Seizing the Kairos - Mercy Makers

Mercy Makers

Lamentations 3:22-23 
It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

One of the most visible characters in Jesus is merciful. According to dictionary.com, there are mainly 3 definition of mercy;

1. being compassionate,

2. the power to pardon someone, and

3. something to give evidence to divine power.

It means that for us being merciful is to have a compassion heart that is willing to be proactive in helping people in need instead of just talking about it.

It also means that we have the responsibility to forgive those who wrong us. Because having the power to forgive does not necessarily means that we are willing to forgive.

Being merciful also means that we have to pay attention on how we live our life because through our life, as a living evidence, Jesus-as the divine entity, is glorified.

Knowing all the definition of merciful is good, but what is great is to have the commitment to be merciful everyday. it means waking up in the morning, praying to Father to grant us the power and the courage to exercise our inner muscle of mercy, just the same as Father's mercy is new every morning.

-JH-

Seizing the Kairos! - Growing Pains

GROWING PAINS

Luke 2:40 – “and the Child grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom. And the grace of God was upon Him”

We are living in an instantaneous world where everything is valued more when we can get what we want in a very speedy way. In fact, businesses can charge ridiculously more expensive for things to get done faster than ever, as long as someone willing to pay for it. We tend to underestimate process and overestimate result.

When we look at the life of Jesus, we can learn one important thing, that Jesus himself was growing into His role as a saviour. He became strong, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him through time to time when He was growing from a little boy into the man He was destined to be.

Growing takes time. No one can become expert or mastering something in a night, or even in a year. Thus, no one can have Jesus’ characters and mindset in a short period of time. It would take years or perhaps decades to have the mind and the heart of Christ.

That is why never lose hope. Don’t be hard at ourselves if we keep on stumbling in our daily life to work on our salvation. Yet, we do need to work hard in reminding ourselves everyday that we are God’s children and always ask for guidance and directions in working on our salvation everyday.

When we focus on Jesus and His words everyday, slowly but sure, becoming like Christ eventually matters as the most important goal in our life. When that happen, our perspective and priorities will change, and we will grow to become more like Christ without we even realizing it. And when we look back we would be amazed with all the changes in our characters and mindset that has happened in our life.

Growing also means experiencing pain. Everything that is being stretched is forced naturally to go beyond its current limits. What we think is impossible at that time become possible now. Growing into the man God wants us to be will not be an easy journey. Taking up the cross is the best, yet the most difficult decision we will ever make. but, the rewards are unthinkable and amazingly great.

Thus, when is the best time to grow to become like Christ? The answer is now! Time is ticking. Let’s make the most of our time to focus on becoming like Christ so that we can spend eternity in the New Heaven and New Earth as God’s chosen people that will rule together with Him.

-JH-

Seizing the Kairos! - Do We Really Know the Price?

Do We Know the Real Price?

There 3 ways which things or people in our lives can suddenly become extremely valuable:

11. When we start losing them naturally,

22. When they were taken away by others.

33. Or when others come to us to show how precious these things and/or people are in our lives.

The intrinsic values that we give to these things and/or people instantly become exponentially massive and undoubtedly precious. In Luke 9:57-62, Jesus shared to His disciples the real price to follow Him so that all of His disciples, including us, understand the real value of following Jesus.

11. Luke 9:58B: “…the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

Following Jesus means that we have no dependency and no relationship whatsoever with this world that we live in. We live on this earth knowing that this is not our home. This earth is just a temporary place for us to contribute to society, to work on our salvation, and ultimately to prepare us to become His saints that will rule together with Him in the New Heaven and New Earth.

22. Luke 9:60: ”Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”

The decision to follow Jesus has to be done NOW! This verse expresses the sense of urgency, showing to the disciples that they do not have any time to waste. The end-time is near. IF we decide to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, it means that we have to make decisions to focus and stripped away all the earthly things that will hinder us in following Him.

33. Luke 9:62: “Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

The decision to follow Jesus wholeheartedly has to be done once and knowing that there will be no chance to go peek at your old life. Focus on the present and the future when we walk with Him, but use your past only as point of reference, not as an alternative of life that you could always go back to.

It is time to reflect on our own life. Do we really understand the real price in following Jesus? Or all this time, we only say we believe in Him but we do not necessarily follow Him? Let’s make the decision now to be prepared for the New Heaven and New Earth and never look back to our old earthly life of comfort.

-JH-

Seizing the Kairos! - The Six Woes

The Six Woes

Luke 11:37-54 talks about the 6 woes that Jesus shared with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Jesus was so strong talking about these woes, thus, when Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose Him fiercely (Luke 11:53).

These 6 woes represents 6 areas/things in our life that we really have to pay attention to in order for us to work on our salvation and live holy for Him. Because a lot of so-called God's children nowadays (including us) live in the edge of becoming the Pharisees and the teachers of the law without them knowing it.

1. (Luke 11:42) "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practices the latter without leaving the former undone."

Be obedience 100%. When we decide to love Christ and become the imitator of God, we can't just choose the "convenient" laws and ways of life, and neglect those which are not "convenient" for us to do. When we say "yes" to Him, it means we are saying "yes" to all of his commandments without anything less.

2. (Luke 11:43) "Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace"

Be careful of self-respect, self-pride and recognition-addiction. The deepest need of human's heart is to be appreciated and respected. However, as God's truly son, we have to know and believe that the greatest respect, appreciation, and recognition does not come from human beings, but by Him and Him alone.

3. (Luke 11:44) "Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves which men walk over without knowing it"

Be fully transparent without any pretends.Unmarked graves talks about looking beautiful from the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones (Mat 23:27). God hates hypocrites. We have to make sure that what we think align with what we say and what we do.

4. (Luke 11: 46) ..."woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them."

Be consistent. Walk the Talk. We have to ensure that we do what we preach. Spiritual authority comes from direct obedience and true experiences with God.

5. (Luke 11: 47) "Woe to you , because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them."

Beware the impact of sins for generations to come. What we choose to do and not to do will impact generations to come.Do not play games with sins and temptations. God can forgive you , but the consequences of sins will continue to do what have become their portions.

6. (Luke 11: 52) "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."

Be responsible with our life and the words of God that are entrusted to us. As God's children that have committed to work on our salvation, we have to keep on learning and studying the words of God. The more we know and the more we experience the power of the Words, the more we can share to people and the more influential we become, and the more effective God can use us for His divine purposes.

The worst things that could happen is for church leaders to become complacency and stop growing in the words of God. Their focus will no longer expanding God's kingdom on earth, but their own kingdom.

-JH-