星期三, 2月 28, 2007

美國中信.每日靈修.福不外求

美國中信.每日靈修.繁體字版: "2007年2月28 日




福不外求
我 的心哪,你曾對耶和華說:「袮是我的主;我的好處不在袮以外。」……以 別神代替耶和華的,他們的愁苦必加增。 (詩十六2至4)

我們真要常提醒自己:「我的好處不在袮以外。」可不是嗎? 我們常盼多得一點好處,彷彿在主裡的好處不夠,須往外尋。所以心思經常遊蕩──心靈浪子。表面像沒 離開神,心思卻已遠遊,覺得主給的不夠,覺得怎麼別人有的我沒有?有信徒說,他們對神失望,因神不賜他們所求。 我們每每先認定甚麼是好處,然後要求神賜予,卻沒想到在神裡已有一切好處。

最近一位宣教士告訴 我,她大學時代信主,有一姊妹幫助她。那姊妹也不大會禱告,於是建議二人天天圍繞校園,邊走邊感恩。如是者三年,她變成一個很快樂的人。我問:「妳們為甚 麼事感恩?」她答:「為當天每一件事,如所上的課。」換言之,不為欲望實現,乃為神已給的一切。人的欲望無止境,倘若我們為欲望而活,以追求欲望滿足取代 追求神,我們的愁苦必加增。因人渺小愚昧,我們所看為好的,不一定真好。等到時間證明一切時,我們已失去了多少,並積堆了多少愁苦!?

馮文莊

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親愛的天父,感謝祢賜給我們生命,食得瞓得行得走得。
有工作,有收入,有屋住,有飯食。
感謝祢來到人間,感謝祢教導我們,
感謝祢美妙創造,感謝祢為我們贖罪。
以上所求是靠主耶穌基督之名,亞孟!

晚安,
JC上

星期三, 2月 14, 2007

證明自己?

美國中信.每日靈修.繁體字版

2007年2月13 日



證明自己?


因為你們是重價買來的,所以,要在你們的身子上榮耀神。 (林前六20

注 意這節經文的先後次序: 因為我們「是」,所以「要」──我們是神用極重代價買贖回來的,是屬祂的──這是 「身份」,所以要用生命來榮耀祂──這是「表現」。換句話說:我們的身份和價值決定我 們的表現,不是由表現決定身價。

世界的價值觀是:有出色的表現,你就是個重要人物;所以許多人窮一生為了「出人頭地」、被人重視,不斷地向上爬,證明自己是「可以」的。甚至基督徒也會落 在這網羅中,以好行為、好事奉、好見證,來「證明」自己的價值。更可憐的是,有些做父母的有意無意把這價值觀活了出來,做兒女的總要拿好成績、有好表現才 是個好孩子,這樣要靠表現來鞏固地位,永遠不會有安全感。


想想今天你的努力,是因為要成為某某人(somebody);抑或你已知道自己是 somebody
(神 用重價買贖的人),所以你要努力。

邱佩鳳


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主耶穌,我努力,因為祢把我由罪惡回來。成為祢疼愛的子女。求祢常常提醒我在世上的目的,行祢的旨意!

以上所求是靠主基督之名,亞孟!


主祐,晚安!

—JC上

星期一, 2月 12, 2007

Jesus' Mark

staygreat: "daily meditation
monday / wk 6 / ord / feb 12

the mark identified
and protected him

The Lord banished Cain for
killing his brother Abel. Cain
lamented, 'I will be homeless
wanderer. Anyone who finds
me will kill me.' So the Lord put
a mark on Cain to warn anyone
who met him not to kill him.'
Genesis 4:14-15

Ancient owners marked their
slaves with tatoos or brands.
The mark identified the slave
as belonging to them. It also
protected the slave.

A person would think twice
before harming the slave of a
powerful owner.

This background helps us to
understand the point of today's
scripture reading. The mark
put on Cain indentifies him as
belonging to the Lord. It is also
served as a kind of merciful
protection on the part of the
Lord.

How is my own personal story
somewhat similar to
the personal story of Cain?


Let no one
make troubles for me
for I bear the marks of Jesus
on my body. Galatians 6:17"

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Thank you Lord for protecting me so far!
Send me, I am ready to spread your message.
Send me, I am ready to be procecuted.
Protect me from temptations.
Protect me from getting hurt.
Protect me from harm.
I asked this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

星期日, 2月 11, 2007

孖言媽語﹕細數我們擁有 - Yahoo! 新聞

孖言媽語﹕細數我們擁有 - Yahoo! 新聞

孖言媽語﹕細數我們擁有 (明報) 02月 12日 星期一 05:10AM

【明報專訊】有云count your blessing,數一數我們擁有的,而不是計較我們的缺失。

孖言

細喜﹕媽咪,有兩個BB真的很麻煩!你不如把大喜吞回肚子裏去好了!

媽咪﹕這話怎說呢?

細喜﹕你又不可以只抱我一個,又不可以只惜我一個,又不可以……

大喜﹕媽咪,我也覺得在學校裏要照顧細喜好麻煩!

媽咪﹕看來你們都一肚子牢騷啊!那麼不如我們想一想,兩個BB一起時有什麼好玩的地方好嗎?

大喜﹕嗯……細喜陪我玩搭巴士、一齊玩家家酒、一起上學……

細喜﹕大喜會保護我、替我佔座位、一起玩一起說笑……

媽咪﹕丟掉一個BB好嗎?

大喜﹕不好、不好,都是不好了!

細喜﹕……

媽語

有人說雙生兒是幸運的,有一個天造地設的友伴一同成長;對雙喜來說,自他們懂事以來,除了少數的玩具及用品外,這個世界的種種都需要與另一半分享共用,包括最心愛的爸媽,有時確實不是味兒。

當孩子日漸長大,他們由家庭走入學校,再進入更大的社群,看多了聽多了,然後比較也多了。誰的玩具又多又新,誰的衣服又炫又美,誰個長得又高又漂亮,誰到過哪兒誰吃過什麼,欲望多了,胃口也大了。

孩子,得和失也是一對雙生兒,世上沒有absolute victory這回事,既然不可以擁有整個世界,我們就要學懂不去怨恨,學習珍惜自己的所有。

當我們憤憤不平時,且停下來數一數,可能大家都會驚訝於自己擁有的,原來已經那麼豐盛。

文﹕馬熹然

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最近你有沒有細數擁有?
我非常感恩,我能安全回來!
我感恩,衣食充足。
感謝主,行動方便,縱橫東西。
身體無恙,食得瞓得。

求主保守出外旅行或工作的人,使他們安全達到目的地。
求主眷顧身體有病的人,使他們早日康復。
祝大家新年快樂,龍馬精神!

主祐,晚安!
-JC上

星期六, 2月 10, 2007

original sin

daily meditation
fri
day / wk 5 / ord / feb 9

symbol
of eating

The snake said, "Eat the fruit,
you will be like God and know
what is good and what is evil"
As soon as they had eaten
it, they were given undertand-
ing and realized that they were
naked and they hid from God.
Genesis 3:4,7,8

If God created everything good,
where did evil come from?
The Book of Gensis answers
with a symbol story (similar to
the parable stories of Jesus).
The key to understanding it
is the symbolism of eating.

The snake told Eve that if she
ate the fruit she would be like
God and know good from evil.
To eat is a symbolic way of
saying that the couple learned
what was evil by becoming evil.

They tasted evil. Since they
were good, and became evil,
they now know good from evil.

How did evil invade the world?
Through the sin of the first
man and first woman,
who listened to the Tempter
rather than to their Creator?

How do I handle temptation?

True repentance hates the sin,
and not merely the penalty;
and it hates the sin most of all
because it has
discovered and felt God's love.
william m. taylor

-------------------------------------------------

I got temptations every day. The temptations of being distracted at work. The temptation of being someone that I was never born to be. The temptation of being rude to someone. The temptation of ignoring someone in need. I tried to resist these temptations. With God's help, I have resisted some of them. Although I have fell into some of them. As our Ch 6 also describes St. Paul's frustration. I did not do what I want and I did what I don't want. Dear God, please help all the people that are willing to do good, to follow You, to resist temptations, be an image of You. I asked this through Christ our Lord, Amen

星期三, 2月 07, 2007

More Inconvenience Truth

daily meditation
tuesday / wk 5 / ord / feb 6

let's not
make God a slumlord


God commanded, "Let the
water be filled with many kinds
of living beings . . . And God
was pleased . . .Then God . . .
created human beings . . .
blessed them, and said . . .
I am putting you in charge of
the fish, the birds, and the wild
animals. Genesis 1:20, 21, 26-28

Marion Stoddard spearheaded
a drive in Groton, Mass. to
to clean up the Nashua River.
It was so polluted people joked
it was "too thick to pour and
too thin to plow."

About the success of the drive,
she said, "You don't have to be
real smart; you just have to
identify the people with power,
the people who care and be
real committed, persistent and
honest."

Stanley Jones launched a
similar drive to clean up the
Kankakee River in Kankakee,
Illinois. "Show people that
somebody cares," said Jones,
"and all apathy disappears."

On a scale of one (not very)
to ten (very) how caring am I
about the kind of planet we will
be passing on to our children?
How might I translate that care
into more telling action?


Let's not make God
a slumlord.
Robert Orben

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I used not to.... But I felt that I have to.... All I need is "BIG" Action to.....

星期一, 2月 05, 2007

Inconvenient Truth

http://www.staygreat.com
_____________________
daily meditation
monday / wk 5 / ord / feb 5

not owners,
but stewards

In the beginning . . .
God created the universe. . . .
The earth produced all kinds
of plants, and God was
pleased with what he saw.
Genesis 1:1, 11-12


Jacques Cousteau used to take
his young son, Jean-Michel,
with him on his undersea
explorations. Jean-Michel said:

"My father imparted to me
the belief that we are not the
owners of the world's
resources. Rather, we are its
stewards, responsible, for
protecting what we have for
those who will follow. . . .

"But as I travel I am struck by
how infrequently we keep
future generations in mind."




How am I trying to exercise
responsible stewardship of
earth's resources?

The earth
belongs as much
to those
who are to come after us . . .
as to us;
and we have no right
by anything we do or neglect,
to involve them
in unnecessary penalties,
or deprive them
of benefits.
John Ruskin, The Lamp of Memory
_____________________

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We watch Inconvenient Truth on Friday, I was skeptic that Al is exaggerating the truth. I have a belief in my mind that might be true but also might be flawed. God created this world and He would not let us destroy it. He asked us to be stewards for this world and we messed up. Either He would help us saved it or let us destroyed it. We have already done some irreversible damage, what else could we do? Can the earth heal itself if we stop destroying it. In fact we do not know..... No one knows..... All the experts do not know...... The politicians do not know...... Al does not know.......

After reading this mediation, I have a different perspective. I understand the meaning of this movie. I understand why the world is worth saving. It is for those who come after us. To hope that they would have the better quality of the world as we do now. Hope that the world does not deteriorate when the next generation grows up. We need to cooperate with God to make this happen. Al is a messenger from God to alert us of our wicked behavior.

Dear God, thanks for letting me see what is the meaning of something important. Help me, the hard headed person to step back and see other good things that you and some other people did that I did not notice or even think is a waste of time. I want to be open but my mind is so contaminated with my preconceptions. Sorry Lord, please help me overcome my weaknesses. To be your good stewards of this world. I asked this through Christ our Lord, Amen

星期日, 2月 04, 2007

愛近人!!

http://ccmlit.org/Proclaim/Proclaim_110/Devotion-20070203.html

2007年2月3 日

以全新方式愛人
有了愛弟兄的心,又要加上愛眾人的心。(彼後一7)

聖經裡說的愛不是一種感覺,乃是不論自身的環境和感覺如何,都願意對他人行出愛。這愛不求回報、不求讚賞、不自私。這愛只求能榮耀神,和行神所喜悅的事。 一位姐妹因信仰被捕。牢房是用水泥砌成的,冬天非常冷,同監一位女犯的腳長滿凍瘡,且潰爛,疼痛難忍。姐妹冒著被鬥和毆打的危險,趁著看守不注意,把自己身上唯一能保暖的棉背心撕開,包裹女犯那雙潰爛的腳,使之不再受凍。在這黑暗冰冷的寒冬裡,姐妹的愛心閃耀出春天的煥發生命。這愛不但溫暖人心,還能戰勝魔鬼的權勢,滿有能力。 在這充滿罪惡痛苦,彼此吞噬的幽暗世界中,天上的神吩咐祂的兒女,不但要彼此相愛,還要加上愛眾人的心。不是因為周圍的人都可愛,都懂得感恩才去愛,只因為主先愛我們,為我們捨命。神也要我們白白的、無條件的去愛人。天上的神願意透過祂的兒女,讓世人經歷到神無限的恩典和慈愛。「主啊,求袮幫助我,使我以全新的方式去愛人,如同袮愛我一樣。阿們!」
~ 黃維娜

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主耶穌,我知我沒有對所有人無條件的愛,但我知我努力對身邊的人無條件的愛.我在學習尊重別人的意見,學習不要先入為主,不assume.要用別人舒服的方式去愛人.求主幫助我.

以上所求是靠主耶穌基督之名!亞孟!

主祐,晚安
JC上