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By David M. Kowalke, Jr. |@hongkongkowalke | TRINICY.org  “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:12-14 Time is like a good friend, or like a bad cold. You are conscious of it wherever you go. We refer to it in almost everything we talk about. We live in it and we will die in it. In some ways, it is like Love. You can’t see it, but you can see its effect. You can’t smell it, but many smells transport you to another place by it. You can’t taste it, but it can rob you of hunger. You can’t hear it, but its beckoning is loud. You can’t touch it, but its effect on your life is undeniable! It is undeniable that I am no Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking, and that this is not a scientific treatise on the nature of time. However, as this year rolls inexorably into the next, I would like to suggest that, as I read this profound passage from Paul’s letter to the believers in Philippi, that there are at least these three observations to make about how we Christians deal with our place in time. First, there is a forgetting. Aren’t we told over and over again in the Scriptures to remember things, such as the goodness and faithfulness of God and the destructive results of lives bound in sin? While we struggle to remember, it is also important to forget. We ought to forget the victories of the past and not rest on them by ignoring the need for us to trust God for today. If we have seen Him ‘part the Red Sea’ in a particular area of our life, we need to continue to act by faith now for the ‘desert experience’ that we are dealing with. Also, we are to forget the sin that we have yielded to because we are told that in Christ, God remembers that sin no more. “Guilt” is when we acknowledge that we have offended the character of God. “Shame” is what Christ became in our place on the cross! Shame has no place in the believer’s life. What is the answer to forgetting the past? Learn from the Past, but don’t live in it! Secondly, there is a straining. We are in a race for our lives! We are to reach forward today for the future that is tomorrow. There is a popular view today that we are to live in the moment, in the now. That is true, but not if the now is all that there is. What is the answer to straining forward? Live in the Now, but don’t live for it! Thirdly, there is a future prize. Our goal is secure. The finish line is near. That is what makes our lives today of ultimate and infinite value. Without an assurance in knowing of the existence of a personal God who loves us, and who has entered into our experience at Bethlehem, to the Cross, through the empty Tomb, there is no ‘now’ worth living. How do we deal with the future? Strain for the Future, because we are designed for it! In consideration of Time and our place in it, here are some questions we might ask: What in the past should I release that holds me back? What lessons have I learned from the past? What in the present ought I be doing that I have wrongly avoided? What can I do today that will move me forward? What in the future do I fear, and how should I deal with it? What in the future has God graciously prepared for me? prayerWould you pray with me? Lord, who was, and is, and is to come, help me to lean on your grace and mercy to learn from yesterday, as I live today for the joy-filled tomorrow that, by your love, you have secured for me. I come in the strong name of Jesus, Amen. WANT TO SUBMIT A DEVOTIONAL?If you are interested in writing devotionals for TRINICY, please email us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from faithful servants of the Kingdom who have the desire and talent to communicate the word of God in a way that is relevant to our conservative Christian students, scholars, staff, and supporters!
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By Shokyuileng Hungyo | TRINICY.org  “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'” - John 8:12 The last thing two section forest officers expected to find at a check post in the state of Kerala in India was a baby - a one-and-a-half-year-old baby. The baby, with bruises on her face, had crawled her way into the check post in an area frequented by wild animals. She had fallen off a moving jeep at a sharp curve from her sleeping mother’s lap. “She crawled towards the ticket counter probably on seeing the light there,” noted one of the wildlife wardens. God has put in us an instinct to move towards light. Hold a candle near a child or place a luminous object somewhere near and the first thing that child will do is to draw towards that light, and possibly even try to touch it. The first thing we see in the creation account of Genesis is God calling light into existence, “let there be light.” The importance of light is that, with it, life is possible. We see again the guiding hands of light to the path of life in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.” At that time when a dispute arose as to who Jesus really was, Jesus spoke up for himself and said, “I am the light of the world,” indicating that He exposes what has been hidden and in him is life - eternal life. And appropriately C.S. Lewis penned, “by it (light) I see everything else.” There is a radar within each individual that seeks a beacon to guide us to the truth. St. Augustine, after a long pursuit of inner peace, wrote in his confession, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in You.” We long for that light to shine upon us; we search for that light; we are unsettled, restless, and anxious until we find that light for whom humans are truly designed. Like the baby who crawled towards a distant light one evening in Kerala, there is much need for us to draw towards the Light which gives life. But Oh! - this light is different: it not only shines but also searches for that which is in the dark and brings it to light. For a Christian, the uncertainty of life and the gravity of sin has no power over us because Jesus said that “whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.” The uncertainty of life is eclipsed by the purpose and certainty we find in God and the gravity of sin is done away with the grace displayed in the person of Christ Jesus. “Put your hands into the hand of God” reads Minnie Louise Haskins’ poem "The Gate of the Year”: “And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’” Jesus ended his line with an assurance that whoever follows him “will have the light of life.” What, then, do we do? Trust him and follow the path of light! After all, it is the only way to life. PRAYERFather, help me see Your light. Strengthen me to reach out for Your hand in every area of my life that is currently shrouded in darkness. Guide me in the path You have set before me and let me live a life that is truly a light to others around me. Amen. WANT TO SUBMIT A DEVOTIONAL?If you are interested in writing devotionals for TRINICY, please email us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from faithful servants of the Kingdom who have the desire and talent to communicate the word of God in a way that is relevant to our conservative Christian students, scholars, staff, and supporters!
By Shokyuileng Hungyo | TRINICY.org  “... The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” - James 5:16 Monica pleaded to God continuously for years for her wayward son. One day, weeping, she sought help from a bishop, asking him to do something. The Bishop after seeing the persistence of the woman said prophetically, “Go your way; as surely as you live, it is impossible that the son of these tears should perish.” The son of this woman, (not mentioned in the Bible but surely a woman of faith in God’s eyes), was St. Augustine. “Pray continually,” wrote Paul to the Thessalonians. To the Philippians he also wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your request to God.” The Bible often reminds us to pray at all times not only because it is communication with God, but also because it is an act of submission to His authority. “Pray,” wrote Paul. “Pray continuously.” There is no such thing as an unanswered prayer. When we pray, it may not work out as we wish but it will surely work out as God wills and in doing so we know that He is God and He is good. C.S. Lewis noted, “I pray because I cannot help myself. I pray because I am helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time. Waking and sleeping it doesn’t change God. It changes me.” Lewis continues in his ‘No dreamer, but thy dream’; “Master, they say that when I seem To be in speech with you, Since you make no replies, it's all a dream --One talker aping two. They are half right, but not as they Imagine; rather, I Seek in myself the things I meant to say And lo! the wells are dry. Then, seeing me empty, you forsake The Listener's role, and through My dead lips breathe and into utterance wake The thoughts I never knew. And thus you neither need reply Nor can; thus, while we seem Two talking, thou art One forever, and I No dreamer, but thy dream.” Our times demand prayerful mothers like Monica, and fathers who are constantly on their knees, praying and pleading to God, as well as children in whose lips are prayer at all times. “Pray continually,” said Paul, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” prayerLord, You hear all prayers, even the groaning of the hearts. My prayer is this, Lord, that Your peace be upon Your people that we may understand Your ways. Amen. want to submit a devotional?If you are interested in writing devotionals for TRINICY, please email us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from faithful servants of the Kingdom who have the desire and talent to communicate the word of God in a way that is relevant to our conservative Christian students, scholars, staff, and supporters!
By Immanuel Kwesi Arthur | TRINICY.org  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”- John 15:13 KJV In John 3:16, God expressed His wonderful love for us (the world) by offering His only begotten Son as a ransom to redeem us. God had to demonstrate love to us by practically sacrificing the dearest of His heart to win us (His beloved lost sons). He lost us but, because He loved us dearly, He had to give love (His Son) in return of love (us). In sorrow, He gave up Jesus that He would win the world. The opening scripture also reveals the same love His Son Jesus had towards us. This inexplicable love was expressed through suffering by laying down His life for us in the most painful of ways. While we were yet sinners, He came willingly to endure suffering to bring us closer to the Father. The emotional torture, the beating, the carrying of the cross, the nails that pierced through His hands and legs, the crown of thorns, the blood that oozed from His body. He was wounded for our transgressions. “He bore our sins in His own body on the tree...” for us (1 Peter 2:24). While He endured all this excruciating pain, His heart was full of love. When all things were fulfilled, He said “it is finished” (John 19:30). This painful death is described as greater love for us. When you are going through pain, suffering, shame, and difficulties, and you feel God has left you after believing Him with all your heart, remember this: God is practically expressing His love through you to fulfill His purpose. When Jesus asked, “My Father, My Father, why have You Forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46), God was silent. He doesn’t need to be audible for you to know He is with you. Do not forget that the teacher, though present, is always quiet during a test. God will reveal Himself to you at the appropriate time. Amen. PRAYERThank You, Lord, for expressing Your love through suffering for me. Give me patience to withstand difficult times. Help me to always understand that my present suffering cannot be compared to the glory ahead. In all things, let nothing separate me from Your love. Amen. WANT TO SUBMIT A DEVOTIONAL?If you are interested in writing devotionals for TRINICY, please email us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from faithful servants of the Kingdom who have the desire and talent to communicate the word of God in a way that is relevant to our conservative Christian students, scholars, staff, and supporters!
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