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Providence: devotion

Dr. Andrew C S Koh

An image of Pharaoh

Setting

Jacob died at the age of 147 years. Joseph embalmed his body, took him back to Canaan, and buried him in the cave of Machpelah in Hebron.

Genesis 50:15-21

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all the evil which we did to him.” 16 They sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying, 17 ‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today. 21 Now, therefore, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” He comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Genesis 50:15-21

Reflection

After Jacob’s death, Joseph’s brothers were afraid that Joseph might take revenge on them. They sent a message to Joseph to ask him to forgive them. Joseph wept and replied that he would never do such a thing because he was not in the place of God. Although their plan was to harm him, God’s plan was to preserve him and use him to save lives including their lives. If they had not sold him to Egypt, he would not have become prime minister and they would have died of famine. 

Joseph comforted his brothers and took care of them and their families. Joseph lived up to the ripe old age of 110 years and saw his son’s children up to the third generation. At his deathbed, he commanded his brothers and to bring his bones back to Canaan in the future. Joseph’s brothers buried him in Egypt. Four hundred years later, Moses took Joseph’s bones out of Egypt during the Exodus, Exodus 13:19. Many years later, Joshua buried Joseph’s bones in Shechem, Joshua 24:32.

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the children of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones away from here with you”.

Exodus 13:19

They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

Joshua 24:32

Application

Joseph’s story is a story of God’s providence. Even though Joseph’s brothers intended to harm him, God had the plan to save him and his family. If not for Joseph, his father, mother, brothers, sister, and others would not have survived the famine. God’s prophesy of taking Jacob’s family out of Canaan into Egypt for 400 years would not have been fulfilled. This is a beautiful illustration of Romans 8:28 right out of the pages of scripture. Today, you can claim the promise of Romans 8:28. God works all things together, synergistically, and comprehensively to get the best outcome for you eventually. 

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for walking with us through the life of Joseph verse-by-verse, paragraph-by-paragraph, and chapter-by-chapter. We claim the promise of 2 Timothy 3:16 that all scripture is inspired by You and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. Thank You for this wonderful experience, adventure, and spiritual journey, in Jesus’ name, Amen.  

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From poverty to fame: devotion

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Dr. Andrew C S Koh

Image showing the word It words it was a dream
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Setting

After the reinstatement of the chief cupbearer, Joseph continued to languish in prison because the chief cupbearer had conveniently forgotten about his predicament. Two years later, Pharaoh had dreams that no one could interpret his dreams. The chief cupbearer immediately remembered Joseph and told the Pharaoh about him.

Genesis 41:1-8

1 At the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river. 2 Behold, seven cattle came up out of the river. They were sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass. 3 Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river. 4 The ugly and thin cattle ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke. 5 He slept and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good. 6 Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. 7 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. 8 In the morning, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them about his dreams, but no one could interpret them to Pharaoh. 

Genesis 41:1-8

Reflection

One fateful night, God planted a dream into Pharaoh’s sleep. In his dream, he saw seven fat cows and seven thin cows eating grass side by side by the River Nile. The seven thin cows came over and swallowed up the seven fat cows and he awoke. He went back to sleep and had another dream. This time, he saw seven heads of fat grain rose up from a single stalk. After this, seven heads of thin grain rose up from another single stack adjacent to it. The seven heads of the thin grain swallowed up the seven heads of the fat grain.  Pharaoh awoke and was terrified. He summoned all his wise men and magicians to interpret his dreams but none of them could do it. The Egyptians considered cows as gods to be worshiped. In an agricultural society, of Egypt grains represented the economy.

The cupbearer told Pharaoh about Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams. Pharaoh, therefore, summoned Joseph to the palace to interpret his dreams. Joseph shaved, put on new clothes and appeared before Pharaoh. 

Joseph immediately declared that it was God who interpret dreams and not him.  Pharaoh told Joseph his dreams, but added that when the thin cows swallowed up the fat cows and when the thin grains swallowed up the fat grains, they remained as thin as before.

Joseph interpreted the dreams as follows:

The seven fat cows and the seven fat grains represented seven years of plenty. The seven thin cows and seven thin grains represented seven years of famine.  Egypt would experience seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. These were two dreams with one single interpretation.

Joseph advised Pharaoh to increase taxation and stock pile grains during the seven years of plenty to cover the seven years of famine. 

Pharaoh saw that Joseph was a Godly man and made him the prime minister of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Joseph a signet ring, the finest attire, a gold chain, an Egyptian name, and an Egyptian wife.. 

Joseph stockpiled grains in all the cities of Egypt during the seven years of plenty, When the seven years of plenty ended, the seven years of famine bite in hard. Egyptians from all over the country came to Joseph to buy grains. Very soon, the famine went global and people from all over the known world traveled to Egypt to buy grains.

Application

Joseph was very humble. He interpreted the dreams without demanding any terms from Pharaoh. He gave all the glory to God and acknowledged that it was God who interpreted dreams and not him.  Did you give all glory and honour to God? The Christian life is all about God and nothing about you and me. 

God elevated Joseph to become the prime minister of Egypt after 17 long years of waiting in obscurity. Perhaps, you are in a similar position as Joseph. Do not throw in the towel yet. God may be testing, growing, maturing, and training you in righteousness. God will elevate you according to His divine plan and timetable if you are faithful and obedient. 

Good times do not last forever. An economic boom always ends in an economic recession. You must save up during the good times to weather against the bad times. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we give You all the praise, glory, power, and honour. We confess that we are sinners. Forgive us and have mercy on us. Thank You for the forgiveness of sins, justification, salvation, sanctification, redemption, and eternal life. Help us to save up for rainy days so that we will be able to cope when the bad times arrive, in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

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Master of dreams: devotion

Dr Andrew C S Koh

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Setting

Joseph was thrown into the prison, but the LORD was with him and prospered him. The prison warden trusted Joseph so much that he made him in charge of the prison. The Lord gave Joseph the gift of leadership, prophecy, and dream interpretation.

Pharaoh was angry with his chief cupbearer and chief baker for something that they did. He threw them into the prison where Joseph was in charge. One night, both of them had a dream, and they were disturbed. Joseph assured them that God would interpret their dreams.

Genesis 40:9-13

9 The chief cup bearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me, 10 and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters produced ripe grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.” 12 Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. 13 Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his cup bearer. 

Genesis 40:9-13

Reflection

The chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph. In his dream, he was holding a vine with three branches that budded, blossomed, and produced ripe grapes. He pressed the grapes into Pharaoh’s cup and Pharaoh drank from it. Joseph replied that the three branches represented three days. Pharaoh would restore him back to be his chief cupbearer in three days.

Upon hearing this, the chief baker also told his dream to Joseph. In his dream, he had three baskets on his head. The uppermost basket contained all kinds of bread, but the birds came and ate them all. Joseph replied that the three baskets represented three days. In three days, Pharaoh would hang him on a tree and the birds would eat his flesh. 

Sure enough, Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams came true to the exact details. On the third day, Pharaoh celebrated his birthday with a grand feast. He restored the chief cupbearer but hung the chief baker.  However, the chief cupbearer forgot about Joseph and did not plead his case to Pharaoh.

Application

Joseph prospered because the Lord was with him. He prospered in the face of adversity, in Potiphar’s house and now in the prison. 

Joseph acknowledged the Lord as the interpreter of the dreams. He gave all the glory to the Lord. He did not boast about his ability. Did you give all glory and honour to the Lord? The Christian life is all about Him and nothing about you and me. He must increase and we must decrease.

Potiphar threw Joseph into the prison because his wife tempted, seduced, and framed him with false charges.

If you are successful in your career, you will face many temptations. This is when you must be extra careful. You need to walk humbly before the Lord and be obedient to His calling. Claim the promise of 1 Corinthians 10:13.

No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us spiritual gifts to serve You in the kingdom. We give You all the praise, glory, honour, and power. We acknowledge that without You, we cannot do anything. The kingdom of God is all about You, and nothing is about us. You must increase, and we must decrease, in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

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I dreamed a dream: devotion

Devotion

a photo entitled big dreams

Setting

Genesis 37 begins a new section on the narrative of the Patriarch Joseph. The baton of faith had been passed from Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Jacob’s eleventh son, Joseph, The narrative ended in Genesis 50 with the death of Joseph. 

Jacob had 12 sons. Joseph was his eleventh and Benjamin was his twelfth son.  The seventeen-year-old Joseph was feeding his father’s flock with his brothers in the field. He came home with a bad report about his 10 half-brothers to his father. Now, Jacob loved Joseph and Benjamin more than the rest because they were his favourite wife Rachel’s sons. To add more salt to the injury, Jacob made a multi-coloured tunic for Joseph and his half-brothers hated him for this.

Genesis 37:5-11

Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers asked him, “Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to the earth before you?” His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.

Reflection

The LORD gave Joseph two dreams. In the first dream, he saw his brothers, represented by eleven sheaves of wheat, bowing down to him. In the second dream, he saw his father, mother, and eleven brothers, represented by the sun, moon, and eleven stars, bowing down to him. 

Apostle John saw a vision of a woman, wearing a crown of 12 stars, clothed in the sun, and standing on the moon, Revelation 12:1. The woman represents Israel and the 12 stars represent the 12 sons of Jacob. Joseph’s brothers hated him because of his dreams. Even Jacob, his father, rebuked him.

Joseph’s brother sold him to Ismaelites and Midianites human traffickers who took him to Egypt as a slave. Against all odds, Joseph rose from rags to riches, from prison to palace, and from a prisoner to the prime minister of Egypt. Years later, his eleven brothers did bowed down to him, Genesis 42:6. 

Revelation 12:1, A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars

Genesis 42:6, Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth.

Application

Jacob’s family was a dysfunctional, blended, family, headed by a passive father who had poor leadership and played favouritism. He loved Joseph and Benjamin more than the other ten sons. Sibling rivalry, strife, hatred, and jealousy were the order of the day. 

Joseph’s brothers took the law into their own hands and sold him to human traffickers. They then lied to their father that wild animals had eaten Joseph.

Are you a father? Do you a strong leadership? Do you practice favouritism among your children? To be a father required a strong leadership and playing favouritism is a definite no-no. 

You reaped what you sowed, Galatians 6:7. Jacob deceived his father Isaac, and now his own sons deceived him. 

Joseph was a type of Jesus Christ. Jacob loved Joseph. God the Father loved Jesus Christ. Joseph’s brother hated him. The Jews hated Jesus Christ. The list goes on and on and on.

Galatians 6:7, Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us an opportunity to study the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis. As we journey along, we pray for open eyes, open ears, open hearts, open minds, and open spirits to receive the revelation of Your word. We pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit who is our teacher, truth revealer, helper, and counsellor, in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Dr ANDREW C S KOH

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Book Launch

Manna of Life Daily Devotions, by Dr. Andrew C S Koh, 18/1/2023

Hey shalom, we hope this finds you well. We thank God for His grace upon us this New Year to have achieved Amazon’s No 1 best-sellers for three books, Memoirs of a doctor, kindle edition, 1 Corinthians, kindle edition, and Acts, kindle edition. We are launching our new book, Manna of Life, Daily Devotions, on 18/1/2023. Please help us by purchasing this book from amazon.com or other participating retailers for $ 0.99 on 18//1/2023 as this will help us in our ranking.Please leave a review after reading.  Here are the retailer’s links to Manna of Life:

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Manna of Life is a unique 20-day devotional book. Each day’s devotion contains a selected scripture, then provides a commentary on the verses for us to gain a fuller knowledge of God’s Word, Brad Simon, Amazon, Goodreads, 5 stars

In this devotional booklet, each day starts with a verse-by-verse commentary, followed by application and prayer. I enjoyed reading this devotional booklet, Ruth wu Wong, Amazon, Bookbub, Goodreads, 5 stars

This is the perfect book to read a passage daily, contemplate the word of God, and enrich your life daily. It is a concise yet enriching book for a Christian, Rowan E. Creech, Goodreads, 5 stars.

It’s a daily devotion that encourages readers to further enrich their lives to love God better and practice their faith which gives more meaning to their lives, J. Sharmani, Goodreads, 5 stars

Dr. Andrew C S Koh has created daily devotions from 20 carefully selected Bible passages and given them new life with his original insights. Each devotion includes practical ways for the Christian to apply Scripture to his or her everyday situations, and a prayer to bring the reader closer to God. My favorite is Stones of Remembrances, Hilary Walker, Goodreads, 5 stars

A 20-day devotional book. The dialogue in each passage will assist in the reader’s understanding of the scriptures and how they apply to our daily lives, PAR, Goodreads, 5 stars

Easy to read and study God’s Word devotional. A perfect reflection on the Journey of Christ. Recommend this book to all, T Townsend, Amazon, Goodreads, 5 stars

Manna of Life Daily Devotions by Dr. Andrew C S Koh is an inspirational book, it touches on lots of important topics that cause the reader to stop and think, Borgia Swaby, Goodreads, 4 stars

It is a nice devotional to stop and ponder about the word of God, Malgorzata B, Amazon, 3 stars

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The beginning: devotion

Devotion

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Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth

Reflection

The Bible begins with, in the beginning, God. When was the beginning? Who created the universe and when? The Hebrew word for create is bara, which means, to create something out of nothing. In the beginning, in the eternity past, God created the entire universe into existence out of nothing. 

God has no beginning because He is transcendent and outside our time-space continuum. He is pre-existent, self-existent, eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, from the eternity past to the eternity future. He is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the Alef and the Tau, the A and the Z, the author and finisher of our faith. 

God created the universe in six days. God’s reckoning of time is not the same as our reckoning of time. One day for God can be long as 1000 years and 1000 years for God can be as short as one day. Time is relative. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, if you travel close to the speed of light time slows down. How fast can God travel? If God travels faster than the speed of light, time will standstill and the clock will stop ticking! So, 2000 years of our time can be as short as 2 days in God’s time. This is something for us to think about.

1 Peter 3:8, but don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.

There are three theories regarding the universe. The young age theory postulates the universe to be 6000-plus years old. The old age theory postulates the universe to be 4.5 billion-plus years old. The gap theory postulates a time gap of billions of years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. 

The Bible is not ambiguous. The Bible says that God created the universe into existence. The Bible did not say mention any big explosion in space.

The Gospel of John begins with in the beginning, Jesus Christ.

John 1:1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

Jesus Christ was the Word, who was with God, and who was God.

Application

I find it is easier to believe in creation than in the big bang explosion. If you believe that God created the heavens and the earth, you will not have any difficulty believing the rest of the Bible. So, how big is your God? And how big is your faith?

Romans 12:2, J.B Philips, Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands, and moves towards the goal of true maturity.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to enlighten and give us wisdom and understanding into Your word. Open our hearts, minds, eyes, ears, and spirits to receive, understand, hear, see, feel, and apply Your word of eternal life into our very own lives, in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Dr ANDREW C S KOH

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Joseph’s faith: Book Review

book written by Mary Hume Jane

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Joseph’s Faith: A 30-Day Bible Study Devotional for Women Based on the Life of Joseph from the Book of Genesis

by Mary Jane Humes

Review

An excellent devotional and bible study based on the life and faith of Joseph from Genesis chapters 37 to 50. A good prayer, commentary, and contemporary application accompanies each day’s devotion..A great work on the typology of Joseph showing that Joseph was a foreshadow of Jesus Christ in many respects. A Christ-centred, life-changing, and faith-building devotional. Recommended to all readers, 5 out of 5 stars

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Book Series: Gospels and Acts

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  1. The Gospel according to Matthew

2. Daily Devotion: Gospel of Mark

3. The Gospel according to Luke

4. Daily Devotions: Gospel of John

5. Acts: from Jerusalem to Rome

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  1. Romans

2. 1 Corinthians

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Book Series: Prison Epistles

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  1. Prison Epistles: Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians

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3. Philippians

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Book Series: Genesis

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  1. Understanding Genesis 1-11: From Adam to Abraham

2. Faith Journey of Abraham: Genesis 12-25

3. Life Story of Jacob: Genesis 26-36

4. The Story of Joseph: Genesis 37-50

Book Series: Non Pauline Epistles

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  1. Hebrews

2. General Epistles: 1 Peter, 2 Peter, & James

3. 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, & Jude 

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  1. Memoirs of a Doctor

2. ABCs to Amazon Self Publishing

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4.Apocalypse: Understanding the book of Revelation

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6. Manna of Life

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Creation: devotion

Genesis 1:1-4

by Dr. Andrew C S Koh

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Creation of Adam

Creation

God created the world in six days. Whether this is a literal 24 hours day or not is something that is hotly debated. According to God’s reckoning, 1 day is as 1000 years and 1000 years is as 1 day, 2 Peter 3:8. God created, transcends, and is outside of the time, and space continuum. There are two schools of thought regarding the age of the universe. Is the age billions of years old or is the universe 6000 plus years old? There is also the gap theory. Is there an interval of time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2? These are hotly debated issues among Bible scholars. As far as the Bible is concerned God is the creator of the universe. In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth. The universe is not a product of a massive explosion billions of years ago. The universe is not a product of random chance and mutations. Human beings did not evolve from monkeys or gorillas

“But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.”

2 Peter 3:8,

The Beginning

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Genesis 1: 1-4

Reflection

The Bible begins with “in the beginning God created”. We do not know when this beginning was. Is it billions of years or thousands of years? God created the universe in eternity past. The universe did not evolve by random chance over billions of years. It takes a lot more faith to believe in evolution than creation. God has no beginning. He is outside the time-space continuum. He is pre-existent, self-existent, eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, from eternity past to eternity future, from the Alpha, and to the Omega.

The six days of creation have a pre-set template, starting with “let there be…..” and ending with ”there was evening and there was morning………”

On the first day, God created the heavens, the earth, and the light. There are three heavens. The atmosphere from the ground to the clouds is the first heaven. The outer space from the clouds to the galaxies is the second heaven. The abode of God’s throne beyond the galaxies is the third heaven. When God created the earth, it was dark, empty, and structureless. Hebrews word for create is bara, which means to create something out of nothing, or ex-nihilo in latin.

God separated the light and the darkness, calling the darkness, evening, and the light, morning, and this was the first day. God defined a day as one evening and one morning. A Jewish day starts from 6 pm in the evening until 6 pm the next evening.

The Holy Spirit circled around the formless, structureless, dark, empty, and watery earth. God spoke, let there be light and light appeared on site. This was not the light of the sun but the light of God’s glory, Revelation 21:23. Jesus Christ is the word of God’s word, John 1:1.

The Trinitarian God of the Bible, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created the universe. God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness and called them day and night. Hebrews for God is Elohim, a plural noun.

In the presence of the Holy Spirit, God, the Father spoke, and it came to be. Jesus Christ is the spoken Word of God, the father.

The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moons, to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Revelation 21:23,

“in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.”

John 1:1,

Application

Genesis declared that everything is created by God. If you believe that God created the heavens and the earth in 6 days, you will have no problem believing the rest of the Bible. How big is your God? How big is your faith? It takes more faith to believe in evolution than in creation. Faith is the key to unlocking spiritual truth. Believe and you will see the glory of God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, help us to understand Your word. We pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us and to give us wisdom and understanding. Open our hearts, minds, eyes, ears, and spirit to receive, understand, see, apply, honour, and hear the truth of Your word, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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How big is your God?: devotion

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Dr. Andrew C S Koh

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Joshua 10: 12-14

12 Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. He said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still on Gibeon! You, moon, stop in the valley of Aijalon!” 13 The sun stood still, and the moon stayed until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. Isn’t this written in the book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky and didn’t hurry to go down about a whole day. 14 There was no day like that before it or after it, that Yahweh listened to the voice of a man; for Yahweh fought for Israel. (Read the whole chapter of Joshua 10 on your own).

Joshua 10:12-14

Reflection

When Adoni-Zedek, the king of Jerusalem heard about the conquest of Jericho and Ai, and the Gibeonites’ surrender to Joshua, they were afraid. Adoni-Zedek in Hebrews means lord of righteousness. This is the first mention of Jerusalem in the Bible. Gibeon was a great royal city, and its inhabitants were warriors. Adoni-Zedek formed a confederation with four more kings to attack Gibeon. This five city-king confederation and their fighting men surrounded Gibeon and attacked her. The Gibeonites reached out to Joshua at Gilgal and pleaded for his assistance to rescue them. 

Without any hesitation, Joshua obliged and gathered his fighting men. The LORD reassured Joshua to be strong and courageous because He would ensure his victory. Joshua and his fighting men marched the whole night from Gilgal to Gibeon. The LORD confused the fighting men of the five city-king confederation until they could not wage war effectively. Joshua defeated them at Gibeon and chased them all the way to Beth Haran, Azekah, and Makkedah. The LORD rained hail hailstones from the sky which selectively landed on and killed Joshua’s enemies! Even the hailstones have eyes to see and log on to its target!

After defeating the Amorites, Joshua sought counsel from the  LORD. In front of all the Israelites, Joshua commanded the sun to stand still in Gibeon and the moon to stand still in the valley of Ajalon! This was certainly a tall order! Immediately, the sun stood still over Gideon and the moon stood still over the valley of Ajalon until Joshua defeated all his enemies! The LORD gave Joshua one extra day to do battle. Wow, this is mind-blowing! One day became 2 days. God stood outside of the time-space domain and stopped the clock!

Application

Earth stopped rotating

Joshua wanted more time to fight his battle and God stopped the clock for him! Isn’t this amazing? A 24-hour day became a 48-hour day.! The earth rotates around the sun once every 365 days. The earth also rotates on its own axis relative to the sun once every 24 hours. When the sun stood still, time was frozen, and the earth stopped rotating on its axis. God stopped the earth’s rotation for 24 hours. 

How big is your God?

We serve a great and mighty God who created the heavens and the earth in six days. Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, fed thousands with 5 miserable loaves of bread and 2 tiny little fish, calmed the storm, walked on water, changed water into wine, healed the sick, and raised the dead to life. Our Almighty God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. There is nothing that He cannot do to the universe that He created. He is beyond time, beyond space, and beyond matter. He is the name above all names. All glory, honour, and praise belonged to Him.

How big is your faith?

Do you believe in the God of the Bible? Joshua had faith when he commanded the sun to stand still in front of all the Israelites. Imagine what would have happened if the sun did not stand still after his prayer! Faith is the key to unlocking the power of prayer. If you have faith as small as a tiny mustard seed, you can even move mountains, Matthew 17:20. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, Hebrews 11:6.

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Matthew 17:20, He said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you

Matthew 17:20

Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we acknowledge that You are a great and mighty God and there is no other God apart from You. We acknowledge that You are the only true and the living God of the Bible. We believe that You created the heavens and the earth in six days. We believe that nothing is impossible for You. We bring all our needs before You for healing, restoration, and a miracle. We bring all our battles before You and seek victory over them. We pray that You will increase our faith, subdue our enemies, and train us up to be prayer warriors, in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

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Dr ANDREW C S KOH