<\/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. 11 (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.1-16)\u00a0In Bethany\u00a0there\u00a0was a family that had a very close relationship with Jesus and whom Jesus loved very much\u00a0(v.5).\u00a0\u00a0When\u00a0Lazarus fell ill, the two sisters hurriedly sent\u00a0a person\u00a0to tell Jesus.\u00a0Typically, when\u00a0someone\u00a0that\u00a0you love is sick, you would rush over to\u00a0see them as soon as you can. But Jesus didn\u2019t set\u00a0off\u00a0right away. Instead, he stayed\u00a0where he was\u00a0for an extra two days.\u00a0In\u00a0comparison\u00a0to\u00a0the urgency of Mary and Martha, the disciples\u00a0apparently\u00a0didn\u2019t want to go to Bethany because\u00a0there were people\u00a0in Judah\u00a0seeking\u00a0to stone Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0When\u00a0they\u00a0heard\u00a0that Jesus still\u00a0wanted to\u00a0go,\u00a0all\u00a0the disciples\u00a0could\u00a0say\u00a0was,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cLet us also go, that we may die with\u00a0him.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Think for a moment.\u00a0How\u00a0do\u00a0we bring our needs\u00a0before\u00a0Jesus, who we know loves us and listens to our requests? What\u00a0is our\u00a0attitude? Is there something in\u00a0our lives\u00a0that\u00a0we\u00a0really want God to handle and\u00a0accomplish\u00a0right away?\u00a0Here,\u00a0Jesus let us know that\u00a0he has\u00a0his\u00a0plans\u00a0for everything.\u00a0In order to\u00a0show\u00a0his glory, there\u00a0are\u00a0reasons behind\u00a0all\u00a0of\u00a0his actions. For example,\u00a0for the sake of his disciples,\u00a0Jesus\u00a0waited\u00a0until Lazarus\u00a0was\u00a0dead\u00a0so that they\u00a0may\u00a0believe.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0he\u00a0not only allowed\u00a0them to see, believe, and witness the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus\u00a0used this experience to further prepare their\u00a0hearts for when he himself would\u00a0also\u00a0be\u00a0raised from the dead.\u00a0As written in\u00a0Isaiah 55:8-9,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cFor my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0This passage\u00a0reminds\u00a0us\u00a0that we must\u00a0constantly\u00a0come\u00a0before\u00a0the Lord, let\u00a0him\u00a0know\u00a0our needs,\u00a0and\u00a0remember that\u00a0what\u00a0God wants to accomplish will be accomplished and that God\u2019s thoughts are higher than our\u00a0thoughts. We must\u00a0submit to\u00a0God\u2019s leadership and patiently\u00a0wait as we\u00a0experience God.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (vv.17-44) This\u00a0passage\u00a0truly shows that the\u00a0limit\u00a0of man is the beginning\u00a0for\u00a0God.\u00a0After Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days and his body\u00a0was starting to\u00a0smell, Jesus\u00a0arrived in\u00a0Bethany.\u00a0The two sisters Martha and Mary\u00a0separately\u00a0said to Jesus in verses 21 and 32,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cLord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Yes, with their knowledge of Jesus and their close relationship with\u00a0him, they\u00a0knew\u00a0and believed\u00a0that Jesus\u00a0was the Son of God and the Christ. No matter what Jesus asked\u00a0from\u00a0God, they believed\u00a0that God would give it to him. If\u00a0only\u00a0Jesus had been\u00a0there earlier,\u00a0he would surely\u00a0have\u00a0healed\u00a0their brother Lazarus. Their faith in Jesus\u00a0was great, but not\u00a0yet able to surpass\u00a0the notion of\u00a0\u201cdeath\u00a0and resurrection.\u201d\u00a0Before Jesus\u00a0arrived, Lazarus\u00a0had\u00a0already\u00a0been\u00a0placed\u00a0in\u00a0a\u00a0tomb. They never\u00a0even\u00a0dared to\u00a0dream that Jesus\u00a0could\u00a0raise Lazarus from the dead\u00a0and have him walk out.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is also true for us.\u00a0Could\u00a0our life\u00a0experiences,\u00a0boundaries of reason, understanding of the\u00a0laws of nature, etc. also limit our\u00a0view\u00a0of Jesus\u2019\u00a0power?\u00a0Jesus said,\u00a0\u201c<\/span>Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>May we break through these frameworks and rely\u00a0in faith\u00a0on\u00a0the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent Lord. On life\u2019s journey, pray\u00a0that\u00a0God leads\u00a0us,\u00a0helps us\u00a0experience Him more, and\u00a0lets\u00a0us\u00a0see\u00a0the manifestation of his\u00a0glory.\u00a0The miracle of Lazarus\u2019 resurrection served\u00a0another purpose,\u00a0which\u00a0was\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0people standing around\u00a0to\u00a0also believe in Jesus (v.42).\u00a0When\u00a0we experience miracles, may we also be a witness for Jesus and glorify our Almighty God.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In verse 25, Jesus said:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI am the resurrection and the life.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Those who confess\u00a0and repent of\u00a0their sins, believe in the salvation achieved by Jesus on the cross, and accept Jesus as\u00a0Savior and\u00a0the\u00a0Lord of\u00a0life,\u00a0will have\u00a0a\u00a0new\u00a0and\u00a0eternal life.\u00a01 John 5:12-13 says<\/span>, \u201cWhoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.\u00a0 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0In verse 26, Jesus\u00a0said, \u201c<\/span>Whoever believes in me, though he\u00a0die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Brothers and sisters, do you believe this?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (vv.\u00a045-57) Can you imagine that after\u00a0knowing about\u00a0the miracle of Lazarus’s resurrection, many people believed\u00a0but\u00a0at the same time there\u00a0were\u00a0a\u00a0group\u00a0of people\u00a0that\u00a0plotted\u00a0to kill\u00a0Jesus? This group of people\u00a0were none other\u00a0than\u00a0the chief priests and Pharisees. They\u00a0were\u00a0a\u00a0group\u00a0that\u00a0were\u00a0most familiar with God\u2019s laws,\u00a0yet\u00a0they\u00a0were unable to\u00a0discern God\u2019s\u00a0actions. They saw\u00a0the power of Jesus\u00a0but refused\u00a0to believe in\u00a0him\u00a0and\u00a0were\u00a0afraid of losing\u00a0their authority\u00a0(v.48).\u00a0\u00a0Could\u00a0you say that they\u00a0were\u00a0short-sighted?\u00a0They turned\u00a0a blind eye to the miracles in front of them, ignored\u00a0the laws\u00a0they\u00a0had\u00a0learned,\u00a0and\u00a0held\u00a0on\u00a0to a\u00a0self-righteous\u00a0attitude. They not only became the murderers who\u00a0forced\u00a0Jesus\u00a0on\u00a0the cross, but also lost eternal life and will\u00a0have to\u00a0face judgment in the future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is a\u00a0reminder\u00a0for\u00a0all\u00a0brothers and sisters\u00a0to\u00a0not\u00a0be like them when\u00a0reading\u00a0the Bible.\u00a0Ask God to help us\u00a0so\u00a0that the more we read the Bible, the\u00a0closer\u00a0we will be drawn\u00a0to\u00a0God,\u00a0the more we will\u00a0understand God\u2019s teachings,\u00a0the more we will be able to\u00a0discern God\u2019s actions,\u00a0the more we will\u00a0align our\u00a0focus\u00a0in life\u00a0to\u00a0God\u2019s, and the\u00a0more\u00a0we will be able to\u00a0live out God’s will. May God bless\u00a0you all\u00a0to\u00a0always\u00a0stay in the Lord.<\/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-2341","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\/2341","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=2341"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2385,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341\/revisions\/2385"}],"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=2341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2341"}],"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