Ask for Wisdom

26 May 2007 – Ask for Wisdom

Proverbs 2:3-4

Truly, if you are crying out for good sense, and your request is for knowledge;

If you are looking for her as for silver, and searching for her as for stored-up wealth;

We knew that how good is the wisdom if we have it, we can make the right decision, and do the righteous thing. Some people said that wisdom is not important, wisdom is the most foolish things, and we don’t need wisdom.

The proverb says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, we should fear the Lord, to fear the Lord, is to lean to it, we can cry out, request it, looking for it! For we Ask, and it will be given; Seek, and it will be found; Knock and the door will open.

Notice that what is the first word of the three words:

Ask

Seek

Knock

We should ask for it, for it is promised. There are many advantages for us if we have wisdom, but of course, we shouldn’t abuse it for the wrongs. As a result, make good use of it, and you will see the wonderful things in it!

I will learn more about Proverbs in these few periods, do update with me and drop some valuable comments!

From,

Your Dearest Friend,

Franco

Solomon’s Achievements and Glory

25 May 2007 – Solomon’s Achievements and Glory

1 Kings 10:5

the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord , she was overwhelmed.

Solomon, he is one of the greatest men that the bible has recorded. Personally, I am fond of him and I am really astonished by his wisdoms, I am looking forward to read about his Proverbs, which is the word of wisdoms. What he had done during his reign in Israel was of his own wise acts. I really demanded to have a wise brain like Solomon, to deal with the matters in this very world. Sometimes, it really require wisdom to tackle problems, without wise decisions and determination, we will not solve it correctly and suitably.

When Queen Sheba visited her and tested him with a few caravans which is some sort like what we saw in Detective Conan and other detective stories, which requires brainwave to think about it. But Solomon has got them all correct and astonished the Queen. As he served the Queen, she is astonished and overwhelmed; it is the start of Hotel Management in World! Service of guests is of the wisdoms of Solomon! I believe that one day later, I will create and new idea in this very world which needs the most and of God’s support.

Every person must have done wrong in their lives, this does not exclude Solomon, Solomon has many concubines and wives, whom totalize in 1000, had led him to backslide. He had turned away from God and turn to other powers of miscellaneous gods. This makes him fell into the traps of Satan. Our forgiving God has forgiven him for the sake of David, but he will cut off his nations from the hands of his son. Nevertheless, he is the richest man on the world that time. From this, I can really see that people in the lord will not suffer from adversaries and hardships forever, it only last for a while. So there is no other reason to get disappointed in God, for he will provide us and we will have EVERYTHING WE NEED!

As we seek for his Kingdom and his righteousness, he will then give us what we need.

Grace abounds with Sin

4 May 2007 – Grace abounds with Sin

Romans 5:19-20

Because, as numbers of men became sinners through the wrongdoing of one man, even so will great numbers get righteousness through the keeping of the word of God by one man. And the law came in addition, to make wrongdoing worse; but where there was much sin, there was much more grace:

Nowadays, we Christians are one of many attacks and adversities, compared to other religions, others might not humiliate and tease the people of other religion, but they will look down on Christian, and play with them for no good reason. I sometimes also feel that why Christian suffers more than others, until I came across to a passage:

2 Corinthians 12:9
And he said to me, My grace is enough for you, for my power is made complete in what is feeble. Most gladly, then, will I take pride in my feeble body, so that the power of Christ may be on me.

Yes, his grace is enough for us, though we went through so much hardships and adversity, we are still endurable, don’t you notice that? So, we can sense the power within us when we are weak, for when we are weak, he become strong! He never forsook us from crying and plea. Jesus Christ has died for us on the cross to save us from sin, some might say, how can he has the ability to do this to save us among all NATIONS? But how about Adam? Adam had eaten a forbidden fruit that causes sin to enter, and so sin is brought to us today by ONE PERSON. So how come we can’t believe that ANOTHER one man that did a righteous act for us could save us from sin!

So, do not think that you do not deserve this gift from God, no matter what you had done, how much wrong things have you done, his grace is sufficient for us. It is just like if we represent sin with a stone, the greater the sin, the greater the stone. When we throw two stones together (1 big and 1 small) into the water, it makes no difference but the popping sounds. Both the stones will sink into the water.

Remember, the greater things you have done wrongly, the greater is the grace of God that can provide us. His grace abounds with infinite measures. Amen!

From,

Your dearest friend,

Franco

Free Gift

23 May 2007 - Free Gift

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Romans 4:16 So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.

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Everybody loves gifts, despite their age and levels, neither ignorant children nor experieced seniors dislike gifts; neither wealthbound millionare nor poverty-stricken beggar reject free gifts. The wages or income of what we worked is not our gift, but the outcome of your work, you have to do something to earn it. Unlike free gifts, we no need to do anything to deserve this, it is given FREE OF CHARGE. So, the faith which we possess are like such, it is a free gift to everyone who believe and willing to receive. We do not need to do anything in order to get the gift, as this is an account of love.

You can Give without Love, but you can't Love without Give.

It is not all about the obey of the law to be accepted by Christ, it is all about faith. So I keep emphasizing that our faith saved us, Jesus has also said to the people whom he had healed that, "Your Faith has saved you!"

Luke 7:49-50
The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

So, what you have to do now is not just understanding, but work it out! Action speakes louder than word! There are many more wonderful things that we can experience after accepting this free gift, when you open it, you will fill with surprise. Reminisce about the gifts you receive from your birthday party, do we not fill with surprise and try to shake the gift box to listen whether what is it? It is full of surprise and great things that the lord gave us. So, receive it!

From,
Your dearest friend,
Franco

Faithful Fact

22 May 2007 - Faithful Fact

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Rom 3:27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

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There is a saying that faith is a fact, and it is also an act. It is true, you cannot just boast that I have faith with God, for I have stated that faith is the fairest standard that we people have in common, even the babies, till the seniors. So, how do we indicate our faith in God? We human sometimes are unfaithful, we have lied before - it is undeniable! If you tell me you have not been, then you have made your first lie here - . Though we are unfaithful, we may be betrayal, sometimes, but God is never changing, he is faithful, no matter what.

Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

So, how do we practice our faith in God, of course, we should daily read bible and pray to make our relationship with him better. God said that we cannot do anything to acquire acceptance by Him, the acquittal is not based on how good you are, it is based on the faith you have! When are to fullfil it right to God through faith and not by doing good. So, the problem is here, why then if we say that we are not obeying the law, but we should have faith. Then, should we forget about the law and live just through faith? CERTAINLY NOT!

Romans 3:31
Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.

So, we should be living in faith, our faith automatically help us to go along with the law and do good. Get it clear and we believe in him, let us walk by faith and put our trust in Him!

From,
Your dearest friend,
Franco

Not just understanding but obeying

21 May 2007 - Not just understanding but obeying

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Romans 2:13
For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.

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Many of us, including students who are in the age of study, will understand that when we studied, we will have exams after all of these. Why is that so? The reason is simple, it is that teachers and the examiners demanded that the students will have the ability of applying the knowledge that they have learnt. If the students passed the exam with flying colours, then it will be no problem with his ability;Thus, if the students failed, then the ability should be improved more.

So this is what call life, life can be said as a process of studying like all of us in school time. In the meantime, we will be studying, and God is the teacher, and he will teach things that we ought to understand or comprehend. At the end of the semester, he will give us an exam, to test what how can you apply those learnings in life. That is what hardships and adversity is for. It is amazing to realize that life is a process of learning.

Thus, applying is very important, you will never tell others that you comprehend something without applying it and showing in front of others, action speaks louder than word! So all of you, my friends, always bear in mind that APPLICATION ALWAYS APPLIES! When you apply it, you will bring the effect of it, and you will sense the wonderfulness of it!

Let's enjoy life in Jesus' Name, Amen!

Faithful Living

20 May 2007 - Faithful Living

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Romans 1:17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

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There are many standards that we people used to measure ourselves in world, there are wealthiness, generousity, etc. As a result, some people has the opinion that our lives are all meant by these things, they were these things that determine our lives. Hence, somebody might say that, you are only saved when you do good more, the more you involve in charitable work, the higher the level you are in heaven; Some might say, your standard in heaven in the future is determined by your bank savings account, if you are wealthy now, then you will be enjoying to heaven.

Friends, I tell you, Certainly Not! How many of you understand that it is unfair and unjust to determine the eternal by those standards? If the standard is money, then how about those people who are in poverty? Is it we say that they will not go to heaven and enjoying eternal life? No!! But, thank god, He has given us a very just way as standard to enjoy eternal life, this thing is possesed by all young and old, rich and poors, righteous and wicked, even a baby of a few months old still occupies this, that is FAITH. Bible told us, without faith it is impossible to please God. A baby is able to put his/her faith into his mother's hands so that when his mother is carrying him/her, he/she will not fall down. We also trust the chair we sit now(while you are watching this article), that the chair won't collapse when you sit on it.

It is the same with God, when we believe in Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection, and we open our hearts to him and accepts him, we will enjoy eternal life, it is not some sort of the exchange programme, it is the matter about before and after. God cannot force you to believe him when you don't want to, so he cannot do anything on you because you refused him, but at the moment you open your heart, he will began to work in your heart!

At the end, it is a proper saying that it is through faith that a righteous person has life!

From,
Your dearest friend,
Franco

Wisdoms

19 May 2007 - Wisdoms

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1 Kings 4:29-31, 34

God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore. 30 In fact, his wisdom exceeded that of all the wise men of the East and the wise men of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite and the sons of Mahol¡ªHeman, Calcol, and Darda. His fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations.

And kings from every nation sent their ambassadors to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.

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When I read about the Scriptures above, I really realized that God is never failing, always trustworthy, in the previous devotional essay, I read that God has promised him to give him great wisdom as he pleaded for it, but God did not just give him wisdom and knowledge that he asked, but he even give him what he didn't ask for, the wealth, riches and fame. Solomon is a very rich man in God, from this I know that people in God must not those who are poor (Some really thought like that!). Though we maybe poor for some time, we will not poor forever, we wil have the prosperity and blessings that the lord gave us. As long as you believe and trust, without faith it is impossible to please God.

In the previous chapter, i.e. 1 Kings 3, King Solomon dealt with a detective case, which requires investigation and mind-boggling. He dealt with the case of the exchange of babies between two women, he dealt with them wisely and instinctively. When I read that, and reviewing my interest in watching detective stories, I really wanted to have the wisdom that Solomon had! I will commit this all to the Lord, when he asked me one day that what do I want Him to give me, I will demand wisdom and knowledge, for all troubles that can be solved requires wisdom, not in the aspect of academy, but in daily lives, in acquaintances, in every parts of life.

I pray that I will have the wisdom from above, that can let me to deal with my life matters with the best way God think I will have, and to tackle problems and adversity in the future when I am at Singapore pursuing my studies. In Jesus's name I pray, Amen!

From your dearest friend,

Franco

What do you want me to give you?

18 May 2007 - What do you want me to give you?

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2 Chronicles 1:7, 10-11 7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”... 10 Give me the wisdom and knowledge to lead them properly,^[e] for who could possibly govern this great people of yours?” 11 God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people—

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Everyone must have a life, and be a leader of a company, an organization, a church or even a class. We will have to be a leader one day, so the pre-requisites of being a leader is to be determined, not to be doubting, and be strong and courageous in front of your people. For they take you as their head, can you imagine that if the head of the body does not function, what will happen to the body itelf?

King Solomon, which is the son of David, has became a king of Israel at that time, one day when he slept soundly, God appear into his dream and asked him what he wants, ask and He will give him. Can you imagine that if you met with this question, what will you demand, if you were the king that time, fame? Wealth? Peace? or even power? That time King Solomon made the right choice, which he inquired God the grant him wisdom and knowledge to lead the people properly. He realised that wisdom and knowledge are far more important than all those things, how many of us will think of wisdom and knowledge when you become a leader in a team? A leader ought to have a wise and knowledgable mind so that the people who led by him will follow loyally and being convinced well. The body parts of a body will only be WISE when the brain in the head instruct them WISELY.

But what a beautiful thing about God is, he knew the desires which he would think of, so He said, you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, death of enemies but demanded most the wisdom to help his people. So he said he will certain grant him knowledge, but he will also give him what he didn't asked, i.e wealth, riches, fame! What an amazing God we serve!

12 I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!” (2 Chronicles 1:12)

Knowledge is powerful, and wisdom is a pre-requisite in living. And yet we should guard our heart properly, for our heart determines our lives.

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:23)

From,
Your Dearest Friend,
Franco

Be Faithful and Courageous

17 May 2007 - Be Faithful and Courageous

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2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

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We might sometimes be uncertain and undertermined when we are up to some decisions, sometimes we people are like this, we often think many aspects and angles before doing any decision, or just a mutual undetermination. We should overcome this problem! For we are people of great achievements! We are like our God, which is a very determined God, a creative God ( INDEED!), and he won't have any dilemma on facing decisions.

I personally had a testimony that I am was a very timid person, when I was young, I found myself very afraid in school when dealing with questions I don't understand, I was too timid to ask teacher and my tutor. So the problem is, I kept on not understanding my works, and they thought I was understanding them well, so this is the outcome of it. But Thank God that when I have grown up, I start to grow more courageous and determined, so now whenever I have met any misunderstanding and doubts in my works, I will kept on asking my teachers until I got it right, though sometimes others might say I am very think-faced (In chinese), unshameful(? correct me if I'm wrong). It is better than none that I understands the things rather than keeping my face from not being slandered by others, the mouths are on their sides, we will not lose any of our flesh by just listening how they talk about us, as soon as they saw what had happened, they will be astonished and won't be gossiping so much.

Paul told Timothy, a peer of his during the ministry of serving God, that God gave us the spirit of Power, Love, and Self-Discipline. So we are the kind of people that are such, that means we are able to overcome and change ourselfves from inside out of fear and timidity! They are not the natural character of us!

By the way, there is an encouraging acronym that I learnt of FEAR:

False
Evidence
Appearing
Real

By learning this, will we now have the successful life, we will fulfill our dreams:

Desire
Research
Enterprise
Association
Mastery

From,
Your Dearest Friend
Franco Lim

It will come to light one day

16 May 2007 - It will come to light one day

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1 Tim 5:24-25

Remember, the sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later. In the same way, the good deeds of some people are obvious. And the good deeds done in secret will someday come to light.

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Sometimes we human are quite narrow-minded that they just only do the things that others can see, the "back-stage" work sometimes are not as welcomed as the "front-stage" one. The reason is obvious, that we deserve others to see what we were doing, and they bear in mind that their deeds won't be seen by anyone if they done in secret. But it is undeniable that the works which were done secretly are always far more important than the work done obviously.

Just as what David wrote in Psalms 91, though thousands of men fall on your side, ten thousands fall on your knees, the evil will not fall on you! Sometimes we see that people are not doing the right thing but they still receive the right things, this make us feel that the world is unfair. It is indeed, bad things do happen to good people. But the sins and wickedness that they done will soon be revealed, they will not foreverly happy, free from worry and anxiety.

My family and I were memorizing Psalms 91 from the last few months, now all of us can say it out without any difficulties, and so I found that what the Lord promised us will come to past, and he will protect us no matter where we go, how we become, and be with us! When Solomon was made king, he doesn't have grabbed the throne from his brother, Adonijah, but in turn King David declare himself that the next King will be Solomon when Adonijah still having the banquet of New King. At the end, Solomon ended up to be the King and Adonijah was afraid of him. (1 Kings 1 ) To give what we can never keep, to gain what we can never lose!

Everything Works out for Good

15 May 2007 - Everything Works out for Good

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1 Timothy 4:3-5
They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth. Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.For we know it is made acceptable by the word of God and prayer.

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When God saved us and Jesus sent the cousellor, Holy Spirit come, he gave us freedom! He even say it is the Spirit of Freedom! But how can we say that it is free that we have so much laws and restrictions? But God said that the law is good for itself ( 1 Tim 8 We know that the law is good when used correctly), the law is for those who is unlawful and rebellious. So we are not bounded by the law, as we are free now.

We heard some person said that we shouldn't do this, we shouldn't do that, doing this is incorrect, doing that is unholy. Do not dye your hair, do not wear earrings, do not watch TV, do not read newspaper, as it is worldly (=.=|||). It is no need to restrict too much, Jesus said that it is not the things we ate that makes us unclean, but it is our heart that made us unclean!

Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

So we must know that, everything God created is GOOD! We should not reject it, remember what God said after he had created each thing? He said that IT WAS GOOD! So, make our life penetrating, yet sacred and we just live just as we are, and immitating Jesus' character, then it will be a great impact in society and we can live our life to the fullest with the city on the hill, lamp on the table and the SALT of the earth!

Genuine and Different Plans for us

14 May 2007 - Genuine and Different Plans for us

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1 Timothy 3:5 For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?

and

1 Chronicles 22 :7-9

“My son, I wanted to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God,” David told him(His Son) .... But God said to him, "But you will have a son who will be a man of peace. I will give him peace with his enemies in all the surrounding lands. His name will be Solomon..."

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God is indeed planning for everything before we had been born, his plans are genuine, it will never be grabbed away by someone, if it is yours, then it will be yours. As David wanted to build a temple for God, but God doesn't allow it, he said that the one who build the temple is not him, but his son Solomon. How great is the plan of the lord, it is the same with us. Now do you have any plan for your life? Or can you think of something that you want to do in the future? What is your ambition? As you think of it, God will give it to your hands, and he will have a planning for you!

So, as the servant of God, we should possess good personality, to act as an example to the people outside the four walls of church. For is a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God's church? (1 Tim 3:5) So don't we felt jealous on someone if one has succeeded in his career earlier than you, or someone has taken your job, or someone had been a replacement of you, etc. God will sure be planning another great things in your life!

To give what we can never keep, to gain what we can never lose.