Mark 10:32-34

Jesus Again Predicts His Death

They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who follow were afraid.

As I read this, I was very touched by Jesus. He knew He is going to His death on the Cross, but did you not notice that He was leading the way while others were frightened. Jesus did not shrink from His destiny, but moved forward leading the way!

Reflections: Dear Lord, help me in my weakness. I want to be like You and move forward - even when the going is tough.

The Healing of a Blind Man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)

As I read this story once again, I find some more questions to ask the Lord. He has yet to reveal the answers to me, but I believe that perhaps the next time I read this story again, He will. His timing is the best.

In verse 22, Jesus and his disciples came to Bethsaida and some people brought a blind man to Jesus. But Jesus led the blind man outside the village and healed him. Then in verse 26, Jesus sent him home saying, "Don't go into the village." Why?

In this healing process, Jesus did not heal the blind man the first time he touched his eyes. The man could only see people like trees walking around. If I were this man, I just wonder how would I feel? This is a very testing time of faith.

Reflections: Lord, help me, enable me and empower me to just trust You, even when I don't see things clearly - just believe in Your love and power.

Note:Previously I don't uinderstand why Jesus spit on the man's eyes, but I learned later that there is such a thing as "fasting spittle" - very clean and powerful. It's just like we suck our cut fingers with our mouth (saliva) for cleansing and healing!

A Dead Girl (Mark 5:21-43)

As I was reading this much read and loved story of Jesus healing the daughter of a synagogue ruler, Jairus, I was once again bowled over by Jesus.

In verse 24 Jesus went with him (Jairus), apparently to heal the sick girl.

In verse 35 they were told that the girl had died and that there is no need to bother Jesus.

But Jesus told Jairus to just believe and not be afraid. In the end, the little girl was raised up from the dead. In this story, Jesus told everyone to leave the place except the parents. Compare to the story of Lazarus, many people witness the miracle.

Reflection:If I am given an assignment by God, I must complete it no matter what happens. Even if people tell me that there is no hope, no need for my 'help', I will be still obedient to God. In the end, God will get all the glory.

John 6:4-13

The account in John 6 is a familiar passage about Jesus feeding the five thousand. When the disciples brought to Jesus the five loaves and two fishes, that was all they had. But Jesus used what they had to feed a multitude. This is another important principle in ministry. You might feel you have little to give to God - your imperfect talents, your impure motives and your limited resources. But what He asks from you is your availability - what He has given, He wants you to consecrate back to serve where He has called you to. For He will be your resource. He will supply the ability. Then, a divine synergy of multiplication will take place. Our talents and abilities + His omnipotent power = a world touched and changed for His glory. Jesus already know what He wants to do. The question is whether we have the faith to co-operate.

Rules of VICTORY by Adriel Loh

Hebrews 13:5-6

There's a stream of trouble across my path;
It is dark and deep and wide.
Bitter the hour the future hath
When I cross its swelling tide.
But I smile and sing and say:
"I will hope and trust alway;
I'll bear the sorrow that comes tomorrow,
But I'll borrow none today."


Tomorrow's bridge is a dangerous thing;
I dare not cross it now,
I can see its timbers sway and swing,
And its arches reel and bow,
O heart, you must hope alway;
You must sing and trust and say:
"I'll bear the sorrow that comes tomorrow,
But I'll borrow none today."
Selected from Streams in the Desert

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. (Psalm 37:3)

I once met a poor woman who earned a meager living through hard domestic labour but was a joyful, triumphant Christian. Another Christian lady, who was quite sullen, said to her one day, "Nancy, I understand your happiness today, but I would think your future prospects would sober you. Suppose, for instance, you experience a time of illness and are unable to work. Or suppose your present employers move away, and you cannot find work elsewhere. Or suppose --

"Stop!" cried Nancy, "I never 'suppose.' The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. And besides," she added to her gloomy friend, "it's all that 'supposing' that's making you so miserable. You'd better give that up and simply trust the Lord."

Extracted from Streams in the Desert

1 Corinthians 4:20

"For the Kingdom of God is not in talk but in power".

A 'second-generation' Christian is someone who grows up in a Christian home with Christian parents. To many of these Christians, Christianity is only a religion of their parents. They know all the Bible stories but they have not experienced God for themselves. There is a lot of head knowledge about God but they do not know God personally.

The need to experience God personally is pertinent to this present post-modern generation. To accept something as true, we need to experience it for ourselves. Truth to us must be verified by experience - our subjective experiences. What we are not able to verify by experience, we tend to doubt as true. Therefore, the need to experience God is vital if we are to sustain our faith in the long run. For if we do not, we run the risk of eventually falling away from the faith.

Challenge: Write down at least 3 ways people you know have experienced God in their lives. Then, write down at least 2 ways you have experienced God in your own life.

Extracted from the book entitled:Ruels of VICTORY by Adriel Loh

TALKING TO YOURSELF

"Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will prasie him again - my Saviour and my God!" (Psalm 42:11)

Have you ever seen people talking to themselves? I have even caught myself dong it! David talked to himself. It was actually his spirit chastising his soul :"Why am I discouraged? Why so sad?"

Our spirit-soul interface is where the greatest battles are fought. Our spirit needs to continually monitor our soul. Many people can discipline their sensual or physical appetites. But the old man, the inner self, wants its own way.

David tells his soul what to do. "I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again!" Saying the right things to yourself is healthy, growing, and disciplined. Have you challenged your soul today?

By Kenneth M. Hansen

James 4:8

Is your night one of bereavement? Focusing on God often causes Him to draw near to your grieving heart, bringing you the assurance that He needs the one who has died. The Lord will assure you He has called your departed loved one to be with Him. And as this thought enters your mind, along with the knowledge that your loved one is engaged in a great heavenly mission, a song begins in your heart.

Is your night one of discouragement or failure, whether real or imagined? Do you feel as if no one understands you, and your friends have pushed you aside? Take heart: your Maker "will come near to you" and give you a song - a song of hope, which will be harmonious with the strong, resonant music of His providence. Be ready to sing the song your Maker imparts to you.

Selected from Streams in the Desert

Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night? (Job 35:10)

Do you ever experience sleepless nights, tossing and turning and simply waiting for the first glimmer of dawn? When that happens, why not ask the Holy Spirit to fix your thoughts on God, your Maker, and believe He can fill those lonely, dreary nights into song?

What then? Shall we sit idly down and say
The night has come; it is no longer day?
Yet as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible to day.

The strength of a ship is only fully demonstrated when it faces a hurricane, and the power of the gospel can only be fully exhibited when a Christian is subjected to some fiery trial. We must understand that for God to give 'songs in the night', He must first make it night.

By Nathaniel William Taylor

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temption (Matthew 26:4)

Dear friends, never go out into the danger of the world without praying first. There is always a temptation to shorten your time in prayer. After a difficult day of work, when you kneel at night to pray with tired eyes, do not use your drowsiness as an excuse to resign yourself to early rest. Then when the morning breaks and you realise you have overslept, resist the temptation to skip your early devotion or to hurry through it.

Once again, you have not taken the time to 'watch and pray.' Your alertness has been sacrificed, and there will be irreparable damage. Temptations are waiting to confront you, and you are not prepared to withstand them. Within your soul you have a sense of guilt, and you seem to be lingering some distance from God. It certainly is no coincidence that you tend to fall short of your responsibilities on those days when you have allowed your weariness to interfere with your prayer life.

When we give in to laziness, moments of prayer that are missed can never be redeemed.
By Frederick William Robertson

Mark 4:35 "Let us go over to the other side"

Even though we follow Christ's command, we should not expect to escape the storm. In this passage of Scripture, the disciples were obeying His command, yet they encountered the fiercest of storms and were in great danger of being drowned. In their distress, they cried out for Christ's assistance.

Gently rebuking His disciples, Christ asked, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" In effect, He was saying, "Why didn't you face the storm victoriously and shout to the raging winds and rolling waves, "You cannot harm us, for Christ, the mighty Saviour, is on board?'

If your are ever to "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power", your strength will be born during a storm.

Christ said, "Let us go over to the other side" - not "to the middle of the lake to be drowned."

Selected and extracted from Streams In The Desert.

Ecclesiates 3:11

God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human hearts, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

Sand in your shoes. People in your family. Coworkers in your office. All these things can be a source of irritation. We want to put things right, now. Sometimes we can. Other things take time.

God has all the time in the world. He is willing to wait for fruit to ripen, for light to dawn, for promises t be fulfilled. He knows we are just dust, but He puts us in right places to make us shine. Sometimes we feel like the oyster, constantly trying to smooth over life's irritations. But He wants us to know deep down we're really His pearls. And He won't stop polishing until we're perfect!

Jesus hung on a cross to pay for our deficits. He'll help us hang in there with each other until the process is complete.

By Marcia Swearingen