciousness – the need for covering
Adam and Eve were naked before each other. There was no shame for such transparency. But when sin came into their lives, they became SELF CONSCIOUS! V 7 “eyes..were opened…they knew” showed the awakening of self consciousness. As a result Shame, natural outcome of self consciousness, came into being.

2. Separation – the need to hide
v8 shows the futility of man’s effort ie to hide. But yet it is so true that man is the one who took the initiative to run away from God to hide. Sin brought “separation from God”. But it does not nullify God’s effort to reach out to man.

3. Blame – the need for explanation
v12 shows man unwillingness to assume personal responsibility. Man blamed the sin to woman.

All these effects are in our lives. We lost our innocence when sin came, we think we could hide our sins from God, we explain away our part in our sins.

Adam and Eve were chased out of Eden because they never repent of their sins. Hence, these effects continue to affect humanity.

Check your life today. Are there things that you are over conscious of? Need to hide? Or blame someone of the cause and effect in your lives?

The reverse is also true!

If you repent of your sins today (1Jn 1:9) by taking responsibility for your part, and not blame, you would experience the closeness of God. You would feel the Grace and hate the sins. And before you realize, you would regain some level of freedom from self consciousness again!

We need to walk daily by taking responsibility for our parts; both good and bad, before God. And allow Him to receive our confession and release His grace into our being. That’s the NEW beginning, of victory, God has for you!

As we pursue Victory and Holiness in God, it is a declaration of warfare!

The Devil would intensify his effort to trap and destroy us. Don’t fret! If you fall, confession to God and to the community! Stand up and fight again!

When we persist in the Lord, we will find the release and victory!

Just don’t let sin lead us AWAY from His GRACE!


CSL

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Are you hearing His voice today?

csldailydevotion

2 Feb 07

Dear family,

I was blessed by Sunday's message by Doug Lambert. I could imagine some of you wondering if we had exchange notes since I spoke similarly during Sat's prayer meeting. :)

We did not. But God did have a similar message for all of us! i.e. to hear His voice! In fact, I was told Doug preached 3 different messages for all the services. You can go online to check it out. Indeed God has arranged our messages divinely for a reason!

By the way, are you hearing His voice today?

Devotion 5 - The Silence of Adam.

In Devotion 4, I mentioned about the need to Know - Live - Stay Faithful to the Word.

We can see this in direct contrast to the first man, Adam. He was given the command to obey but yet he did not. When Eve was tempted by the serpent, Adam was neither busy tendering the garden nor sleeping. He was right beside her. But he did NOTHING!

Genesis 3:6 - When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Many times, we think sins are things that we do. But sin and sins are committed through our non action too! Evil exists because good man do NOTHING!

Thus, it is not enough to know the Truth. We must obey the Truth by LIVING and being Faithful to the end.

This means we are ALSO required to correct others within our influence, in all spiritual wisdom, concerning the Truth. We cannot be silent when the world is drumming their lies and values into the mind of those untutored in the word. The key is that we must do it in all spiritual wisdom, i.e. so that they would heed our words and not recoil from us.

Part of living a Victorious life is living for Eternity. There are two things would last for all eternity - the soul of man and the Word of God.

Are you hearing His voice concerning these two things today?


CSL

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Know – Live – Stay Faithful to the end

csldailydevotion

30 Jan 07

Dear family,

Previously in Chapter 3 of Genesis. we were reminded about the need to go back to the Word of God. My reflections on this chapter continues, and we now move on to recognize the traps the devil would place in our path to Victory!

Schemes of the devil

V1-5 : we saw how the devil used the word to deceive us intellectually - Distortion of TRUTH
V6 : good for food, delight to eyes, desirable to make one wise - Deception of BLESSING
V6 : gave also to her husband - Distraction from LOVED ONES

From Eve’s experience, we need to:

1. Know the Truth to counter Distortion of Truth.
2. Live with the Truth to counter the Deception of Blessing.
3. Stay faithful to the Truth to counter the Distraction from Loved Ones.

Don’t be too quick to assume what is good is good for our being. All sinful habits and strongholds are always presented as pleasurable and fun. No one would be tempted by something that is harsh and ugly. The Devil knows that full well. Do you?

Thus we need to live by His word more than what is presented as good. We need to know the Truth, live with the Truth, and be faithful to the Truth (to the end).

Our ultimate alliance is with God not man. Be discerning with what you hear from man. Weigh what you hear with what the Word says.

Yes. Know – Live – Stay Faithful to the end. You should be Victorious!


CSL

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Return to God's word today!

csldailydevotion

26 Jan 07

Dear family,

This morning, I was revisiting Chapter 3 of Genesis. and was reminded of what would hinder us from Victory – the lack of the knowledge of God/Word.

In this chapter , we know that Eve was tempted and led to sin. Her answers to the serpent revealed a lack of such knowledge.

Upon further reflection, I am reminded that Eve was not there in Chapter 2, when God created Adam, when the commandment was given. She was only created after the commandment. This implies that she came to know the Word/Commandment from Adam: a second handed information.

Let’s examine her responses and see what we can learn from someone who did not know the Word personally.


1st sign – Limited understanding of God’s provision

Chap 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

vs 16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely

But when we compare v2 with 2:16, we can see that God’s plan was for man to EAT from any tree. Eve limited God’s provision to mere fruit. We know from other passages that the leaves, roots, etc of the trees are edible.

An uninformed mind will have a limited understanding of the abundance of His provision.


2nd sign – Legalizing God's commandment

v3: Eve added the command of “touch” when God spoke in chap 2:17 that Adam should not eat.

When we do not know the word personally, we tend to add more “law” to make ourselves feel safe.


3rd sign – Lessening the consequences

v3: Eve used the word “lest you die” which implies a slight possibility that we may not die. But God said in great certainty that we would surely die.

Thus, when we do not know His word, we tend to lessen His judgment. No wonder we are NOT seeing the fear of God among His people.

We are already seeing a generation who are very weak in the Word. We cannot afford to let this situation continue. The lack of knowledge of His word has resulted in many weak and defeated Christians. We must return to His word Now!


CSL

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Give thanks ALWAYS!

csldailydevotion

25 Jan 07

Dear family,

Chapter 2 of Genesis.

As I pondered about the text, I was amazed by the attention God gave to man. More than 60% of the verses in Genesis 2 referred to man.

V8 God gave man residence
V9 God gave man food/nourishment
V15 God gave man work
V 16-17 God gave man boundary
V 20 God gave man super capacity/mental power
V 21-25 God gave man companion

God provided EVERYTHING man needed. God did so in the beginning. God still does so today… How then shall we live? Give thanks! Give thanks always!

He will always provide for me. Amen.


CSL

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God has made me GOOD

csldailydevotion

In this season of going deep, beyond my preparation for prayer meetings, bible study, nice, I decided to start another series of reflection. This will be my devotional reflections.

I started with Genesis 1 yesterday. All through the chapter, I was reminded of the word GOOD. I felt the Lord affirming His creation of which I am part of. Yes, I am GOOD! I am Good because I am made in His image. There is nothing wrong in God’s creation.

This word is even more timely because we were reminded again that what we perceived of ourselves, we would be. Thus the need for us to see beyond our weaknesses to see God in us. We are made to be GOOD.

Thus, celebrate today with the GOOD self. He is in me,thus I am good!

For the righteous shall live by faith!

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