SCRIPTURE:
"There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus." (Mark 9:2b-3)

Observations:
I asked myself what did the three disciples experience?
1. Jesus was transfigured before them.
2. Jesus' clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
3. Jesus' meeting with Elijah and Moses who were talking to Jesus.

Interpretation:
I asked myself the significance of  the 3 disciples seeing Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus?
The significance is that Peter, James, and John who would later become the pillars of the church had a unique experience to see the prophets Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus. In the beginning chapters of Mark, I saw how Jesus revealed Himself to be God. Now, the disciples get to see the communication between God, Elijah, and Moses through Jesus Christ. Jesus let the 3 disciples experience His interaction with the prophets He had called earlier to do His work here on earth. Elijah and Moses' interaction with Jesus showed me the importance of talking with Jesus and the relevancy of the Scriptures and the resurrection of the dead.

Implications:
I saw important implications for my own life here as I thought about the interaction between Elijah, Moses, and Jesus.  They were communicating with each other and this makes me want to do the same when it comes to Jesus. I want to talk with Jesus daily as the disciples would eventually do.

HOW GOSPEL GIVES ME TESTIMONY REGARDING T.A.L.K:
When I talk on the phone, there is always a transcript of my interaction with another person as the words of my mouth and theirs are recorded. It is exciting for me to realize that when I talk with God, there is always a transcript of my talk with God and His interaction with me. When I talk to God, He will talk back to me as I patiently wait and listen. He will speak to me mostly through His Word, His Spirit, His church, circumstances, signs, etc which will all be confirmed by the Word of God. The Word of God is the transcript of God talking to me and He does not change. I can be assured if I hear something that goes against the Word of God then it is not from God. God will reveal His ways to me as I spend daily time with Him in solitariness through prayer and His Word. Today, I learned so much as I talked to Jesus and He revealed what He wanted me to learn and apply from the Book of Galatians too. I had so much fun reading the transcript of God's interaction with me through that book. As I talked to Jesus, I felt that I should read the Book of Galatians and claim the promises He has for me.

Our Lord definitely keeps a transcript of our interaction with Him and never forgets what we ever talk to Him. However, we as humans do forget the things we talk to the Lord if we do not write them down. I learned the importance of writing down the things I talk to the Lord especially if they are prayer requests so I can go back and see which ones have been answered and to which ones I should keep praying. I like to go back and see the progress of my talk with the Lord and what it has revealed.

I am also reminded of our small group of Living Acts from Oakland International Fellowship which is eager to keep a database of our talk with Jesus as we intercede on each other's behalf by writing down the prayer requests as a log and referring back to them to see which ones have been answered already and which ones need more prayer for. That is so exciting to know. I have always wanted to do that but never got to it but I praise the Lord for our small group leaders who want to implement that responsibility of the care person too.

Now we can have a transcript log of our interaction with Jesus regarding the prayer requests of Kristen, Josh, Bryan, Lyd, Pastor Ed, Edwin, Marie, Keng, Ling, Susannah, Ryan, Steve, Zela, Rachel, Vicki, Jiaokim, and myself.

It is so exciting to know that I can talk to Jesus at anytime and anyplace without any restrictions and He will keep a log of it. You can too!

I ask you now dear friends, who do you talk to daily?
Dear friend, there are a few people here on earth that we talk to daily in our families, in our jobs, in our relationships, etc but none of that compares to the talk you and I can have daily with the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, friend that is exciting to know that Jesus is the God of the Living and you and I can talk to Him at anytime and anyplace. His office hours are available 24-7 that we can go to and lay our requests, praises, and petitions before the Lord. He waits to hear from us daily and wants us to talk to Him all the time because He created us and knows all He wants for us. There is a reason why 1 Thessalonians 5:17 talks about 'Pray without ceasing'. For me that means, our life should be a daily communication with the Lord. When you and I know Jesus as our Lord and Personal Savior, He will become part of our lives who will walk with us and talk to us too.

But, friend for this to happen, you need to have a personal relationship with Christ. And you and I cannot have that unless we realize what sinners we are who need a Savior to save us and redeem us. But Jesus does not want to just be our Savior but He wants to also be our Lord. Yes, friend, Jesus loves you so much that He wants to be Your Lord and Savior to guide you and lead you by His grace. His transforming grace will help us realize all the good we do does not really come from us but by His Spirit that works in us.

This means none of us can say that we will be right with God because we are a good person. No, friend none of us can see ourselves as good apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. God even said, all our good works are like filthy rags to Him so if that's the case, we cannot find right standing with God on our own.

But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, we can have good standing with God when we realize that it is Christ who came to ransom us from our bondage to sin with His precious blood shed on the cross. Now, Christ's righteousness will be imputed to us by what Jesus paid so when God looks at us now as we give our lives to Christ, He sees Christ's blood covering over us and His judgment will passover us.

The atonement for our lives began at the cross and can only be found in Jesus. To talk to Jesus daily, you and I need to have a personal relationship with Jesus and in essence we are having a relationship with God but it can only come through Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me!" (John 14:6)

This is a promise to believe and claim knowing Jesus gives us entrance to God having Jesus in our lives. But also this means in our relationship with Jesus, we talk to Jesus daily making Him a part of our lives instead of using excuses such as 'I have no time, I am too busy' etc.

Imagine what would happen if we used those excuses in earthly relationships. Eventually, the relationship would dry out because there is no fellowship. In the same way, how much more importance it is to talk to the Lord who waits to listen to us and wants to have fellowship with us.

Friend, no matter what you have done, where you have been, etc, you are never out of His love and never out of His reach. Your nor I are not made right with God because we feel we keep the laws because none of us can keep God's laws. But the joy we have is knowing that there is freedom in Christ and we are made right with God because of Christ's love for us. It is His love that will compel us to live for Him out of gratitude and not fear. As we depend on Him, we will experience the power of the Holy Spirit, who will be our Comforter and lead us into all truth! Praise the Lord!

You and I don't even need special words to talk to the Lord but just share what's going on in our lives, what we are troubled for, what we are excited for, what we are angry for, etc. We can talk to Jesus about anything just as Moses talked to God when he wrote couple of the Psalms and Elijah poured out his heart to God. We will experience a change in our lives. Praise the Lord!

I challenge you to take your requests to the Lord and then right them down to when you set a specific time to meet with the Lord and talk as Elijah and Moses did. When you are talking on the go, it is hard to keep a log but don't stop talking because Jesus will keep the log for you and remind you of the prayers that He has answered and the prayers that He will answer in His timing. Thank you Jesus. I am so excited to be able to talk to the Lord and hear from Him through different means that are tested with the Word of God which is God's transcript to me that has answers to all areas of my life. Thank you Jesus.

May you experience the joy to talk to the Lord always believing talk accepts Lord's kindness!

"Talk Accepts Lord's Kindness!"(T.A.L.K)/"Who do you T.A.L.K to daily?"

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for helping me to experience your interaction with Elijah and Moses. They talked to you and you listened and the disciples got to experience this interaction. Oh Lord, help me never to stop talking to you but always lay my requests before you knowing that you hear and answer. Oh Lord, thanks that we can talk to you anytime and anyplace and don't even need special words. We can talk to you as our Eternal friend who will never leave us nor forsake us but always be there for us. I am so comforted by that knowing you keep a transcript of all my requests and will let me know how they have been answered. Help me to set a specific time daily to spend time with you in prayer and write down my requests I sent before you. Thank you that you receive those requests immediately. And also Jesus, I would really like to talk to you on the go and have you part of my 24 hr life cycle that you give me each day. Help me Lord. Thanks so much Jesus. I thank you for changing me and working in my life. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!

Lord Jesus, You are my all in all. You are my Prince of Peace, Rock, Savior, and Friend. You are my Holy Father guiding me through to live a life of righteousness, holy righteousness. Oh God, I need you more than ever. I need to feel your hands around me holding me tight. I need your love to surround me so that you can glow in my life. Help me please Jesus. I desire in your presence. Thank you for guiding me to live a life of righteousness. Oh God you love me more than ever. You hear my voice when I cry out to you. When I seek your face, you fill me up. You are my all in all. Thank you Jesus so much for your help no matter what I face, your grace is available and you take my case. Thank you for hearing us and answering us. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! AMEN! (Most of the prayer is from a vineyard song called “All in All”)

You don't have to be locked away anymore for Christ is here to free you and give you peace to LIVE out your actions.

How do you look at GODISNOWHERE?

One of my pastors, Pastor Hugo SHARED this example one Sunday at the RESURRECTION DAY SERVICE in the combined worship service of Pittsburgh Chinese Church-Oakland & Oakland International Fellowship:

If you look at it as GOD IS NO WHERE, you will still be lost in your sin and be in bondage locked away in your sins and problems finding no peace.

But  as my pastor spoke to the congregation and spoke to me, I am here to tell you that GOD IS NOW HERE.

Yes, friend God is aLIVE and wants to bring a transformation in your life through the GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ for He paid the penalty on the cross to rescue you and me and came back to life to save us and LIVE with us.

Yes, friend that is exciting to know that we can experience HIS SAVING GRACE & LIVING GRACE.

When we mess up, we can go to Jesus with our shortcomings and He will forgive us and RESTORE us to Him and we will find peace in Him.

^"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23, NIV)

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7-9, NIV)

Friend, we need Jesus because we have been separated from God due to our sin. Because of our sin, Jesus had to pay the price to become our bridge so we can reach God now not of our own good works but because of the finished work of Christ, the Lord on the cross.

"For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)

Come to Jesus as you are and pray this prayer to accept Jesus as your Lord and Personal Savior. He will transform your life around! Praise the Lord! You don't have to have all the answers! You can come as you are!

If you want to be a soldier in the Lord's army, you can become it right now. Now is the time of Salvation! You do not have to wait but can pray this prayer and give your life to Christ to serve Him daily! There is no draft but coming to Christ is voluntary. He loves you so much and wants you to come to Him! He will take care of you, guiding you and leading you!

PRAYER:
Dear Jesus, I love you. Thank you for loving me so much and thank you for choosing the cross to die for me. You became the Son of Man and lived here on earth. Then you humbled yourself and became obedient to death-even death on the cross. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. You died on the cross so that I can be covered in your blood and cleansed by your blood as I acknowledge that I need you and cannot enter Heaven without you being my pathway. So, Jesus I confess all my sins to you and all the ways I have tried to get into Heaven when you already provided the means and the Way. Thank you for all that you have done for me. "The cross is the place, a wonderful place where accused and condemned find mercy and grace. Thank you Jesus, it is at the cross where the wrongs we have done and the wrongs done to us were nailed at the cross. Thank you Jesus, at the cross you died for our sins and at the cross you gave your life for us." I thank you for that and thank you for coming back to life to save us. Thank you Jesus for being there for me! Thank you for loving me. I love you Jesus! Please take me as I am and make my life into something that you will be proud of. I surrender my life to you and need your help to live for you. I am forever grateful for what you have done for me and I can never repay you. I want to live for you and need your help. Help me Jesus please. I thank you Jesus for saving me! Thank you for hearing my prayer and answering me. Whatever your will give me the willingness and strength to bear it. Thank you Jesus! I acknowledge you as my Lord and Personal Savior! In Your Name I Pray precious Jesus! Amen!