10/10
It happened to me, traveling and drawing near to Damascus; suddenly, about midday, a great light out of the heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? And I answered, Who are you, lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute. Acts 22: 6-8
Witness of Conversion
Preaching of Christianity is simple. It is not to say, "Repent," but "God has blessed me as I am. I want to witness this joy to you." Evangelism, if it is of God, must always be like this. Paul preached the gospel like this, as he repeated confession of his conversion before his audience, which the Bible minutely describes. This also explains why his letters are self-explanatory and not instructive. Rich knowledge of theology does not make an evangelist of Christianity. An evangelist should not speak to the world unless one owns spiritual experience which must be submitted to the world.
10/11
A great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings 19:11-12
Small Still Voice
Know that, though God employs great wind, He is not like great wind. Rip and smash is not what He delights in. Nor is He like an earthquake. Shake and terrify is not what He likes. Nor is He like fire. Burning to ashes is not what He wants. God loves stillness. His throne is amid the stillness of the universe. His voice is not like the waves but like the creeks. He roars not, but whispers. When we sit in silence and hear a still voice, we know it is truly God's voice.
10/12
You will be hated of all humans for My name's sake, but the one who endures to the end shall be saved. Matthew 10:22
Alone with God
People hate each other and are hated each other. God alone loves a person. Every person is alone. One's loneliness is not dissolved until God is with the one. "I am not alone, because the Father is with Me," says Jesus (John 16:32). This is the same worlds of all those who experienced the depth of life. One does not hate anyone any more, but can love everyone because one lives alone with the great Partner. Be alone first of all, and you will be alone with God and love every person. Be alone truly without a church, and you will find the church of God's Universe. Alone, not only I but everyone is alone. And aloneness is the way of grace to reach God. A person cannot reach to God in group, but the way to reach God is individual. A person dies as an individual and enters the Nation of God as an individual. One leave others, goes to God, and enters intimate relationship of love with Him.
10/13
Therefore I say to you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than clothes? Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? Matthew 6:25-26
All Comes from God
God clothes and feeds me. I need not snatch my daily necessaries out of others' hands. My bred and clothes are granted to me as rain falls on the trees and the grass. Sufficient is it for me simply to work and wait quietly for God's blessing. My thoughts come from God. No need for me to search for truth amid heaps of dust-covered books. God's truth visits my heart like the gentle wind that touches green leaves. Sufficient is it for me simply to pray and hear His voice. God accomplishes my work. I dare not blow my trumpet before people. My work is completed without self-endeavor, like a fruit is sun-lit and gets ripened without self-effort. Sufficient is it for me merely to sow seeds quietly, water them and wait for their fruition.
10/14
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that outwardly in flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in spirit and not in letter, whose praise is not from humans, but from God. Romans 2:28-29
Japanese Christianity
Japanese Christianity is not Christianity peculiar to Japan. It is the Christianity which a Japanese receives direct from God without an intermediary foreigner. It is self-evident. In the same sense, there is German Christianity, or English Christianity, or Scottish Christianity, or American Christianity. Each country has her Christianity. And similarly, there must be yea, already exists Japanese Christianity. There is Japanese Christianity where the spirit of a Japanese has inspired with the breath of the Almighty (Job 32:8). This Christianity is free, independent, creative, and productive. No person was ever saved by other persons' faith, and no nation will ever be saved by other nations' religion. True Christianity should be like this. Japanese Christianity alone can well save Japan and the Japanese.
10/15
If a brother or sister be naked and lacking of daily food, And one of you say to them, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled; notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body; what does it profit? James 2:15-16
Compensation and Salvation
You may further ask me "Why is it then God cannot save human unless He Himself suffers?" I would ask you "Why could not John Howard improve prisons in Europe by sitting quietly in his home? Why could not Livingstone save Africa by merely offering fervent prayers in his native land for the black people?" To save a sinner without redeeming the sin is as fruitless as to say to a needy person "Be those at peace" without giving him food and clothes. Faith without deed is dead faith. Deliverance from a sin not redeemed is a false claim. The cross of Christ is a living evidence of God's love.
10/16
Rejoice according as you are partakers of Christ's suffering, so that when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1 Peter 4:13
Joyful Christian
A Christian rejoices always; not only when exulted but also when distressed. A Christian conquers distress with joy. He or she even rejoices over long-suffering. Not to abandon difficulties, but to transform it for nearing God to his own perfection. A Christian does not count suffering a loss, but a great gain. A suffering does not crush but deepens a Christian heart. Anyone who complains distress as an evil cannot be a Christian. A Christian heartily joy suffering, because God's greatest blessing abides in suffering and the supreme happiness of human life comes through it.
10/17
Truly I say to you, If you have faith and do not doubt, you shall not only do this miracle of the fig tree, but also; if you shall say to this mountain, Be moved and be thrown into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. Matthew 21:21-22
Power of Prayer
There is the power of money, the power of politics, the power of wisdom; but none of these can come up to the power of prayer. This, indeed, is the power of sincerity, which can penetrate a mountain and crush a rocky crag. All the works on earth, which merit the honor of being called really great, have invariably been accomplished by the power of prayer. A country not established on the power of prayer is a false country, unfounded on an eternal and unchanging basis. Any art void of the power of prayer can never convey the heavenly ideal. Prayer is the only secret key to open and enter the spiritual life. So there should be no reason at all to expect anything worth the name "great," whether a great statesman, a great artist, a great literature, or a great discovery etc., out of a nation without prayer.
10/18
O LORD, what is human whom You take acre of? Or what is the son of human whom You make account of? Human is like vanity; one's days are like a shadow that passes away. Psalms 144: 3-4
Contradiction
I know well I am a contradicted person, and not a well-balanced spotless person. Yet I do not attempt to make up my contradiction. For the problem is not specifically of mine, but of the life at large in this world as the Bible teaches. Contradiction is a reality of life; this should be accepted as a fact. If you turn your eyes from the reality because of the fear of contradiction, you will come to believe nothing. Walt Whitman, an American poet, says, "I have great contradiction because I am large." Everyone is created in the image of God and thus is an infinite being. Therefore contradiction is inevitable. Be contradicted not from evil-mind, but from good will. Be contradicted not as a child but as a matured. Be not afraid of contradiction.
10/19
Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs is the Nation of Heaven. Matthew 5:10
Suffering and Faith
One may come to Christ because he or she suffered. Another may suffer because he or she came to Christ. There are deep relationships between suffering and faith. The suffering first and faith following is lower faith, while the faith first and suffering following is higher. In reality, however, 99 per cent of faith comes after suffering in order to be rescued it. There is few faith which causes suffering like the stars in rainy night. Needless to say, What God pleases is the faith that causes suffering, not the faith for the consolation of suffering.
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