Month: January 2023

Almighty God Can Do Anything

Backgrounder on Genesis 15-18:
God’s promises to Abraham are
given in great detail, confirmed
with a unilateral treaty, repeated
and established by the sign of
circumcision. But as the years
pass with no evidence of fulfilment,
Abraham acts in foolish impatience.
The result is a son Ishmael, who
will forever cause the heartbreak
of his father, constantly reminding
Abraham of the price of unbelief.
And we have the visit of the three
men of God (enroute Sodom) with
a message for Abraham and Sarah.

Lord, we will Trust Your Promise:
When Abram was 99 years old,
the LORD appeared to him & said
I am God Almighty (El Shaddai);
walk before me faithfully and
be blameless. Then I will… greatly
increase your numbers. Abram fell
facedown and God said… this is my
covenant with you. You will be the
father of many nations (Gen 17:1-4).
Then one of the three men said:
About this time next year I will return
and your wife Sarah will have a son…
And since Abraham and Sarah were
both very old, and Sarah was long
past the age of having children,
she laughed silently to herself…
Then the Lord said: Why did Sarah
laugh? Why did she say: Can an
old woman like me have a baby?
Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord?
About a year from now, just as
I told you, I will return and Sarah
will have a son (Genesis 18:10-14).
The Lord kept His Word and did for
Sarah exactly what He had promised
She became pregnant and she gave
birth to a son… This happened at
just The Time God said (Gen 21:1-2)

Lord El Shaddai, You are great
and You are mighty in power.
Your wisdom knows no limits;
and Your might knows no bounds.
As the heavens are higher than the
earth,so Yr ways higher than ours.
Help us to not cause delays in
our destiny but rather to walk
upright in faith. Help us to stay
committed to You, and we look
forward to Your blessing. Amen.

Lord, Thanks for the promise that
there’s nothing too difficult for You.
We praise You that You are the
God of miracles and all Powerful.
And we call upon Your awesome
might when we are in trouble;
for it honours Your name when
we ask for God-sized things.
We submit to Your sovereignty;
grant us Your sustaining strength
to endure the challenge and
bless us with Your miracle. Amen.

Lord, sometimes the change we
want to see seem impossible, even
laughable. Grant us the faith to keep
believing that what is impossible in
human terms is not too hard for You.
For our hopes are grounded in the
reality that U still do the impossible.
You create life out of death, which
is not dependent upon human effort.
Nothing is too hard for You; and
You do things in Your Time. Amen.

Follow God’s Call & Trust His Word

Genesis 12-14 describe God’s call
of Abram to leave his home in Ur
(near Persian Gulf) and travel to
a distant but unspecified new land.
Abram faces many distractions
along the way including the death
of his father and a severe famine.
But God is looking for a person
of faith who will trust Him
completely to keep His Promises.
For Abram those promises include
becoming a great nation and
experiencing great blessing in
the face of overwhelming odds.

Lord, we’ll Obey Your Call of Faith:
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
Get out of your country, from your
family… to a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation…
and you shall be a blessing…
So Abram departed (Gen 12:1-3).
Then the Lord appeared to Abram
and said: To your descendants
I will give this land… And he
moved… to the mountain east of
Bethel and he pitched his tent…
there be built an altar… and called
on the name of the Lord (v7-8).
Then Abram went up from Egypt…
and he went… from the South as
far as Bethel… to the place of the
altar which he had made there at
first. And there Abram called on
the name of the Lord (Gen 13:1-4)

Lord,when You called Abram to leave
the land of his birth, it was so that
You cld give him the Promised Land.
Grateful You call us To something,
and not just away From something.
Lord You are always calling us to the
place where Yr provision awaits us.
Comforting that Your commands
are always related to Your Promises.
Whilst You command obedience,
that will also clear the way for
Your promised provision. Amen.

Lord, noted Your calling will involve
sacrifices but comforting that
it’s sacrifice for something more.
For we note Your promises to Abram: to make him into a great
nation and be a blessing to others.
When called, help us not to dwell on
what we may have to leave behind.
But instead focus our heart & mind
on what we’ll be receiving. Amen.

Lord, we notice that promise,
worship and communion are
all bound up in Your call to Abram
and in his calling on Your name.
We also noticed that wherever
Abraham the friend of God had
a tent, God had an altar as well.
Spur us Lord to emulate Abraham
in erecting a family altar of prayer
and devotion unto You. Amen.

God Desires Our Fellowship

Backgrounder on Genesis 3-5:
The perfect environment into
which man was placed is now
shattered by the entrance of sin.
Disobedience follows as the first
family eats from the forbidden
tree and is expelled from the
garden. The results of their sin
spread quickly as humankind
and the whole creation fall
under the penalty of death.
Cain becomes the first murderer,
and the downward spiral continues
from Adam to Noah, paving the
way for God’s sweeping judgment
upon the wickedness of the world.

Lord, we purpose to Walk with You:
Then the man and his wife heard
the sound of the Lord God as
He was walking in the garden
in the cool of the day, and they
hid from the Lord God among
the trees of the garden. But
the Lord God called to the man:
Where are you? (Gen 3:8-9).
Enoch lived 65 years and begot
Methuselah. After he begot
Methuselah, Enoch walked with
God 300 years and had sons
and daughters. So all the days of
Enoch were 365 years. And Enoch
walked with God; and he was not,
for God took him (Gen 5:21-25).
By faith Enoch was taken away
so that he did not see death,
and was not found because God
had taken him; for before he was
taken he had this testimony, that
he pleased God…. He rewards those
who diligently seek Him(Heb 11:5-6)

Lord, l want to have a close
walk with You. Help me not
to forfeit that relationship by
being drawn toward the world.
Enable me to hear Your voice
calling me so that I will answer
without delay. And help me not
hide from You for any reason; but
instead seek Your forgiveness
and draw near to You. Amen.

Lord, thanks for the lesson from
Gen 5 that You walked With Enoch.
Noted You almighty creator God
calibrated Your stride for Enoch’s
sake to take into account his frailty.
So intimate was Your relationship
with Enoch that when the time came
for Enoch to leave earth and enter
eternity, his walk just continued. And
Enoch received the promise early
to the followers of Christ: He who
believes in Me shall never die. Amen

Lord, we are challenged by the long
term faithfulness of Enoch that
he walked with You for 300 years.
Help us also to please You like
Enoch who not only believe in You
but also earnestly seek after You.
Help us also to seek after Your
holiness for we learn in Jude that
Enoch warns people that God is to
be worshiped and obeyed. Amen.

Launch of New Series (Jan 2)

Beginning this week, we will
be meditating on a new series on
Trusting God through His Promises.
We know the importance of prayer
in our lives; and there are so much
to pray about for ourselves and
for others: dreams, hopes & plans.
But often we are held up by doubts:
Does God care about our requests?
How valuable then it is to pray back
to God the very promises found
in His Word. When we speak God’s
very words back to Him, we no
longer wonder if this is something
God cares about, for He brought
it up in the very first place.

Like the two previous series,
we will systematically cover God’s
Promises thru the Bible in one year.
It should be noted many promises
in Scripture were made to the nation
of Israel – God’s chosen people.
As believers we can claim the truth
of many of those promises though
not directed specifically to us.
But we need to be mindful of the
Context of the specific portion of
Scripture & take that into account
as we take hold of God’s Promises.
And the backgrounder will give us
the Context behind each promise.

Secondly, we should also note
that praying God’s Promises is
not some kind of magic formula.
Although scripture tells us our
prayers are effective & have power,
we must always trust God to work
it in His Way and in His Time.
We must be patient, wait upon
the Lord and keep trusting that
His promises will come true!

Thirdly, as we pray God’s promises,
we must always remember that
the starting point is the nature
of God. In fact the very essence
of God’s character is in itself a
promise: The Lord is trustworthy
in all He promises and faithful
in all He does (Psalm 145:13).
And God keeps every promise
forever (Psalm 146:6).

Lord, each time when You reveal
something of Your nature, You are
promising us that You will be true
to that nature in any circumstance.
We look up to You and praise
You for Your Word says Your are
trustworthy and faithful and
that You keep every promise!
We know by promising and then
performing what U promised, you’ll
awaken in us expectation & desire
and find outlets in prayer of faith.
Praise You that Your promises are
rock solid; and that Your very nature
and character stand behind them.
Grant us faith not only to merely
believe Your Word but also to act
on it. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Worship God for He’s Worthy

John describes visions depicting
activities in heaven and on earth.
God enthroned, holds a scroll
which is sealed with seven seals.
No one is found worthy to break
the seals and reveal the contents
of the scroll except Lion of Judah.
As the first six seals are broken,
calamities break forth upon the
earth involving warfare, famine,
death, earthquakes and heavenly
disturbances. The day of his wrath is
come & who shall be able to stand?

Lord, we will Bow Down In Worship:
The four living creatures…(say)
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!…
The 24 elders fall down and worship
the one who lives forever and ever.
And they lay their crowns before
the throne and say: You are worthy,
O Lord our God, to receive glory and
honor… For You created everything,
and it is for Your pleasure that they
exist & were created (Rev 4:8-11).
Now when He had taken the scroll…
the 24 elders fell down before the
Lamb… And they sang a new song:
You are worthy to take the scroll,
and to open its seals; For You were
slain, and have redeemed us to God
by Your blood… And have made us
kings…to our God & we shall reign…
Then I heard the voice of… angels…
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to
receive…honor & glory (Rev 5:8-12)

Lord, Thanks for revealing Your
glory being celebrated in heaven.
You are worthy; for it is for You and
because of You that all things exist.
Reveal glimpses of Your majesty to
us so that Your glory is our focus.
Draw us Lord into worship; and
we lay down our crowns before You,
all that we have done and all that
we are, we lay before You. Amen.

Lord, Your Word says we are
royal priesthood, with authority to
implement Your mission in this age.
Increase our Faith Lord that we
are inhabited by the God of the
universe and carry Your presence.
Lord, it is difficult to fathom how
we can reign with You in actuality.
Show us how as we want to walk
in the authority that You offer. Amen.

Father God, You are truly worthy;
and we join the host of heaven
in proclaiming that You are holy.
We praise You for Your Goodness
and You’re worthy of our devotion.
As we draw to You, deliver us from
coldness of heart & wandering mind.
Grant us wholehearted affection
and steadfast thoughts that we may
fully worship You in spirit & in truth,
for You Are Worthy Of It All. Amen.