Today has kind of been an "ughhhhhh" kind of day. Just feeling tired, mopey, and under the weather. It's lovely here right now (PTL FOR NO RAIN!), but I was just feeling a little empty and discouraged.
I was reading the Scripture earlier, and this was what I read:
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)
I know the Holy Spirit is with me right now even as I type, because I have never been as moved by Scripture as I have been tonight, and I know that this is God's answer to my heartcry for more. I am not empty; God fills me with His goodness and love.
As I might have mentioned before, recently God has really put these verses on my heart: "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:13); "But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" (1 Peter 1:15-16). Tonight I read another verse that adds to these ones and really confirms God's calling for us: "For we are the temple of the living God. As God as said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate,' says the Lord." (2 Corinthians 6:16b-17a)
Be separate. What a challenge in today's world! But this isn't just a suggestion for moral and righteous living - this is a COMMAND from the God who created the universe. Be separate; be holy. We can be neither in and of ourselves, but everything comes from the Lord. If we were to try to be righteous and holy by our own power, we'd fail every time. We really have to remember to stay rooted in Christ! "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)
I just feel so blessed this year. It is true that a lot has happened and there has been a lot of hurt and confusion in my life, but there has been so much joy in the certainty of my hope in Christ, and how He has been changing me little by little. I was just thinking last night that God has really given me many small circles of friends and brothers/sisters in Christ that I can really fellowship and grow with without fearing the vulnerability that comes with it. I have always been very afraid of emotional intimacy and letting people in, and for the first time God has shown me that it doesn't have to be painful. I know that God has a lot in store for me and the people around me this year, and it's just exciting and encouraging to see other brothers and sisters really desire God.
Seriously, where else could this joy and excitement come from?
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
silly silly silly
I just spent the last hour agonizing about someone with relative significance in my life currently. And then I just realized how silly I was being because my focus shouldn't be on how it turns out or whether it will end up the way I want. The focus is to glorify God:
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31)
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9)
I have no confidence, but my confidence is found in my identity in Christ. I don't know the future, but I have hope that will not let me down because it is founded on a Saviour who has never and will never let me down.
Okay. Let's do this.
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31)
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9)
I have no confidence, but my confidence is found in my identity in Christ. I don't know the future, but I have hope that will not let me down because it is founded on a Saviour who has never and will never let me down.
Okay. Let's do this.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
love.
I know this is an extremely famous passage, but as I was reading the Word of God tonight I was really struck by love and what love really is. I use the word "love" a lot and in various contexts, but for the first time ever I think I should stop using this word so often. Its meaning is diluted by daily use and I forget how amazing and how redemptive love really is. How incomprehensibly good love is. How marvelous love is.
Listen:
"And now I will show you the most excellent way.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a [woman], I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 12:31b - 13:13)
I think it really says a lot about the wonderful God we worship that He created love. Regardless of all my cynicism about the modern church and watered-down gospel and such, it is an unshakable fact that God is a God who loves. I wanted to add a modifier after "loves" like "a God who loves desperately", but God doesn't NEED our love and thus that's not quite the sentiment I was going for, except adverbs like "strongly" just doesn't cut it. As Paul implies in the latter part of the passage, love is intrinsically connected to the fact that we have hope that whatever's on this Earth isn't all that there is. We have hope that we will one day be reunited with our Heavenly Father. And the reason we have this hope is because of love. Love poured out on a cross, love that nailed our Saviour to a cross and kept Him there, love that gave Him strength to endure.
And now on a completely different note - if this is love, can you all see the power of what Paul writes in Ephesians 5:25 - 27 as part of the instructions for wives and husbands? "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." I used to think this whole wives and husbands passage was really wishy-washy with hugely sexist overtones, but I have since resolved my issues with Biblical submission (lol) and I think I've just realized what a huge calling marriage is from a male perspective. This is no easy standard. Loving a person who will inevitably sin as Christ loves her? Isn't it fortunate, then, that love is a Fruit of the Spirit and is thus cultivated BY the Holy Spirit in us? God enables us to love. Without Him we'd never even have a hope of being able to genuinely love.
:)
Listen:
"And now I will show you the most excellent way.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a [woman], I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 12:31b - 13:13)
I think it really says a lot about the wonderful God we worship that He created love. Regardless of all my cynicism about the modern church and watered-down gospel and such, it is an unshakable fact that God is a God who loves. I wanted to add a modifier after "loves" like "a God who loves desperately", but God doesn't NEED our love and thus that's not quite the sentiment I was going for, except adverbs like "strongly" just doesn't cut it. As Paul implies in the latter part of the passage, love is intrinsically connected to the fact that we have hope that whatever's on this Earth isn't all that there is. We have hope that we will one day be reunited with our Heavenly Father. And the reason we have this hope is because of love. Love poured out on a cross, love that nailed our Saviour to a cross and kept Him there, love that gave Him strength to endure.
And now on a completely different note - if this is love, can you all see the power of what Paul writes in Ephesians 5:25 - 27 as part of the instructions for wives and husbands? "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." I used to think this whole wives and husbands passage was really wishy-washy with hugely sexist overtones, but I have since resolved my issues with Biblical submission (lol) and I think I've just realized what a huge calling marriage is from a male perspective. This is no easy standard. Loving a person who will inevitably sin as Christ loves her? Isn't it fortunate, then, that love is a Fruit of the Spirit and is thus cultivated BY the Holy Spirit in us? God enables us to love. Without Him we'd never even have a hope of being able to genuinely love.
:)
Friday, October 28, 2011
Hebrews 8:10-12
This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”[c]
Off to write my last midterm of this month in about 5 minutes!
Remember to glorify God in everything that you do! I think I'm finally beginning to understand a little bit of what that means, especially with respect to academics. Yay!
+oil, all you uni students! :)
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”[c]
Off to write my last midterm of this month in about 5 minutes!
Remember to glorify God in everything that you do! I think I'm finally beginning to understand a little bit of what that means, especially with respect to academics. Yay!
+oil, all you uni students! :)
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Luke 10:38-41
"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!'
"'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her.'"
Let us simply be still and adore at the feet of Jesus.
"'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her.'"
Let us simply be still and adore at the feet of Jesus.
Monday, October 17, 2011
1 Peter 4:8
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
Amazing love, how sweet the sound.
Amazing love, now flowing down,
From hands and feet that were nailed to a tree.
Grace flows down and covers me.
Amazing love, how sweet the sound.
Amazing love, now flowing down,
From hands and feet that were nailed to a tree.
Grace flows down and covers me.
crazy love
This weekend's been....a kind of boring one. But not really. Boring in the sense that more than 60% of my waking time was spent studying, but it's an improvement from last year, in which 80% of my waking time not in class would be spent watching TV, 10% eating, 5% studying, and the other 5% doing misc. things INCLUDING hanging out with people who are actually important. Wow. What a failure, right? Bahaha. Baby steps, I tell you. Baby steps.
No actually, this weekend was our year prayer meeting AND our KCCF Worship Ministry training session, and by God's grace I was able to attend both :) This year God has really enabled me to find a lot of joy in corporate prayer and I've been making it a priority to actually go to prayer meetings. I honestly don't say much during the meetings, if anything at all, but just being able to pray together with my fellow brothers and sisters is amazing and just leaves me so refreshed. Anyway I was just sharing with 2 other sisters during the prayer meeting and all of a sudden my mind just flipped to this verse:
"Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" (1 Peter 1:13-16)
The part that really got to me was the "be holy, because I am holy" part. Recently I've been thinking about parts of my life that are probably not pleasing to God. These are really REALLY basic things that most people, even Christians, would think I'm crazy for "nitpicking" about. For me, this is about the TV I watch. Specifically: The Vampire Diaries. It is currently the only TV show I actively follow and am really quite addicted to. I was just thinking about it, because I can make an entire list of things in the show that I know God hates: drunkenness, premarital sex and lust, substance abuse, swearing in His name, and an entire premise based on witchcraft and vampires. Like, wow. It really should be a no brainer. This show is not pleasing to God at all, and still I'm choosing to watch it. I've talked with some friends about it and stuff, which means the Holy Spirit has definitely been gently nudging at this issue for a while. I guess last night was a really clear and explicit message from Him: "Be holy, for I am holy."
The process of sanctification is an uncomfortable one. And I think it should be, because real change that targets the parts of our lives that we haven't been willing to give back to God is important. There are so many parts of my life that I've compartmentalized and selfishly kept for myself, but something God's really been reminding me about recently is this - His first and greatest commandment, the one upon which all other commandments can be boiled down to, is this: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 23:27) What does it mean to love God with everything I have? What does "everything" even mean? I think the answer is quite clear - when I professed myself to be a follower of Christ, I also stated my intent of giving my ENTIRE LIFE to Christ. Not just the parts I'm comfortable with. This includes the parts that are ugly and selfish and the parts that I want to hide. This includes all the hurts I want to cover up and the victories in life which I really have no claim to. "Everything" means exactly that - every thing.
This is a lot of agonizing over a TV show. Yes, it's just a TV show, and if the world calls me a freak because of it, then let me be known as a freak for Jesus. Because my identity is ultimately founded in Christ and as His child I want to please Him and strive to be more like Him. Baby steps, and step 1 of many for me is this one.
No actually, this weekend was our year prayer meeting AND our KCCF Worship Ministry training session, and by God's grace I was able to attend both :) This year God has really enabled me to find a lot of joy in corporate prayer and I've been making it a priority to actually go to prayer meetings. I honestly don't say much during the meetings, if anything at all, but just being able to pray together with my fellow brothers and sisters is amazing and just leaves me so refreshed. Anyway I was just sharing with 2 other sisters during the prayer meeting and all of a sudden my mind just flipped to this verse:
"Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" (1 Peter 1:13-16)
The part that really got to me was the "be holy, because I am holy" part. Recently I've been thinking about parts of my life that are probably not pleasing to God. These are really REALLY basic things that most people, even Christians, would think I'm crazy for "nitpicking" about. For me, this is about the TV I watch. Specifically: The Vampire Diaries. It is currently the only TV show I actively follow and am really quite addicted to. I was just thinking about it, because I can make an entire list of things in the show that I know God hates: drunkenness, premarital sex and lust, substance abuse, swearing in His name, and an entire premise based on witchcraft and vampires. Like, wow. It really should be a no brainer. This show is not pleasing to God at all, and still I'm choosing to watch it. I've talked with some friends about it and stuff, which means the Holy Spirit has definitely been gently nudging at this issue for a while. I guess last night was a really clear and explicit message from Him: "Be holy, for I am holy."
The process of sanctification is an uncomfortable one. And I think it should be, because real change that targets the parts of our lives that we haven't been willing to give back to God is important. There are so many parts of my life that I've compartmentalized and selfishly kept for myself, but something God's really been reminding me about recently is this - His first and greatest commandment, the one upon which all other commandments can be boiled down to, is this: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 23:27) What does it mean to love God with everything I have? What does "everything" even mean? I think the answer is quite clear - when I professed myself to be a follower of Christ, I also stated my intent of giving my ENTIRE LIFE to Christ. Not just the parts I'm comfortable with. This includes the parts that are ugly and selfish and the parts that I want to hide. This includes all the hurts I want to cover up and the victories in life which I really have no claim to. "Everything" means exactly that - every thing.
This is a lot of agonizing over a TV show. Yes, it's just a TV show, and if the world calls me a freak because of it, then let me be known as a freak for Jesus. Because my identity is ultimately founded in Christ and as His child I want to please Him and strive to be more like Him. Baby steps, and step 1 of many for me is this one.
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