I like to use “Our Daily Bread” (ODB) and encourage our brothers and sisters to use it. It has multi-languages, and it provides instant link to the Biblical passage. It contains reflective questions and insight to the passage. On 3/21, ODB has a devotion written by Kimya Loder about Spiritual Renewal based on 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. She mentioned that both China and Romania have some traditional method to rejuvenate the skin because people like to refresh our body. But then the most important renewal is in the spirit which can only be done by God. It is true. We do need to take care of the body but we cannot escape from the law of nature. Our bodies will deteriorate but our soul can be always fresh when it is being nurtured by the love of God. Our souls can also be rejuvenated when we put our future in the hands and we believe the promise of God. May we all go back to His words to get recharged everyday! May we get the peace when we put our faith in HIM! Amen!

Sometimes we like to ask God “what should we do?” but in our mind, we are actually asking what we should do about something e.g. which job we should pick, which school we should choose, what business decision we should make, what response we should give to the clients without losing our job or making our boss angrily! But when the crowd, the tax collectors and the soldiers asked the same question “What should we do?”(Luke 3:10, 12, 14), they were responding to the teaching from John the Baptist – he warned the people to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. It is good for us to share the similar approach. When we ask God “what should we do?”, we should think about what kind of fruits we should bear when we need to make a decision – something more than a job to be picked, a school to be chose, etc, i.e. does God want us to reflect on our character transformation because of the decision to be made? Definitely, I believe that when we need to make different kinds of decision everyday, God is working on our characters to build up our love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Then the complete question is “Lord, what should I do to show our repentance in order that we can bear fruits of Spirit before GOD?”

Praise the Lord for hearing our prayers. After a year of having difficulty in mobility and getting in and out of hospital several times, my father is able to move in a Long Term Care with proper care and help. It is so thankful to see that he can have 24 hours of monitoring plus he can join different kinds of activities designed for senior people. We also see that he starts to get back some energy. God is faithful! His words say that “Ps 86 4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you. 5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you!” Our Lord is truly searching our hearts and HE is leading us every day. HE is forgiving and good. Thank God for taking care of my father! Amen!

Psalm 98:9 let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has passed one year. On Feb 24 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and since then thousands of people had lost their lives and millions of people had lost their homes. When will this unjust war finish? When will Ukrainians have peace again? When will many women in Russia stop losing their sons or husbands for unjust and wrong reasons? When will the world not be threatened with nucleus war or shortage of food? When will the world not suffer from high inflation of good and products?
Let’s cry out and sing before the Lord to ask HIM to come and judge the earth. May HE come to judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity! Amen!

Daniel 9:3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
Traditionally Jewish people express their repentance in fasting, sackcloth and ashes. Catholic church adopts this practice plus Lent to help believers to repent and prepare their hearts for the coming Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Even though God does not directly command us to follow Ash Wednesday and Lent, it is advisable to use these two events to solidify our attention to Jesus while we are preparing for the Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It is true that repentance should be practiced every time when we go back to God. However, we can remind ourselves in solemn manner that Good Friday and Easter Sunday are not simply any extra holidays. We should also be reminded that the death of Jesus and His resurrection are all related to our sins, His forgiveness and His promise. May we use Ash Wednesday to strengthen our faith and search deeper in our hearts so that we can experience deeper His grace when we receive His forgiveness on the cross! Amen!

Psalm 23 is one of the most beautiful and loving psalms. Each verse of this psalm is so encouraging and blessing. Psalm 23:6 - Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. It is so comforting and thankful to know that God’s love is following us every day. We may encounter different kinds of challenges and difficulties but we never miss His love. We may not see a clear picture of our future but we never miss His guidance. We may feel lost in the world but we can find true shelter in His hands. Let’s remember and look upon on HIM when we feel we are in the midst of uncertainty, loss and abyss. HE is always with us! Amen!

Jesus Christ gave His disciples the Great Commission. God gave His people the greatest commandment – Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. We might wonder how to do it all! God then gave His people two steps – put the commandments in their hearts and then go to teach their children. God reminds us that what matters in His heart – we need to learn His Word and then help our children to embrace it too. Sometimes we might think about many God-sized ministries but we may miss what matters to God first. HE cares about us and our children who are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him (Psalm 127:3). But usually we leave this honorable task to the church, Sunday School teachers or the youth volunteers. Actually God gives the parents probably the most important mission - Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it (Proverb 22:6). May God help each parent to remember HIS special mission – to help the children know JESUS, learn HIS words and love HIM! Amen!

Jesus said the most important commandment is to love our God with all our hearts, with our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. And HE also said we need to love our neighbor as ourselves. God’s standard is the highest. We should try our best to obey and admit before God that we cannot reach such high standard. However we cannot use it as an excuse to justify our disobedience or not meeting His standard. God cannot be mocked but God would accept our confession when we humbly ask for forgiveness to our sins, especially we may not be able to love God as deep as He has been loving us. Our God gives us His son as the atoning sacrifice – His love is sacrificial, substitutional and unconditional love – the greatest love beyond our capacity to love Him back in the same way. May God save us from His wrath when we are not able to meet His highest standard! Amen!