Never Let Go

Some years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida a little boy decided
to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry
to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind
shoes, socks, and shirt as he went.

He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle
of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore. His mother in
the house was looking out the window saw the two as they got closer and
closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her
son as loudly as she could. Hearing her voice, the little boy became
alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his mother. It was too late. Just
as he reached her, the alligator reached him.From the dock, the mother
grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his
legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator
was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too
passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams,
raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator. Remarkably,
after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs
were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And on his
arms, were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into his
flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.

The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked
if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then,
with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But look at my arms. I
have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Mom wouldn't
let go."

You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you.

The Scripture teaches that God loves you. You are a child of God. He
wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we
foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead.
The swimming hole of life is filled with peril and we forget that the
enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins and if you
have the scars of His love on your arms be very, very grateful. He did
not and will not ever let you go.

Somebody Has to Tend the Fire

Read this as part of my devotional for today. It's from the book "The Daily Chase" by Tommy Tenney. Thought it is pretty good. So I've typed it out, and hope that you gain something from it too!!

David did two things to make sure God's presence remained iun Jerusalem. First, he prepared a place for God's presence by constructing a tabernacle without walls or a veil. Second, he did something special once the Levites arrived at the tabernacle and set the ark of the covenant in place. He created a "living" mercy seat of worship in the tabernacle so God would be pleased to sit and remain in that humble sanctuary.

David learned a vital secret somewhere in the process of bringing God's presence into Jerusalem. He learned that if you want to keep that blue flame there, somebody has to tend the fire! "Do you mean we have to throw logs on the fire?" No, you don't fuel the blue flame of God's shekinah presence with earthly fuel. You fuel it through sacrificial worship. We have no right to call for the fire of God unless we are willing to be the fuel of God.

David was simply following the pattern Moses had received for the mercy seat:

And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one peice with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat (Exodus 25: 18-20 NKJV)

The wings of the cherubim that Moses built touched each other as they encircled and covered the mercy seat where the presence of God would sit just above the lid or "covering". If you read this passage closely, you will notice that the two golden cherubim weren't cast or poured into molds. God said that the gold used to form the covering cherubim had to be "beaten" into the proper shape and position.

The way we can build a mercy seat is to take our positions as purified, "beaten" worshippers. One problem is that GOd still requires mercy seat worshipers to be formed of gold tried in the fire (purified), conformed (beaten) into the image of perfection, and moved into the proper position of unity for worship. (See Revelations 3:18; Romans 8:29). This speaks of purity, brokenness, and unity - the three components of true worship under the new covenant of the blood of Jesus. Brokenness on the earth creates openness in the heavens.

It is interesting to me that when gold is refined over extreme heat, the first things to come to the top and be skimmed off are the "dross", the obvious impurities and foreign matter. The last thing to be seperated from gold is silver, a lesser precious metal that often blends with the raw gold ore. We often have a hard time seperating the "good" from the "best".

Spiritual Hunger

Something Ps Kong Hee talked about during this revival and worship conference by city harvest church.

I thought the message was pretty good.. it was on spiritual hunger. it's probably never a wrong time to evaluate ourselves. And this may help with that evaluation. Help to wake us up to how grave our state is.

Er.. as some would've guessed, it wasn't me who took down these notes. I did take some abbreviated ones understandable only by this genius of a chiaying.. So i just stole this thing my friend forwarded.

He said, when people go through hunger (physically or spiritually) these things will happen:

You will experience:

Physical - Spiritual

1) weight loss - dryness
2) Muscle break down, no energy - no strength, don't carry His glory anymore
3) lost of desire to eat - loss of desire to read His word, spend time with Him
4) drop in body tempreture - loss of passion, become cold.
5) drop in immunity - easily tempted, decreased will power, sin more easily
6) losing of mind - loss of spiritual mind, back to earthly/worldly mind
7) Heart attack/failure - loss the heart for God
8) Death - die a spiritual death / loose the walk of God

How to satisfy your spiritual hunger:

1) Right envirounment - be around with Godly people, of good influes, in the house of God.
2) Plenty of 'water' around - drink from the Spirit
3) Start experiencing God yourself - be open!! Taste and See...
4) Regular encounter with God - again & again.. it's a never ending process.