Acts 12:18-32

When we look around and see the wicked prosper, we begin to grow tired of being good. We start to ask why we bother to live godly lives when the bad ones do otherwise. We wonder why they thrive despite the wicked deeds they do.

It was the same picture that Asaph saw. And he was bitter. He wrote a psalm about it and we have it in Psalm 73.

Asaph knew that God is good and that He cares for the righteous. But he confessed that he nearly lost faith in Him when he envied the proud. He looked with sourness at the sight that they succeed while they do mischief.

What Asaph did not know was the fact that life is not that trouble-free for the wicked. It is not true that they make it at all times. They are not always strong. They also feel pain like other men do. They also have struggles as all men have. They do not have all their hearts could wish.

Asaph understood the plight of the wicked only until he came into the presence of God. There he realized what would befall them in the end. God impressed upon him that their end is tragic.

Hence Asaph wrote, “Surely You set them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind…” (vv. 18-21)

What Asaph thought of wicked men is also what we have thought of them. And like him, we lose sight of faith at

times. We may think that God is doing nothing while the wicked prosper in the face of their evil deeds. We may think that He has forgotten us.

But He Himself is our sure reward. He wants us to stay in the path of faith – where He is. He wants us to fix our eyes upon Jesus – the One who gave us the faith and will likewise bring an end to it. (Hebrews 12:2)

What happens in the world is not bound to stay forever. God has the final say. Only what He has affirmed to stay will stay. As His Word said, “The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous. But the ungodly shall perish.” (Psalm 1:4-6)

We need to see things the way God sees them. When we do, we will not need to envy the wicked. Hence we shall be able to say with Asaph, “Whom have I in heaven but You? My flesh and my heart fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26)

Reflection:

1. What do you think you have that a wealthy and wicked person may not have? Why?

2. Make a list of all kinds of blessings that you have received from God since the time you came to know Him. Write down what you felt afterwards.

The best way to fight envy is to count our blessings.

James 1:2-12

People would always want their lives to be safe and secure. But it does not happen in real life. And often, God would take away from us those things that we depend on. He does it because He wants us to trust that He can and will help us when life seems uncertain for us.

On board a ship, Jesus bade His disciples to cross the other side of the lake with Him after a day’s ministry. The lake, which is known as Sea of Galilee, is 680 feet below, 150 feet deep, and surrounded by hills. The Bible scholars claim that the physical features of this lake often lead to sudden windstorms that cause extremely high waves that sometimes reach 20 feet.

While they were sailing on, a furious storm came and threatened to wreck their ship. The waves were gigantic. And the threat to their life was so real. But what frightened them most was the sight that Jesus their Lord was just sleeping at the back of the boat.

They wakened Him up, shouting, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

Then Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace be still!” And there was a great calm.

He asked them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:38-40)

We, too, often face all sorts of storms in life. And we also feel tossed by the waves like what happens to a small boat in the sea. Then we come to see how weak we are. And we cry in despair.

The disciples had witnessed Jesus’ power when He was with them. But there were times that they just took it lightly. They doubted if He could work in situations like the coming of a fierce storm.

There is no reason why God cannot display His power. He is not in a deep sleep just like what the disciples thought of Jesus. For when He slept in the midst of a storm, it does not mean that He did not care. Rather it tells us that there is no power on earth that could be above His. It tells us that nothing can shake Him. That He is in control.

When we are caught in the storms of life, it is easy to think that God has lost control. That He could not help us at all. God is sovereign. If we will put our faith in Him, we will see His hands at work behind everything that happens in our lives.

Jesus’ words to His disciples after He calmed the storm imply that He was hurt. They had seen many times the miracles Jesus did yet these did not help to make them believe Him. Not until He died and rose again. Only then they were convinced that Jesus indeed is God and worth trusting.

Reflection:

1. Jesus was sleeping in the boat when a fierce storm hit, which caused His disciples to be terrified. How did you view Jesus here the first time you read it?

2. Was there a time that you blamed God for not helping you at once in the trials you faced? Why? What lessons did you learn from it?

Life’s “storms” give us the chance to know that God works miracles.

Psalms 107

They say that after every storm is a cloud with silver lining. It may not be exactly true. Because if you are on board a plane, you will see the silver lining of the sun’s reflection above a looming storm. There the thick and dark clouds roll fast.

How can we know this if we are way below the dark clouds of a coming storm? Instead we panic when we see a lightning strike and hear a thunder roar. And yet we are just like that when we come face to face with “storms” in our lives.

But God is committed to us. He will not abandon us during such times. What He wants is that we learn how to look at life’s struggles in a better perspective. It means we must see that He who is above every storm of life is with us.

The Lord’s disciples came to know this truth one eventful night. They were to go to the other side of Galilee with Jesus and they must cross the lake. While on boat, there arose a great windstorm. The waves beat into the ship so that it was now full of water. (Mark 4:37)

The disciples panicked and did all they could to stop the boat from sinking. But it was too late and beyond their control anymore.

Meanwhile Jesus was in the rear end of the boat and was fast asleep. Peter, James, John and other seasoned fishermen with them were doing their best to save their lives and that of others from drowning. Till they realized that the Lord was only sleeping.

They awoke Him up and nagged on Him. “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” They grilled Him on how

He could sleep so comfortably in the midst of a storm while they were all panicking.

So Jesus arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, “Peace be still.” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (Mark 4:39). And they were all set in awe of Him.

Just like the disciples, we may think God leaves us in times of sorrows. But that is not true. What happens though is that those times reveal what’s inside our heart.

God uses those moments to purge and cleanse our heart. He wants us to see how we respond to life’s tests. From there, He would offer help as we ask Him to.

God is there to sharpen our faith in Him. He does not want us to perish. After all, He is over and above the “storms and dark clouds.”

A prophet wrote, “The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm. And the clouds are the dust of His feet.” (Nahum 1:3)

Dark clouds suggest God’s presence. Oswald Chambers put it this way. “God cannot come near us without clouds. He does not come in clear shining brightness. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child. That is a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows.”

God wants to reveal Himself to us through dark times of our life and not just to help us through these. So the moment dark times approach us, we should all the more welcome those silver linings that come with them.

Then we can say with Nahum the prophet, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows them that trust in Him.” (Nahum 1:7)

Reflection:

1. Are you facing trials? Are you troubled? Think of ways on how you can focus on God who is the Source of your strength.

2. What makes you faint in times of trouble?

The dark times of life gives us the chance to peek through the glory of God.

Exodus 15:1-21

Nothing is too hard for God to do. (Jeremiah 32:27)

Whatever good thing we desire can come to pass. But we have to give God the chance to perform it. That desire may have been lost in unbelief. But God tells us today that all things are possible with Him. (Matthew 19:26)

If you seek for things that agree with His will, He will do them. If you obey Him and ask for blessings that He promised to give them who obey, they shall be yours. Blessings shall not only follow you. They shall overtake you. (Deuteronomy 28:2)

Does it take long for God to give you what you are asking of Him? If it does, there are three things you should know. He answers yes and gives it to you at once if He knows you need it in that instant and it will not harm you. He answers no because you will not really need it and it will surely harm you. He tells you to wait because it is not yet the time for you to have it though you really need it.

The problem is, He will not tell you those answers bluntly. That is where should faith take place. So we need to be in touch with Him. It is in our fellowship with Him that we can know how He answers our prayers.

God can do all things. It is for us to believe. We must not only believe that He can do what we ask of Him. We must believe that He will.

What is your urgent prayer? What breaks your heart most? What makes you sleepless and restless? Turn it over to God. He knows best what to do with it. He knows what to give you. And He will give it to you. Only believe. For all things are possible to those who believe. (Mark 9:23)

The greater the pressure, the greater the pain, the more we should rely on God. With Him and in Him there is no dead-end. There is always another turn that leads to victory when He is with you. He does not run out of means to meet your need. He has a million ways to touch you.

It is not fair to think that God does not care. In fact He feels our hurt. He knows just how much we could take in or bear. He does not allow a weight to bear down on us if we could not handle it. (1 Corinthians 10:13). He promised to help us and He will.

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16)

Reflection:

1. What is your urgent need? Jot it down and the reason why God should meet it.

2. Do you know a thing that God can do if He wants but still He will not? What could it be? What might hinder God from doing it?

There is no limit to what God can do.

John 1:43-51

Matthew 11:25-30

Some believe that God’s main business in this world is to heal or mend hurting people. That is true. But there’s more to that. He wants to make Himself known to all mankind.

Yet we may wonder and ask, “Is God helpless that He could not force His subjects to acknowledge Him?” He is not and never will be. He has not lost strength and will not gain any. His strength is complete. He does not need any help to fulfill His purposes. On the contrary, it is man’s free will that hinders God’s aim to be closer to His creation.

Adam and Eve, the first man and woman that God had created and placed in the Garden of Eden, were convinced by the serpent to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 3:1-7, 22). They chose to know what is good and evil than to have intimate relationship with God.

God’s union with man was cut off when they broke His command. Sin ended it. So Adam and Eve and the people born after them bore that sinful nature. And they were given to strange gods. Since then, the story of God reaching out to His creation continues.

His attempt to form Israel as His nation and people was an example. He did not just gather the multitudes of Israelites and deliver them from 400-year old slavery in Egypt. He wanted to make them a people to whom He could reveal Himself. He wanted them to proclaim in the midst of a pagan world that He is God and there is no other.

Egypt was focused on idolatry, with scores of gods such as the Nile River, locusts, frogs, flies, snakes, dung beetles and among others. All these they held up as objects of idol worship.

So God judged the Egyptians by sending them 10 plagues [Exodus 12:12] – that they might know know His power and glory, that there is no other god besides Him.

God said to Moses. “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them, that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.’” (Exodus 10:1-2)

Such display of God’s awesome power was not meant to impress the Israelites at all. It was meant to draw them nigh to Him, to make them realize that He rules over everything, to make Himself known to them, that He is just and faithful.

So God delivered them from the Egyptians. Then He set up His laws over the budding nation of Israel. He set up His laws through Moses to establish relationship with the people He had chosen for Himself. But He knew that the law lacks the power to draw them near to Him. Centuries had passed and it proved that the law was weak in that it made nothing perfect. (Hebrews 7:19)

The New Testament explained that the law was put in charge to lead men to Christ that they might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)

God knows that sin disabled men to draw near to Him. That is why He sent His Son Jesus at a time appointed to do for us what the law could not do. He broke down the walls between the sinful men and the holy God through His death. He paid the price so we can draw near to God.

God is not in hiding. There is no secret formula to know Him. He desires that we know Him. But we need to cross the bridge Christ had built to turn us back to God.

Ask Him now who said, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.” (Jeremiah 24:7a)

Reflection:

1. How long have you known God? How would you describe your relationship with Him? What can you say about what Paul said in Philippians 3:10?

2. To get to know God through His Word, make a plan that will enable you to read the Bible in a year. Jot down on this space the details on how you are going to do this.

A lifetime is not enough for us to know God.

John 16:17-33

The reason why the world is in turmoil is because it does not know the true peace. Any effort to get it is meaningless if people will not get it from whom it comes.

To have peace means more than to stop chaos and war. It means more than to solve problems of all sorts.

To have real peace means to surrender our will to God. It means to let go of the feeling of fear, anxiety and hatred. It means to quit from doing all actions that go against the will of Him who must rule our being.

The Bible reveals to us the One who can give us real peace. Prophet Isaiah said of Him, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

The Bible scholars noted that the fivefold names or attributes of the Messiah to reign forever refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful and Counselor are likely one name that tells about His role as a political guide and leader. He is the God made flesh also ascribed as the Mighty God. It means He is the all-powerful and great hero of His people. It means He is the divine warrior who has triumphed over sin and death. Everlasting Father states that Christ cares for the people just as a father cares for his children. That name is not in conflict with that of the First Person of the Trinity. As Jesus said to Philip in John 14:9, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

He is also named as the Prince of Peace. It tells us that His reign will be marked by peace. And this He obtained by shedding His own blood for sinners. Thus it was a triumph over Satan who brought chaos on earth.

Apostle Paul wrote about it this way. “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15)

The author of Hebrews also said it well. “…That through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14)

Jesus traded His life that we might have peace with God. “For He Himself is our peace…having abolished in His flesh the enmity…that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:14-18)

Finally Jesus gave His own peace to settle in our hearts. He said, “Peace I leave with you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Why are Christ’s death and His kingdom related to peace?

It was Christ’s death that triumphed over sin and death. His death nullified Satan’s right to have a hold on people’s lives. It completed what God required of men to be redeemed from their sin. It offered peace between the holy God and sinful man. If a person accepts this truth, he will have the peace he is searching for.

Let Jesus the Prince of Peace enter our hearts. It is the only way to let real peace reign in us. If we did, it means we allow Him to rule the way we think, speak, decide and act. It is the way of saying, “Let His kingdom come!”

Reflection:

1. “Not as the world gives…” What do you think is the kind of peace that Jesus was referring to in this phrase?

2. “He Himself is our peace.” What does it mean to you?

Jesus gave us peace at His own risk

Romans 8:32 | Galatians 3:26-29

It was an old custom in Rome where the father brings his son in court to acknowledge that he is his son. When done with it, his son will be entitled to all rights and privileges due to him. He becomes an heir to the wealth his father would leave behind when he dies.

But what if a parent does not acknowledge his or her child? What if a man does not marry the woman with whom he had a love child? What if parents just go away and leave their children in orphanage? What if children’s parents die when they are still young? We cannot imagine how hard life would be for them.

Life is hard when no one would provide for your needs. It is hard when no one would choose to be responsible over you. It is hard when you do not have the same rights and privileges bestowed to a legitimate child. It is also hard when your parents did not or could not leave you an inheritance should they die. And how harder it is when he that was supposed to give you a name did not. Indeed life would not be easy for those who did not have the chance to live a normal family life.

God knew these could happen. It is not impossible in a world that has fallen into sin. That is why it is not new to see children without parents to be there for them. So God put up the plan of adoption. It was not man’s mere idea. It was God’s. In fact He is the helper of the fatherless. (Psalm 10:14). He relieves and defends them. (Psalm 146:9; 10:18)

But do we know that all men are orphans spiritually? We cannot be called God’s children unless we go through what He requires.

On earth, the one who adopts takes the child as his own through legal means. Spiritual adoption is done in reverse. He would not take us as His children unless we let Jesus His only begotten Son in our lives. (John 3:16). Then we can become His children. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

To receive Jesus makes us enter into a relationship with God. He makes us His sons and daughters. And He becomes our Father. (Romans 8:15). And because we are His children, He leads us by His Spirit. (Romans 8:14). Above all, He makes us joint heirs with Christ. That whatever Christ has, He also gives us. (Romans 8:17). We become heirs of His kingdom! (James 2:5)

Our life in this world, with evil as constant companion, is hard. On the other hand, how glorious it would be if God is with us as our Father. But before we could take hold of it, we must have Jesus in our hearts.

Receive Him now so that God the Father can adopt you. You will not regret becoming His child

Reflection:

1. If you are a parent, what are the things that you want your children to have? How are you going to make sure that they will have those?

2. If there is a thing that you long to receive from your father, what is it and why?

There is no other Father like God.

Exodus 16

They saw Jesus doing miracles. They saw how the diseased became well. So they went to follow Him. They tread on towards the mountain where He was and His disciples were. From there He saw them coming to Him.

They were about five thousand men. The Passover was already near so He let them eat. They were amazed to see how He fed them through five barley loaves and two small fishes only. So they said He might be the Prophet who is to come into the world. (Deuteronomy 18:18)

They thought He might be the Messiah who will establish a perfect world on earth. Or He might be the answer to the continuing food crisis in the world. Hence they were determined to take Him by force to make Him their King. But that has nothing to do with His mission.

They sought Him the next day and found Him at Capernaum. But He knew what was on their mind. They sought Him not because they saw the sign but because they ate of the loaves and were filled. (John 6:26)

He told them they should not work for the food that perishes. They should work for the food that endures to everlasting life. What then they must do to do the works of God? He told them to believe in whom God has sent, referring to Himself.

They challenged His claim. What sign can He perform so they would believe Him? God poured out bread to feed their fathers in the desert for forty years. Can He do better?

Jesus told them, “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (vv. 32-33)

But they did not catch what He meant. “Lord, give us this bread always,” was all they had to say.

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst…I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world…Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” (vv. 35, 51, 53-56)

They were sickened to hear Him. It was a hard saying that they could not accept. So they went, not believing what He said. He might have sounded absurd to them.

We will not take in what Jesus said if we would just figure it out with our minds. But His Spirit can make us grasp what He meant.

The Jews were fond of giving credit on their works for God. Likewise it was easy for them to believe God through signs or miracles He does. Yet they would not believe Jesus and His claims about Himself.

Jesus did not make cannibals out of men. So where is the wisdom to command these people to eat His flesh and drink His blood? Jesus rather told them a deeper truth, which they hardly understood. He spoke of His death, which will give hope to all men. He wanted them to trust that the life He would

give up on the cross would make them alive in the spirit. That is why He said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)

All men have died because of sin. What have died in them is their spirit, the component that is made to commune and have fellowship with God. To make their spirits alive, Jesus needed first to conquer sin and the curses it brought upon their lives. And that He did through His death on the cross. But the freedom it offers will be ours only when we begin to trust Him. This is the greatest miracle that God would ever do in people’s lives. It is more than receiving our daily bread.

But Jesus also wants that we keep in our mind what He did. So He gave us the ordinance of the Holy Communion. Through this, we remember how He traded in His life for us – that we might live. (Matthew 26:26-29)

Reflection:

1. What does flesh and blood of Jesus imply? How did you react on what He said the first time you heard it? “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”

2. What makes it hard for many people to entrust their lives to God?

Jesus knows how poor in the spirit the people are and how much they need Him.

Psalms 147

All over the world are wounded souls. They look happy but inside they cry out. They wear smile on their faces yet deep within are wounds that have never been healed.

No one could truly be free from pain because its main root is sin. Sin brings out the worst in people and it always puts them in strife. Thus it wounds our soul.

But we do not need to languish in pain. Because God wants to make us whole. He desires to heal our wounds in the soul no matter how deep they are.

Luke had seized words that offer hope from the Lord’s mouth. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18)

The Spirit of the Lord had empowered Jesus when He was in the flesh. He held that power to restore the people and to meet them at the point of their need. But such mission came in full force only when He died and rose again. For God’s law required blood to be shed for it. (Hebrews 9:22; Matthew 20:28)

Jesus’ death and resurrection gave power to His work of restoration among the people. Today, He goes on with His mission to rebuild shattered lives.

Man will find inner healing only through Christ. He who chooses to surrender to His lordship will find it. Thus we must admit our need of Him before we could be healed of deep hurts.

We can do that by listening to and believing in His Word.

This is the reason why Jesus said He was sent to “preach the gospel to the poor.”

He came to preach the Good News to them that are spiritually bankrupt. He came to our rescue. Because He knew that we could not on our own recover from the ruin of sin, which made our spirits gloomy and poor.

To believe the gospel, which tells us how God redeemed our soul, is the first step to wholeness. It will reward us soundness of spirit. It will also give us an access to the kingdom of God and eternal life. (John 3:3, 16)

Yet we must understand that to believe the gospel will not promise us a life free from pain. We can never be totally free from life’s struggles because man is still in his fallen state. (Romans 3:23)

The wicked spirits are also in the high places ruled by Satan to continue to bring destruction in the world. (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 4:4).

That is why Jesus came “to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” It tells us we have the Lord to lean on whenever we go through painful circumstances.

God cannot make a person whole in just one night. It is a lifetime process and has its practical side. Every man needs to make steps to be totally healed and restored. He needs to submit to God the attitudes that worsen his condition. Whether they are anger, hatred, bitterness, self-pity, revenge, resentment and such like, he needs to let go of these. For the process of healing to begin in his life, he must own these up. And as God has promised, He will make him whole and a brand new person. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Reflection:

1. About what was the instance that you were totally in pain? What did you do then to overcome it?

2. Is there a struggle in your past that keeps on troubling you? Take time to pray and turn it over to God. Let Him handle it and set you free from it. Jot down how He healed you from it.

Jesus came to earth to touch us with His healing grace.