Running the race #14 Standing firm(25sep08)

Dear…

'Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit, serving the Lord'
Romans 12:11

Standing firm was the thought that came to my mind, this lunchtime as I finally had some time to be still with our Lord. As always, God is prescient and Romans 12:11 was the verse He brought me to as I read His word, just (note: actually 'just' meant on 19sep, but as I prepared to send this out this morning ie 29th sep, as is my usual practice to ask God for an affirmation before sharing His Words, our good Lord brought me to the same verse again).

'And He said unto them, why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?'
Mark 4:40

For many in the world today, wobbly knees, a nervous heart, and standing on still very unstable grounds are more a fact than myth, so it is natural when the Federal Reserve in USA promised a solution, with the Trust Resolution company,many cheered. The solution is indeed the right one, but is the quantum suffice, and would there be enough resolve to see it through, for many recalcitrants would now take this opportunity as the chance to avoid the accountability that is long overdue? A correction of their immoral ways either by repentance or by compulsion is more likely to be effectively implemented in a collapsed situation. We might not be there yet, for leopards don’t change their spots, you can only skin them( "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots.." Jeremiah 13:23)

'Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer…'
Romans 12:12

There are many walking dead in the streets of the world today. We are not talking about zombies, but close enough, for many have seen their life savings devastated, as their financial investments blew up literally in their faces. There are also many, where fears exist in the sublimal, but is ready to burst forth at the mere drop of a pin. The world now waits with some bated breath for the rescue package to be approved by Congress. Prayers will be on the lips of many, but to which gods are they placing their hopes in, and is the subject of their prayers still very much focussed on recovering the temporal rather than looking to eternity?

'But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.'

James 1;6-8

For many of us who have come to the faith, that first desire to turn away from the world and to God, usually comes after a major shake in the very foundations of our settled life. But to continue to grow in our faith will require many more aftershocks, for to be tranformed from the imperfect man to near Christlikeness is a process of refinement.

So what can keep us steady, and not waver in our resoluteness to be unto the presence of the Lord our God, even as the world shakes?

"O God, my heart is the altar. And my love for you is the flame; I will keep the fire burning for You, Lord. And I will rejoice in Your name."

(Daily Bread 12th Aug 2007)

God is love. The thought just struck me a couple of days back that in loving Him and in loving our fellow men, love brings us into communion with God, for God is love.

Faith comes to us from God. It cannot be earned or worked for. But to receive faith, we must love, for that will bring us into one with the Lord our God.

Hope is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things unseen. Hope is the other side of God given faith. It is the exercise of our free will to be willing to trust and obey the unseen, yet very visible God.

'For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God……But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.'

Hebrews 3:4-6

On the subject of houses, I was just reminded that houses built by men, are always imperfect. The fixed glass panel of my toilet decided to redecorate itself by a loud implosion last Friday night. Thankfully, my daughter was in the other bathroom and so was not an on-site witness to the birth of a very transformed glass panel, whose shattered beauty was held together in one piece by the 3M film that I have placed in all my toilet glass panes, after the last incident 2 years back.

My imagination does run wild a little and is it not wonderful how a thin film of plastic could hold together what is now truly a collection of shattered glass pieces, albeit beautifully fragmented. Is it not like the shattered faith of many investors, whose very taut emotions are now held together by hope put forth by the very thin layer of plastic being put together by Paulson and Bernanke?

'Wherefore(as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear His voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness…'

Hebrews 3:7-8

Moving away from what the finite men can do, what about many of us believers in the Lord our God? Have not many of us found when our very lives were first shattered, that even when things looked like falling apart, in finally reaching out our hands to the always present and loving hands of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are never crushed, for His love keeps us together.

'What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"
Job 2:10

With the latest unsubstantiated bank run in Hong Kong, and with Ukraine better known for the nuclear fallout in Cherynobl, then its present financial woes, much worse than ex mother Russia, and not forgetting the 3 ongoing banks rescue in Europe now, globalization of the world's woes have now truly come to our shores. What is ahead, none of us truly know, for man plans, God directs. But the picture does not look too pretty and while bleak might be an understatement, is there a need to freak out?(forgive me for my choice of street words)

'He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied…..'
Isaiah 53:11

The Bible is not a feel good book, where every story has a scripted 'happy ending' in man's sinful ways. It is also not a book where we look for the answers to our lustful desires, But rather, the Word is God, and God is the Word. The Bible is where we spend time in the presence of God, where we learn to let go of our imperfect ways and let Him. Like the many men and women in the Bible, correction has to start with us, and there are times where like Job, we go through 'unjustified' challenges in our lives, but like Job and many men of faith, it matters not, once we truly come into the presence of the Lord our God.

'I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and has not denied My name…'

Revelation 3:8

God is looking for obedience, not for excellence. Even as one storm passes, the next is gathering and as some might have realized by now, there is truly no safe place to hide, for even the proverbial cash stashed under one's pillow, rather than in the once hallowed, but now increasingly hollowed-out financial instittutions, will not preserve well its purchasing power, in a possible era of runaway stagflation.

A man's treasures are where his heart is. Reality is no temporal treasures will be able to assuage one's fears, be it real or perceived and one can only truly stand firm, if one's heart is with the Lord our God

'Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.'

Revelation 3:10

Thankfully, many of us who truly desire to follow our Lord Jesus Christ, can attest to the fact that God stands not just with us, He shelters and guides us, He is Sovereign.

Are you willing to be his sheep while He is still there for you? Or will you continue to let your desires and fears drive you like lemmings over the cliff?

'For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search My sheep, and seek them out…….I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.'

Ezekiel 34:11-16

A humble and contrite heart, a heart that is willing to yield to God is the beginning of our healing. Where the fear of God is the only fear we should have, for the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

Forget about standing firm on your own strength or understanding, for what is to come, no man can stand unruffled. If you are already not brought down to your knees by the present averse circumstances, then prayerfully, it is time to come down upon you knees, into the presence of the Lord our God, the source of all peace and comfort and joy, three words that are very much missing in the lives of many.

'My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.'
Isaiah 32:18

God Blesses

Eng Hieang
(25Sep2008)