The Work of the Father

Thank You Lord for Ps Jo's sermon today. It was one of the most beautiful sermons I have ever heard in my whole life. (To be honest, I really love to listen to Ps Jo's sermons... they are very rich, deep and beautiful - you can simply sense how Ps Jo has a very simple childlike faith in God - but a faith that is not simpleminded, but one that is rich. I hope I can share like him one day!)

So today I responded to today's altar call - for preaching the gospel more and more: "I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling."

So I think You are telling me that You know I WILL feel very weak and fearful when reaching out to my colleagues, but You want to point me to the next verse, "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."

And sometimes, I think we are too focused on trying to breakthrough in our own personal areas. While not wrong in themselves, such an excessive focus may make us inwards-looking. We are not called to be well-developed, self-made individuals - on the contrary, we are called to something even better than that:

"to preach good news to the poor...
to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

If we do not have a heart for the world, for the lost, then we are NOT doing the work of the Father, no matter how successful we are in the eyes of the world. We work hard because we want to be a godly testimony in our colleagues' eyes. The moment we focus on the gifts and forget the Calling, we are on a slippery road to apostasy.

I was meeting up with a sister who does investment-related work today, to ask her about investing, and to my surprise, instead of launching into a catalogue of investment tools, she simply asked me, "Why do you want to invest?"

"Huh?"

"Money is simply a tool to an end. What is that end?"

"Oh... hmm... etc etc."

But that struck me a lot, as she explained to me - it's not enough to just invest (esp if it's because "everyone else" is doing it)... we must invest towards a purpose.

Then it strikes me: I want to throw off every attitude that hinders, so that I can do the work of the Father. Oh Father, give me courage and boldness... to demonstrate Your power! I pray! In Jesus' name, amen!