Quiet, stillness and know

 If I were you, before you even reached for your phone, before your mind filled with to-do lists and timelines, I'd stop and give God your first quiet breath. 

Not because you need to perform, but because your soul needs to remember where it belongs. 

Quiet time is not about checking a spiritual box. 

It is about stepping into a stillness that restores you. 

It is where you come not to speak much, but to be seen, to be loved, and to be real. 

If I were you, before the headlines, the group chats, the errands, and the noise, I'd sit in a space where no one needs anything from you, where God simply wants to be with you. 

Quiet time is not emptiness, it's intimacy. 

It is where your chaos meets God's calm. 

It is where questions do not have to be answered to be heard. 

It is where peace returns not through doing but through being with Father God. 

And if you've ever said, "I don't know how to pray." 

Start here. 

Start with stillness. 

Start with showing up. 

Start with breathing in His grace and breathing out your fear. 

So, if I were you, before anything else today, l'd come to the quiet and l'd say, "God, I am here." 

And now that you're here, let's be honest, quiet does not always feel natural. 

In a world that rewards hustle, noise, and constant output, stillness can feel unproductive, maybe even pointless. 

But in God's kingdom, stillness is not a luxury. 

It is a lifeline. 

It is the sanctuary where striving ceases and true strength is restored. 

Stillness is where we stop doing long enough to remember who is really in control. 

It is not about emptying our minds, but filling our spirits with the presence of the One who knows, sees, and holds us together. 

It is not silence for silence's sake. 

It is sacred space carved out for encounter. 

When we become still, we do not disappear. 

We awaken. 

We make room for the holy to settle in. 

Psalm 46:10. Be still and know that l am God.

. The Power Most Christians Don't Know Exists in Your Spirit Through the Father God 

Pensées avec Dieu (Thinking with God)

 Pensées avec Dieu. Plus vous êtes reconnaissant, plus vous serez béni. Remercions Dieu pour le soleil 🌞. Reconnaissant pour la chaleur qu'il apporte chaque jour. Reconnaissant envers ma famille. 💕 Reconnaissant envers mes parents de nous avoir donné la vie pour découvrir ce monde. Reconnaissant envers mes amis. Reconnaissant pour leur compagnie, pour partager joies et peines. Reconnaissant pour la santé 💪🏽🤸🏽. Reconnaissant de me réveiller chaque jour, de respirer librement et de profiter de la vie. 🫁 🫀🧠🦴🦷🩸👀👍🏽 Je suis reconnaissant pour mon travail. Je suis reconnaissant qu'il me permette de manger et de boire à ma faim. Reconnaissant pour mon foyer ; je suis reconnaissant pour ma maison actuelle, qui me protège du vent et de la pluie. 💰 Soyons reconnaissants pour l'argent ; je suis reconnaissant pour le sentiment d'abondance qu'il m'apporte. 🥙🍹🥗🥩🍅 Soyez reconnaissants pour la nourriture ; soyez reconnaissants pour les délicieux repas que vous mangez chaque jour pour combler votre faim. 🌴 🌺 🍀 Nous sommes reconnaissants envers la nature ; chaque arbre, chaque fleur, chaque feuille est un don de la nature. 👍🏽 Soyez reconnaissants envers vous-mêmes ; remerciez la personne qui continue de s'efforcer et de s'améliorer pour vous. 🙏🏽 Soyez reconnaissants envers Dieu le Père pour toutes les créations existantes, pour l'éternité.

Thinking with God 与神同在

 Thinking with God 与神同在

你越感恩，就越会得到幸福。The more grateful you are, the more blessed you will be.

感谢上帝赐予阳光 🌞 感谢阳光每天带来的温暖 Thank God for the sunshine 🌞 Grateful for the warmth the sunshine brings every day.

感恩家人。💕 感恩父母给予了我们生命来体验这个世界。Grateful to my family. 💕 Grateful to my parents for giving us life to experience this world.

感恩朋友🤝 感恩他们的陪伴，分享喜悦与失落。Grateful for my friends. Grateful for their companionship, for sharing joy and sorrow.

感恩健康 🤸🏽💪🏽感恩每天醒来自由地呼吸，享受生活 Grateful for health 💪🏽🤸🏽Grateful to wake up each day to breathe freely and enjoy life.  🫁 🫀🧠🦴🦷🩸👀👍🏽

感恩工作 ; 感恩工作让自己吃喝不愁。I am grateful for my work. I am grateful that my work allows me to have enough to eat and drink.

感恩住所 ; 感恩目前住所，🏡 为自己遮风避雨。Grateful for Home; I am grateful for my current home, which provides me with shelter from the wind and rain.

感恩金钱; 感恩金钱给自己带来的富足感。💰 Be grateful for money; I am grateful for the sense of abundance that money brings me. 

感恩食物；感恩每日好吃的饭菜， 填饱自己饥饿的肚子。🥙🍹🥗🥩🍅 Be grateful for food; be grateful for the delicious meals you eat every day to fill your hungry stomach.

感恩大自然； 每一棵树，每一朵花，每一片叶，都是

大自然的馈赠。🌴 🌺 🍀 We are grateful to nature; every tree, every flower, every leaf is a gift from nature.

感恩自己 ; 感谢那个不断努力、 不断进步向己 👍🏽 Be grateful to yourself; thank the person who keeps striving and improving for you.

感谢天父上帝创造万物，直到永远。🙏🏽 Grateful to Father God for all creations in existence, eternally. 

God is speaking and we are learning to listen together.

  Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for who you are to us and who we are to you, your children. We want to please you. We want to be Father pleaser, not man-pleaser. 

Before we begin this prayer, I want to tell you something that your soul needs to hear in this moment. 

Before you ask Father God for anything, pause and remember everything he has already given. 

Remember what he carried you through. 

Remember what should have broken you but didn't. 

Remember the nights he held you together when no one else knew you were falling apart. 

Remember the cross of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice, the love that chose you before you could ever choose him. 

Good morning, my friend. 

As you wake up today, before the busyiness rises,   before your phone starts buzzing, before the worries of this season try to take your peace, choose to thank Father God first. 

Because gratitude is not just a polite response. 

Gratitude is a spiritual weapon. 

Gratitude shifts atmospheres. 

Gratitude breaks heaviness. 

Gratitude opens the door for Father God's blessing to rest on your day.

This is the moment where we remember the greatest gift ever given. 

Jesus Christ, our Father God's own son, who stepped out of eternity, walked into our broken  world and carried the cross of death that belonged to us. 

Father took your shame. 

Father took your guilt. 

Father took your fear. 

Father laid down everything so you could rise in freedom. 

So when we thank Father God first, we are not doing it out of routine. 

We are doing it because heaven has already paid the highest price for your peace. 

And I want you to listen closely because this is why today's prayer matters. 

When you thank Father God first, you align your heart with his presence. 

You silence the noise of the world. 

You create space for peace to fill you. 

You invite blessing to flow. 

You remind your soul that Father God is not just with you. 

He has been faithful from the beginning. 

That is why I want you to stay with me. 

Do not turn away. 

Do not rush. 

Something happens when your heart becomes aware of Father God's goodness. 

Something shifts spiritually. 

The Bible says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise." 

Thanksgiving is not the end of prayer. 

Thanksgiving is the doorway into Father God's presence. 

When you thank him first, the gate opens. 

Peace enters. 

Burdens lift. 

Favor begins to move. 

And hear me. 

If this season feels heavy, if you are tired, stretched, lonely, overwhelmed, or unsure about the future, this prayer is for you. 

Because thanking Father God does not ignore your pain. 

Thanking Father God gives you strength in the middle of it. 

Gratitude does not deny the battle. 

Gratitude declares who wins the battle. 

So before we pray, take a breath. 

Put your hand over your heart if you can. 

And let your soul remember our Father God has not abandoned you. 

Father God has not forgotten you. 

Father God has not stopped working on your behalf. 

The same Father God who carried you through the last season will bless you in this one. 

And I want you to listen to this prayer for the next few mornings. 

Repetition in the spirit renews your mind. 

Repetition rewires your emotions. 

Repetition opens your heart to peace, blessing, and divine alignment. 

So stay with me. 

Lean in. 

Let this prayer become the sound that starts your day. 

Father God is about to meet you right where you are. 

🙏🏽 🙏🏽 

Good morning, LORD GOD, in heaven.

Before l ask for anything today, I want to begin with gratitude. 

The kind of gratitude that opens the soul and softens the heart. 

Father, thank you for the gift of salvation. 

The greatest gift humanity has ever received. 

Thank you that Jesus Christ did not come merely to be born, but to redeem, to restore, to rescue, and to reconcile us back to you. 

Thank you that forgiveness is not something l earn. 

It is something I receive by grace.

Thank you Father God that hope is not a fragile feeling. 

It is anchored in the finished work of Christ. 

Your Word says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son." John 3:16. 

And today I remember that I am alive because love himself gave everything for me. 

Lord, as this morning begins, I stand in awe that l am saved, covered, washed, and made new. 

I am yours because  Lord Jesus Christ made a way. 

Let gratitude for salvation be the first sound that rises from my heart today. 

Father, I thank you for the humble love that entered the world in a manger. 

You could have chosen a palace. 

You could have chosen power, status, earthly glory. 

But you chose humility so no one would feel too far from heaven. 

You chose a stable so broken hearts would know they belong. 

You chose simplicity so the world would understand that your love is not reserved for the perfect, the wealthy, or the strong. 

You chose the lowest place so you could lift us to the highest purpose. 

Thank you, Jesus Christ, for walking the human path, for understanding weakness, for feeling pain, for facing temptations. 

Thank you that you are not a distant savior. 

You are Emmanuel, God with us. 

Your Word tells me, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:14. 

And because of that truth, I never have to fear being alone again. 

Your humility brings me close. 

Your presence gives me courage. 

Your compassion meets me in every hidden place. 

Lord, let this season remind me that heaven came near so my heart could draw near in return. 

Father God, in the middle of everything happening around me, in the noise, the pressure, the expectations, the responsibilities, I thank you Father God for the gift of inner peace. 

Not the peace the world offers, fragile and temporary, but the divine peace that flows from your Spirit. 

Your peace that does not depend on circumstances. 

Your peace that arrives quietly but holds me firmly. 

Thank you for the stillness that rises even when the world is loud. 

Thank you for the calm that fills me even when my schedule is overwhelming. 

Thank you for the gentle reassurance that I am safe, held, and guided. 

Your Word says, "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you." Isaiah 26:03. 

And today I choose to trust you.

I choose to let your peace guard my thoughts. 

I choose to let your peace protect my emotions. 

I choose to rest in you instead of wrestling with what I cannot control. 

Lord, as l enter this day, awaken in me a heart that remembers all your goodness. 

Let gratitude be my posture.

Let thanksgiving be my rhythm. 

Let worship become my breath. 

Remind me that peace is not the absence of storms. 

Peace is the presence of Christ in the middle of storms. 

And remind me that grateful hearts see miracles the complaining heart never notices. 

So, Father God, I start my morning like this with a grateful soul, a quiet spirit, and eyes lifted toward you. 

I thank you for your salvation that rescued me. 

I thank you for your love that humbled itself for me. 

I thank you for your peace that keeps me steady. 

And as this prayer continues, LORD GOD, draw my heart even deeper into gratitude. 

Father God, this moment I pause to thank you for the gift of family and the sacred beauty of togetherness. 

Thank you for the people you've placed in my life. 

Those who laugh with me, pray with me, support me, and walk through the seasons of life by my side. 

Thank you for moments that seem small yet hold so much meaning. 

Conversations around the table, shared meals that warm the soul, familiar voices that feel like home, and the comfort of knowing I belong somewhere. 

LORD GOD , I do not take any of it for granted. 

Every smile, every embrace, every memory is a reminder of your goodness. 

You designed family as a reflection of heaven, a picture of unity, love, grace, and forgiveness. 

Even when family life is imperfect or complicated, your love is present, working, healing, restoring, and strengthening the bonds we share. 

Your Word says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above." James 1:17. 

And today I recognize that my family is one of those gifts. 

Thank you Father God for the blessing of belonging. 

And thank you Father God for the times when I have felt alone, those quiet evenings, empty spaces or silent nights. 

I thank you even for those moments because you met me there. 

Thank you for being Emanuel, God with us, God with me. 

Thank you that loneliness never has the final word because your presence fills every space my heart cannot fill on its own. 

Thank you for sitting with me in silence. 

For comforting my soul in ways no human could. 

And for reminding me that I am never truly abandoned. 

Even when others were absent, you were near. 

Even when I felt unseen, you saw me. 

And even when my heart felt fragile, you carried me gently. 

You have been my refuge, my companion, my shelter in the quiet hours. 

Your Word promises, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5. 

And in seasons of loneliness, that promise has been the anchor of my spirit.

 Father God, your presence is enough, more than enough to hold me steady, to lift my spirit, and to remind me that l am deeply loved. 

Father God, I also thank you for the beautiful opportunity to give, to bless others, to share, to pour out kindness the same way you have poured into me. 

Thank you for the joy that rises when I help someone in need. 

When I speak a word of encouragement, when I offer compassion,  when I let generosity flow from my heart. 

Thank you for shaping me into a vessel of your love. 

Thank you that every act of giving, no matter how small, carries the fragrance of Christ into the world. 

Thank you that in a world that often tells us to hold tightly, your Spirit teaches me to open my hands. 

Thank you for reminding me that love multiplies when it is shared, and blessings spread when they are released. 

Lord, your Word says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35.

And I feel that truth deeply. 

Giving expands my heart. 

Giving stretches my spirit. 

Giving reminds me that l am a child of my Father God who gave his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to us. 

 Father God, as I continue this morning prayer, shape in me a heart that is tender, responsive, and aligned with heaven. 

Let gratitude transform the way I see everything around me. 

Let thankfulness turn ordinary moments into sacred ones. 

Let generosity turn fear into freedom.  

Let your presence turn loneliness into intimacy. 

Teach me to see you in the people I love, in the moments I cherish, in the quiet spaces where I pause and in the opportunities you give me to be a blessing. 

Let this season not be defined by stress, comparison, pressure, or busyness, but be defined by the awareness that you have already given me more than I could ever repay. 

Salvation, family, presence, peace, purpose, identity, and love.

Teach me to recognize blessings I often overlook. 

Teach me to treasure what truly matters. 

Teach me to hold loosely to everything but you. 

I hold to your unchanging hand. 

Let gratitude rise in me like morning light. 

Let it soften my heart, purify my motives, and awaken my soul to your goodness. 

And Father God, I ask you to make me a reflection of your heart today. 

Let my words carry kindness. 

Let my decisions carry wisdom. 

Let my interactions carry grace. 

Let my presence bring peace into every room l enter. 

Let the people around me feel loved. 

Not because of who l am, but because of who you are in me. 

Let this season be my season where my heart mirrors heaven. 

Father God, this moment I lift my heart in gratitude for the gift of hope, real hope, living hope, unshakable hope. 

Thank you that my hope is not built on circumstances but on Christ himself. 

Thank you that even when life feels uncertain, even when the path feels unclear, even when the season feels heavy, hope rises again because you are faithful. 

Your light does not flicker in the darkness. 

It shines brighter through the darkness. 

Just as the dawn breaks through the longest night, your hope breaks through the hardest moments of my life. 

Thank you, Lord, that you are doing something new inside me, even when I cannot see it yet. 

Thank you that you are preparing new beginnings, new strength, new clarity, new doors, and new mercies for me. 

Your Word says, "Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it?" Isaiah 43:19. 

And Father, today I choose to perceive it. 

I choose to believe that this season carries the seeds of a new beginning that you yourself have planted. 

Thank you Father God for lifting my heart beyond the temporary, beyond the external, beyond the noise of the world. 

Thank you for drawing my spirit into eternal meaning, into something deeper, higher, and more sacred than anything this world can offer. 

In a season filled with decorations, traditions,   gatherings, and busyness, thank you for slowing my heart down long enough to remember the truth. 

Christmas is not a commercial feeling. 

It is divine revelation. 

It is not just a holiday. 

It is a holy announcement. 

It is not merely the story of a baby. 

It is the story of a Saviour of my soul.

Thank you for pulling my attention away from what fades and anchoring my soul in what lasts forever. 

I think of the shepherds on that quiet night, ordinary people doing ordinary work. 

When suddenly heaven broke into their routine,   angels filled the sky with glory, proclaiming, "A saviour has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord." 

They were not expecting it. 

They were not prepared for it. 

But heaven found them. 

And Lord. I thank you that you still find us today. 

Even in the ordinary, even in the mundane, even when we are distracted or weary. 

Thank you  Father God that you break into our routines with reminders of your love. 

Thank you that you turn simple moments into sacred ones just as you did that night in Bethlehem. 

And Father, I thank you for Jesus Christ, my Emanuel, God with us, God with me. 

Thank you that the manger was a beginning, not an ending. 

Thank you that the child who came in humility grew into the man who carried my sin, healed the broken, restored the outcast, calmed the storm, and opened blind eyes. 

Thank you that his birth was not just historical. 

It was personal. 

He came for my soul, for my redemption, for my eternity. 

Lord, help me live this season aware of the eternal meaning behind every song, ,s candle, every moment of stillness.

Help me choose the eternal over the temporary, choose the spiritual over the superficial, choose the sacred over the seasonal. 

Let my heart bow before you, just as the wise men bowed before the child king and offered their gifts. 

Thank you, Lord, for the healing you are bringing into my relationships. 

Thank you for softening hearts that once felt hardened. 

Thank you for mending places that felt too broken. 

Thank you for restoring conversations that once felt strained. 

Thank you for the gentle work you are doing behind the scenes in my family, among my friends, and even in places I have long given up hope. 

You are the Father God who reconciles. 

You are the Father God who restores. 

You are the  Father God who takes fractured pieces and forms something whole again. 

When I think of Joseph and his brothers, betrayed and separated, yet brought together again by your divine orchestration,  I am reminded that no relationship is too shattered for your healing. 

When I think of Peter, who denied Jesus Christ three times, yet was restored by three simple words. Do you love me? 

I remember that failure does not have the final say in any relationship touched by your grace. 

When I think of the prodigal son returning home,  expecting rejection, but receiving a robe, a ring, and a feast, I am reminded that reconciliation is not only possible. 

It is holy. 

It is the heart of the Father. 

It is what you delight to do. 

Thank you, Father God, for giving me the courage to forgive, to release, to let go, and to love again. 

Thank you for softening the places in me that became defensive. 

Thank you for calming the places that became wounded. 

Thank you for healing the places that held on to bitterness. 

Thank you for reminding me that love is stronger than hurt, that mercy is stronger than memory, that grace is stronger than disappointment.

Father God, let the healing you have begun continue to flow. 

Let walls fall. 

Let hearts soften. 

Let conversations reopen. 

Let love outweigh history. 

Let forgiveness rewrite the future where pain once wrote the past. 

And Lord, thank you that this healing is not only external but internal. 

Thank you for healing my reactions, my expectations, my assumptions, my disappointments. 

Thank you for teaching me how to love without fear and forgive without hesitation. 

Thank you for preparing me for the relationships you want to bless in the coming season. 

Relationships rooted in grace, unity, and peace. 

As I reflect on all these blessings, hope, spiritual depth, healing, restoration, I feel my heart expanding in gratitude. 

Lord, keep teaching me to see the beauty you are creating. 

Keep awakening me to the miracles that unfold quietly. 

Keep shaping me into someone who recognizes your finger prints in every chapter. 

Father, this moment I lift my voice in deep gratitude for the strength you have given me and the protection you have placed around my life. 

Thank you for every day you sustained my body when I felt weak. 

Every moment you allowed breath to fill my lungs. 

Every moment you shielded me from dangers I never even saw. 

Thank you for watching over me through sleepless nights, long days, unexpected battles, and quiet victories. 

Thank you that my health is not an accident. 

My good health is mercy. 

It is provision. 

It is your hand at work. 

Your Word says that he who watches over you will neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121:4. 

And I have lived the truth of that promise. 

You watched over me when I could not watch over myself. 

You kept me safe through seasons that tried to break me. 

And today, Lord, I declare that my body is a temple of your Spirit.

 And I trust your covering over me and over every person I love in this season. 

Father God, I thank you for the wisdom and maturity you have built in me through every chapter of this year. 

Thank you for the lessons that shaped me. Not only the joyful ones, but also the painful ones. 

Thank you for tears that softened my heart and moments that exposed my fears. 

 Thank you for challenges that forced me to grow deeper instead of wider. 

Thank you for disappointments that taught me to rely on you and not on my own understanding. 

 Thank you for every time you used what the enemy meant for harm and turned it into spiritual muscle. 

Thank you that nothing in my life has been wasted. not a valley, not a setback, not a delay, and that all of it has been used for your glory and for my growth.

Your word says, "He works all things together for the good of those who love him." Romans 8:28. 

And Lord, I have seen that truth unfold in ways I did not expect. 

I am wiser because you taught me. 

I am stronger because you carried me. 

I am more compassionate because you refined me. 

l am here standing, growing, learning because your grace has been enough for every season. 

This moment, Father God, I thank you for the future you hold in your hands. 

Thank you for the hope that stretches beyond my present moment. 

Thank you for the promise that one day  Jesus Christ will return and every tear will be wiped away. 

Thank you that my story does not end in uncertainty, but in victory. 

 Thank you that the best days of a believer are never behind them. 

They are always ahead, secured by eternal promises.

Father God, I thank you that when this world shakes, my foundation remains unmovable. 

Thank you that Jesus Christ is preparing a place for me and that nothing on earth or in hell can change the future you have written. 

Your Word says, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans for peace and not for harm. plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11. 

And today I receive that truth with boldness, with joy, and with expectation. 

 Lord, this season reminds me that the story is not finished, that heaven still moves, that miracles still happen, that prophecy still lives, that hope still breathes. 

Thank you that my greatest blessings are not behind me. 

They are unfolding right now and they are waiting for me in the days to come. 

Thank you that I do not walk into the future afraid. 

I walk into it confident because you my Father who holds tomorrow also holds my heart. 

So this moment I stand in faith and I declare with my whole being. 

Thank you Lord for this season. 

Thank you for what you have done. 

Thank you for what you are doing. 

Thank you for what you will do. 

Thank you for the open doors ahead. 

Thank you for the peace that surrounds me. 

Thank you for the healing you are releasing. 

Thank you for the strength I feel rising. 

Thank you for the wisdom I will walk in. 

Thank you for the hope that refuses to die. 

Thank you for the joy that no season can steal. 

Thank you for the presence of Jesus Christ that steadies me through everything. 

Lord, bless every heart praying with me this moment. 

You surround them with favor. 

Cover their families. 

Restore what is broken. 

Heal what is hurting. 

Strengthen what is weary. 

Enlighten what is confused.

Bring clarity where there is uncertainty. 

Bring peace where there is anxiety. 

Bring joy where there is heaviness. 

Father God, pour out fresh mercy on their homes, fresh blessing over their steps, fresh courage into their spirit, and fresh hope into their future.

 And Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for being our intercessor, the one who prays for us when we cannot find the words. 

Thank you that even now you stand at the right hand of the Father, speaking our names, covering our weaknesses, and fighting our battles. 

Thank you Lord Jesus Christ that we never pray alone. 

 Heaven prays with us in the mighty unmatched miracle working name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Respected reader, as we close this moment  together, I want you to pause and reflect on something powerful because nothing in God's story is random. 

 Even the numbers woven into the Christmas season carry meaning, invitation, and calling. 

And today, these numbers are not just symbols. 

They are spiritual actions God is inviting you to take. 

The number twelve (12), the number of months, the number of apostles, the number of holy days in the Christmas season calls you into completion and alignment. 

 What should you do with this number? 

 Choose one thing in your life that needs divine order and surrender it to God. 

 Whether it is a habit, a relationship, or a dream, give God permission to bring His perfect timing, His perfect wisdom, His perfect order. 

Pray quietly. "Holy Spirit, bring your divine order into every part of my life." 

The number three, the number of the magi, the number of their gifts, invites you into sacred offering. 

So here is your action. 

Choose three things you will offer to God this week. 

A praise, a prayer, a sacrifice. 

 It could be three minutes of silence, three acts of kindness, or three moments of worship. 

Tell him, "Lord, I bring you my three gifts. Use them for your glory." 

And finally, the number one. 

The number that speaks of the one saviour, the one light, the one hope, the one child who changed the world forever. 

What should you do with this number? 

Give God one area of your life that you have been holding back. 

 Just one. 

The one that matters. 

The one that hurts. 

The one that keeps you up at night. 

Say to him, " Lord Jesus Christ, I place this one thing into your hands." 

Beloved, these numbers are not simply history. 

They are invitation. 

They invite you to remember, to surrender, to worship, to return to the simplicity of the God who loved the world enough to step into it. 

So today, live with expectation. 

Live with wonder. 

Live with the quiet joy of someone who knows that heaven moved once in Bethlehem and heaven still moves now. 

And if this touched your heart, say, "Lord, write your story in my life."

God is speaking and we are learning to listen together.

Love with God in Christ Jesus

 The book of 1 John 4: verses 7 to 8 says, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love."  

The Christian life now is a life that naturally shows the love of God. 

But sometimes giving that love can be difficult particularly when the circumstances are not favorable or when we feel the people around us are not deserving. 

But let us examine what the Bible says today. 

Living a life of love is literally what God has called us to do. Love shows the life of Christ in us. 

In fact, 1 John 4:8, part of the verse we quoted before, says, "Whosoever does not love does not know God because God is love." 

God himself is love. The very nature of the God we love and serve is love itself. 

I believe that is why the subject of love is very important to the Christian faith.

Without love, we are nothing.

Without love, there is nothing. 

The book of 1 Corinthians 13 is one of the full chapters in scripture that speaks about God's heart regarding this subject of love and just how important it is. 

 Let's look at a few verses in the chapter. 

Verse one says, "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I'm only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

The point scripture is trying to make here is that no matter what we have, if we do not have love, we are nothing. 

There is nothing a believer can have, not in riches, not in spiritual gifts that can ever measure up to love. 

But then why does it seem that this love that the Lord has spoken about can be sometimes difficult? 

In fact, many would argue that it would be quite easy to just not love some people because life is easier that way. 

And in many ways, it seems the charge to love one another is fizzling out in the Christian fold today. 

And there seems to be a new order of the day, the order of minding your business. 

Now, to love one another does not always mean to get into each other's business. 

But when we go out of our way to ignore people or be malicious towards people we know we should love, that's another ball game altogether. 

And sometimes loving people the way we are supposed to can sometimes mean getting into their business. 

When the Lord told us about love, he also never mentioned that it would be easy.

Our Lord just told us to love one another. 

In fact, if we go by the example of Jesus Christ when he laid down his life for us, if he was given the charge to only make that sacrifice if we were lovable people, he would not have made the sacrifice at all. 

He would have just gone on his merry way because quite frankly most of the people Jesus Christ met when he came to the world at that time did not make humanity look good. They did not do us any favors. 

If we were judged based on what Jesus Christ saw at that time, there would never have been salvation for any of us today. 

But the love that Jesus Christ showed us was not based on what people did. 

The book of 1 Corinthians 13 gives us more detail on the God's kind of love that Jesus Christ exhibited in his lifetime, the one expected of us believers. 

From 1 Corinthians 13:4, the Bible tells us that love is patient. And kind, stating that it does not envy, boast, or act arrogantly. This verse emphasizes the qualities of love that are essential for healthy relationships. 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

Let us read aloud and meditate on this chapter and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to bless us with his divine love as we grow together in him .

 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION 启示录

 THE BOOK OF REVELATION

~ The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Revelation Chapter 1

启示录

~ 耶稣基督的启示

启示录第一章

The Visions of John on the Lord's Day

Verse 1: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Verse 2: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

约翰在主日所见的异象

第1节：耶稣基督的启示，就是神赐给他的，要他将必要快成的事指示他的众仆人；他就差遣使者晓谕他的仆人约翰。

第2节：约翰将神的道和耶稣基督的见证，以及他所看见的一切事都见证出来。

The Book of Revelation begins with a clear declaration — “the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him”. It was the revelation of Jesus Christ and not the revelation of John. It was the revelation which the Almighty God gave to His Son. Why? (Undoubtedly, there is a special relationship between the Almighty God and the Lord Jesus Christ.) The Revelation was given to Jesus Christ to show to His servants concerning things and events which must soon take place — from the time of John. And the year was 96 A.D..

《启示录》开篇便有一句清晰的宣告——“耶稣基督的启示，就是神赐给他的”。这是耶稣基督的启示，而非约翰的启示。这是全能的神赐给祂儿子的启示。为什么呢？（毫无疑问，全能的神与主耶稣基督之间存在着特殊的关系。）启示是赐给耶稣基督的，目的是要祂向祂的仆人显明那些即将发生的事和事件——从约翰时代开始。当时是公元96年。

Our Lord Jesus sent and communicated His Revelation through an angel to John who recorded all that he saw in his visions. John was the beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 13:23; 20:2). He is a type of the Beloved (Bride) of Christ. Whatever things that were shown to John would have to be revealed to His Bride. Because we are living at the final stretch of the closing period of the whole dispensation of the Seven Church Ages, we are privileged to see a clearer picture than those members of the Bride in each of the past six Church Ages could see. Yes, this is the very hour of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Bride. This is the hour, not only for the Word but also for “the oil and the wine” — the anointing and the stimulation of revelation — of the Holy Spirit upon the Word. And this is the LIFE that cannot be hurt ( compare Revelation 6:6).

我们的主耶稣差遣一位天使将祂的启示传达给约翰，约翰记录了他在异象中所见的一切。约翰是主耶稣基督所爱的（约翰福音13:23；20:2）。他是基督所爱的新妇的预表。凡是向约翰显现的，也必会启示给祂的新妇。因为我们正生活在七个教会时代末期的最后阶段，我们有幸看到比过去六个教会时代中每一位新妇成员所看到的更清晰的景象。是的，这正是耶稣基督向新妇启示的时刻。这不仅是圣言的时刻，也是“油与酒”的时刻——圣灵膏抹并激发启示的时刻。这便是那永不受损的生命（参见启示录6:6）。

Verse 3: Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

第3节：凡念这预言的，和那些听见又遵守其中所记载的，都是有福的，因为日期近了。

The unfolding of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is for us to understand and to obey the words of prophecy that we may be a light in this world of spiritual darkness and always be ready and prepared for the return of the Lord. Many Christians are actually spiritually blinded by Satan who has entered the realm of religious Christianity since the 4th Century, and who has actually been worshipped in the organized churches! Satan is the god of this evil age.

耶稣基督启示的展开，是为了让我们明白并遵行预言的话语，使我们成为这属灵黑暗世界中的光，时刻预备好迎接主的再来。许多基督徒实际上已被撒旦蒙蔽了灵性，撒旦自公元4世纪以来就已进入基督教宗教领域，甚至在有组织的教会中被人敬拜！撒旦是这邪恶时代的统治者。

Verse 4: John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Verse 5: And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Verse 6: And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

第4节：约翰写信给亚细亚的七个教会：愿恩惠、平安从那昔在、今在、以后永在的神，和祂宝座前的七灵，归与你们！

第5节：也从那诚实作见证的、从死里首先复活的、为世上君王元首的耶稣基督归与你们！祂爱我们，用自己的血洗净了我们的罪，

第6节：又使我们成为国度，作祂父神的祭司。愿荣耀、权能归于祂，直到永永远远。阿们！

Notice that there are three greetings from the throne area of Heaven. The first is from “him which is, and which was, and which is to come”. The second is from “the seven Spirits which are before his throne”. The third is from “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth”.

请注意，天上的宝座有三种问候。第一种来自“昔在、今在、以后永在的”。第二种来自“祂宝座前的七灵”。第三种来自“耶稣基督，祂是忠实的见证人，是从死里首先复活的，是地上君王的元首”。

The One “which is, and which was, and which is to come” is the Eternal Invisible Spirit — Elohim, the Almighty One. He does not have, and never had a beginning; He will never have an end. He always is because He always was, and He always will be — the I AM. He is the Creator and the Father of all creations. But “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth” is Elohim's Only Begotten Son Who is vested with all His authority (Matthew 28:18). The Son of God had a beginning. He was virgin born, nearly 2000 years ago, as a mortal person with a mission to conquer death and hell. Through God's Work of Redemption, Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to be born again sons and daughters of God, and to be a royal race and priests to serve His God and Father, Who is also our God and Father — “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17b). The only way we can truly be born again sons and daughters is to repent of our sins, be water baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, according to the revelation declared by the Apostles in the Early Church, and then we shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Whereas the Blood of Christ takes care of the inherited 'original sin' nature in us, water baptism remits the sins in our lives. We will then walk in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and go on to perfection in His Word and the Blood of Christ will cleanse us from all our sins (compare 1 John.1:4-10).

那位“昔在、今在、以后永在的”就是永恒不可见的灵——全能的上帝（Elohim）。祂没有，也从未有过开始；祂也永远不会结束。祂永远存在，因为祂过去存在，将来也永远存在——祂就是“我是”。祂是创造者，是万物的父。然而，“耶稣基督，那忠实的见证人，从死里首先复生的，为世上君王的元首”，是上帝的独生子，祂拥有上帝一切的权柄（马太福音28:18）。上帝的儿子有祂的开始。祂在近两千年前由童贞女所生，以凡人的身份来到世上，肩负着战胜死亡和地狱的使命。藉着上帝的救赎之工，耶稣基督使我们得以重生，成为上帝的儿女，成为尊贵的族类和祭司，事奉祂的父神，祂也是我们的父神——“我升上去见我的父，也是你们的父；见我的神，也是你们的神”（约翰福音20:17b）。我们真正重生为上帝儿女的唯一途径，就是悔改我们的罪，奉主耶稣基督的名受洗，使罪得赦免，正如早期教会使徒所启示的，然后我们就能领受圣灵的恩赐。基督的宝血洗净我们与生俱来的“原罪”，而水洗礼则赦免我们生命中的罪。那时，我们将行在耶稣基督福音的光中，在祂的道里追求完全，基督的宝血将洗净我们一切的罪（参见约翰一书1:4-10）。

As the Son of God, Jesus Christ has faithfully declared to us all that he had received from the Father and testified always to the truth concerning Himself before all men and even in the hour of His death. So, as “the faithful witness” He attests that we should and could believe the apocalyptic truth that He was about to reveal to John. Amen. His faithfulness endures to all generations!

作为上帝的儿子，耶稣基督忠实地向我们所有人宣告了他从父那里领受的真理，并在众人面前，甚至在他临终之际，始终为他自己作见证。因此，作为“忠实的见证人”，他见证我们应当也能够相信他即将向约翰启示的末世真理。阿们。他的信实直到万代！

Now, Jesus is the first begotten from the dead, which obviously means there will be others, after Him, who will be begotten from the dead. There will be a people who, upon their translation, will also have the same glorified body that Jesus has. They are the true members of the Bride (Body) of Christ. They are priests and subjects in His Kingdom for they all have direct access to Him. As He overcame and sat down on His Father's throne, so will His saints overcome and sit down with Him in His throne (compare Revelation 3:21). The King and His Bride will then rule the earth for a thousand years after the close of the Great Tribulation. The millennial reign of Christ with His Bride is called the Age of Regeneration (compare Matthew 19:28).

耶稣是死里复活的第一位，这显然意味着在他之后还会有其他从死里复活的人。会有一群人，在被提之后，也将拥有与耶稣一样荣耀的身体。他们是基督新妇（身体）的真正成员。他们是基督国度里的祭司和子民，因为他们都能直接来到基督面前。正如耶稣得胜并坐在父的宝座上一样，他的圣徒也将得胜并与他一同坐在他的宝座上（参启示录3:21）。大灾难结束后，君王和他的新妇将统治全地一千年。基督与他的新妇的千禧年统治被称为重生时代（参马太福音19:28）。

Concerning the Seven Spirits which are before the Throne of God, this is the first time that we read about their presence before the throne of God. However, Prophet Zechariah did make mention of them as the “eyes of the Lord” (Zechariah 4:10 compare 3:9). This is a mystery. It must therefore tell us something. Remember that the Book of Revelation is the last of the 66 books of the Bible and was written around the year 96 A.D.

关于侍立在上帝宝座前的七灵，这是我们第一次读到它们出现在上帝宝座前。然而，先知撒迦利亚曾称它们为“耶和华的眼睛”（撒迦利亚书 4:10，参 3:9）。这是一个奥秘，因此必然蕴含着某种意义。请记住，《启示录》是圣经66卷书中的最后一卷，大约写于公元96年。

God is a Spirit. He is One, not Seven or Three Spirits (Trinity). What then are these Seven Spirits?  They are actually God's attributes which are manifested throughout the periods of the Seven Church Ages and the 70th Week of Daniel's prophecy. These attributes are manifested through Seven Spiritual Angels soon after the Church fell away from her purity in about the year 53 A.D. In the Book of Revelation, we find that these Seven Spirits (ascribed or assigned to Seven Angels) have seven tasks to perform, seven different roles to play, so to speak. In their assignments, they have been identified as: i) SEVEN STARS in the right hand of the HIGH PRIEST and JUDGE Who walks in the midst of the Seven Golden Candlesticks, ii) SEVEN LAMPS BURNING on the CANDLESTICKS, iii) SEVEN SEALS on the backside of the SEALED-BOOK in the right hand of the Almighty, iv) SEVEN HORNS and SEVEN EYES on the LAMB, v) SEVEN THUNDERS with the MIGHTY ANGEL, vi) SEVEN TRUMPETS which will sound after the Rapture of the Bride, and vii) SEVEN VIALS of God's Wrath which will be poured out upon the earth between the closing of the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. And in two of their seven jobs, as the SEVEN STARS and the SEVEN THUNDERS, their (audible) VOICES are heard by the True Worshippers of God.

上帝是灵。祂是独一的，而非七灵或三位一体。那么，这七灵究竟是什么呢？它们实际上是上帝的属性，贯穿于七个教会时代和但以理预言的第七十个七年。大约在公元53年教会背离纯洁之后，这些属性便通过七位属灵天使彰显出来。在《启示录》中，我们发现这七灵（归于或指派给七位天使）有七项任务要完成，或者说，扮演着七个不同的角色。在他们的职责中，他们被认定为：i) 行走在七个金灯台中间的大祭司兼审判官右手中的七颗星；ii) 灯台上燃烧的七盏灯；iii) 全能者右手所持封印书卷背面的七印；iv) 羔羊的七角和七眼；v) 与大能天使一同出现的七雷；vi) 新娘被提后将要吹响的七支号角；以及 vii) 盛满上帝忿怒的七个碗，将在大灾难结束到主的日子之间倾倒在地上。在他们七项职责中的两项——七星和七雷——中，真敬拜上帝的人可以听到他们的声音。

Verse 7: Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

第7节：看哪，他驾云降临；众目都要看见他，连刺他的人也要看见他；地上的万族都要因他哀哭。诚然如此。阿们。

This is not the coming of Christ for His Bride in the Rapture. The Rapture is a secret event to the world. This is the Lord Jesus Christ coming back physically with His saints after they have supped at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Heaven (compare Matthew 24:29-30; Revelation 19: 11-21). They will come riding on white horses and the eyes of Israel (who pierced Him) and of all the nations of the earth shall see Him. They shall be in great anguish because He has come to judge the world. This will take place at the close of the Great Tribulation in the Battle of Armageddon. Read Zechariah chapter 14.

这并非基督在被提中迎娶祂的新妇。被提对世人来说是秘密的。这是指主耶稣基督在天上与祂的圣徒们一同赴完羔羊的婚宴后，以肉身降临（参马太福音24:29-30；启示录19:11-21）。祂将骑着白马而来，以色列人（曾刺透祂的人）和地上万国的人都将看见祂。他们将极其痛苦，因为祂要来审判世界。这将在大灾难结束时，在哈米吉多顿之战中发生。请阅读撒迦利亚书14章。

Verse 8: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. 

第 8 节：我是阿拉法，我是俄梅戛，我是初，我是终，是昔在、今在、以后永在的全能者。

Do pay close attention to verse 8 that you may understand two terms in the verse which clearly show us the Oneness of the Godhead — all that God is, is in Christ Jesus. It will show you Who God is and Who Jesus is; they are One God. Notice the first statement. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” — the Lord is speaking of His being in TIME. Eternity has no time; it has no beginning and no ending. Hence, when Elohim uses this term, He speaks of the REVELATION of Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ (read John 1). The Apostle Paul used a near equivalent statement when he wrote: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Heb.13:8). The Word of God, Who is God Himself, came forth in the beginning as Alpha to bring forth Creations. This same Word Who is also Omega will bring to an end all things created through His Redemption Work (cf. Jhn.1:1-3; Rev.3:14). Christ Jesus, Who is the Word of God incarnate, is therefore the firstborn of God (Col.1:15). The second statement, “which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (or “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty”) is used emphatically of the Almighty Himself as the only source ('circle') of life. Hence, He is YAHWEH, “THE ETERNAL WITHIN HIMSELF EXISTING ONE”.

请仔细阅读第8节，以便理解其中两个术语，它们清楚地表明了三位一体的神性——神的一切所是，都在基督耶稣里。这将向你揭示神是谁，耶稣是谁；他们是同一位神。请注意第一句话：“我是阿拉法，我是俄梅戛；我是初，我是终。”——主在这里谈论祂在时间中的存在。永恒没有时间；它没有开始，也没有结束。因此，当神使用这个词时，祂指的是祂在耶稣基督的位格中启示自己（请参阅约翰福音1章）。使徒保罗也使用了几乎相同的表述，他写道：“耶稣基督昨日、今日、一直到永远，是一样的”（希伯来书13:8）。神的道，也就是神自己，在起初作为阿拉法而出现，创造了万物。这位同时也是欧米伽的道，将藉着祂的救赎之工终结万物（参约翰福音1:1-3；启示录3:14）。基督耶稣，道成肉身的神，因此是神的长子（歌罗西书1:15）。第二句“昔在、今在、以后永在的全能者”（或“昔在、今在、以后永在的全能者”）强调全能者本身是生命的唯一源泉（“循环”）。因此，祂是耶和华，“自有永有者”。

Remember Jesus Christ had a beginning. He was born of a virgin, raised as a child and grew up as a man (cf. Luk.2:40,52). But God is Spirit and will always be Spirit. He is invisible (1 Tim.1:17; 6:16). The only way we can see God is to see His works (cf. Jhn.6: 28-29; 10:25,36-38; 14:10-13). At the appointed time, Jesus was empowered by the Word of God. This happened at His water baptism in Jordan River. The Spirit of God came down from Heaven to dwell in Him. This was the incarnation of God — God 'en morphe' in flesh; God clothed in flesh. But the Almighty God was still Spirit, and though Jesus Christ was still a man, He was a God-Man. The body of Jesus is not God; it is only God's abode, His temple. It was the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who died at Calvary and not God Himself for God, being a Spirit, cannot die. After His death and resurrection, Jesus ascended into Heaven. On His ascension He said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt.28:18b). Prior to His ascension, Jesus did not have “all power” for He said that He could not do anything until His Father showed Him what to do (compare John 5:19). It is not difficult to see how the Eternal Invisible Spirit (One Spirit) has revealed Himself in the Man called Jesus Christ — “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Corithians 5:19a). Therefore, this fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 : “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). Hence, when Jesus said, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty”, He was declaring the Divinity in Himself. Though He was the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colossian 2:9) God was still the Eternal Invisible Holy Spirit above, about and around Him for God is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent.

记住，耶稣基督是有开始的。祂由童贞女所生，从孩童时期长大成人（参路加福音2:40,52）。但神是灵，祂永远是灵。祂是不可见的（提前1:17；6:16）。我们认识神的唯一途径是看祂的作为（参约翰福音6:28-29；10:25,36-38；14:10-13）。在所定的时间，耶稣藉着神的话语得着能力。这发生在祂在约旦河受洗的时候。神的灵从天降临，住在祂里面。这就是神的道成肉身——神“以肉身显现”；神披戴了肉身。但全能的神仍然是灵，虽然耶稣基督仍然是人，但祂是神人。耶稣的身体不是神；它只是神的居所，祂的圣殿。在髑髅地死去的是神的儿子耶稣基督，而不是神自己，因为神是灵，祂不会死。耶稣死而复活后升天。升天时，祂说：“天上地下所有的权柄都赐给我了”（太28:18b）。在升天之前，耶稣并没有“所有的权柄”，因为祂说过，在父指示祂之前，祂什么也不能做（参约5:19）。不难看出，那永恒不可见的灵（一位灵）是如何在耶稣基督这个人身上启示祂自己的——“神在基督里，叫世人与自己和好”（林后5:19a）。因此，这应验了以赛亚书9章6节的预言：“因有一婴孩为我们而生，有一子赐给我们，政权必担在他的肩头上。他名称为奇妙策士、全能的神、永在的父、和平的君。”“敬虔的奥秘是伟大的，这毋庸置疑：就是神在肉身显现，被圣灵称义，被天使看见，被传于外邦，被世人信服，被接升到荣耀里。”（提摩太前书3章16节）因此，当耶稣说：“我是阿拉法，我是俄梅戛；我是昔在、今在、以后永在的全能者。”祂是在宣告祂自身的神性。虽然祂是神性的完全体现（歌罗西书 2:9），但神仍然是永恒的、不可见的圣灵，在祂之上、祂周围，因为神是全能的、全知的、无所不在的。

Forgiveness: (7 of 13) ; The Trespass of Brethren

 

FORGIVENESS – Series 7

The Trespass of Brethren (Chapter 6: pp 63-77)

An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. – Proverbs 18:19, New Living Translation

Better a thousand enemies outside the house than one inside. – Arabic proverb

Exploited Kisses

Some trespasses are harder to forgive or forget, because they come from “brethren,” from people who sit with us, eat with us, live with us under the same roof; members of the same sworn team, or children of the same Father.  That was what Joseph faced: “the trespass of thy brethren.”   Those were not just “brethren,” they were “THY brethren,” his own blood brothers.  That is what sometimes makes it worse: “thy brethren” – in their plural number against your singular self; in their malicious majority against your defenceless minority; in their conspiratorial unity against your voiceless innocence: “thy brethren.”  Jesus was betrayed by one whom He called a “friend” (Matthew 26:50), one who exploited the lovely language of a kiss to betray his Master (Luke 22:48).

More than being brethren, or being his own brethren, those trespassers were also “the servants of the God of thy father.” Is that not how we address preachers and pastors: servants of God?  The trespassers against Joseph were co-patriarchs, co-ministers, brethren to whom Joseph had been taking their father’s goodwill and refreshments (Genesis 37:14); brethren who were also ministers – feeders of the flock; elder shepherds for that matter (Genesis 37:14, 16).  Could anyone have expected betrayal of that magnitude from such pillars? No.  That is what makes these betrayals very painful to forgive and harder to forget.  Some ‘servants of God’ (real and fake) have done worse things to other servants of God than the brothers of Joseph did, except that circumstances have not yet uncovered their wickedness.

It may be easy to preach forgiveness, especially if one has never known the pains of betrayals, but they preach it better who have given it themselves to others, especially to ‘undeserving’ traitorous ‘brethren.’

Brethren are those we trust more than others, those we draw close to ourselves, those we run to for cover when pursued by outsiders.  Ministers are those of whom we have no fear even if they should stand behind us; those to whom we go for an interpretation of the voice of God; those we take as God among mortals.  When such patriarchs align with outsiders to hunt and hurt us, like Judas to Jesus or Brutus to Caesar, and kisses of love are exploited to sudden malicious advantage, the pain can be deeper than words can ever express.  In this sad category could be betrayal by a father, a mother, a husband, a wife, an associate pastor, a senior pastor, a foster child, a tenant or landlord, a colleague at work, a fellow worshipper, some trusted and close person, a ‘best friend,’ etc.; betrayal not by mere “brethren” but “THY brethren.”  The pain is heightened when those “brethren” are also “servants of the God of thy father.”  Then, like Caesar, we cry, “Et tu, Brute?”

A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the [never-meeting parallel] bars of a castle (Proverbs 18:19).

Does Time Erase a Trespass?

Does time erase a trespass and cancel the need for repentance?  No.  Does confession become unnecessary because time has passed since the action or non-action of a trespass?  No.  In the story of Joseph, for example, years had passed – about twenty-one years; still, the case was no stale trespass.  It had to be recalled to be erased.

Time might heal the wounds of a trespass, but it does not erase the scars of it.  Time might diminish the pains of a trespass, but it does not delete the file.  Only confession recalls the file to destroy it.  Even where the person trespassed against might have magnanimously deleted the file from their end, they have only freed themselves; the spirit of the trespass lives to haunt the trespasser, until they exorcize it by confession.  We find further analogy in computer application.  Sometimes, even when a file might have been deleted from a device, there may still be a backup ‘copy’ in some ‘cloud,’ until that also is addressed as a next step.

Does Distance Erase a Trespass?

Does distance erase a trespass?  Does it become unnecessary to repair a trespass because the person trespassed against has since moved far away, or because the trespasser is in some distant land?  The story of the Prodigal Son has an answer.  In that story, the son had not just moved to a different city but to a different country, a “FAR country” at that (Luke 15:13).  Still, he closed the distance – the wide gap in time and space – by travelling home to the transgressed father to make peace.  The brothers of Joseph did the same.  They bridged the decades and the distance; they closed the gap in time and space; they went to Joseph to make their confessions.  They didn’t say that because he was inferior to them in age, or because he was in more comfortable material circumstances, he was the one who should come to them.  They went, closing the gap, to heal an ancestral injury.  Sometimes, the peace of a thousand miles distance could be just a phone call away.

A trespass is a debt owed.  It is not settled until it is paid or pardoned.  That is the point of the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:15-35.

Does Age Erase a Trespass?

Sometimes we suppose that an adult could trespass against a child and merely bribe them off with a candy or a coke.  They have souls, too.  The same God who admonishes servants to not exploit their masters, also admonishes masters and mistresses to not exploit their servants.  The same God who admonishes children to obey their parents also advises parents to not provoke those children (Ephesians 6:2-9; Colossians 3:20-23).  They have feelings, too.  Joseph was a ‘mere’ teenager, a far ‘junior’ brother, when he was betrayed by his elders, yet those elders did not consider themselves too tall to bow to a junior when the time came to do so.

A young girl told me her story. She insisted that I note it as a lesson that adults should learn from.   Her father is a pastor that I know very well.  There was an issue one day between Mom and Dad, and Mom had taken all the children as usual in her car and driven off into town.  They went that day first to see a younger and junior pastor to her father, to whom the mother began to tell terrible tales about the father.  From where she sat with her siblings, she said, they could hear the mother lying as always against their father.  What pained her was not the telling but the lying.  They had all witnessed what had happened, which was far from what Mom was reporting again to one more stranger.  She said her mother was claiming to the pastor that her husband had often beaten her, whereas she was the troublemaker, very malicious and violent with her tongue.  The young girl didn’t think that that was a Christian tongue, much less the tongue of a pastor’s wife.  She boiled the more when she heard the pastor threatening and wishing that he could print posters of her father and go all over town to publish and ‘expose’ the abominations of a man who claimed to be a pastor yet could do those terrible things to his wife.  Helplessly, she wondered to herself where she sat with her younger siblings, “This pastor should at least have taken the pains to confirm if what he has heard is true. That is what a pastor should do, not take sides with lies.”

From where they sat, she felt so angry at the lies and the threatened blackmail that she wished she were older, and she would have fought that man, but she was only seven years old.  She vowed in her little heart that when she grew up she would ‘do something’ to that man that he would not forget, for taking sides and threatening to sponsor placards and posters all over town against an innocent man, without even bothering to confirm if what he had heard was the truth.

Eleven years later, that pastor was a guest in their house.  She had long forgotten the matter, but when she saw him and heard his peculiar gruff voice, the picture and pain of so many years ago rushed back at her.  She was angry.   While she was wondering how to handle him, her father asked her to prepare dinner for the man.  (The mother had long abandoned them.)  They were going to host him at their house overnight.  The young girl said she realised at once that she had to deal with forgiveness, with a pain she did not know she still carried, until the face of that visiting pastor had recalled the past.  Telling me her story was part of her vicarious therapy, to relieve her soul.  But she reinforced a message: that children have feelings also, even though they might not have the courage or privilege, like an elder, to express their pains promptly.

Some elders might never know how many young hearts they have wounded.  Some thoughtless elders might never know how many tender hearts are carrying offences against them.  Worse still, some elders are too proud to care, and would never bend to say “I am sorry” to a mere child.  Children deserve apology no less than an adult does.  They have souls, too.  A candy cannot erase the memory of their pains, nor heal the wound that a simple penitent apology would have done.  “Provoke not your children to anger” (Colossians 3:21).  Children also can be sinned against, as the Bible here reveals.

Lessons from the Prophets

In Daniel 10:2, we read that DANIEL “was mourning three full weeks.”  Later, we hear him giving voice to his penitence; he had been mourning from the previous chapter:

18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.

19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name (Daniel 9:18-19).

Daniel in faraway Babylon was asking forgiveness for a people and a place some 500 miles away; he was interceding for his now-desolate nation of Judah and its capital city of Jerusalem.  For that prophet, time and space had not erased the need for repentance; time and distance had not diminished the need to repair relational damages with the Divine.  Is that applicable to human relations?  Yes.

In a way that makes further sense to intercessors, we find NEHEMIAH in a similar role.  In Nehemiah 1:5-9, for example, we read,

5 …I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and CONFESS the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.

7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto THE UTTERMOST PART of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there (Nehemiah 1:5-9).

Like Daniel, Nehemiah was in exile several hundreds of miles away from the land and people for whom that confession directly stood, several decades after the trespasses being confessed were committed.  For Nehemiah also, time and distance had not erased the need to repair past damages.  Someone might argue that those prayers were confessions to God.  Even then, they are applicable in human relations.  Besides, we have repeatedly seen the cases of Joseph’s brothers and the Prodigal Son, which were more horizontal in their nature.

In similar circumstances, God instructed the prophet EZEKIEL to address “the iniquity of the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 4:5), a case that God let him know was 390 years old, nearly four centuries into the past (Ezekiel 4:1-5).  In terms of time, that was far back in the past; in terms of distance, it was a long way off, as Prophet Ezekiel at that time was in exile in Babylon, some 500 miles away.  The wide gap in time and space had not erased the need to repair the past.

Proxy Confessions

The examples of interceding prophets in the foregoing sections reveal another side to repairing past relational damages.  None of those confessors was the one that committed the ‘iniquity’ for which they were seeking forgiveness.  They were only the descendants of the guilty ancestors.  In other words, where the culprit of a relational damage is not available, a near kin can institute the repair process, especially where the original offence has had communal or concentric repercussions, where there have been implications beyond the original trespasser and the original victim.  For instance, in the Dr Omo Oba-Jesu story told in chapter 5, the ones to whom God was compelling His servant to make confession were not the direct victims, except in the sense of being the parents of that dead victim.

If a drunk boy drove into a house and maimed a child, then fled town and has been unseen for years, how would you feel if you were the parent of that crippled child, and the parents of the Prodigal Son have never since showed up to check on you or the child, because it is ‘not their business’ after all?  How differently would you feel if they had been coming to seek amends and had been making contributions towards the child’s recovery, in spite of their runaway son?

Sometimes there are families feuding as a result of ancestral hostility.  One ancestor trespassed against the other in the distant past, and each ancestor passed the legacy of bitterness down their line.  Today, the children of the ancestor trespassed against carry the grudge against the children of the trespasser, or vice versa.  What should be done?  The children of the guilty should commence reparation processes.  They should confess on behalf of their guilty ancestor to the children of the ancestor trespassed against.  Is there a scripture for that prescription?  Yes.  The proxy confessions of the prophets cited above are examples.

In Leviticus 26:32-42 also, God puts upon a present generation of ‘children’ the onus of redressing the sins of their distant ancestors; He recognizes their power to confess not only “their iniquity” in the present but also “the iniquity of their fathers” (v.40) in the distant past.  He says that such proxy intervention by relations has the power to ‘open’ the ancient files and make Him to “remember” and to “heal” a forgotten land and its forgotten people.

While we agree that it is “the soul that sinneth” that shall die (Ezekiel 18:4, 20); while we also agree that every worker of sin would have the “wages” paid directly into their personal account (Romans 6:23), we cannot deny, as the story of David in 2 Samuel 12:9-12 well illustrates, that there are often sad ‘fringe benefits’ or consequences that also flow out horizontally to other relations and neighbours, or flow down vertically to the descendants of the guilty.  That is why proxy interventions are important.  The extent to which one is connected enough to suffer the consequences of an offender’s actions is indicative of the power they possess to make proxy appearances or confessions.  If they are not connected to the circumstances, their locus standi to address the trespass might accordingly be little.

What if Nobody Knows?

Should I still seek forgiveness if nobody knows that I was the culprit?  Nobody might know, but the conscience does, and the policeman of conscience is more to be feared than the one in uniform who patrols the streets.  Besides, the Justice of Nature, which some call nemesis, still hangs a curse over guilty heads whom the searching eyes of mortals might never find.

The curse of the LORD is [already] in the house of the wicked [whether or not anyone has found out their wickedness]: but he blesseth the habitation of the just (Proverbs 3:33).

A woman lost 110 shekels of silver.  She did not know who the thief was.  She cursed when she discovered her loss.  It turned out her son was the thief.  Nobody knew, apart from himself, that he was the thief, yet he restored the stolen items and confessed to having been the guilty one.  We might say that he had only been frightened by the curse; all the same, he owned up to the wrong, repairing the past.  Unfortunately, the money went into an idolatrous project (Judges 17:1-2).  David did not wait for King Saul to discover who had cut his royal skirt before, smitten by his conscience, he called out to confess the act (1 Samuel 24:4-21).  Even where nobody knows, God knows.

What if They are Unreachable?

What if one is unable to trace the person to whom one was owing the debt of confession?  Does that erase the need to pay back?  No.  God gives directives on how to pay back debts where the original party can no longer be reached as a result of death or other life events.  That includes the debt of confession.

8 “And give the following instructions to the people of Israel: If a man dies and has no son, then give his inheritance to his daughters. 9 And if he has no daughter either, transfer his inheritance to his brothers. 10 If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. 11 But if his father has no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan. This is a legal requirement for the people of Israel, just as the Lord commanded Moses” (Numbers 27:8-11, New Living Translation).

“But if the person who was wronged is dead, and there are no near relatives to whom restitution can be made, the payment belongs to the Lord and must be given to the priest. Those who are guilty must also bring a ram as a sacrifice, and they will be purified and made right with the Lord (Numbers 5:8, New Living Translation).

The implication is clear: where it is not possible to trace the one being owed the debt of confession or apology, it should be passed to the nearest kin or relation.  Where that is also impossible, let it be between that penitent seeker and the Lord their God.

False Witnessing

If I did not commit a trespass, should I confess to the ‘wrong,’ merely for the sake of peace?  No.  It is as wrong to lie against oneself as it is to lie against someone else.  Sometimes, people have been forced to admit to what they never did, just to gain an advantage or escape apparent danger.  The ninth Commandment says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (Exodus 20:16).  In the same vein, one should not bear false witness against oneself.  The core of the commandment is “FALSE witness.” It is painful when others lie against us, but is it almost abominable when we are forced to lie against ourselves, even in the name of confession or a supposed righteousness.

In 2 Samuel 1:2-16, the story is told of an ambitious Amalekite who lied against himself, claiming that he had been the ‘hero’ who hastened the death of the dying King Saul, David’s sworn antagonist.  He had hoped by the lie to procure favour from David.  What did he get in return?  Instant death.  He implicated himself by his words, even though he had been innocent of the act.  Do not lie against yourself, despite the pressure to so offend your conscience.  You could bring ineradicable blood upon yourself.

And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for THY MOUTH hath TESTIFIED against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD’S anointed (1 Samuel 1:16).

May your own mouth never be the ‘witness’ against yourself in the courts of God and of mortals.  May your mouth never give ‘testimony’ against your innocent self, no matter the situation.  May it never be said by the jury of mortals and of spirits, “thy mouth hath testified against thee.”  When that happens, no other witness is needed by the ‘courts’ to condemn you, and you may hardly thereafter be acquitted.