Jacob's 28 years of Spiritual Coma, not Israel anymore!
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Silence
1. Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence
2. Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.
Praise and Thanksgiving
1. Think through your day, all the times that made you smile.
2. Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people
3. **Sing a song to praise the Lord
Please click this link to worship with us - Bless the Lord my soul (Taize chant)
Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method)
1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:
“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
2. Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:
"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."
3. John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)
**Please click this link to read how God used John Stott to change my life:https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/
"Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.
Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.
Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."
Today's Time with Abba: Psalm 10:16-18; Genesis 37:1-38:30; Matthew 12:22-45; Proverbs 3:27-32
Please click this link for today's Time with Abba one year Bible: http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/
To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link:http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/
Key passages:
37 33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
Genesis 37:33-35
25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.28 And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Genesis 45:25-28
So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”
5 Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him.
Genesis 46:1-5
28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
30 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.
Matthew 12:28-33
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through today's passages we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to Him.
The topic I received today from Jesus is: Jacob's 28 years of Spiritual Coma, not Israel anymore!
Today's catch made me shivered and shocked!
I found out something in the life of Jacob that I can't believe that could happen!
Jacob experienced God many times, God changed his name to Israel two times and commanded him to go back to Canaan, the Promised Land God gave to Abraham and Isaac. Up to that time, Jacob could be able to listen to God's voice. But, right away, his beloved wife Rachel died and everything changed, that was around 1903B.C. In that year, Jacob stopped listening to God's voice and his whole family was broken! His ten sons wanted to kill their brother Joseph and then sold him to go to Egypt. It's like leaving God, then his family was broken!
Until he knew his beloved son Joseph was not dead and became the Prime Minister of Egypt, Genesis 45:27 says:
"the spirit of their father Jacob revived!"
That was around 1875B.C.! Then one verse right after Genesis 45:27, in 45:28, the name Israel came back 23 times until the last chapter of Genesis, chapter 50. 6 chapter 23 times!
But, from Genesis 32:27 - 45:27, since the first time God gave Jacob a new name Israel, the name Israel only appears 13 time. 14 chapters!
When we received Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, our life is being revived like Jacob to become Israel. But, it is so easy for us to leave God because of all kinds of reasons and return to be our previous old self, not like a Christlike disciple of Jesus anymore!
The father of Israelites needed 28 years to have his spirit revived! And, he needed 28 years to worship God and made sacrifices to Him again! Then, God spoke to him again and gave him the promise of "God with you"!
Oh, I received a new term from the Holy Spirit today: Spiritual Coma.
Jacob was in a Spiritual Coma for 28 years!!!
Today's Matthew 12:24-32 Jesus describes Satan as "strong man". This strong man can enter into human souls to take possession of that soul as a man broke in a house. Only with the power of the Holy Spirit that that house can be taken again by Jesus and people's souls "revived" just like how Jacob was being revived to become Israel again!
Jacob angry against God to take away his beloved wife, and then his beloved son, because of that Jacob cut relationship with God! Not Israel anymore but Jacob!
But because of his close relationship with God before, his son Joseph learned that from him and Joseph had a very intimate relationship with God and had the gift of prophecy and many other gifts from the Holy Spirit. Joseph, by the power of the Holy Spirit, kicked out the "strong man Satan" and became a powerful servant of God and the second-in-command of Egypt. And, because of the power of the Holy Spirit, Jacob was being revived as the same as the prodigal son became conscious, and he became Israel again!
So, how about you?
Revived, wake up yet?
You are now "Jacob" or "Israel"?
Dear Lord Jesus,
Help me not to be captured by this Strong Man Satan to be in a spiritual coma and that I remember to be with you each day so that you can use me to bring your healing, freedom and salvation. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Reflect on these questions:
1. What inspiration have you received from today's catch and what have you heard from Jesus now?
2. What is your next step to be more closer to Jesus, to be holy - that is to do what Jesus wants you to do and not to do what Jesus wants you not to do? Family Corner: Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message.
Please click this link to today's Old Testament Psalm 9 blog: Please click this link to today's Old Testament Genesis 30:1-31:16 blog and video: Please click this link to today's Old Testament Proverbs 3 blog:
For the Chinese version of this daily blog and video, please click this link (中文版請按此連結):
My first blog "Devotion on Fire" was written in English only (July 17, 2009年7月17日至November 22, 2012年11月22日). Each day one chapter of Bible, from New Testament and then Old Testament. Completed in four months and three years:http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/blessings-from-rev-dr-john-stott.html
My second blog "Discipler 123" was written in both Chinese and English (March 6,2011to December 31, 2016 ):
https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2011/02/day-1-choose-light-away-from-darkness.html
and "Time with Abba" blog and video (January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2024):
2. What is your next step to be more closer to Jesus, to be holy - that is to do what Jesus wants you to do and not to do what Jesus wants you not to do?
Family Corner:
Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message.
Please click this link to today's Old Testament Psalm 9 blog:
Please click this link to today's Old Testament Genesis 30:1-31:16 blog and video:
Please click this link to today's Old Testament Proverbs 3 blog:
For the Chinese version of this daily blog and video, please click this link (中文版請按此連結):
My first blog "Devotion on Fire" was written in English only (July 17, 2009年7月17日至November 22, 2012年11月22日). Each day one chapter of Bible, from New Testament and then Old Testament. Completed in four months and three years:
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/blessings-from-rev-dr-john-stott.html
My second blog "Discipler 123" was written in both Chinese and English (March 6,2011to December 31, 2016 ):
https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2011/02/day-1-choose-light-away-from-darkness.html
and "Time with Abba" blog and video (January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2024):
Connecting Workshop 2025(Session 2)
Bishop Silas Ng on Three Streams
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