VIDEO He Knows Your Needs – Daniel 9

Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin … and presenting my supplication before the Lord. … the man Gabriel … informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.” Daniel 9:20-22

A predictable question from new Christians involves prayer: “If God already knows everything, why do I need to tell Him everything in prayer?” It’s a reasonable question. It suggests that the purpose of prayer is to convey information to God about our needs; information that will cause Him to move into action to meet those needs.

Jesus Himself addressed this question in His teaching to His followers in the early days of His ministry: “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Clearly, the purpose of prayer is not to convey information to God. The prophet Daniel learned the same thing. When he was praying for an end to the Jews’ captivity in Babylon (Daniel 9:4-19), the angel Gabriel appeared to him while he was still praying with the answer to his prayer: “As soon as you began to pray, a word went out” (Daniel 9:23, NIV).

When you pray, be assured that God knows your need. Speak with God more than to God.

Prayer without thanksgiving is like a bird without wings. William Hendriksen

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John MacArthur – Daniel 9 (interpreting Bible prophecy literally)

Why It’s So Important to Share One Purpose

We rebuilt the wall… for the people worked with all their heart. Nehemiah 4:6

 

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing many calls by national and community leaders in the battle against Covid-19. Stay safe. Stay strong. Stay at home. One call, however, has struck me as especially rousing and meaningful:

Stay united.

It’s a call that many Singaporeans have risen to, as seen in the tireless efforts by healthcare workers, cleaners, security guards, transport workers, and many others. And it’s seen in the many who have gone beyond the call of duty in to battle the coronavirus.

What drives their selfless spirit and sacrificial actions is one common purpose: to help the sick and afflicted, and to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Their actions remind me of another group of people who came together with such a united purpose in a difficult time. This was in the days of Nehemiah, who responded to the challenge to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by Israel’s enemies. Israelites from all walks of life and with various skills came forward to help rebuild the city walls and gates.

One Bible commentator counted 42 groups of people from different occupational backgrounds who were involved. The rebuilding project required the participation, coordination, and cooperation of the community to see to completion.

If you read through the list of names of people involved in Nehemiah 3, you’ll see that many of them were just ordinary people willing to step forward. The rebuilding of the wall was not a smooth process at all. It was met with resistance by Israel’s enemies, and the work was stressful and tiring. No wonder some were demoralised by the mounting challenges.

Yet all the people were united with one aim in mind: to rebuild the city walls, which would not only provide protection to their place of worship, but also give them a place of refuge where they could enjoy a renewed spiritual relationship with God.

As Nehemiah 4:6 records with warranted pride: “We rebuilt the wall… for the people worked with all their heart.”

I salute those who have been working tirelessly and sacrificially to help Singapore through this challenging time. And I believe that I can do my part by being mindful to wash my hands regularly and practise social distancing. I figure this is the least I can do to be a part of all who are working to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Like the Israelites who worked on the wall of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time, may we continue to work with one purpose in mind: Fight the spread and allow our act to be a part of our daily worship to God. —C. H. Tan

 

Lord, I pray for all Singaporeans
to stay united in purpose
in this battle against Covid-19.
Grant us a divine unity to work
with one purpose,
and help me to be a part of it.

God’s Goodness in Discipline

Hebrews 12:1-13

When a parent uses negative consequences in disciplining a son or daughter, the child might think, If you really loved me, you wouldn’t ground me. And the truth is, we often feel the same way when God disciplines us. But like any loving human parent, God has a goal of helping us grow. As today’s passage in Hebrews says, discipline doesn’t feel good initially; it hurts. Yet if we learn to accept and be trained by it, our lives will be transformed and bear fruit.

Unfortunately, we sometimes mistake God’s discipline for punishment, especially when we’re distracted or consumed with busyness. It’s easier to consider that discipline a blessing if we’re looking for the big picture of how God works in our life. But instead, we often complain, “If You were good to me, You wouldn’t do this or that” and, as a result, completely miss out on what He is doing.

In Psalm 23:6, when David writes, “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,” he is expressing that God’s blessings are present with us every day we are alive. The Lord pours out His goodness upon us—in our trials just as much as in our ease and comfort. Let’s pray for eyes to see those blessings and evidence of God’s good character and purposes.

Prosperity Versus Your Contentment

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6)

In this day of Madison Avenue sales pressures and an ever-increasing array of technological gadgets and creature comforts, the Christian virtue of contentment is a rare commodity. There is even a widespread error among born-again Christians that material prosperity is a token of spirituality and divine approval on an affluent lifestyle.

Instead of a blessing, however, such affluence (if it comes) should be regarded as a testing, for Jesus said: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48).

Paul was perhaps the most faithful and fruitful Christian who ever lived, yet he died penniless in a Roman dungeon. His own testimony concerning material possessions and standards of living was this: “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need” (Philippians 4:11-12).

In the context of our key verse above, the apostle Paul has actually been warning young pastor Timothy against the influence of those who suppose, among other things, “that gain is godliness,” and who think that their material prosperity is proof of their spiritual prosperity. “From such” says Paul, “withdraw thyself” (1 Timothy 6:5). Material gain in no way either produces or denotes godliness; rather, godliness itself is the gain, if accompanied by contentment in Christ (otherwise, of course, it is not true godliness)! Even the most impoverished believer can acquire riches in heaven, where it really counts. In the meantime: “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). HMM

Just Meditate for a Month Day and Night

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

—Psalm 1:2

 

Let the old saints be our example. They came to the Word of God and meditated. They laid the Bible on the old-fashioned, handmade chair, got down on the old, scrubbed, board floor and meditated on the Word. As they waited, faith mounted. The Spirit and faith illuminated. They had only a Bible with fine print, narrow margins and poor paper, but they knew their Bible better than some of us do with all of our helps.

Let’s practice the art of Bible meditation…. Let us open our Bibles, spread them out on a chair and meditate on the Word of God. It will open itself to us, and the Spirit of God will come and brood over it.

I do challenge you to meditate, quietly, reverently, prayerfully, for a month. Put away questions and answers and the filling in of the blank lines in the portions you haven’t been able to understand. Put all of the cheap trash away and take the Bible, get on your knees, and in faith, say, “Father, here I am. Begin to teach me!”   COU136-137

Guide me, Lord, as I take time to meditate on You. Tozer is stimulating me, but my real desire is to hear from You. I’ll get on my knees this morning Lord, in quiet expectation. Amen.

 

The Cross on the Hill and in My Heart

And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

—Galatians 5:24

 

One time a young man came to an old saint…and said to him, “Father, what does it mean to be crucified?” The old man thought for a moment and said, “Well, to be crucified means three things. First, the man who is crucified is facing only one direction.” I like that—facing only one direction…and that is the direction of God and Christ and the Holy Ghost…the direction of sanctification and the direction of the Spirit-filled life.

And the old man scratched his scraggly gray hair and said, “One thing more, son, about a man on a cross—he’s not going back.” The fellow going out to die on the cross doesn’t say to his wife, “Good-bye, honey. I’ll be back shortly after five.”

When you go out to die on the cross you bid good-bye—you’re not going back!…Get a man converted who knows that if he joins Jesus Christ he’s finished,…he’s not going back—then you have a real Christian indeed. TCC012-013

In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross. ROR066

 

The Magnetism of the Cross

John 1:12

John records in his Gospel that before yielding up His Spirit, Jesus said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). In the Greek this is one word, “accomplished.”

This is perhaps the boldest exclamation mark in all of Scripture. Nothing more to do—finished! Nothing more we can do—accomplished!

Feel the earthquake. See the splitting of the rocks. Notice the darkness. Witness the separation of the veil of the Temple so all may come directly into the presence of God through Jesus. Finished! Accomplished! His task completed. Philip Bliss has penned it eloquently:

 

Lifted up was He to die;

It is finished! Was his cry!

Now in Heav’n exalted high;

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

 

Magnetic forces are all around us in these days—drugs, alcohol, sexual permissiveness, power plays, the clamor for material things. But the magnetism of the cross pulls men and women from the abyss of sin. This power is triggered by our free will and the surrender of our hearts. He does not violate our freedom to choose.

Jesus speaks of the parish of the cross when He says, “I… will draw all men”

(John 12:32). No geographical limits. No ethnic, racial or socioeconomic barriers. No degree of depravity is beyond Calvary’s drawing power. “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

We too can be His children in this special way. God says, “I created you, but I want to come into your heart and forgive you, and make you a new creature in Christ so that you can know that promise as your personal experience.” Such indescribable suffering and unconditional love requires a response from us. Failure to accept this free and full salvation is like making a visit as nothing but a disinterested tourist to that hill in Jerusalem, allowing all the distractions to claim our attention, thus missing the real purpose of the cross.

At the center of The Salvation Army’s crest is the cross, pointing people to the Savior who died upon it. It also symbolizes that all of our service rendered around the world is done in the name and servanthood of Christ.

Robert A. Watson, The War Cry