You do not know what you are asking -- Matthew 20

Matt20:22"You do not know what you are asking."
This is an interesting verse. So many times we pray for something, but we really don't know what we're asking. I remember a friend told me that she prayed fervantly that God will use her as David. Then later she found out that the temptation she faced to fall into sexual sin was tremendous. She didn't realise that God answered her prayer in a whole package deal.
Everything's got a price. If we want a new car we've got to pay for it. If we want a beachfront new house (in Sydney) then that's gonna cost us quite a bit. We'll pretty much have to change our lifestyle if we want to make that much money. If we want big blessings, do we really want to pay for that price and change our lifestyle a whole lot?

Ninety nine plus one - Matthew 18

Matt18:12-14 (99+1)
When the Lord of the sheep leaves his 99 sheep to go after the lost one, there must be a stir and disturbance among the 99. The loudest voice might suggest that he should stay and keep the sheep(in other cases can be family, church, organisation, ministry,etc) in order. And this might sound like common sense as well, to get rid of the trouble causing one and keep the remaining ones happy. But the heart of God is for the lost one. He will do whatever it takes, whatever it costs for the one that's lost. He rejoices over the returning of the lost one much over the progress of the ones that're not lost.
Do we have the same logic?

Forgiveness --Matthew 18

It's hard to forgive someone who owes us on this one deal. Because it will look very unfair and very hard to do. But if we come to the Father first, we'll be convicted of how much we owe Him, how much we should have done, could have done and have not done; how much we sinned; how far away we are to God's standard of holiness and perfection. And how much He is willing to forgive us. When we have the revelation of how much we owe, and how much we're forgiven, it'll be much easier to carry the spirit of God's forgiveness and forgive someone else.
Without the true revelation of being forgiven of 10 thousand talents, it would be very hard to forgive someone else with their a hundred denarii.

Mountain top -Matt17

Matt17:1-8
Often when we're at a conference or a worship session we can have experiences like the mountain top experience: we have climbed up the mountain and feel an emotional high. We feel wonderful and we don't want to leave.
Then we see three people. Jesus looks glorious and adorable. And also Moses and Elijah. Moses suggests to me the leaders, and Elijah speaks of signs and wonders, miracles, manifestations. We tend to look at worship leaders or other wonderful things people do. We can get so busy looking and admiring and feeling good that we're missing the point: "listen to Him!"
Often mountain top is a place where God will speak to us. If we listen, when we leave the mountains we'll get something solid and empowering, but if we're focusing looking at Moses and Elijahs and enjoying the wonderful feelings, when we leave the mountains we're left with nothing. That's why often after a big event like Hillsong conference a lot of people are actually feeling down as they experienced a lot of emotional high but didn't listen while they're still at mountain top.

Signs and leaven --Matthew 16

Matt16:1When the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven
v4 Sign of Jonah

Test means to ask God to do our will. We give God a task and see if He can do it.
When Jonah heard the will of God in his life, he didn't obey, but ran away from it. So the sign from heaven to Jonah when he's in rebellion is the darkness in the fish belly.
When we run away from God's will and do our own will and still ask God to bless our own will, the sign is darkness and silence in our lives.


Leaven in Luke12:1 is hyprocrisy. in Matt 16:12 is the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
To me bread means the power(teachings, love,etc) of God, and leaven means the power(teachings, endeavours,passions,etc) of man.

Wait on the Lord -- Psalm 119, Isaiah 40

Isa40:27 Why do you say, I Jacob, and assert, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord,
31 Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

When we're in our own ways, in the things that we plan for ourselves, we can grow weary and tired, stumble badly.
But if we find the callings of God in our lives, find this one thing that God has designed and created us to do, find the way that God had intended for us to walk on, when we wait for the Lord, depend on His wisdom and guidance instead of our own, we will gain new strength.
"wait for the Lord" can sound simple, but it can mean 40 years for Moses in the desert, 40 days for Jesus to be tempted, 25 years for Abraham before Sarah had the baby... but if we do wait, and when God does show up, we'll find supernatural strength, energy and joy to do the things that're impossible.


Ps119:81 My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for your word.
89 Forever, O lord, Your word is settled in heaven.
90 Your faithfulness continues throughtout all generations.
92 If your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction.
96 I have seen a limit to all perfection;
Your commandment is exceedingly broad.

Sometimes the word of God can look to us like a limit. We're so tempted to break that limit and act in out own ways. For David, he'd always struggle to fight back with his enemy in his own power. But he didn't break that limit. He sticked with the law. And within that limit he found out later that God's commandment is exceedlingly broad. The limit to us is no limit to God. If we keep the limit that God has put in our lives, we will actually find ourselves into realm that "God will make His commandment exceedingly broad."

Tragedy of John -Matthew 14

Major miracles followed by the big tragedy. Jesus didn't say a word about the death of John. He concentrated on blessings. Whenever there's a tragedy, if all our energy is focused on condolence and mourning, we'll miss the point. There's big revival straight after the tragedy. So if we redirect our energy and focus on reaching the lost, we'll reap a harvest.
The devil wants to hold us down by throwing tragedies at us. If we stop ourselves at mourning and grieving then he wins. But if we look to the future, we'll enter into the blessings of God. God will pay vengence for us. God will show His anger by lavishing His blessings on us.
This really is a pattern. You see Job, how he suffered? He didn't understand why at the moment, but in the end everything in his life doubled.
Everytime the devil attacks, we know we're entitled for at least double the blessings. We claim it, we'll get it. But if we lose our heart, lose our faith, we'll lose our future.
There's a time for mourning, and there's a time to let go and get up. Embrace the future, it's brighter than the past.

Grace - Matthew 12, Psalm 114

ps114:1-2 "When Israel went for from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion."

Jacob always speaks of a prodigal son to me. When the prodigal son is in his own ways, he suffered all kinds of humiliation and miseries of the world. But when he turned back to God, look at what joy and favour the father's heart has toward His lost and found son: Jacob's life became full of praise(Judah) and God's grace.
Look at what God will do for the prodigal son: The sea looked and fled... the mountains skipped like rams...
nothing will stop the Father's love toward Jacob, the lost son.
v7"Tremble, O earth, before the Lord, before the God of Jacob..."
who dares to stand between a sinner and the grace of God?
Who are we, to judge someone that God loves?


Matt12:7 I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice

I looked the two words in dictionary:
Compassion - sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it

Sacrifice - an act of offering to a deity something precious; especially : the killing of a victim on an altar

To me, compassion means to save, help, it's like Moses seeing the distress of the Israelites and giving up his royal identity to become one of them and lead them out of misery, while sacrifice simply means to kill and to condemn.

Knowledge - Proverb 24:3-4

Prov24:3-4"By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches."

Wisdom is about making the right choices. Set yourself on the right track.
Understanding consists under(turn down the opposite and distractions) and stand, which keeps you on the right track.
knowledge is about knowing what to do and doing what's right. When we do what the Lord tells us to do, we'll never be empty handed, our rooms will be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Come to me --Matt 11:30

Matt11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden.... For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

A lot of the times when we need to make a decision, whether in business or in relationships,etc. we tend to jump to a conclusion based on our own judgement or what it seems right to most of the people, without consulting the Lord first, and if this is a wrong decision, then we'd have to bear all the consequences and become heavy burdened and troubled. But if we come to the Lord first, He will tell us the right decision, and if we walk on that decision and path, we'll find that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It might not look that way at the time we made the choice, but as time goes on, we'll know the difference.

The fear of the Lord - Ps111

Ps111: 10 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;"
A lot of the times we think we have the wisdom and can just do fine by ourselves without the fear of the Lord. We might be accumulating wealth, power or other gains in the world, but deep down in out hearts we'll find that without fulfilling the purposes of God in our lives we're just running in circles. Our lives will be empty no matter how they look like on the outside.
The fear of the Lord brings us to the right track of the life paths. And only on this path can we find true achievement and fulfilment.
"His praise endures forever." (v10)
The praises of men won't last long. But if we have His praise, it might not look pleasing in men's eyes, but it will last forever.

ps111:6 "He has made known to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations."
It's never too late to turn to God. No matter what circumstance we're in, if we truly repent and turn to God, He's well capable to bring us out of our miseries and mess and give us a heritage and a future that's way beyond our imagination.