What have you learned from Samson's success and failure?

 


 


Please click this link for the video version of today's blog :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUjeURQgICQ

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 - 
      
       Be with You: City Harvest Church, Singapore


      10,000 Reasons

      
     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 64:1-10; Judges 15:1-16:31; John  2:1-25, Proverbs 14:17-19

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:

    14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands. 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.        

                                                                             Judges 15:14-15

Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”  So God split the hollow place that is in  Lehi, and water came out, and he drank; and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name ]En Hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.  And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.               
                                                                          Judges 15:18-20

     Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, “O Lord Godremember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!”  And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.  Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.   
                                                                            Judges 16:28-30

They said, "Rabbi", "where are you staying?"
   "Come," Jesus replied, "and you will see."

   So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent
    that day with him.                               
                                                                            John 1:38-39

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ motherwas there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

“Woman,[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[b]

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

                                                                   John 2:1-11

                                   
    


Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through today's TWA passages we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to Him.

The topic I received today from Jesus is: What have you learned from Samson's success and failure?

     Today's Judges 15 and 16 gives me lots of sighs!

The three main passages today above give us a clear picture of who Samson was. He was a mighty warrior, a judge with the presence of God and the filling of the Holy Spirit. He experienced many times the saving acts of God and His mighty power, many times when he cried to God his prayers were being answered in miraculous ways. He also was a judge for all Israelites for twenty years! So, why he failed?

Well, I think it is because of his pride, his thinking of his way is the best way, his lust and he just did the things he knew God did not want him to do...

Once he did not listen and obey to God's voice and command, he did not have the filling and the anointing of the Holy Spirit and his strength and power was no more!

Yesterday and today's John 1:38-39, 2:1-11 inspires us of the correct way to be successful in Jesus.

"Come, and you will see!"

You see how Andrew and Simon Peter, then Philip and Nathanael came to Jesus, be with him. For Andrew and Simon Peter it was one night two days, for Philip and Nathanael the Bible does not tell how long, may be a few hours or may be just like Andrew and Simon Peter for one night. The important thing is that all four of them saw how Jesus did something amazing that was beyond human understanding.

Then, they started to follow Jesus and then the next day(John 2:1 tells us "on the third day") because they became Jesus disciples, they was Jesus first miracle!!! And, many miracles following Jesus first miracle for them to see, only those came to Jesus could be able to see!  

May you be able to learn from Samson's strength and weakness, success and failure to become a mighty warrior for the Lord!

      Dear Lord Jesus,
       Help us to be able to learn from Samson's strength and weakness, success and failure and Jesus’ five disciples willingness to experience "Come, and you will see!" that we can become a mighty warrior for you.  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 Old Testament Psalm 64 blog: 
       
     
       Please click this link to today's Old Testament Judges 15:1-16:31; blog and video:
       
       Please click this link to today's Old Testament Proverbs 14 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): 

https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2017/01/1-2017.html

 

 

Connecting Workshop 2025(Session 2)

Bishop Silas Ng on Three Streams

 https://youtu.be/xiSOSFF9Iw0?si=puDWFD9Cx01ADm-o

    

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