Category: Devotional

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Devotional Growth Sermon Teens

Do not be true to yourself: countercultural advice for the rest of your life

I like Kevin DeYoung. His preaching is versatile and he is able to adjust his sermons to Christians of different maturity levels and different age groups. He has written a number of short books which are easy to pick up and quick to read. Who doesn’t like short books? It gives you a sense of achievement in finishing a book quick! While his short books can be short (he writes longer books too), they are by no means shallow or unchallenging.

I picked up “Do not be true to yourself: countercultural advice for the rest of your life” because well, the title grabbed me! In an age when the world keeps telling you to “be true to yourself”, “follow your own passion” and so on, “do not be true to yourself” is a rather counter-intuitive piece of advice, but hey, anything that goes against the grain of the world can’t be wrong, can it?

This book is easy to pick up, because it is based on sermons that DeYoung preached to students and graduates at baccalaureate and commencement services. Therefore the 5 sermon adaptation in this book is written and targeted to teens and young adults. One look at the headings and it will give you an idea of what this book is about: “Don’t be true to yourself”, “Choose for yourselves”, “The first day of the next chapter of your life”, “Two ways to live” and “Horseshoes, Hand Grenades and the Kingdom of God”. This book is about choices you make while you are young. Make the right choices while you are young and you can enjoy God for longer while on earth. The book has an Ecclesiastes 12:1 ring to it: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them'”

It’s only 56 pages, and you can easily read the book in one reading – what an achievement! It is very easy to understand, and you will take away something practical in every single one of the five short chapters. It’s a good reminder of how Jesus commands those who are His disciples to live on earth. A quote from the book: “You should not be true to yourself, unless you have died to your old self and your new self is raised with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places.” Good stuff!

Reviewed by Jin Wan

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Children Devotional Growth

The Gospel Made Clear to Children

Sometimes, even as Christians, we underestimate children’s ability to comprehend the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet wasn’t it our Lord Jesus himself who said, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”? Some may interpret this to mean our gospel needs to be dumbed down into meaninglessness, but of course, we know that’s a lie. After all the gospel is the full content of God’s good news of salvation for mankind. Enter Jennifer Adams’ “The Gospel Made Clear to Children”.

What’s the purpose of this book? In Adams’ own words, she “wrote this book to explain God’s love to children as it is manifested in the gospel of Christ. It is written for parents to read aloud to younger children (elementary) and for older children (youth) to work through independently” What I find utterly amazing about this book is that, it is full of biblical doctrine fully backed by Scripture, yet it is explained in an utterly plain and simple manner so that both children and adults understand the rich content of the gospel of God!

The beauty of this book is that it doesn’t water down the gospel just because it is meant for kids. This means it lays out the whole gospel – from the easiest to read bits to the most difficult to accept bits. Adams’ lays it out as it is, and in doing so, glorifies God and teaches kids what it really means to be loved by God and living for God as a result. Here’s an excerpt:

“Jesus said that many who are first will be last, and the last, first. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. The greatest will be a servant, and whoever wishes to be first must be a slave, just as Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Does this teaching sound too hard? It is hard, but the price of not following Jesus is one we cannot afford. Jesus said that we are to do whatever we must to avoid sin. Jesus said not to fear man who can kill the body, but to fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell.”

“The Gospel made Clear to Children”, Jennifer Adams

If you’re an adult, don’t scoff at this book as a mere children’s book. It’s not. As an adult myself, I found myself learning some new and some deep things about the gospel of God. It’s truly refreshing to have a book like this. Leave a legacy and teach your children to love God with all their heart and soul and mind and might. Awesome book.

Review by: Jin Wan

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Devotional Prayer

Valley of Vision

Sometimes prayer seems rather difficult or “otherworldly”. We find we are not able to muster the words to utter before our Lord God Almighty, despite knowing that He is there, available to hear us anytime, anywhere, as His beloved children. When we need some inspiration in our prayer life, it may help to see how others pray, and that is exactly what the Valley of Vision does powerfully and empathically.

The Valley of Vision is a collection of prayers uttered by our Christian Puritan brothers and sisters. Who are the Puritans? Stephen Nichols explains that Puritans are believers of keen minds, of impassioned hearts, and of assiduous lives. He says, “Puritanism is simply this: rigorous theology graciously applied.” Joel Beeke explains further, “They were not only the two thousand ministers who were ejected from the Church of England by the Act of Uniformity in 1662, but also those ministers in England and North America, from the sixteenth century through the early eighteenth century, who worked to reform and purify the church and to lead people toward godly living consistent with the Reformed doctrines of grace.” In short, Puritans were people who lived through their ups and downs in life as if the God of Scripture was the most important thing in their lives.

When I first read the Valley of Vision, I was blown away by these kind of prayers. It’s not the kind of prayers we hear very often nowadays. And when I pray these prayers, it was as if I literally stepped into the shoes of a Puritan in prayer! The prayers were so deep that I had never imagined anyone being able to pray and connect with God in such a heartfelt way. Reading a Puritan prayer from The Valley of Vision sharpens the focus of my heart, soul, mind and strength on the Lord Himself. Whenever I find that I’m at a loss for words, or don’t know what to pray during my devotion with God, I open this book, and I find in them the rich depths of the deepest, most heartfelt prayers ever prayed by godly men and women. You see, these prayer are real prayers, by real people, in real situations in life. And that makes it real and powerful.

Don’t believe me? Try reading and praying this one of many prayers found in The Valley of Vision, entitled, “A Disciple’s Renewal”:

O MY SAVIOUR,

Help me.
    I am so slow to learn,
      so prone to forget,
      so weak to climb;
I am in the foothills when I should be
    on the heights;
I am pained by my graceless heart,
  my prayerless days,
  my poverty of love,
  my sloth in the heavenly race,
  my sullied conscience,
  my wasted hours,
  my unspent opportunities.
I am blind while light shines around me:
  take the scales from my eyes,
  grind to dust the evil heart of unbelief.
Make it my chiefest joy to study thee,
  meditate on thee,
  gaze on thee,
  sit like Mary at thy feet,
  lean like John on thy breast,
  appeal like Peter to thy love,
  count like Paul all things dung.
Give me increase and progress in grace
    so that there may be
  more decision in my character,
  more vigour in my purposes,
  more elevation in my life,
  more fervour in my devotion,
  more constancy in my zeal.
As I have a position in the world,
  keep me from making the world my position;
May I never seek in the creature
  what can be found only in the Creator;
Let not faith cease from seeking thee
until it vanishes into sight.
  Ride forth in me, thou King of kings
    and Lord of lords,
  that I may live victoriously,
    and in victory attain my end.

Even though it seems “effortless” to use someone else’s powerful prayer as your own, you’ll be surprised that it works! When you pray these prayers, you are going to sense the presence of God because Puritan prayers are so intensely directed towards God. You can use The Valley of Vision as a daily devotional or quiet time, alongside your Bible readings, or even read and pray with loved ones.

I initially bought a bonded leather copy, then after being so impacted by this book, I bought a premium goatskin copy of The Valley of Vision. This sits next to my Bible literally every single day. Get it, use it, and grow in Christlike prayers.

Review by: Jin Wan

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Devotional

Looking deeper than mere platitudes

1 Chronicles 28, 2 Peter 2, Micah 5, Luke 14

After you have been a Christian for awhile, you may have heard certain phrases repeated over and over again. God loves you. If God is for us, who can be against us? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. God is with you. He will not leave nor forsake you. The trouble is that more often than not, these pithy phrases are often sung in worship service to “set the mood”, used for the convenience of the moment or uttered without a thought about God Himself, resulting in many of them being rendered meaningless. Surely when a Christian says, “God is love,” he or she means something utterly different from what the world means when they say the same thing, often within the context of something that completely contradicts God’s Word and God Himself. David’s charge to his son Solomon gives us an idea of how to look beyond mere Christian platitudes, and into the very heart of God. David said to Solomon, “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.” Why should Solomon be strong and courageous and do it? Why should Solomon not be afraid nor dismayed? Why should Solomon be assured that God is with him? Why should Solomon know that God will not leave nor forsake him? Because the work for the service of the house of the Lord must be finished. And God will make sure His work is finished as He works in and through you. As Christians, you can be strong and courageous, you can be assured God is with you because he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). So every time you use familiar phrases, use it in this light – that you will continue to let God have His way in you, and to transform by the renewal of your mind, to love and serve Him and His people.

Now God’s truth requires us to look for something different when we think about ourselves—namely, a knowledge which banishes our arrogant belief in our own strength and which removes every excuse for vainglory, leading us instead to humility.

John Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion”

PRAYER POINTER

Ask your Father in heaven to deepen your relationship with Him every time you think and use His Word in your life.

Source: “For the Fear and Love of the Lord” devotional (Day 334)

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Devotional

I cannot do this alone

This month’s Pastor’s notes are taken from some of my blog posts I contribute weekly for a blog called https://thedailyprayerblog.blogspot.com/ (30 March 2023 posting)

I cannot do this alone

57 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, 58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. (1 Kings 8:57–58)

(A PRAYER BY DIETRICH BONHOEFFER)

O God, early in the morning I cry to you.

Help me to pray

And to concentrate my thoughts on you;

I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,

But with you there is light;

I am lonely, but you do not leave me;

I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;

I am restless, but with you there is peace.

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;

I do not understand your ways,

But you know the way for me….

Restore me to liberty,

And enable me to live now

That I may answer before you and before men.

Lord whatever this day may bring,

Your name be praised. Amen

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Devotional

Tell the mighty works of God

For his month’s Pastor’s notes, I will be sharing some personal notes on a verse or two based on the Epistle Readings following the Anglican Sunday Lectionary. Today is Pentecost Sunday (also known as Whitsunday – literally “white Sunday”), and the reading is Acts 2:1-11.

11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” (Acts 2:11)

The Holy Spirit came with power during Pentecost (Feast of Weeks). For Jews, this festival was important as it was associated with the renewal of the covenant made with Noah and then later with Moses, and later for some associated with the day the law was given at Sinai. And so, Jews and people who feared God (Jewish proselytes) would come from afar to celebrate and worship during this festival.

One of the amazing things about this passage that I love is how God himself starts the world evangelism movement that Jesus gave to His disciples in the well-known verse of Acts 1:8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

I do not know how many of the disciples (120 were there that day) were great preachers but they were great worshippers. They were clearly filled with praise and worship and allowed God’s Spirit to use them to miraculously speak in different languages. Before any preaching came, there was praise and worship, and testimonies of the mighty works of God. This is something all of us can do – praise and worship God and testify of His mighty works in our lives. And the best part is, the Holy Spirit will be there to help us.