Jesus' Gift of Peace

Jesus said, “I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” -JOHN 14:27

In the Jewish culture, the Hebrew shalom is a customary greeting for both “hello” and “goodbye.” Shalom means “peace” and so much more. It implies a wish for health, prosperity, and wholeness. It also expresses a wish for an absence of both internal and external strife.

As Jesus prepared to say goodbye to his closest friends, it was the night of the Last Supper. He bid them shalom. Jesus’ words of farewell were far more than a traditional blessing. They were a gift only the Prince of Peace himself can offer. Jesus offered his followers peace of mind and heart. This peace was unlike the peace of the world they knew. It depended solely on his followers’ relationship with him.

These words of Jesus are like his Last Will and Testament. Just as a will records how to divide possessions among survivors, John 14:27 records our inheritance. Jesus bequeathed a priceless treasure to all those who follow him. In fact, his gift has set us up for life—both this one and the next. That’s because the wholeness found in Jesus’ gift of peace is at the heart of true happiness. As we pursue peace by pursuing Jesus, we’ll find we are holding the true key to living the good life.

Jesus’ gift of peace offers us an alternative to fear and worry, a foretaste of heaven available here and now. As with any inheritance, we have to accept it and use it to enjoy its true benefits.

The One and Only

You must worship no other gods but only the LORD, for he is a God who is passionate about his relationship with you. Exodus 34:14 

The Israelites saw God part the Red Sea and save them from captivity in Egypt. But soon afterward, they gave up on the God who rescued them. They chose to worship a golden calf instead. When Moses returned from receiving the Ten Commandments, he saw the Israelites—God’s people—engaged in idolatry. Moses threw the tablets to the ground, shattering them just as the people had shattered God’s first commandment—to worship only God.

God is a God of second chances. God gave Moses new tablets and reiterated his commands. Those commands are as important today as they were for the Israelites because God designed his command for us to build relationships with him and with the people around us. Obeying God’s commands helps us to love as well.

God doesn’t ask us for worship because his ego needs stroking. He asks it because worshiping him alone is the best thing that could happen to us. 

The first commandment, that God alone is to be worshiped, is at the heart of them all. God doesn’t ask us for worship because his ego needs stroking. He asks it because worshiping him alone is the best thing that could happen to us. We don’t have to kneel before a golden calf to worship idols. An idol is anything for which we have a deeper devotion than God. An idol could be power, money, comfort, pleasure, or even religion. Worshiping God above everything else keeps life in the proper perspective. God is passionate about his relationship with us. Worshiping him alone helps us become more passionate about him.

Consider what’s important in our lives. Weigh your relationship with God in light of everything else. Ask God to help us identify anything that we give higher priority to than getting to know him better.

Source: The 150 Most Important Bible Verses © 2007 by GRQ, Inc. Brentwood, Tennessee 37027

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Father Knows Best

Jesus said, “Your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:8 NCV

Jesus gave his disciples the Lord’s Prayer as an example of how to pray. Right before he spoke those famous words, Jesus shared a few reasons why one should pray. To do this, he provided two examples—negative ones. Jesus said the Pharisees prayed in public because they wanted to be seen as holy by other people. He also said idol worshippers prayed, repeating themselves over and over, because they believed that the more frequently they asked for something, the better chance they had of having their request granted. After those negative examples, Jesus spoke the reassurance that God already knows what you need.

At first, his words may seem to provide a reason why not to pray, instead of why to pray. If God knows what we need before we ask, why bother asking in the first place? Jesus’s point is the purpose of prayer isn’t to be noticed by other people—or even by God. God already notices you. He knows everything about us and our life. Prayer is not a way to draw God’s attention to our needs. It is a way to draw our attention to how much you need God.

Our greatest continual need is to better know and love God. Communicating with him about details of our life keeps us aware of how involved he already is. It also helps us see how many of our needs he meets every day. The more we recognize our dependence on God, the more thankful we become, and the deeper we grow. 

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The Lord’s Prayer teaches you to pray for your daily bread. Jesus’s words from Matthew don’t contradict that lesson. They’re a reminder that God needs to be involved in your life, not merely informed about it.

Source: The 100 Most Important Bible Verses. W Publishing Group

Citizens of heaven

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies. And change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. - Philippians 3:20

Nine months. Yes, we have been back home in Thailand that long. We failed to return for two years because of the pandemic. So, the Thai immigration canceled our visa. They are extending our visa one month at a time.

The process of getting and extending a visa is a constant source of stress for us. We need to check our passport stamps to see if we must go to the immigration office for a ninety-day appearance. We need to follow all the rules and regulations of immigration if we want to stay here.

We do not have the same rights and privileges of the citizens of Thailand. These problems do not exist if we are living in our own country. We want to go home but at the same time we want to stay and continue the Lord's work here.

When Paul says, "we are citizens of heaven" we understand a little of what he means. Heaven is our home. Our true citizenship belongs there but he does not mean that we are waiting for our lives to be over and live off there. It does not mean that God will scrap our physical body and have no regards for it.

In this passage, what He means is that our Lord Jesus our King will come from heaven to earth. He will change the present situation. By His power He will transform our present body like His own then will put everything under His control. Heavenly citizenship is about human resurrection. When He finally gives the citizenship that we all long for when He transforms the whole universe.

Photo by ConvertKit on Unsplash

Who knows tomorrow?

Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”- James 4:13-15

Sometimes it takes time for us to fall asleep at night. When this happens, our brain cannot stop working. Our memory goes back to past years. The realization dawns on us that time has wings, and it flies faster than any birds. This is truer when we are getting older. Ten years feels like a week.

Then we start thinking about the future. We know that ten years will pass by like a week. The year 2023 is still new, but we ask ourselves, "how will this year be for me?" "What will happen to me in the next ten years?" These are the questions that we will not find an answer to. We can only predict what will happen in the next few hours. But the next day will be a total unknown.

Henri Nouwen says that "the art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark."  Trust the Lord for the next step we take. Thank Him that He shows us the way for the next step. Walk through life with joy and we will be in awe at how far we have gone. 

The only thing we are sure of is today. Tomorrow is the Lord's to give and guide.

We thank you Lord for today. Help us to trust you for every step we take to the future. Amen

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

Hopeful in 2023

 

Happy new year. 2022 is over. If you are like us, we expected the past year to be a better year than the two previous years. It was so but it was not what we hoped to be. After two years, we came back to Thailand unprepared for the changes that would happen.

It was a challenging year for us. The series of events drain our energy and savings. The kids going to college, being sick of covid. Moreover, house repair, truck repair, visa problems, death in the family, and lately the accident. God is faithful. He helped us through the tough times.

Being grateful when good things happen in our lives is easy. But we can choose to be thankful for the good as well as the bad. For the moments of joy as well as moments of sorrow. For the successes as well as failures. This is faith. This is trust in God for everything he has brought us. We trust that we will see God’s loving hand in everything.

This year we celebrated the new year together with Jared and Jillian. Singing, dancing, watching fireworks, eating, and praying. The first we have done it in a long time. We are hopeful that this year will be the most exciting for the kids. We know that God will open more opportunities for them in their studies and their service to God.

We envision that together with the kids we will work as a team in sharing the love of God, in the university, schools, and community. In two years, four of them will graduate and who know what God has in stored for them. 

Opportunity to connect people to Jesus

Christmas! Yes, it is the busiest month for us. We heard people say that the Thai do not celebrate Christmas. I beg to disagree. The Thais always find things to celebrate. Christmas is not an exception. They celebrate it in their own ways. They just do not understand why Christians celebrate it. It is a challenge for us to communicate to them the true meaning of Christmas. This is the best occasion to share the gospel.

Local churches and schools invited our team (Narlin, the kids and I) to tell the story of Jesus in schools and villages. We did it through drama skit, dance, and carol singing. Of course, it includes the local Pastor preaching the gospel. Please pray that the seed of the gospel planted in the hearts of the people will grow.

This year, our relationship with our church has grown stronger. We came to know the members more. Our Pastor trust us to preach on regular basis. Jai does the interpretation. Narlin uses her gifts to decorate the church and help the women’s ministry. We now take part in meetings and decision making. They ask for our ideas about the programs and activities of the church. 

Moreover, the children are active in youth ministry and in the worship team. We are thankful that through the church we have the opportunity to connect with more people. In so doing, connect them to Jesus and help them grow in their faith. 

Thanksgiving and Prayer Concerns

1. We are thankful for another year. God’s provision for a fresh start after a tough 2022. Thankful to the Lord for the couple of friends who helped us out financially at the start of the year. We can take care of our obligations to the university and friends who lent us funds during our time of need. God is indeed faithful.
2. Thankful for two children will graduate this year. Tee from high school and Pia from middle school. Tee will go to technical school. Pia will choose her course that she wants to get for college. Please pray for them both.
3. Please pray for our visa. The immigration extends it for two months. Then we will have a “long-stay interview” on 17th of January by the Department of Social Welfare and Human Security. This is a requirement to get a one-year visa. Please pray that they will give it to us this time.