Using Artificial Intelligence with Spiritual Intelligence

As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.” Luke 2:35, NLT

ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way we live. The viral artificial intelligence chatbots are finding its way into homes and offices all across the world. We are in the dawn of a new era of human existence. Geoffrey Hinton, the “Godfather of AI,” who created a foundation technology for AI systems, has raised concerns of the profound risks to society and humanity of generative AI. The new generation of chatbots can help anyone to create information about anything.   There is a very dangerous potential for the spread of misinformation created by AI and it would be difficult to know what is true anymore.¹ 

Nicholas Matthews found that humans are rapidly taking on God-like qualities in our pursuit of creating robots and artificial intelligence. He posed the following thought provoking questions:

• How do we created humans, create, and how do we then govern this non-human life?
• How will this new form of life (albeit artificial) interact with humans and interact with each other?
• Should they remain bound to the service of humans, or should they have the right to exist and determine their mission?  
• If robots are to have rights, will these rights be their right to freedom of expression and thought, and any subsequent consequence through the legal system?
• Will they remain as robotic machines, or will they ultimately evolve to be sentient beings who have the ability to perceive, feel, and experience subjectivity?² 

These questions raised by the creation of artificial intelligence by human beings who are made in the image of God filled me with a sense of wonder of the wisdom, power and love of God. If we are not to be deceived and enslaved by artificial intelligence, we need to cultivate our spiritual intelligence (SI)  in order to gain a heart of wisdom. 

A godlike but ungodly and godless creature is doomed for destruction as it will be a vehicle for much evil and suffering. Human beings have the freedom to choose between the love of power and the power of love. God has given us the bible to seek and to develop spiritual intelligence. The stories of Adam and Eve, the Flood and the Tower of Babel in Genesis Chapters 3, Chapters 7 to 8 and Chapter 11 depict the reality and problems of evil and our need for God’s redemptive love. The bible is the sacred record of the truth that love will always be victorious over evil.

When Adam and Eve were tempted by the love of power to seek knowledge, they became more self conscious and hid from God. As a result, they lost their spiritual intelligence. Spiritual intelligence is growing in God’s consciousness and dying to our self consciousness. Jesus came to teach us how to be filled with God’s consciousness and to emptied of self consciousness:

“Although he was in the form of God and equal with God, 
He did not take advantage of this equality.
Instead, He emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant,
by becoming like other humans,
by having a human appearance.
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
death on a cross.”³ 

Jesus came to restore our spiritual intelligence so that we can live the abundant life as the children of God. Artificial intelligence can help us to be successful in the world but we need spiritual intelligence to face death and to find meaning in life, especially in times of suffering. 

During the circumcision of Jesus when he was eight days old, the Holy Spirit led Simeon, a righteous and devout man in Jerusalem to the Temple.  Simeon was waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. He was given the assurance by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. When he saw Jesus, he praised God for showing him that Jesus is the light to reveal God to the nations and he prophesied to Mary:

“This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”⁴ 

Without an awareness of our deepest thoughts, we are oblivious to our need for spiritual intelligence. Without spiritual intelligence, we cannot know what God wants us to do with our lives. We will be driven by pride, lust and greed to use artificial intelligence to satisfy our sinful desires. To have spiritual intelligence, we need to be devoted to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.⁵

The story of Anna, a widow for 84 years after just 7 years of marriage, who spent time fasting and praying⁶, is an inspiration for the elderly to cultivate the habit of prayer and to be witnesses of God’s salvation. The challenge is for the elderly to be the shining beacons of spiritual intelligence – to encourage the young to be less attached to the things of this world and to be more dependent on God. 

Artificial intelligence without spiritual intelligence will lead to the end of the world. The elderly can be the voices crying out in the wilderness to keep a world from going mad with lust, greed, and pride. The elderly can be role models to encourage us to draw closer to God’s loving embrace through suffering. They are also in the best time of life to face and befriend death. Old age is a time to live out the truth that prayer is the vital breath of our souls:

“Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,

the Christian’s native air,

his watchword at the gates of death:

he enters heaven with prayer.”⁶

SDG

Notes:

1  CNA 2nd May 2023
2  Nicholas Matthews, Being Flawesome, pg 53
3  Phil 2:6-8 GW
4  Luke 2:29-35, NLT
5  Colossians 4:2, NLT
6  Luke 2:36-38, NLT
7  Prayer Is The Soul’s Sincere Desire, James Montgomery

The Wilderness Of Silence

“Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.” Luke 1:78-79, NLT

When I lost my voice and an ulcer was found in one of my vocal cords during the season of Advent in 2019, I was ordered not to speak for 2 weeks. I decided to use the time to revisit the discipline of silence through centering prayer. I had attended silent retreats for many years but had not incorporated the discipline of contemplative prayer in my daily life. Losing my voice was one of the defining moments in my life. It was the beginning of a journey to be a voice in the wilderness, like John the Baptist, to prepare the way into the kingdom of heaven. 

Before John the Baptist was born, his father Zechariah, was struck dumb for the duration of the pregnancy of his wife, Elizabeth. It was a time in the wilderness for Zechariah as he found himself isolated and unable to speak about his encounter with the angel Gabriel. It was a time for Zechariah to reflect on what God will be doing through his son, John the Baptist. And when John the Baptist was born, Zechariah regained his voice to praise God for sending a mighty Saviour as He had promised through his prophets. He shared what the angel Gabriel had told him about his son, John:

“And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”¹

After his birth, John the Baptist lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel – calling the people to repentance and to turn to God.² The wilderness was also a place where Jesus was led into by the Holy Spirit after His baptism. It was a place where Jesus was with wild beasts and was tempted by Satan. It was a place where angels ministered to Him.³  The wilderness was a time when the Jews had to wander for 40 years before they entered the Promised Land.⁴ 

There is also a wilderness that is deep within us – the space deep within our unconscious where our hurts, fears, doubts, resentment, and guilt are buried. We need to journey through the wilderness of our souls to enter the kingdom of heaven that lies much deeper in our hearts. The wilderness experience of the Jews was to prepare them to take possession of the Promised Land. In the wilderness, they were led by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. God provided them with bread from heaven and water from the rock.⁵ It was a time when they experienced the wonder of God’s loving provisions and protection.

Fear kept the Jews from entering the Promised Land and they had to wander for 40 years in the wilderness. The Exodus story of the Jews is to teach us that there are no shortcuts to the kingdom of heaven – we need to face our fears and replace them with faith in God’s steadfast love. We have the choice to be imprisoned by our fears or to seek our freedom through faith in what Jesus has done for us on the cross. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is about being alive in Christ and falling deeper and deeper in love with God. A simple way to do so, but one that needs much discipline is the practice of silence. Silence is not just getting out of a noisy world. It is seeking to be alone with God. We have much to learn from the teachings of the desert fathers and mothers – the ordinary Christians in the 3^rd century who chose to renounce the world in order to intentionally follow God’s call to live in solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Arabia. Henri Nouwen found that it is in silence that the Holy Spirit pray in us and fill us with the creative energy of God’s love:

“It is in this silence that the Spirit of God can pray in us and continue his creative work in us. . . . Without silence the Spirit will die in us and the creative energy of our life will float away and leave us alone, cold, and tired. Without silence we will lose our center and become the victim of the many who constantly demand our attention.”⁶ 

The wilderness of silence is the time and space to die to self so that I can be alive to God. The wilderness is a time of preparation to open the eyes of my heart to see the burning bushes of God in creation, to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in my interactions with others and to be the hands of Christ to those in need. It is through the practice of silence that we can be devoted in prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.⁷

Instead of fearing silence, we can invite the Holy Spirit to be with us in the wilderness of silence. It is in the wilderness of silence, with the Holy Spirit, that we can face our wild thoughts without being discouraged, our inner demons without being deceived, and our angels without being distracted. It is not the practice of silence that is important. Silence is the expression of my intention to wait on God. Before I can be God’s voice in the wilderness, I need to be like Zechariah to spend time in silence and to pray:

“Open my mouth and let me bear
gladly the warm truth ev’rywhere.
Open my heart and let me prepare
love with thy children thus to share.

Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my mouth, illumine me,
Spirit divine!”⁷

SDG

Notes:

1. Luke 1:76-79, NLT
2. Mark 1:4-8, NLT
3. Mark 1:9-13, NLT
4. Numbers 14:26-35,NLT
5. Nehemiah 9:12-15, NLT
6. Henri Nouwen Society – Nouwen Meditation: The Spirit of God Prays in Us, 2^nd May 2023
7. Colossians 4:2, NLT
8. Open My Eyes That I May See, Clara H. Scott

Shining Stars In The End Times

“And those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.” Daniel 12:3, NLT

We are all looking forwards to better times in the future. However, the hard and harsh truth of life is that as sickness, old age and death creeps up on us, we will have to face losses in our health and relationships. These are the consequences of living in a fallen world that is dominated by sin and evil. The bad news is that there will be a time of great anguish greater than any since nations came into existence.¹ 

We live in a fool’s paradise when we live in denial of the wrath of God. Without an awareness and understanding of the judgment of God, it is impossible to receive the amazing grace of God to live out the good news of salvation of Jesus Christ. But God’s wrath and judgment is on sin and evil and not on human beings. There is a spiritual battle for our souls. As in all wars, there are many casualties and much suffering.  Suffering is the fruit of sin and evil and blinds us to the faithful love of God. We are created in the image of God and God had looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was very good!²

The story of Adam and Eve is to teach us that we have the freedom to turn away from God. When we do so, we hide from God and live in a world that is filled with violence, greed, lust and fear. God has to respect our freedom to choose. The judgment of God is that God will allow us to fulfil our shameful desires.³ Like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, God waits patiently for us to come to our senses.⁴  In the end times, many will rush here and there and knowledge will increase.⁵ Trials and suffering reveal and purifies the condition of our spiritual hearts:

“Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials. But the wicked will continue in their wickedness, and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means.”⁶ 

Seeking wisdom is a more fruitful exercise than trying to speculate or predict what is going to happen in the future. God is sovereign over history. The question is whether we want to be a part of God’s problem or a part of God’s solution to save a dying world. We need wisdom to lead many to righteousness. Like Daniel we will then shine as bright stars in our dark and evil world.⁷ We are called to be witnesses of what Jesus Christ had done for us on the cross – we are not called to “sell Christ.”  There is always the temptation to sell a counterfeit faith in Jesus Christ and using godliness as a way to be healthy and wealthy.⁸

The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that God is redeeming and renewing the earth through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. We are saved the grace of God to be God’s masterpieces to do the good things that He planned for us long ago.⁹ Life is not about us but all about the amazing and awesome love of God.

Jesus Christ came to show us that God is our Abba Father and not a Creator Judge. At a retreat during Easter, I was touched by the sharing of one of the retreatants. At a social event in his son’s school , fathers and sons were separated into 2 groups and placed in two different places. The fathers were to call out to their sons to see if the latter can recognize their father’s voice. The fathers were much relieved when all the sons were able to recognize their voices. However, the exercise helped him to see how heart broken God would be if we are unable to hear His voice.

On Palm Sunday in 2010, I was touched by the words of a song we sang – “Break my heart from what breaks Yours.” Parents experience helplessness and pain when they are not able to comfort their crying child or when their children suffer from their acts of disobedience. Likewise, God suffers with us in our pain. As our Heavenly Father, His heart is broken when the church brings dishonour to His name, when we destroy and pollute His beautiful world and when we inflict suffering on others.

In times of discouragement, God leads us to rest and to hear His still small voice so that we can see things from His perspective and to participate in His plans for the world. To say no to the world and to say yes to the Holy Spirit – to accept God’s invitation to be a part of the greatest love story on earth of all times. Without the Light of Christ, we are living in spiritual darkness and in fear of death.

John Wesley believed that we cannot have a reasonable assurance of truth unless we have experienced it personally. We are living in darkness and in the shadow of death without a deep encounter with the living God wherein we become aware of the spiritual dimension of life through the witness of the Holy Spirit. Without an authentic experience of the truths of Scripture that is affirmed by our religious traditions and supported by human reason we cannot move beyond the superstitious faith of the devils.¹⁰

We need to be still to know God.¹¹ So often we think that we are waiting for God when the reality is that God is waiting for us to hear His whispers of love. Silence opens the windows of our mind to the light of the Holy Spirit. Silence is the journey to a deep encounter with the Living Christ who dwells deep within our hearts. Let us walk by faith by keeping our eyes on Jesus:

“We will stand as children of the promise,
We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul’s reward.
Till the race is finished and the work is done,
We’ll walk by faith and not by sight.

By faith, the prophets saw a day
When the longed-for Messiah would appear
With the power to break the chains of sin and death,
And rise triumphant from the grave.”¹¹

SDG

Notes:

1. Dan 12:1, NLT
2. Genesis 1:31, NLT
3. Romans1:26, NLT
4. Luke 15:11-18, NLT
5. Daniel 12:4, NLT
6. Daniel 12:10, NLT
7. Daniel 12:3, NLT
8. 1 Timothy 6:5, NLT
9. Ephesians 2:8-10, NLT
10. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral, Chris Bounds, January 24, 2022, weslife newletter
11. Psalms 46:10, NLT
12. By Faith, Stuart Townend

Hope For The Perplexed

“Then I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for several days. Afterward I got up and performed my duties for the king, but I was greatly troubled by the vision and could not understand it.” Daniel 8:27, NLT

Challenging times are part of God’s bigger and divine plan. The history of humankind is full of twists and turns and makes sense only when we look at it from God’s perspective. With the Covid 19 pandemic, the Ukraine war and the collapse of major banks, we are living in the end times that is reminiscent of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. We need to wait on God to understand what is God revealing to us in His Word. We have hope in our perplexing times because there is a God who reveals secrets and has shown us the meaning of what is happening in our world. Daniel gave King Nebuchadnezzar a panoramic view of the future of the kingdoms in the Middle East and predicted how God’s Kingdom on earth will come through Jesus Christ.¹

Although Daniel was deeply troubled by the visions he received during the first and third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, he continued to perform his duties until the time came for him to interpret King Belshazzar’s dream that proclaimed the downfall of the Babylonian empire.² There are many mysteries about God’s ways that we cannot or will not be able to  understand – God cannot be locked up in a book! Like Daniel, we will be greatly troubled by what is happening in the world but we can trust that in God’s own time He will grant us understanding of His thoughts and His ways. Like Daniel, we are to do God’s will without regard for the rewards of this world.³

The Good News is that Jesus Christ came to give us the Spirit of Truth to guide us into all truth and to tell us about the future.⁴ As we grow old, we will face a future filled with loss, suffering and death. Like Daniel, we will be deeply troubled. But we need not fear bad news or be paralyzed by fear when we confidently trust that the Lord cares for us.⁵ We can choose to see the winter of life as a time to grow in faith. God has given us everything we need to live a godly life. We have been given great and precious promises to enable us to escape from the world’s corruption caused by human desires and to share in the divine nature of Jesus Christ.⁶

At Pentecost, Peter quoted the prophet Joel who prophesied that in the last days, God will pour out His Spirit upon all people – sons and daughters will prophesy, young men will see visions and old men will dream dreams. There will be wonders in the heavens above and signs of the earth below before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.⁷ 

For the early Christians, to call on God’s name was to face death and persecution. However, the early Christians held fast to the truth of Joel 2:32 that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved from the terrifying day of God’s judgment. The early disciples were not afraid of the judgment of men but respected God’s judgment against sin and evil. They lived out their belief in Jesus Christ by following Him to the cross. In Christ, we have every spiritual gift we need as we eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by grace that we will be kept strong and free from all blame on the day when Christ returns.⁸  

God’s kingdom is always an upside down kingdom. In the modern world, the young are obsessed with virtual realities while the old are grappling with spiritual realities. Visions from God are to empower us to do God’s will. Dreams can be expressions of our fears and desires that are buried deep within our unconscious minds. We are to encourage one another to live in a way God would consider worthy for we are called to share in Christ’s kingdom and glory.⁹ 

God’s ways are not our ways. To follow Jesus is to be God’s 20% who are shining as lights in a dark world of sin – to live with love, joy and peace in the kingdom of heaven. Without Jesus, we will be the 80% living in hell on earth. To follow Christ is to stay alert to spiritual realities and to persevere with difficult people and situations. The challenge is to cultivate the habit to pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.¹⁰

To do so, we need to spend time each morning doing nothing but to wait on God. This is not to daydream about our fantasies but the simple act to surrendering our will as a living sacrifice so that we can see God’s vision and dream God’s dreams. It is a time of preparation to open our minds to the Holy Spirit so that we can see the spiritual truths in the bible that we need to apply in our lives.

We are living in perplexing times. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the old can dream dreams. Life’s journey through old age will be exciting and not daunting when we look for God’s surprises. For we have a hope that burns within our hearts and gives us strength for each passing day:

“There is a hope that lifts my weary head,
A consolation strong against despair,
That when the world has plunged me in its deepest pit,
I find the Saviour there!
Through present sufferings, future’s fear,
He whispers ‘courage’ in my ear.
For I am safe in everlasting arms,
And they will lead me home.”¹¹

SDG

Notes:

1. Daniel 2:28-45, NLT
2. Daniel 8:15-27, NLT
3. Daniel 5:17-29, NLT
4. John 16:13, NLT
5. Psalms 112:7, NLT
6. 2 Peter 1:3-4, NLT
7. Acts 2:17, NLT
8. 1 Corinthians 1:9, NLT
9. 1 Thess 2:12, NLT
10.  Ephesians 6:18, NLT
11.  There is a hope, Stuart Townend

From S.O.A.P. to H.O.P.E.

“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.” Daniel 3:17, NLT

We live in a fallen world that is infected by sin and evil. We are all living comfortably in hell on earth like frogs being cooked in a pot of water that is slowing heating up. Suffering is part and parcel of life and our best years are filled with pain and trouble when we live under the wrath of God, trying to hide our secret sins which are seen by God.¹ There is no “life-changing magic” for the chaos of life. We live messy lives in a messy world because we are out of the will of God and living under the wrath of God with an awful, sinful fear of God:

“God’s anger is revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they try to suppress the truth by their immoral living……. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals and snakes. For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them.”² 

Suffering is not the will of God – we have the wrong S.O.A.P. – Sin Oriented Attitudes and Practices. Lust, pride, and greed leads to sinful desires, ulterior motivations and hidden agendas. We are separated from the love of God by the love of self which leads to lust that is the root of much suffering. We will face temptations in good times and we are tested in bad times.  A false sense of security lead us to fall into temptations in good times as we lean more and more on our own resources and trust God less and less. Bad times reveal our deep seated fears and test our faith.

The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego draws our attention to the problem of idolatry and the  importance of fearing God to face tests and temptations. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not forget that they were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, the children of God. They were not inspired of Aku (Shadrach), belonging to Aku (Meshrach) or servant of Nego (Abednego). They refused to bow down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. When King Nebuchadnezzar threatened to throw them into the blazing furnace and asked them what god will be able to rescue them from his power they replied:

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”³

Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah together with Daniel, were first tempted with the food and wine of the royal palace of King Nebuchadnezzar when they were chosen for royal service. They were steadfast in their faith and refused the king’s food. It was their holy fear of the Lord that empowered them to face the tribulations and temptations in life. They did not fear King Nebuchadnezzar and firmly stood their ground not to worship the gold statue in obedience to the commandment, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”⁴   They chose the fear of God over the fear of the king. They were rewarded with the presence of Christ in the fiery furnace.  

We will fear nothing – not suffering nor death – when we have the awesome and joyful fear of God through faith in the redeeming work of Christ on the cross. Jesus came to save us from the love of self, with the love of God, so that we can love others by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is God’s grace that empowers us to walk the path of love and holiness.⁵ We are empowered to obey God because we have been chosen by God and made holy by the Holy Spirit.⁶ It is only by grace that we can confront our Sin Oriented Attitudes and Practices (S.O.A.P.) by embracing Holiness Oriented Practices and Examination (H.O.P.E.).

The most important and simplest holiness oriented practice is waiting on God. Through the discipline of silence, we offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice.⁷ Being still in God’s presence and doing nothing is not a waste of time or effort – it is being the clay and letting God be our Potter to mold and remold our lives.⁸ It is recognizing that we are a mere human being and God has the right to show his anger and power to some and to be patient with others.⁹

It is impossible to be a living sacrifice without the grace of God – we will keep crawling off the altar! Like Abraham, we simply need to trust that God will provide.¹⁰ Like Isaac, we need the spirit of obedience to just simply lie still as the expression of our earnest intention to seek God with all our minds, our hearts, and our souls. Let us therefore offer ourselves as living sacrifices, that we may become living stones who are bonded together by the Holy Spirit into the family of God and to change the world by being the hands and feet of the Body of Christ.

“Come build an altar unto the Lord
Return to worship and hear His Word
And then the fires of revival will come sweeping through your soul
And we’ll touch the Holy Presence of our God”¹¹

SDG

Notes:

1. Psalms 90:8-10, NLT
2. Romans 1:18, 23-24, GW
3. Daniel 3:16-18, NLT
4. Exodus 20:4, ESV
5. Jerry Miller, Grace Beyond Reason, xxi
6. 1 Peter 1:2, NLT
7.  Romans 12:1, NLT
8.  Jeremiah 18:1-4, NLT
9. Romans 9:20-24, NLT
10. Genesis 22:1-14, NLT
11.  Fires of Revival, Wendell Smith

Heaven – Reality or Fantasy

Read:

Revelation 1:9-20, NLT

Reflect:

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, ‘Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last.’” Revelations 1:17, NLT

Is heaven real or a figment of human imagination? The stories of the bible are to open our eyes to see that heaven is not a human fantasy but God’s dream for us. Jesus came to give us the abundant life¹ – not a life of material prosperity but the life in the kingdom of heaven that is filled with unconditional love, unspeakable joy and the peace that is beyond human understanding.

The apostle John was worshiping in the Spirit on the island of Patmos when he saw the risen Christ and received the instructions to write the letters to the seven churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyratira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. John fell at His feet as if he were dead when he saw the Risen Christ but he was encouraged with the wonderful truth:

“’Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look – I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.”²

The Good News is that Jesus is the Rock that will bring an end to all the kingdoms of this world. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that deeply troubled him which only Daniel was able to interpret after a revelation from God in a vision:

“There are no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or fortune-tellers who can reveal the king’s secret. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future.”³

King Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt of a huge shining stature of a man that was subsequently crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold by a rock which became a great mountain covering the whole earth. God was showing King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future:

“During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.”⁴

The future that was revealed to King Nebuchadnezzar is our present time. Jesus came to fulfill Daniel’s prophecy of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Jesus has given us the Beatitudes – the keys to the kingdom of heaven⁵ and taught us to pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth⁶. Jesus died to give us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth⁷:

“The Spirit alone can turn a cold, stony, apathetic heart into a heart of flesh. Only the Spirit can make us lovers of God. And the Spirit does this as we concretely apply the truths of God’s word to our everyday lives.”⁸ 

Heaven is found when we are living in God’s loving embrace through faith in Jesus Christ. Heaven is not a myth but a mystery and the adventure of being transformed from a goat to a sheep who is led by the Shepherd of love. Heaven is not just a destination we go to after we die. It is folly to search the Scriptures to look for eternal life:

“Your search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.”⁹

Eternal life is life with Christ – a life that begins now and extends beyond death. The Scriptures are to draw us to the Risen Christ. We are to use the Scriptures to unlock the wonderful truths of the Kingdom of the Rock.

To experience the reality of heaven in the here and now, to have the abundant spiritual life, I need to embark on the journey of faith and to receive the kingdom of God as a little child.¹⁰ When I seek God’s dream for my life, I will not be living my dreams and nightmares. When I tune my heart and mind in silence to hear God’s word of unfailing love in the moments of today, I will have God’s dream of heaven which gives me a song to sing and I can cope with anything.

“Perfect submission, perfect delight
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love

This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
Praising my Savior all the day long”¹¹

Respond:

Lord, hold me close in Your loving embrace so that I may have a foretaste of heaven in the here and now.

Reframe:

1. What are my motivations for reading the bible?
2. What do I believe about heaven?
3. How can I discover the truths about the kingdom of heaven?

Song of Praise:

Blessed Assurance

SDG

Notes:

1. John 10:10, NKJV
2.Revelation 1:9-18, NLT
3.Daniel 2:27-28, NLT
4. Daniel 2:29-45, NLT
5. Matthew 5:3-10, 16:19, NLT
6. Matthew 6:10, NKJV
7. John 16:13, NLT
8. Uche Anizor, Overcoming Apathy, 135
9. John 5:39-40, NLT
10. Luke 18:17, NLT
11. Blessed Assurance, Fanny Cosby

From Zero To Hero

Read:

Judges 6:11-24, NLT

Reflect:

“It’s all right,” the Lord replied. “Do not be afraid. You will not die.” Judges 6:23, NLT

To be a hero in life is not trying to be the greatest of all time – it is making a difference in the world by being a blessing to others. Times of adversities are times when heroes and heroines are born. Adversities are opportunities to discover our faith and find strength to be a hero for God. In the Old Testament, we have the story of Gideon who was called a “mighty hero” as he was hiding from the Midianites:

“The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

Gideon was far from being a hero, let alone a mighty one! He was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. He was the least in his entire family and his clan was the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh. He was living in a time when the Jews felt abandoned by God and they were crying out to God for help.¹  When his offering of a young goat and unleavened bread was consumed with fire by the angel who then disappeared, Gideon was filled with a sense of doom. But the Lord assured him: “It is all right, Do not be afraid. You will not die.”²

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God when we are living under the wrath of God.³ But when God is our refuge, the angel of the Lord is our guard who surrounds and defends all who fear him.⁴ God does not want us to be afraid of Him but to love Him with all our hearts so that we can love our neighbors as we love ourselves.⁵  We need wisdom to use our freedom to do so and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.⁶ Wisdom leads to humility, righteousness and life. Without the fear of God, we will do whatever seemed right in our own eyes.⁷ Like Adam and Eve, we will be tempted to seek knowledge which leads to pride, self righteousness and death.⁸

Jesus came as a baby with absolutely nothing. He was born under the worst circumstances – there was no room in the inn and he was born in a manger. He died as a nobody on the cross. Jesus lived and died as a zero to show us that we have everything we need to be God’s heroes in the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. All human heroes become zeroes in life or in death. Jesus came to show as the way to be a spiritual hero by becoming a human zero.

God’s grace is always sufficient and His power is made perfect when we are weak.⁹ The foolish plan of God’s salvation is wiser than the wisest of human plans and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.¹⁰ God’s thoughts are nothing like our thoughts and His ways are far beyond anything we can imagine.¹¹ We need to be filled with the awe of God like Gideon. We need to come to the end of ourselves – to understand how small and insignificant we are and cry out in awe with the psalmist:

“When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers – the moon and the stars you set in place – what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?”

But God has made us a little lower than angels and crowned us with glory and honor. He has given us dominion over the works of His Hands.¹² The stories of angels in the bible are to teach us that there is a spiritual or supernatural dimension of life that is beyond our thoughts. The journey of a spiritual hero begins with the awareness that we are nothing without God. Without God we can do nothing but when we are in Christ we can do everything that we are called to do for God.

The practice of spiritual disciplines is to be connected with the spiritual wifi of God. To fill our lives with divine radiance, we need to spend time with God regularly. It is not a burden but a great joy to be with God in silence and solitude. When we have been touched by the Presence of God, there will be a difference in the way we think, feel and act – we will not be zeroes but spiritual heroes who shine brightly like stars as God’s beloved in a dark and meaningless world.¹³ Pride drives us to be heroes  in the world. To keep our significance of being a part of the body of Christ from getting blown up into self importance,¹³ we need to be still before the presence of God.¹⁴

“Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.”¹⁵

Respond:

Lord, grant me the humility to be a zero so that I can be a hero in Your kingdom.

Reframe:

1.  How does the story of Gideon encourage me to be a spiritual hero?
2.  Why is necessary for me to be a “zero” to fulfill God’s will for me?
3.  How am I taking time to be holy?

Song of Praise:

Take Time To Be Holy

SDG

Notes:

1. Judges 6:1-15, NLT
2. Judges 6:16-23, NLT
3. Hebrews 10: 31, NKJV
4. Psalms 34:7, NLT
5. Luke 10:27, NLT
6. Psalms 111:10, NKJV
7. Judges 21:25, NLT
8. Genesis 3:1-19, NLT
9. 2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV
10. 1 Cor 1:25, NLT
11. Isaiah 55:8, NLT
12. Psalm 8:3-8, NKJV
13. 1 Corinthians 12:19-24, MSG
14. Psalm 46:10, NLT
15. Take Time To Be Holy, William D. Longstaff

Transcending Our Fears

Read:

Numbers 13:1 – 14:45

Reflect:

“Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!” Numbers 14:9, NLT

The only certainty in life is that we will face losses and changes in life. We are afraid of changes and challenges for it is human to be fearful of change. Our brains are wired for fear in order to survive in a world filled with threats and danger. Fear drives us to fight, flee or freeze in reaction to change. However,  human beings are different from the animals as they have the power to rewire their brains and to be connected to a power beyond themselves.

As human beings, fears reveal what we truly love – the desires that lie deep within our hearts. Our fears reflect the nature of our relationship with God. We will be filled with dreadful fears when we think of God only as a Creator and Judge – we are filled with guilt about breaking the rules. But the root cause of such dreadful fears is the loss of faith in the love of God and the tendency to put our trust in our self effort. This is the lesson we need to learn from the Exodus journey of the Jews.

When the Jews were told to take possession of the land of Canaan, they were discouraged by ten of the twelve scouts who were sent to explore the land. The scouts had reported that the land was a bountiful country flowing with milk and honey. However, they saw the inhabitants as giants and the scouts felt like grasshoppers. In their despair, the Jews complained and wished for death and thought that God was leading them to die in battle. They contemplated choosing a new leader to lead them back to Egypt.¹ However, Joshua and Caleb, two of the twelve scouts, encouraged their fellowmen to trust that God will give them the land:

“Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!.”²

But the whole community responded by threatening to stone Joshua and Caleb. Then they experienced the judgment of God when the ten men who incited the rebellion were struck dead with a plague and the community were condemned to wander in the wilderness for forty years. In remorse, they tried to enter the Promised Land without the Presence of God and they were soundly defeated.³

Instead of believing in God’s promise to be with them, the Jews were full of complaints and filled with fears about the power of the Amalekites. Likewise, we can let the fear of men keep us in darkness and from doing God’s will. The kingdom of heaven is all about our relationship with God. God does not want us to be afraid of Him – we are called to love Him as our Heavenly Father.

The filial and holy fear of God leads us to live in the light as the children of God. Jesus came to lead us to God as our Heavenly Father. The filial fear of a child of God is very different from the sinner’s dread of God.⁴ When we have the filial and joyful fear of God, we will transcend all our other fears – fear of man, fear of poverty, fear of disease, fear of suffering and fear of death.

The fear of God is not a state of mind but a matter of the heart. To fear God is not about changing our habits but changing our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit.⁶  To do so, we are to be faithful in listening to God. The more we listen to God, the more understanding we will have of Him as our Heavenly Father. The less we listen to God, we will lose whatever little faith we have in God’s love.

We need to take heed how we hear.⁷ When we listen with fear, we will be afraid of the outcomes like the servant with one talent in the parable of the Talents – ““I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.”⁷ When we listen with faith in God as our Heavenly Father, we will respond like Mary, the mother of Jesus – “let it be to me according to Your Word.”⁸ It is not what we do for God but how He is using us for His glory. 

“Be it unto me
According to Your word
According to Your promises
I can stand secure
Carve upon my heart
The truth that sets me free
According to Your word O’ Lord
Be it unto me”⁹

Respond:

Lord, lead me from the fear of sinners to the filial and joyful fear that empowers me to glorify Your name.

Reframe:

1. Are my fears leading me to a frozen relationship with God or to flee from God?
2. What do my fears reveal about true desires of my heart?
3. How can I have a filial and joyful fear of God?

SDG

Notes:

1. Numbers 13:25-14:4, NLT
2. Numbers 14:9, NLT
3. Numbers 14:10-45, NLT
4. Michael Reeves, What Does It Mean To Fear The Lord?, 41
5. Michael Reeves, What Does It Mean To Fear The Lord? 47-49
6. Luke 8:18, NLT
7.  Matthew 25:25
8.  Luke 1:38, ESV
9.  Be It Unto Me, Don Moen

Hidden Mercies In Suffering

Read:

Isaiah 35:1-10

Reflect:

“Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.” Isaiah 35:4 NLT

We are living in a time when prophecies of God’s judgment abound. We grapple with the fear of the wrathful judgment of an angry God as we seek the merciful justice of a loving Heavenly Father. When the Jews were facing the spectre of an invasion by the Assyrians, the prophet Isaiah pronounced the following judgment of God on the nations:

“Come here and listen, O nations of the earth. Let the world and everything in it hear my words. For the Lord is enraged against the nations. His fury is against all their armies. He will completely destroy them, dooming them to slaughter.”¹

Our response to God’s judgment reveals the condition of our hearts. Sinners will shake with fear and terror will seize the godless when they are confronted with the devouring and consuming fire of God’s judgment.² But for those who are honest and fair, who refused to be corrupted and enticed to do wrong,³ they have the blessed assurance of God’s salvation:

“Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.’”⁴

There is a spiritual war against evil, our spiritual enemy. As in any war, there will be suffering and pain. After the visit of the Wise Men from the east to the infant Jesus, Jewish boys in Bethlehem who were 2 years old or younger were massacred by King Herod when the Wise Men did not tell him that they had found the infant Jesus.⁵ It was a grim demonstration of the suffering that pride and the lust for power in the human heart can cause.

Suffering is part and parcel of life in a fallen world. It is the season of winter that comes to all of us – in sickness and in health, for the old  and the young, for the poor as well as the rich, and is irrespective of our race or creed. The greatest suffering is the absence of God in our lives. Instead of hungering and thirsting for God’s love, we become addicted to the pleasures of the world to fill the empty space in our hearts that only God can fill. When there is no room in our hearts for Christ, our monkey minds keep us from seeing the simple blessings of God’s love in our mundane lives every day.

Jesus was born as the poorest of the poor, crushed with grief in the Garden of Gethsemane, and was filled with anguish by the absence of God on the cross to show us that God will always provide and is ever present in all human suffering. The worries and troubles of our daily lives distract us from a wonderful experience of being in God’s Presence in the midst of the storms of life – to hear our Lord voice saying, “Peace, be still!”, to our restless minds filled with anxious and fearful thoughts.

We have the freedom to choose, like Mary, the sister of Martha, to do the most important and essential thing – to sit at our Master’s feet and listen to what He wants to say to us. Our spirits may be willing but our flesh is weak. We need to watch and pray to be alert and to overcome the sin of acedia:

“Stay alert, be in prayer, so that you don’t enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don’t be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”⁶ 

Christian meditation helps us to watch our thoughts and to listen to God in prayer. The goal of Christian meditation is not to seek spiritual experiences – it is the simple way of expressing our hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness – blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.⁷ It is preparing the soil of our hearts to receive the hidden mercies of God.

Love came down at Christmas to empower us to go through suffering as well as to be with others in their suffering. May we be filled with wonder as we receive the most precious gift of all – Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God:

“May the gift of God amaze us still
The triumph of all time
As His child I kneel to Heaven’s will
To make His purpose mine
Though this road be scarred with trial and pain
It’s paved with lavish grace
Knowing Him will be my greatest gain
My hope the Saviour’s face”⁸

Respond:

Lord, open my eyes to Your hidden mercies in the challenging times of my life.

Reframe:

1. What are my thoughts and feelings about the judgment of God?
2. How have I experienced the hidden mercies of God in times of trouble?
3. How does prayer help me to face and overcome temptations?

Song of Praise:

Holy Child Who Chose The Hearts Of Men

SDG

Notes:

1. Isaiah 34:1-2, NLT
2. Isaiah 33:14, NLT
3. Isaiah 33:15, NLT
4. Isaiah 35:4, NLT
5. Matthew 2:13-18, NLT
6. Mark 14:38, MSG
7. Matthew 5
8. Holy Child Who Chose The Hearts Of Men – Keith & Kristyn Getty

The Courage of Faith

Read:

Proverbs 3:21-26

Reflect:

“Do not  be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.” Proverbs 3:25-26, NKJV

Living in a messy world is filled with fears when we have messy minds with false expectations appearing real. Pandemics, wars, climate change, political oppression and spiritual persecution are the inevitable consequences of sinful human beings living in a godless world. We cannot promote true health when medical care is commercialized. We cannot have justice when the law is corrupted. We cannot have peace when political leaders use fear and greed to control the people. The world is messy when we live messy lives worshiping the idols of money, sex and power and enslaved by F.O.M.O. – the fear of missing out.

To live in such messy times of fake news, misinformation and disinformation,  we need to guard clear thinking and common sense with our life. We cannot lose sight of them if we want to be fit and attractive and keep our souls alive and well. To be able to travel safely, take afternoon naps without a worry and enjoy a good night’s sleep.¹ However, the reality of life is that tough and troubling times are always ahead of us. We need to train for godliness through the spiritual disciplines to feed on God’s Word instead of wasting time arguing over godless ideas and old wives tales.² The good news is that our Heavenly Father is with us in our messy world – we can fear less by putting our confidence in Him:

“Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes. For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.”³

Courage is not the absence of fear but the faith to embrace fear. In our modern world, our faith is rooted in science. Science represents the centuries-long human effort to discover objective truths which historians have described as the “Greek Miracle” – the series of game-changing insights and discoveries about the physical world made by extraordinary persons such as Thales of Miletus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The ancient Greeks postulated the idea of a universe which Pythagoras called the kosmos.⁴ Science provides us with the faith to understand our universe but not the faith to find meaning and purpose in life.

Human beings are made in the image of God and we know in our hearts that there is a spiritual dimension of life that is beyond space and time. We hunger and thirst to understand the cosmos with a metaphysical language and not just with a temporal-physical language. This is the Miracle of Christmas – the astounding revelation that the Creator of the universe is not at war with us but that God loves us freely and unconditionally and His favor is not for sale. ⁵ Love came down at Christmas so that we can have faith in God as our Heavenly Father.

Jesus was fully human when he was born as a baby in Bethlehem, when he struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane and when he suffered death on the cross at Calvary. Jesus was fully divine when he healed the sick, forgave the cripple and adulterous woman, when he stilled the storm and when he raised the dead.  Quantum physics affirms the truth demonstrated by the life of Jesus – that we are not living in a world in which real objects are half one thing and half a completely opposite thing. For example a light ray and an electron are each fully a wave and fully a particle.⁶ Likewise, Jesus is fully human as well as fully divine.

Science and the Bible together can help us see that there is a way more to life than meets the eye.  When we live by human wisdom that “seeing is believing,” we will be blind to the realities that exist in heaven and on earth. Science, together with the Bible, helps us to see in the dark – to catch sight of truths that the universe and us are very special. There are worlds beyond our wildest imagination waiting to be explored and experienced in this life as well as the next:⁷ 

^“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”⁸

Our Christian faith is a journey into the unknown future where we will face unknown troubles, terrors and tribulations.  It is an exciting adventure that requires the courage of faith to find the light out of the darkness that we will encounter.  To be fully human is to embrace suffering and to be fully divine is to forgive and be the channels of God’s healing grace and peace. God loves justice and  hates robbery and wrongdoing. God’s new and everlasting covenant through Jesus Christ is that He will faithfully reward His people for their suffering.⁹

God has given us His new and everlasting covenant of unfailing love through His Son, Jesus Christ. I need to respond in faith by surrendering my will to Christ. Through silence I receive new life as I open myself to God’s Word and hear Jesus calling me, “Come to me!” Silence is filled with God’s presence when we remove ourselves from the sights and sounds of life. Michael Guillen saw this as  the spiritual equivalent of the quantum vacuum. The great and hidden secrets of silence are found when we immerse ourselves in nothingness.  In the solitude of the sacred space we hear the voice of God, the Creator of the universe.⁹ 

We do not need faith to believe what we can see. Faith is believing what we do not see.  Faith is not blind but rooted in the truths that God has revealed in His Word and by His Spirit. Faith that comprises only of beliefs in our minds is dead. Faith that is seen in our actions every day is alive. When we see the hand of God by faith through the discipline of centering prayer, we will have the courage to prove His faithfulness as we walk by faith and not by sight:

“By faith we see the hand of God
In the light of creation’s grand design
In the lives of those who prove His faithfulness
Who walk by faith and not by sight.”¹⁰

Respond:

Lord,  grant me the courage of faith to love more and fear less in a messy world.

Reframe:

1. What are the fears that keep me from clear thinking and common sense?
2. What does it mean to live by faith and  not by sight?
3. How does the practice of silence help me to experience the love of God?

Song of Praise:

By Faith

SDG

Notes:

1. Proverbs 3:21-24, MSG
2. 1 Timothy 4:6-13, NLT
3. Proverbs 3:25-26, NKJV
4. Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths, 13-14
5. Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths, 18
6. Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths, 44
7. Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths, 69
8. 1 Corinthians 2:9, NLT
9. Isaiah 61:8, NLT
10. Michael Guillen, Amazing Truths, 99
11. By Faith, Keith & Kristyn Getty