God will surely save if you can take root below and bear fruit above!
Bishop Silas conducting Vancouver Oratorio Society, VOS Chamber and Schola Cantorum singing Parry's I was Glad:
https://youtu.be/Qr4RThsdEjY?si=wh3sT_i3QE8kTgX6
Bishop Silas conducting Schola Cantorum Emmanuel and Vancouver Oratorio Chamber Choir singing Palestrina's O Beata Trinitas:
https://youtu.be/O4wiyr8oa_Y?si=l_cp4aRfVMRzaL6b
Please click this link for the video version of today's blog :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMPb2afyDy8
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 143:1-6, 2 Kings 18:13-19:37; Acts 21:1-16; Proverbs 18:8
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 passage:
29 “This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:
“This year you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30 Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
31 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.“The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.32 “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:“‘He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
33 By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.
34 I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.37 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king. 2 Kings 19:29-37
“This year you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30 Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
31 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30 Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
31 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
“The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
32 “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:
“‘He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
33 By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.
34 I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
33 By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.
34 I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”
35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
37 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.
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: God will surely save if you can take root below and bear fruit above!
Today's 2 Kings records one of the most powerful miracle in the Bible. The Northern Kingdom, Israel left God to worship idols and was being totally destroyed by Assyria. The Southern Kingdom, Judah should have suffered the same consequence if not for King Hezekiah leading the whole nation to repent.
God sent just one angel and 185,000 Assyria soldiers died and in a short while Sennacherib, king of Assyria was being killed by two of his own sons!
God is great and wonderful! When God acted, no one can do anything to reverse that!
But, if we only look at how God saved Hezekiah and his people in a miraculous way, it is a waste!
What I received today from Jesus is that the most important change for anyone who experiences God's saving act is whether the person or that nation can "take root below and bear fruit above." If people being saved and do not have true repentance and renewal, next time when disaster comes, people will eat their own fruit!
That is the consequence of the kingdom of Judah, they left God again and again after Hezekiah's time and they were being destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon! Sad!
Today is Canada Day, may we have more leaders like Hezekiah in Canada to lead our Nation to repent and back to God. Actually the pandemic and all kinds of calamity on earth is somewhat like the time when Judah was being besieged by a huge force of Assyrian army. Let's cry out to God to save us that we can get through this severe crisis!
I sincerely hope and pray that you can be one of those who have experienced God's salvation and be willing to take root below and bear fruit above so that God can use you in this critical time of human history to guard your nation with prayers and everything you can and to protect your family!
Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to be willing to take root below and bear fruit above. 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.
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 143 blog: Please click this link to today's Old Testament 18:13-19:37 blog and video: Please click this link to today's Old Testament Proverbs 18 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):
Please click this link to Old Testament Psalm 143 blog:
Please click this link to today's Old Testament 18:13-19:37 blog and video:
Please click this link to today's Old Testament Proverbs 18 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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