Victory Over the Darkness

On Sunday, I went with Elena to Lamma Church, her home church in Lamma Island (Hong Kong). Elena grew up on Lamma Island (check out its website here) and it was on the island that I met her, while I was living there in the 1980s (the first time I saw her, she was playing the piano in the church service - a vision of beauty and talented too!). It was wonderful to see so many of my old friends at Lamma Church again, many of whom have been lifting me up in prayer consistently for the last few months.

I had an opportunity to share my testimony for five minutes. And so I shared briefly from John 1:5 (the preacher had mentioned that verse in his sermon earlier in the service). And so I want to share it also briefly with you too.

In the Amplified Bible, John 1:5 says:

"And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it..."

I was struck by the simple declaration that this verse makes. Jesus, who is described as being "the Light" (see John 1:4-9), entered the world to confront the powers of darkness (note 1 John 3:8; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 1:13). And what struck me so powerfully about John 1:5 is this: Light, by its very nature, overcomes the darkness!

That may seem like a simple revelation, but it is both profound and attitude-transforming. We have this tendency to think of spiritual darkness as having an innate power to overcome spiritual light, but if the analogy with natural light and darkness holds true (which I believe it does), this is simply not the case. Darkness is the absence of light, nothing more, nothing less. In other words, to overcome darkness, you need to do nothing more than just introduce light!

Think of it this way. If you are in a lighted room in the middle of the night, and you open the curtains, darkness doesn't come flooding in. Rather, light floods into the outside world! Likewise, if you are in a dark room, the moment you flip on the light switch, the light immediately banishes the darkness. In fact, it doesn't even take a lot of light to do it. Have you ever been in a dark room and simply switched on the light of your cell phone's screen? That screen light is incredibly low power, yet it is enough to bring light into a dark room.

What encouraged me about this is that this describes the Christian experience. We have received spiritual light in the person of Jesus. And by its nature, that spiritual light overcomes the darkness. It is a very binary thing: Light off = darkness. Light on = darkness overcome.

For me, I'm not waiting for the victory. I already have the victory in the person of Jesus. It is a given. Victory is not a goal for me; my starting point in life is victory! All I am now called to do is walk in that victory, as 1 John 1:5-7 explains it:

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

So what is my objective today? Simply to "walk in the light, as he is in the light". It's in the walk, not the talk, that we experience the victory.

Away in Hong Kong/China for Two Weeks

Tomorrow morning, I will be flying out to Beijing with Elena to meet up with long-time Hong Kong friends and ministry co-workers. We will then be flying to Hong Kong, where we will spend some time with Elena's parents and family. I will be away for a total of two weeks (and Elena will be away for a total of four weeks).

I'm very much looking forward to this time away, to catch up with friends and family in Hong Kong, but also to have a break with Elena. We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in December 2005, but because of all the hospital tests (and the final diagnosis) at that time, there was no way we could get away. So this is a belated anniversary celebration/getaway.

I will try to post during my time away, but this is not 100% certain, so if there is a gap in my posting, you'll know why. I also plan to put up some photos of my trip for you, so I'll let you know when these are available.

Rejoicing in the goodness and grace of God,

David

Like Streams in the Negev

Today I was reading Psalm 126, and I want to share with you some thoughts that emerged from my time with the Lord.

Verse 1 says:

"When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed."

This psalm describes the reaction of those who have experienced the miraculous grace of God - in this case, the overturning of physical captivity in exile. I'm right now in the process of experiencing the excitement of seeing the Lord bring me out of captivity into the glorious freedom of His health and resurrection life.

Verse 2 goes on to say:

"Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, 'The LORD has done great things for them.'"

This is the normal reaction of anyone who has experienced the miraculous intervention of God. Laughter was the response of Abraham to the news that God was going to fulfil his long-awaited promise to give him a son, and God even named that son Isaac (in Hebrew, Itzhak), which means "laughter".

And the response of "the nations", in verse 2, was: "The LORD has done great things for them." All along, my desire has been that God would use both my trial of faith and the ultimate miraculous answer to be a witness to others of His goodness in my life. "Let the Lord be glorified in my life" is my prayer.

Verse 3 then gives the psalmist's own reply, in agreement with the voice of the nations:

"The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

Again, we see that the hallmark of the psalmist's experience is being "filled with joy". For me, like Abraham, I'm filled with joy in anticipation of what the Lord is doing and what He will do in my life.

Verse 4 then says:

"Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev."

The Negev is the wilderness, or desert region, to the south of Israel. I've been to the Negev on two occasions, both times in June (mid-summer), and the Negev is totally barren. Life can barely get a toehold in this place of desolation, and you could never believe it possible for this place to become a garden of fruitfulness. But the moment the autumn rains come, in the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, the place suddenly bursts out with life - overnight, a blanket of green grass covers the hills and flowers of every colour spring out of nowhere. This total reversal of death-to-life and barrenness-to-fruitfulness is reflected also in Isaiah 51:3:

"The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing."

This total transformation is what the psalmist is referring to. When God's grace comes in a miraculous reversal of one's fortunes (from sickness to health, from captivity to freedom, from desperate need to overflowing abundance), it is like the sudden explosion of life in the Negev that comes after the start of the autumn rains.

Verse 5 continues this "sudden explosion of life" theme with these words:

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy."

The psalmist remembers the tears he has shed during the dry months of apparent barrenness in captivity (note Psalm 42:3), but realises that there is a "sowing and reaping" principle at work. During the time of weeping, crying out to the Lord (note Psalm 56:8), something was being produced in his life which has directly resulted in the time of reaping he is now experiencing.

In Psalm 116:7-9, the psalmist expresses a similar theme:

"Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you. For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living."

At last, in verse 6 of Psalm 126, the psalmist declares a scriptural principle that he has learned out of his experience:

"He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him."

Take a hold of this promise for yourself. If you're going through a time of weeping at the moment, realise that there is "seed to sow". A time is coming when you will return "carrying sheaves" of an abundant harvest with you.

Discovering My Inheritance

Over the last couple of days, I've been meditating on Psalm 16. This a remarkable psalm, packed with extraordinary meaning and significance, and so I want to run through it step by step with you.

Verse 1 starts off with a classic statement of faith in God:

"Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge."

The connection between personal safety and the act of taking refuge in God comes up frequently in the psalms. And I can bear witness that this has been my personal experience over the last few months (note Psalm 91).

Verse 2 goes on to say:

"I said to the LORD, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.'"

That statement - "apart from you I have no good thing" - is the starting point for everything the psalmist will say in the rest of the psalm. I was meditating on this yesterday, and realised that it is a massive leap to go from "in you I take refuge" to "apart from you I have no good thing." The first statement is the reactive response of someone who is in trouble, while the second statement is the proactive response of someone who has had their entire outlook on life transformed by a crucial revelation - that God is not just someone we turn to when we are in trouble or have a need, but he is superior to all that this life has to offer. In this same vein, Psalm 63:3 says: "...your love is better than life."

Verse 3 then says:

"As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.

This is, I believe, closely connected with the previous verse. David has just declared that "apart from you I have no good thing," and his very next statement, "As for the saints who are in the land...", is an outworking of this. The saints of God are the Lord's own inheritance (see Deuteronomy 9:29; Psalm 33:12; Ephesians 1:18). This means that if I focus on what is the Lord's ("apart form [which] I have no good thing"), this means that I will, in part, be focusing on his inheritance, the people of God! And what an incredible declaration David makes. These saints of God, the inheritance of the Lord, are "the glorious ones in whom is all my delight."

Over the past few months I've been overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord expressed through his saints. Just as one example, yesterday I shared about how one of my struggles over the last couple of months has been over the issue of value (see "The Question of Value"). Well at the very time the Lord was challenging me about this issue, I received an e-mail from a dear friend, Jacqueline Brown, in Portugal. Here is an excerpt from her e-mail:

This is just to keep reminding you that you are constantly in our thoughts and prayers and that we love you. I also feel the need to remind you how great and precious you are in Gods eyes and how much He loves you. My experience of some times of hospitals and procedures and the facts of the state of the body when it is in trouble all seem to make for a picture of someone who can wonder if there is anything lovable about them. You are beautiful to God handsome and strong, a mighty warrior. He has given you the majestic stamp of His own nature in your new life and you are a royal prince and a holy priest. May He reveal to you His great love and His pride in you as His beloved and totally accepted child for whom He has a great future.

Take a look at the portions that I have put in bold. Here is my question. How did Jacqueline know that, at that precise time, these were exactly the words that I needed to hear? This is because

God has deposited his glory within His Body, and each time we share with one another, that glory is revealed in one more dimension. This is why, I believe, Colossians 3:16 tells us:

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom..."

No wonder Paul prays, in Ephesians 1:18, that we "may know...the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints..." I'm just discovering the amazing "riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints" during this time of suffering, and so, like David, I can declare, "As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight." This is a total transformation in a modern person's value system - a recognition that it is not in material things that is "all my delight" but in people - the "glorious" saints of God.

In verse 4, David carries this concept one stage further by describing the "sorrows" of those who have a different value system and a different focus in life:

"The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips."

Those who "run after other gods" and who "pour out their libations of blood" and "take up their names on [their] lips" will have an increase of sorrows. Put into modern context, this verse could read:

"The sorrows of those will increase who run after [the materialism of this world]. I will not [heed the call to consumerism] or [speak constantly of material things]."

David goes on, in verse 5, to say:

"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure."

This is contrasted with the sorrows increasing for those who chase after the gods of this world (note Matthew 6:24). By following the Lord, so that our lives indeed become His inheritance, the result is that we too have an inheritance in the Lord. We are "assigned" a "portion" and a "cup" (which, incidently, Psalm 23:5 describes as "overflow[ing]"). And what is this inheritance in the Lord like? Verse 6 says:

"The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."

Indeed, the inheritance in the Lord is a "delightful" inheritance because it is focused on Him and flows out from him. No wonder Psalm 23:4 says: "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." When we delight ourselves in the Lord, the inheritance we discover is indeed "delightful" - for when our focus in 100% on Him, the "desires of your heart" also becomes 100% aligned with His own desires.

Verse 7 goes on to say:

"I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me."

I was amazed by this verse. I'd never really realised before what it says. The first part describes how "the LORD...counsels me", but notice the parallel describe at the end of the verse: "...even at night my heart instructs me." Did you notice what it is that instructs me at night? My heart! This can only happen because I have put Psalm 119:11 into practice:

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

By hiding God's word in my heart, my heart then becomes capable of instructing me. For it is God's Word, hidden in my heart, that is doing the instructing!

Verse 8 now says:

"I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."

This echoes verse 1, which starts the psalm off with these words: "Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge." By taking refuge in the Lord, I know that "I will not be shaken" (read also Psalm 62:6; Psalm 125:1; Hebrews 12:27-29).

David's response to the security that he has found in the Lord is described in verse 9:

"Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay."

This security, found in the Lord, is translated into physical health - "my body will also rest secure." Although this verse is a prophecy of the coming Messiah (note Acts 2:25-32), it is also describing God's personal promise to David regarding his own future resurrection. And this is God's promise also for the believer in Christ Jesus, for Romans 8:11 says:

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."

This resurrection life, expressed finally in the future resurrection of the body (note Philippians 3:20-21), is also expressed in the here-and-now as a "quickening" of the mortal body (note Romans 8:11, KJV). This resurrection life is part of the inheritance we have in the Lord!

At the end of the psalm, in verse 11, David ends off with a final description of his "portion" and "cup" - the inheritance he has in the Lord because of his declaration, "...apart from [God] I have no good thing..."

"You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Most people tend to focus on the last part of the verse - the "eternal pleasures at your right hand." Yes, this is the final outworking of our inheritance in the Lord, but the first part of the verse actually describes what we have right now! It is in the here-and-now that the Lord has "made known to me the path of life." And it is as I walk on this "path of life" in the here-and-now that I am "fill[ed]...with joy in your presence." In other words, when we following the Lord Jesus on the path of life, we actually have a foretaste of the "eternal pleasures" that are our inheritance in the future ages!

In fact, what I didn't even realise upon my first reading of this verse is that David isn't even talking about experiencing these "eternal pleasures" at some time in the future (i.e. after he has died), but rather is speaking of experiencing these "eternal pleasures" right now, as he walks on "the path of life" and is "filled with joy in [God's] presence." They are described as "eternal pleasures" simply because David will continue to experience them for all eternity!

I hope this short exposition of Psalm 16 has been a blessing to you, as it has to me. Now there is one thing left to do. Go and put it into practice today.

The Question of Value

One of the most important lessons I'm learning during this trial of faith is on the issue of value - or more specifically, on how I value myself. I'm a very goal-oriented person, which also means that I tend to attribute value in my life to my achievements - the goals which I set and meet. This, however, has a downside. It means that when I'm not meeting my goals, when "achieving" is for any reason not possible, then my sense of personal value is impacted.

Over the last few weeks, I've experience a great drain on my energy as a direct result of the side-effects of chemotherapy. I've been sleeping a lot more, and the times between sleep, where I can potentially "achieve" practical results in my life and ministry, are short (sometimes just a few hours). You'll have noticed this, for example, in the infrequency of my blog-writing of late.

I'm greatly encouraged by many aspects of my ministry at Evangelical Community Church. I still minister frequently at the various ECC services, particularly at the 11 am Sunday service and the 6pm evening service (also called "Twilight"). Each time I preach, I experience a surge of energy which I know has its source in God's grace alone (adrenaline simply would not produce the strength I experience each time I minister). Each week, I seek to meet up with at least two people to minister into their lives. But although these expressions of ministry have been wonderful outlets for me, I've found myself increasingly discouraged, even occasionally depressed, over the last few weeks.

Not being able to write my regular blog posts has been a case in point. For the first couple of months in 2006 I greatly enjoyed using the blog as a means to "reach out" beyond myself, to use my time of suffering to be a means to bless others. But when this channel of regular output was taken away, due to the sapping of my strength over the last couple of months, I began to experience great discouragement. Why? Because I tended to see the value of my life based on what I was doing, who I was ministering to. When that was taken away, my sense of self-value took a plunge.

But in all of this, the Lord has been speaking into my life. He's been using this time of weakness to teach me that value, as he sees it, is very different to what I see as value. For example, one of the scriptures that the Lord has spoken to me through is Matthew 13:45-46:

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it."

In this parable, Jesus was speaking about the issue of value in the kingdom of God - that once true value is recognised, people are willing to give up all in order to obtain it. But then 1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us:

"...you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

In other words, Jesus put his own parable into practice. He saw something valuable, and was willing to "sell all" (even his own life) in order to obtain it. And what was that "pearl of great value"? It wasn't what I do (my ministry); it was me myself! In the Lord's eyes, I am the "pearl of great value"! I am what he gave up his life for!

This changes the way I look at my life. I'm slowly begin to re-evaluate the issue of value, as far as my life is concerned. It is not in what I do that determines my value, but in me myself. After all, just speak with Elena and the children, and that is what they will tell you. My parents also see it this way. So I also need to begin to see it that way. Value is based on the person, not the activity; it is focused on the relationship, not the function.

Today I was reading Psalm 36:7, which says:

"How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings."

Notice what is "priceless" (or of "great value") is God's unfailing love. Value in the kingdom of God is based on relationship - the mutual flow of love. What a wonderful God, who looks at us not in terms of what we can do for him, but in terms of who we ourselves are.