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Keep Your Mind on Heaven

2026-01-15 in /by

Do you feel as if your best years have passed you by? Hogwash! You’ll do your best work in heaven. Do you regret wasting seasons of life on foolish pursuits? So do I. But we can stop our laments. We have an eternity to make up for lost time.

Colossians 3:1 (NKJV) is a great reminder to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.” Seek heaven the way a sailor seeks the coast or a pilot seeks the landing strip. Colossians 3:2 (NCV) says, “Think only about” it. Other translations say, “Keep your mind on” it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.

In other words, obsess yourself with heaven. Open your eyes, Christ invites. Lift up your gaze. You were made for more than this life.

God Will Never Let You Go

2026-01-14 in /by

Satan tried to write his own story in which he was the hero and God is an afterthought. He admitted as much: “I will ascend to the heavens…I will make myself like the Most High” as quoted in Isaiah 14:13-14. Satan wanted to take God’s place, but God wasn’t—and isn’t—moving. Satan wants to win you to his side, but God will never let you go. You have his word!

Even more, you have his help. Scripture says, “For our high priest (Jesus) is able to understand our weaknesses…he was tempted in every way that we are, but he did not sin. Let us then…come before God’s throne where there is grace…to help us when we need it” (Hebrews 4:15-16). You don’t have to face Satan alone. We shout, and God runs—at the right moment.

放生的故事

2026-01-14 in , /by

约翰福音10:10盗贼来，无非要偷窃、杀害、毁坏；我来了，是要叫羊得生命，并且得的更丰盛。

金明玮姐妹说过一个这样的故事：有群鳝鱼、泥鳅和鲫鱼被打鱼人从舒适的「家」中捞了起来，送到市场待估，一个善人眼见这群活蹦乱跳的生命就要吞入人之肚腹，心有所感，立时买下了所有；之后，载入深山，找到一条水流快速、布满石砾的清澈小溪，将所有的鱼在此放生。

鱼儿历经了短暂的快乐之后，发现新的环境完全不适合牠们生存，在既无粮食又得忍受急速水流的状况下，牠们奄奄一息，「放生」带给他们的仍是死路一条。善心人的诚心与好意却带来诸鱼皆死的结果。

在信仰上，一个人诚心与善意的追寻，也绝不能保证能得到生命中真正的解答。追寻时刻能不谨慎吗？（金明玮）

God’s Word Is Enough

2026-01-13 in /by

Where do you feel empty? Are you hungry for attention, craving success, longing for intimacy? Be aware of your weaknesses. Bring them to God before Satan brings them to you.

Satan will tell you, as he did when tempting Jesus, to turn stones into bread. In other words, to take matters into your own hands. If Satan convinces us to trust our works over God’s word, he has us dangling from a broken limb.

Do what Jesus did. In Satan’s temptation of Jesus, three times Jesus repeated, “It is written…” “It also is written…” “It is written…” God’s book was enough. Jesus overcame temptation, not with special voices or supernatural signs, but by remembering and quoting Scripture. Do the same. Let God’s words silence Satan’s lies and see what happens.

满山神佛

2026-01-13 in , /by

以赛亚书 17:7-8  当那日，人必仰望造他们的主，眼目重看以色列的圣者。 8 他们必不仰望祭坛，就是自己手所筑的，也不重看自己指头所做的，无论是木偶是日像。

约翰福音14:6 我就是道路、真理、生命；若不借着我，没有人能到父那里去。

在西藏的拉萨药王山峭壁上，雕刻了无数佛像。千百年来，人们怀着虔诚与敬畏的心，无休止地寻求神，换来的就是这些令人叹为观止的艺术珍品，可惜就是没有摸著神。使徒保罗说得好：“我们既是上帝所生的，就不当以为上帝的神性像人用手艺，心思所雕刻的金、银、石。”(徒17:29)

在以赛亚书40章19-20节里，神形容了偶像的形成： 偶像是匠人铸造，银匠用金包裹，为它铸造银链。 穷乏献不起这样供物的，就拣选不能朽坏的树木，为自己寻找巧匠，立起不能摇动的偶像。 在44章12-17节里祂形容：铁匠把铁在火炭中烧热，用锤打铁器，用他有力的膀臂锤成，他饥饿而无力，不喝水而发倦。 木匠拉线，用笔划出样子，用铇子铇成形状，用圆尺划了模样，仿照人的体态，做成人形，好住在房屋中。

勇气

2026-01-12 in , /by

「勇气」是在失败、困顿的境遇里，醒悟归属、回转归向神。任意放荡、耗尽资财的浪子醒悟过来，就说：「我父亲有多少的雇工，口粮有余，我倒在这里饿死吗？我要起来…，向他说：父亲！我得罪了天，又得罪了你；从今以后，我不配称为你的儿子，把我当作一个雇工吧！」（路加福音15:17-19）

「勇气」是在悔改、赦罪的恩典中，更新生命、诚实面对神。税吏长撒该欢欢喜喜地接待耶稣，站着对主说：「主啊，我把所有的一半给穷人；我若讹诈了谁，就还他四倍。」（路加福音19:8）

「勇气」是在私欲、诱惑的试探中，持守身分、不得罪神。约瑟不从主人的妻的引诱，对她说：「看哪，一切家务，我主人都不知道；他把所有的都交在我手里。在这家里没有比我大的；并且他没有留下一样不交给我，只留下了妳，因为妳是他的妻子。怎能作这大恶，得罪神呢？」（创世记39:8-9）

「勇气」是在辖制、威吓的权势下，坚持敬拜神、事奉神。但以理的三个朋友沙得拉、米煞、亚伯尼歌对尼布甲尼撒王说：「…即便如此，我们所事奉神能将我们从烈火的窑中救出来…；即或不然，王啊，你当知道我们决不事奉你的神，也不敬拜你所立的金像。」（但以理书3:16-18）

Tools of Satan

2026-01-12 in /by

How do we explain our stubborn hearts and conniving ways? How do we explain Auschwitz, human trafficking, abuse? If I were the devil, I’d want you to feel attacked by an indefinable force. If I were the devil, I’d keep my name out of it. But God doesn’t let the devil get away with this. He tells us his name: splitter, a divider, a wedge driver. Don’t fault the plunging economy or a raging dictator for your anxiety. They are simply tools in Satan’s tool kit.

We can’t understand God’s narrative without understanding Satan’s strategy. Scripture says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). God calls the devil by name and promises to defeat him. Be alert to the devil, and be assured his days are numbered.

Pray Bold Prayers

2026-01-11 in /by

How bold are your prayers? As John Wesley crossed the Atlantic, he was reading in his cabin and became aware of heavy winds knocking the ship off course. He responded in prayer. A colleague wrote it down:

Almighty and everlasting God…Thou holdest the winds in thy fists and sittest upon the water floods…command those winds and these waves that they obey Thee. Take us speedily and safely to the haven whither we would go.

Having offered the prayer, Wesley took up his book and continued reading. On deck his colleague found calm winds and the ship on course. Wesley made no mention of the answered prayer. His friend wrote, So fully did he expect to be heard that he took it for granted he was heard.

How bold are your prayers?

手杖

2026-01-11 in , /by

耶利米书 29:11 耶和华说：我知道我向你们所怀的意念是赐平安的意念，不是降灾祸的意念，要叫你们末后有指望。

申命记 33:25 你的鞋(亦做:门闩)是铜的、铁的。你的日子如何，你的力量也必如何。

在我父亲的家中有一个小房间，里面藏着我家几代所用的许多手杖。有的是爬山用的，有的是走平坦大道用的，有的是走泥泞之地用的，有的是雨后雪后行路用的，每种手杖的样式各不相同。有时我回故乡去探望父亲，他老人家常喜欢和我出外散步；每次出发之前，我们总先到手杖室中去拣选我们那一次所适用的手杖。因此我们常想起神的话语是我们生活中的手杖，会给我无限帮助和安慰。

在打仗的时候，紧急的风声使我们心慌意乱，神给我们的是：『他必不怕凶恶的信息；他心坚定，倚靠耶和华』（诗112:7）。这杖扶持我们经过许多黑暗的日子。当死亡夺去我们的孩子，使我们心碎的时候，我在应许中找到另一根安慰的杖：『一宿虽然有哭泣，早晨便必欢呼』（诗30:5）。

With Ordinary People

2026-01-09 in /by

You have bills to pay, beds to make, and grass to cut. Your face won’t grace any magazine covers, and you aren’t expecting a call from the White House. Congratulations—you qualify for a modern-day Christmas story.

Step into the stable, cradle in your arms the infant Jesus. Listen as one who knew him well puts lyrics to the event. What no theologian conceived, what no rabbi dared to dream, God did. John 1:14 proclaims, “The Word became flesh.” Christ in Mary. God in Christ. The Word of God entered the world with the cry of a baby. God writes his story with ordinary people like Joseph, like Mary. People like you, like me.