Category Archives: family devotion

Time to Worship (Week 5 Monday)

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After our monday episode of House and 24, we went upstairs and got ready for bed. While in bed we read the first three chapters of Ezra.

Ezra details the building project of the temple of the LORD as ordered by Cyrus King of Persia. The Jewish community was in exile but this decree to rebuild the temple by the Persian king brought them back to Jerusalem. It was part of God’s sovereign plan to bring his people back to this land.

Some key points we looked at was the number of people and specifically their roles. I thought it was odd that they would bring singers for a building project, but my wife pointed that they were there to worship and praise God during this whole affair. It was a spiritual work that they were doing.

The laying of the foundation was an emotional time for both young and old. For the young, it was exciting time but for the old, it was a time of regret and sadness for they had seen the glory of the previous temple.

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD :
“He is good;
his love to Israel endures forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

– Ezra 3:10-13

Late last week I reflected on how new things seem to be exciting for the young and but for those who have experienced the old, it was a time of mourning and weeping. Though I was referring to the new Star Trek movie, I could relate to those rebuilding the temple of the LORD. How much more for the people of God today when they see their churches…

Our prayer is for spiritual eyes to see what God is truly building.

Amen!

Time to Worship (Week 4 Thursday)

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In preparation for our three month trek through the bible, we decided to read larger chunks of the word. Tonight we read in bed. This was our regular practice before the start of “church nights.” We would usually read scripture and then pray right before bed. So again, we continued the tradition. Our oldest daughter had her own book and read along but decided to play instead. Our youngest one was getting her feeding while we read.

Today we looked at the LORD’s discourse in Job 38-42. God humbles Job and any complaint that he had by asking and asking him questions that are way beyond his understanding. When our eyes are not on Christ, we do not fully understand the situation.

Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:
“Brace yourself like a man; I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
“Would you discredit my justice?
Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
Do you have an arm like God’s,
and can your voice thunder like his?
Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
Unleash the fury of your wrath,
look at every proud man and bring him low,
look at every proud man and humble him,
crush the wicked where they stand.
Bury them all in the dust together;
shroud their faces in the grave.
Then I myself will admit to you
that your own right hand can save you.

Then Job replied to the LORD :
“I know that you can do all things;
no plan of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”

(Job 40:6-14; 42:1-6)

Indeed it was God himself that had quieted Job’s complaints. Job realized that after hearing God speak, he did not understand half as much as he thought he did… and so he shuts up and repents.

That is where I feel we are lately. Every time we look at the word, we have been convicted of one thing or another and must repent. But as we’ve been listening to some sermon/lectures… scripture is the Word of God… and when we listen to the word of God, we are in fact hearing God himself speak to us, just as Job had heard it. It is an awesome privilege to hear God speak to us…

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart

Time to Worship (Week 3 Thursday)

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We started in the middle of dinner. But included many interruptions from the little ones. We sang… Hallelujah What a Savior! and Blessed Assurance.

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
“Full atonement!” can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
“It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in Heav’n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

This was one of my favorite hymns a few years back and probably still is. I sang a version where they repeated a chorus of “hallelujah what a saviors” between each verse. Can’t seem to find that version anymore. But I re-discovered this by thumbing through the hymnal this morning… so we sang it during family worship time. This song highlights the sufferings of Christ, his life, death and exaltation… and his work to bring us into the kingdom. I like the progression.

We had a brief time of prayer and then reading of scripture. We read Romans 8:18-27 and looked at how Paul described future glory. Our sufferings in this life are but a momentary blip in comparison to the glory revealed in us. We need it today. Mommy was tired and so was I… this was a good reminder.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We ended today with a brief discussion and some fussiness from the little one.

Time to Worship (Week 3 Monday)

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We had three guests over today so our church service started kinda late.  First my sister came bearing gifts and then Jack Bauer took up the 9PM time slot with 24.  But we did have church, it started around 10ish along with a friend from church.

We started with “How Great Thou Art“

When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

We continued reading from Revelation 2 where Christ is addressing sins within the church and how he calls them to repentence.  After looking at the early church in Revelation, we considered our current situation and at our church.  It was a call for corporate and individual repentence.  The sins as mentioned to the different churches could very well apply to us today.  We forget Christ and we forget our first love as mentioned yesterday.  We also are led astray from false teachers and tempted with many things.  What sins do our church need to repent of?  How will this type of repentence look like (on the corporate and individual levels)?

Christ calls us to repent and to remain in him to the end.  It is only with our union with Christ that we are able to endure to the end.  We sang the second verse again.  Remembering that it was the finished work of Christ on the cross that took away our sins and that is where our faith is in.
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:

We prayed together and concluded with a benediction and doxology.

Time to Worship (Week 3 Sunday)

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This past week was crazy with family stuffs, friend stuffs, and more baby issues.  My two year old daughter was bullying the other kids today at church and things just went downhill fast.  Mommy was extremely tired from the previous day’s activities and so we had to go at it alone today for Sunday worship.  This along with my parent’s lunch with my siblings and significant others.  This really put a dampener to my day.  More talk of weddings as well as having to deal with other issues. 

So it was around 8PM that I was having my pity party (partly due to fatigue and I think mostly with my spiritual condition) that my wife told me to stop it.  I asked her to pray for me and also with me.  It was then that we began our worship service.  We sang “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” and ”A Mighty Fortress” and prayed.  It was a good reminder of the greatness of our God and how he is our strength.
Verse 2 of A Mighty Fortress:
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

Is a good reminder that it is not in our strength that we confide, but it is in Jesus Christ.  He is our strength… the author and perfecter of our faith and the one who we fully rest in.
We continued our reading of Revelation 2.  We looked at the church of Ephesus and Smyrna.
To Ephesus he says: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” And to Smyrna he says: “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life”
To Ephesus, they were commended for being doctrinally pure but they had forgotten their first love.  We asked each other how it was like when we first became Christians, when we first experienced the love of Christ.  It was sweet.  We were on fire and read the scriptures, we thirsted and longed for it.  But it was also within fellowship and we loved the people we were with as well.  The commentaries said it could have been that they were not loving one another which meant they were not loving Christ.  I think this is evident with our church and with us as individuals.  The passage to Smyrna was really pertinent today as I felt down.  It was a reminder that Christ has overcome this world and that this church will face persecution.  It is only in having our eyes set on Christ will we be able to endure it.
We prayed for this coming week and for family and friends.
We concluded with Glory to God (chinese version).

Time to Worship (Week 2 Thursday)

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We began with two hymns: Amazing Grace and The Old Rugged Cross.

We decided to read through Revelation. Today we read Revelation 1. And discussed Christ, his true and current state and how we are united with him. Oh, how often we forget we worship and risen and powerful God who has conquered sin and death. How often we live each day without this reality in front of us. Revelation 1:12-18
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and(AM) with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Again, we confessed our sins, brought our lives before God and asked Him to move in our relationships and in our lives.
We concluded with Glory to God.

Time to Worship (Week 2 Wednesday)

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We started around 8:30 after watching a television show. I think we’re getting more and more tempted to push things off, but I’m reminded that I’m head of the family which means it’s my responsibility to make a call to worship. My wife had no problem with that.

We started with two hymns:
#163 I Surrender All
#105 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

We couldn’t get the tune just right with O Come, but it was okay. In “I Surrender All” the verse that says “Worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me, Jesus, take me now” stood out most vividly since that was where we were being tempted most yesterday.

As a brief intro, I said to my wife that we’re jumping around a lot just so we can figure out what works and what doesn’t. So far, singing a few hymns and reading scripture and prayer seems to be a proven formula, but we will try reading through a book or having more aids later.

We read James 1:1-18, the second portion of scripture from chapter 5 of How People Change.

We again looked at the four main stages as described by Lane/Tripp:
Heat – Thorns – Cross – Fruit

It is within the situation HEATthat we are either tempted or turn to Christ. So we continued looking at how James encourages the believers to turn to Christ in the midst of deep persecution. Afterwards we talked about what areas we were struggling with and when was HEAT greatest or when we knew that our THORNS were evident.

This was a really good time, we shared with each other and then prayed for one another. Little did I realize that my wife’s biggest time of struggle as of late was also mine. We ministered to one another last night. We also encouraged each other to turn to Christ, bring to him our troubles and fears, bring it to him in prayer.

We concluded with another hymn:
#488 What a Friend We Have in Jesus

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

The third line of the first verse “O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear” is pretty much how we are when we don’t turn to Jesus during times of trial and temptation. We should never be discouraged to take it to the Lord in prayer.

We finished with a time of prayer (small potty break interruption) and then benediction and doxology. This time we sang Glory to God (chinese version). Our girl really liked it and danced with us to finish it off around 9PM.

Time to Worship (Week 2 Tuesday)

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Today, we were tired. We made it quick one. We sang two hymns: O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing and something else… need to look back in the hymnal.

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

We confessed that we had not thought about God most of the day and it was during this small time of worship that our hearts were brought back to him.

We read Psalm 88 together. This is one of the darkest Psalms and it ends with the writer alone in darkness with his friends all shunning him.

Striking verses were 1, 9, and 13 which calls out to the LORD for help despite the darkness. I wondered why he would do that. The commentary stated that the Psalmist attributed the situation to God (v. 6, 15, etc.) and that only God could comfort and protect him.

We finished with prayer and again interrupted by potty break and with a benediction and doxology.

Time to Worship (Week 2 Monday)

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We had a little disaster the night before mainly due to failed potty training and exposure to food allergies. But we managed a quick time of worship today (Monday).

Again, after dinner seemed like the best time to have our church time. We sat on the couches and enjoyed one another’s company.

We began by singing two hymns from our church hymnal “To God be the Glory” and “All Creatures of our God and King.”

All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam!

O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

We did pause at the third stanza referring to mother earth. But other than that, I think it was okay…

Dear mother earth, who day by day
Unfoldest blessings on our way,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
The flowers and fruits that in thee grow,
Let them His glory also show.

We read the first half of Deuteronomy 6 and discussed impartation of the God’s word to our children. We recalled what we learned in the past week and talked about the sermon on Hell, recalled our blessings and praises for the week.

v. 11-12 “and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the LORD…”

It is our nature to forget God. This was a good time to remember the goodness of our God and his ever present help in time of trouble and our deliverer. We also came to the conviction that unless we knew the word of God, unless we are so steeped in his word and converted by his Spirit that we would be impudent in imparting a faith to our children. We prayed for each other to be such parents who desired after God.

We were interrupted just at the end of the scripture portion by my eldest daughter who needed to go to the bathroom. We both took her, spent a few minutes praying and interceding for our friends and family, for church and various ministries we supported.

We concluded with a benediction and doxology.

Time to Worship (Week 1 Thursday)

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This was a special day for me. Usually we watch The Office around 9PM, but instead, we were in the middle of our family devotional time. I was really glad all our hearts were focused.

We started off with the Sunday School material we were going through entitled How People Change by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp.

We went over the Lesson 4 where it reviews and summarizes the basic components of life.

HEAT – THORNS – CROSS – FRUIT

The HEAT is our situation, whether good or bad, we all go through something.

The THORNS are how we would normally react in such a situation, this is how we “instinctively” react and respond using our wisdom, our insight. Which is poor because it leaves out a major factor.

The CROSS is that major factor. Remembering the CROSS and who God is and how God sees the situation not only changes our hearts but gives us power. We are united with Christ, we have a community to encourage us, we have the power of the Holy Spirit, and we have Heaven in mind.

With this in view and empowering us, we bear FRUIT. FRUIT is how we respond to the situation but with God’s love working through us. This is what we hope to come out of the situation.

We began worship with this in view. We read through 2 Corinthians 1:1-14 where the Apostle Paul was under a great deal of duress. Instead of fleeing, giving up or falling into depression, Paul remembered Christ, remembered God who raised him from the dead, and all these things that he was able to encourage and comfort those around him…. even in the most difficult of situations.

We concluded the time of study with some pointed questions: What are some current situations that is bearing down on us (HEAT)? How are we responding to it in an ungodly way (THORNS)? What do we know about God in this situation (CROSS)? How can we respond in love (FRUIT)?

We sang hymn #271 Come Thou Fount. The last verse really stuck out to me and continues to stick out in my mind.

O to grace, how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee;
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Amen!