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(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)<\/em><\/p>\n By singing praises and hymns, awake your soul, open your heart to the Lord, and prepare yourself to welcome the presence of God and receive the Word of God that will be given to you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Petition with thanksgiving to God for a wonderful day and pray sincerely for a focused Scripture reading time! (Do not rush into reading the Bible without starting with prayers!<\/strong>) (e.g., you may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what will you be speaking to me today?)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Get the following items ready in advance: your devotional notebook, paper, pen, and\/or electronic devotional articles so that you can easily write down the Bible verses, questions, and thoughts you have noticed! You are encouraged to open your Bible and vocally read out the scriptures (Try to practice this reading method daily or once a week)!<\/p>\n Scripture Reading: John Ch. 7 (ESV)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Take a moment to quietly reflect on today’s Scriptures. Through such exercises, let God’s Word be gradually written into our hearts and be inscribed to our mind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read the devotional articles prepared by CBCLWA (*Read the Bible first before reading any devotional materials.<\/strong>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (vv.1-10)\u00a0<\/span>Chapter 7\u00a0referred to the\u00a0Jewish traditional festival, the Festival of Tabernacles\u00a0(Booths), which\u00a0was\u00a0a seven-day\u00a0long\u00a0festival in which people would come to\u00a0Jerusalem\u00a0and\u00a0stay\u00a0in\u00a0temporary\u00a0sheds\u00a0covered with\u00a0branches, commemorating\u00a0the journey of their ancestor in the wilderness and celebrating\u00a0God\u2019s provision for them in the current harvest.\u00a0The first 10 verses\u00a0of this Chapter\u00a0recorded events that occurred prior to the\u00a0festival, followed by verses\u00a011\u00a0to\u00a036\u00a0for what happened halfway through\u00a0the festival. Lastly, verses\u00a037\u00a0to\u00a053\u00a0featured\u00a0what\u00a0happened\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0last day of the festival.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On the eve of the Day of the\u00a0Tabernacles,\u00a0note that there was\u00a0a dialogue between Jesus and his brothers who grew up together\u00a0with him. However, their\u00a0perception of Jesus is\u00a0contradictory,\u00a0knowing what Jesus has done, but clearly not understanding\u00a0Jesus\u2019\u00a0true identity and purpose.\u00a0Hence,\u00a0they suggested to Jesus, in a slightly sarcastic tone, to go to Jerusalem during the holidays so that\u00a0He\u00a0could show the world what\u00a0He\u00a0could do. It is only that Jesus had no interest in manifesting his reputation, otherwise he would not have\u00a0emptied himself by taking the form of a servant\u00a0(Philippians\u00a02:6-7). Jesus was born into the world to\u00a0glorify the\u00a0Heavenly Father, to\u00a0fulfill God\u2019s will and plan. Yet, He\u00a0was despised and rejected\u00a0by men,\u00a0a man of sorrows and acquainted with\u00a0grief\u00a0(Isaiah 53:3).\u00a0To\u00a0redeem us, He died on the cross.\u00a0In the end,\u00a0Jesus did not go to Jerusalem with them but\u00a0went to the\u00a0festival in secret.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The\u00a0key issue was that even\u00a0Jesus’ brothers\u00a0did not believe in Him\u00a0(John 7:5). From Jesus’ response, we see that His brothers\u00a0are friends with the world,\u00a0which was\u00a0the\u00a0enemy of God and hostile to Jesus, because Jesus would “<\/span>testify about it that its works are evil.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0As for us, we not only believe in\u00a0\u201cwhat he has done\u201d\u00a0but also\u00a0\u201cwho he is\u201d. Jesus\u00a0is God\u00a0and He\u00a0has full authority over justice and judgment. He\u00a0determines what is evil and what is good.\u00a0If\u00a0our\u00a0transgressions\u00a0were\u00a0testified and\u00a0disclosed by Jesus, will it make\u00a0us\u00a0fearful and trembled, in sorrows and\u00a0regrets? Or would\u00a0we hate Him as much as the world? Today, do you want to be friends\u00a0with the world, or are you going to be\u00a0the\u00a0enemy\u00a0of God?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (vv.11-36)\u00a0This passage describes what happened\u00a0in the middle of\u00a0the\u00a0Festival of Tabernacle.\u00a0The people\u2019\u00a0reaction\u00a0and their comments\u00a0toward Jesus\u00a0were\u00a0really\u00a0divided. There\u00a0were\u00a0those who\u00a0described Jesus as\u00a0a good man and\u00a0others who considered Jesus\u00a0a man who\u00a0could\u00a0lead the people astray. After Jesus had\u00a0taught people in the Temple\u00a0courts, some\u00a0people wanted to arrest him, but there\u00a0were\u00a0many\u00a0others\u00a0who believed\u00a0in him. Jesus himself said:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cMy teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.\u00a0If anyone\u2019s will is to do God\u2019s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.\u00a0The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no\u00a0falsehood.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u00a0Jesus pointed out\u00a0the importance of\u00a0following God\u2019s Way. We live in the generation\u00a0of disbelief and are\u00a0surrounded by many unbelievers in our daily lives. Some people\u00a0may despise\u00a0Jesus\u00a0and some\u00a0are indifferent to The Word of God. To strengthen our faith, we shall obey God\u2019s commands step by step. As we obey God\u2019s commands, we will grow\u00a0our\u00a0knowledge of God\u2019s Word and deepen\u00a0our relationship with Jesus.\u00a0I remembered back in the time when I studied\u00a0physical chemistry,\u00a0I learned a lot of theories from\u00a0my teacher\u00a0in the class. Once I returned to my laboratory and put things into practice using my equipment, I quickly understood the theories and remembered them.\u00a0Our daily walk with the Lord\u00a0is to\u00a0help us better remember God\u2019s words and\u00a0is also\u00a0the moment to carry out\u00a0God’s Word in our lives. We pray that such opportunities will\u00a0come to us often\u00a0in our lives!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (vv.37-53)\u00a0<\/span>On the last day of the feast, Jesus cried out<\/span>,\u00a0\u201cIf anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.\u00a0\u202fWhoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,\u00a0\u2018Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/b>According to the account of John,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cNow this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As a result, the crowd was estranged over\u00a0\u201cwhether Jesus was Christ\u201d\u00a0and the Pharisees were worried\u00a0about\u00a0the crowd \u201cdeceived\u201d by Jesus.\u00a0Nicodemus,\u00a0who had run to see Jesus at night,\u00a0also tried to wake up the Pharisees who had\u00a0actually\u00a0been “deceived” by their\u00a0own\u00a0hearts and asked them to act in accordance with justice!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In regards to the Holy Spirit, Jesus said:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Simply by our faith in Jesus, we might receive the Holy Spirit\u00a0(John\u00a07:39,\u00a0Galatians\u00a03:14,\u00a0Ephesians\u00a01:14). It is because we have\u00a0recognized\u00a0our own shortcomings and found that we are “thirsty”\u00a0and are\u00a0willing to “go” to Jesus and “believe” in Him. Then, through the work of the Holy\u00a0Spirit, we are cleansed through the work of God, enabling us to live a new life. This is Jesus’ promise to everyone, and it also allows our\u00a0dehydrated hearts to be nourished and satisfied in the Lord so that we begin to reflect God\u2019s characters and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Give thanks to God for His enabling us to read the Scriptures and for our response for living out the Word of God today! (e.g., You may start with a simple prayer like this: \u201cDear Lord, what\/where are you going to lead me to today?”)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,1,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abiding-in-the-lord","category-all","category-devotionals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2332,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331\/revisions\/2332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Worship<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Thanksgiving<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Scripture Reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Meditation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Devotional<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Pray<\/strong><\/h3>\n