Make It Today!

“Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers.” Deuteronomy
8:1.This is the great promise. This is a promise so big that we can only attain it through one way- the way of obedience.

“Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today.” The word “today” is important. This day is strategic because our actions now will lead us closer to our destiny. We should dedicate the day to God. Now is the time to move toward His promises and if we know this truth, our souls will be awakened with new zeal and a new hope.

What do we need to know about a blessed life?

1. We need to know that we have fantastic life because we have a fantastic God.
The Bible tells us that we start from the Garden of Eden, yet our experiences are stories of brokenness. Our past was full of frustrations, entanglements, and empty dreams. “Yester-day” was full of defeat and pain, a result of rebellion and sin. Today, our lives can be different if we know how to reclaim the lost promise. Our future is now under the watchful care of a loving and awesome God. Our future carries the fulfillment of the promised land. Once we know God, the stories of our lives will be changed. Success will no longer come from our fruitless strivings or vain efforts. Instead, we find significance as the hands of God rest upon us and lead us. Once we know God, we know what to forsake and what to invest our lives in. If we know what is God’s best for us, we would no longer pursue sand in an hour glass.

2. We need to know that the way to get to the promised land is none other than to walk with Him. Obedience to the word of God means entry to the promised land. Our life journey should be an intense time of seeking God. Instead, we dump God with countless petitions,
but not all our petitions to God are important or significant to His kingdom business. Many times, our anxiety reveals the weaknesses of our faith. God is faithful and trusting but we are not. As we obey God more and more, we begin to develop spiritual sensitivity and greater trust on Him. Our inner drive to control every outcome will gradually mellow out into times of resting and trusting on the Lord. We as Asian Christians have a particularly tough battle to fight through since we are often driven by shame and performance. With our self-independent spirit, our faith becomes under-developed. Work-based lifestyle drains us of the radiating lifestyle that can only be an outcome of a trust-based, grace-empowered life in Christ. If we are trained to be more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the instruction of the Scripture, we will not be intimidated by the tyranny of the day. Resting in God comes as naturally as breathing. When we hold fast to that promise from Him, we will be experiencing God’s hand in our hands. Likewise, Moses’ staff transcends beyond merely being a shepherd’s rod. It has become an instrument of God’s spiritual authority. As we obey every commandment of the word of God, we experience God’s power and grace.

3. We need to know that God’s plan stays constant.
We need to plan our lives around God’s glory. Moses understood the will of God as he battled Pharaoh. Moses was unyielding in order for the Israelite slaves to show forth His glory. The LORD gave this message to Moses for the Israelites: “I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians,” Exodus 6:7.God Himself must speak to us through His servants because we are so weak and prone to errors. Imagine that, a perfectfantastic God of the universe deciding to walk with us–a sinful, weak, tempted people– on this life journey! God must have taken up a lot and put Himself at risk. Nevertheless, God prodded Moses and His people to get going, and He took on the liability on Himself. God is simply saying: Let’s move forward. For forty years in the wilderness, God was still amidst them, never giving up on them. Exodus 13:21 declares, “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.” God’s constant guidance and His Shekinah ( glory ) were so visible that no one could have missed the continual proof of the presence and protection of God. God’s footprint was felt in every unmarked territory. God showed the way in the desert for His people. His voice was all too sufficient for Moses to lead, to pause, to rest, to pray and to eat.

Our lives in Christ are exciting ways to the fantastic life. When we see there is a higher purpose in what we do, we have the momentum and excitement to go through life and seek God’s glory. We can move beyond. Career can be more than career. It can be a place to glorify God. Parenting can be a rewarding task as we build young lives for God’s ministry. Volunteering can go beyond just killing time. Suffering can work to mature our faith in life. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4.

The list can go on. God has decided to walk with us all through our life journey. Remember, God steps out of His sovereign throne into our mess. Our imperfection and sinfulness in turn becomes the display of God’s perfecting grace. Jesus says to all of us, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9.

The new edition of En-Yan steps out of its language barrier into the great promise of sharing life with one another. Some would ask, “Why English articles? Would we lose the original focus and turn away the Chinese audience?” My simple answer is this: We have a fantastic life that can be a blessing to many around us if we know this fantastic God. We walk by obedience to know the Lord we confess in Chinese is the same Lord we confess in English. We are to live our lives centered on God’s glory.

In the past two years, the church is awakened to a new beginning. We exist not because of our language, but rather we exist to glorify God by living out the heart of Jesus. Jesus walked through the towns and villages of Galilee, rode into Jerusalem, entered into the homes of Gentiles, and shared meals with sinners and tax collectors. In His final 6 hours, He turned to the Romans who showed Him cruelty, to the Jews who displayed foolishness, and to those who exhibited apathy at His work on the cross, and He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34.Do not allow language and culture to move us away from the heart of the Heavenly Father who desires all to come under the power and grace of His Son. Eph 2:11-13.God continues to show us the power of a surrendered life. Moses proclaimed that promise to 2 million Jewish people in the desert. Paul demonstrated that same power through his life given in sacrifice for the sake of the gospel and his missionary trips to the Gentile nations. Their lives were opened to serving and walking with God. What we have not yet seen is the power of a surrendered church where the church is repenting from religion, pride and debauchery.

Today, let us gain momentum, as God’s vision breaks through our human minds and calls for obedience. Let us get ourselves ready to move forward– less of us but more of Christ.