<\/p>\n
(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. 9 (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.1-12)\u00a0In the\u00a0time that Jesus lived, there was a general\u00a0notion among the Jews that\u00a0illness is\u00a0a result of sin.\u00a0When the\u00a0disciples of Jesus saw a man born blind, they asked Jesus\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWho had sinned, this man or his parents?\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Jesus said\u00a0\u201c<\/span>Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in this man<\/span><\/b>\u201d. Jesus also\u00a0said as long as it is the day, we must\u00a0seize the opportunity\u00a0to do\u00a0God\u2019s work\u00a0earnestly. Jesus healed this blind man by\u00a0making some mud with the saliva and putting\u00a0it on the man\u2019s eyes. He\u00a0told this man to\u00a0go and wash in the\u00a0Pool of Siloam. The\u00a0blind man\u00a0did what Jesus said\u00a0and then\u00a0his eyes opened. At that moment, this\u00a0blind man\u00a0only\u00a0knew that a man named Jesus had healed him (v.11).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The\u00a0question asked by the\u00a0disciples\u00a0was:\u00a0who had sinned and caused this man to suffer like this? We must admit that sometimes bad things happen, indeed because of sins.\u00a0As stated in Isaiah 59:12,\u00a0\u201c<\/span>Behold, the Lord\u2019s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0But today’s scripture reading indicated to us that sometimes it is not necessarily a matter of sin, but of God’s display of His actions in this matter. Jesus came not to\u00a0condemn\u00a0the world, but to save us.\u00a0If\u00a0we see\u00a0people\u00a0suffering around us,\u00a0let us not to\u00a0convict\u00a0them, but\u00a0seize the opportunity to\u00a0do God\u2019s work as long it is the day. Let us evangelize to them so that they can\u00a0experience Jesus and give glory to Jesus.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (vv.13-41)\u00a0Once again because\u00a0Jesus healed the blind on the Sabbath,\u00a0the\u00a0Pharisees\u00a0were intimidated by Jesus. There was a dispute among them, which is:\u00a0why could Jesus, who did not observe the Sabbath,\u00a0perform\u00a0miracles?\u00a0The argument is that whoever is not\u00a0keeping the Sabbath is a sinner and\u00a0a sinner will not\u00a0come from God. How can a sinner perform\u00a0miracles? These Jews not only\u00a0summoned\u00a0the blind man and his parents,\u00a0but even decided\u00a0if\u00a0anyone\u00a0were to\u00a0acknowledge\u00a0Jesus\u00a0as\u00a0Christ,\u00a0that person\u00a0would be\u00a0thrown out of the synagogue.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Let’s see how this blind man\u00a0tackled\u00a0questioning from others and\u00a0the increase of\u00a0his\u00a0knowledge\u00a0about\u00a0Jesus.\u00a0At first, this man\u00a0knew\u00a0the name of\u00a0Jesus.\u00a0Facing\u00a0the Pharisees’ questioning, in verse 17\u00a0he said Jesus\u00a0is \u201c<\/span>a prophet\u201d<\/span><\/b>. The second Time the Pharisees asked, and in verse 25\u00a0he\u00a0answered,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWhether he is a sinner I do not know.\u00a0One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Then, in verses 31-33, he went on\u00a0saying,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWe know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.\u00a0Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.\u00a0If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Later, when Jesus heard that they had driven\u00a0this man\u00a0out, Jesus\u00a0found him. Jesus asked him,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cDo you believe in the Son of Man<\/span><\/b>?\u201d\u00a0This man\u00a0answered,<\/span>\u00a0\u201cAnd who is he, sir, that I may believe in Him?\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Jesus said,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cYou have seen\u00a0Him\u00a0and it is he who is speaking to you.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0The blind man said,\u00a0<\/span>“Lord, I believe\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0and he worshiped\u00a0Jesus right away.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although the blind man was expelled from the synagogue and\u00a0was\u00a0not accepted by the Jews, he became a child\u00a0of God. Does the story of this man\u00a0about how he was accepted by\u00a0Jesus\u00a0sound familiar to you?\u00a0Everyone who comes before Jesus does not\u00a0always\u00a0fully understand\u00a0who\u00a0the Lord\u00a0is\u00a0and cannot even believe that He is God. Once they have experienced God\u00a0in their lives, their personal testimonials can\u00a0prove that Jesus came from\u00a0God\u00a0and\u00a0they can\u00a0assure us that Jesus\u00a0is the Savior.\u00a0May\u00a0we\u00a0always\u00a0remind ourselves that,\u00a0besides\u00a0reading the Bible\u00a0rationally and\u00a0storing God’s Word in\u00a0our\u00a0hearts,\u00a0we shall remember and recall what God has done in\u00a0our lives. Knowing the unbiased truth, coupled with our\u00a0personal experiences,\u00a0we\u00a0will be able to\u00a0stand firm on\u00a0our journey of faith, not being\u00a0tempted to sin. And\u00a0we will\u00a0witness Jesus\u00a0and\u00a0strengthen\u00a0our\u00a0brothers and sisters\u00a0who are weak.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Compared to the blind man,\u00a0this group of Pharisees\/Jews\u00a0were\u00a0blindsided. Even though their eyes are well enough to see everything, they did not acknowledge Jesus. They\u00a0were\u00a0super familiar with the Mosaic Laws and claimed to be the disciples of Moses. When they saw the miracles that had happened\u00a0before them,\u00a0they were trapped by their\u00a0tradition\u00a0for keeping the Sabbath. They did not understand\u00a0where Jesus came from\u00a0and did not acknowledge that\u00a0Jesus was\u00a0from God. They wanted to convict Jesus. No wonder Jesus\u00a0said to them,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIf you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, \u2018We see,\u2019 your guilt remains so\u00a0your sins are still there.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Their eyes\u00a0were\u00a0indeed\u00a0blind!<\/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":[73,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abiding-in-the-lord","category-pastor-mickey-hsiao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337","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=2337"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2387,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337\/revisions\/2387"}],"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=2337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2337"}],"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
Pray<\/strong><\/h3>\n