Song of Encouragement

There are so many Christian worship songs of encouragements but we always have our favorite ones. I'm sure many of us have a lot! I still don't know many Christian songs. Sometimes I'm in a group of people singing these songs I don't even know. Apparently, it is very popular. I used to feel ashamed and kind out of place. But not anymore. If I don't know the song, I don't sing it. I listen and try to sing when I get the grasp of it.

Anyways, when something is aching my heart or I feel uneasy and/or worried about something, sometimes I just meditate on God's Words and it goes away after a few minutes. Or I would play one of my favorite songs of encouragement which is "Find You On My Knees" by Kari Jobe. In fact, she's a link to the path that lead me to being baptized. But that's another story!

Hope you find this song very encouraging because the lyrics speaks so loud to me. It reminds me of my past life and what He's done and my current life to remain faithful and trust in the Lord. It is an amazing song!

Circumstances?

So how do see your circumstances? You wake up in the morning and look out your window, it's raining. You have plans today to go out and/or do some errands. Now you feel irritated. Would you look past the negatives and see the positives? Stop and listen for a second. Perhaps God just wants you to rest right now. He's seen how you work all week. You're getting overworked, stressed and restless. Soon you'll be easily angered. Rest. Give thanks to Him for giving you rest. For watering the plants and crops. Now you have time for Him.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 (ESV)
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV)

Again, how do you see your circumstances?

God is Faithful

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

You just continue to amaze me with what You're doing. You only tempt me what I can endure. I cried out to You when I feel miserable. But I know You are there. Your presence comforts me. I thank You for disciplining me. For what happens to a child when he is not disciplined by his father? Thank you Heavenly Father! You have shown me true kindness. I will remain faithful to You because I know that whatever it is that You allow to happen in my life, it is Your will. And You know what's best for me at any given time. I refuse to take control of my life without Your guidance.

You have shown me that if I remain faithful to You, if I take delight in You, You would give the desires of my heart. Psalm 37:4 And so You have. And I know there is much much more to come. So I thank you Father for the amazing retreat that You have allowed me to go to. Meeting wonderful people, His church, His body. Connecting, sharing, having fun. I know You never let anything go to waste. You have a plan in everything, whether it is to teach, experience, discipline, trials to endure to get stronger, or be used for Your purpose. So I have complete trust in You. Lord Jesus, I just want You to always take the lead, in Your name, my Lord and mighty Saviour. Amen.

And the Lord heard my cry!

Twice. Once from Vechka, my dear fellow Christian friend, sister in Christ, who was brave enough to click at my blog through Facebook...

And the other was just thrown at my face directly. Like a brick to the head, which is basically the same thing as what Vechka told me. I had time this morning to watch a sermon and I have plenty of choices. One I haven't heard from yet is John Piper. His sermon (2 Timothy 4:9–22) was long, and I was falling asleep on some parts of them. And I completely missed the message that was for me. After it finished, I noticed there is a text version of the entire sermon right under the video. And this just hit me in the head:

Jesus never intended that the enjoyment of his presence would replace the enjoyment of the presence of Christian friends.

Or to put it another way, When Christ died so that you could enjoy him supremely and forever, he did not nullify the fellowship of believers, he created it. Christ always intended that your friendship with him would be the heartbeat of your friendship with others. His presence would be the central joy of Christian friendship. And the joy of Christ-centered friendship would magnify the worth of Christ as the common treasure.

Where do I see that in this text? Look at verse 17. Even though everyone one else failed to show up at my trial: “Nevertheless the Lord stood by me and strengthened me.” Now, if that’s all we had we might say: See, when you have Jesus, you have one who never fails you, and so you don’t need those fallible, finite, failing friends.

But what does Paul say? Verse 9: “Do your best to come to me soon.” Verse 21: “Do your best to come before winter.” He wants Timothy’s presence. He longs for it. And this is no exception for Paul. He often spoke this way.

To the Romans, “I long to see you” (Romans 1:11). “I have longed for many years to come to you” (Romans 15:23). To the Philippians, “I love and long for, my joy and crown” (Philippians 4:1). To the Thessalonians: “Being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:8).

So, even though, mere human beings are fickle, finite, fallen, fallible, failing friends, while Jesus was never-failing, Paul cherished such imperfect human friendship. Jesus never intended that the enjoyment of his presence would replace the enjoyment of the presence of other Christians. Christ did not die to create isolated worshipping individuals. He died to create Christ-exalting friendships. That is, he died and rose again to create the church.

I don't know what else to say after that aside from giving Him thanks. Praise the Lord! Thank you Lord Jesus.

Link to this entire sermon:
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/he-stood-by-me-and-strengthened-me-for-the-sake-of-the-gospel

Live for Sundays~

It has been a long while since my last post. A WHOLE LOT has happened. But now isn't the time for summarizing all of that. Just need to cry out something that just keeps coming back to me frequently.

I live for Sundays... Each day of the week that isn't Sunday, I await the next Sunday. Why? It is the day I am completely united again with the body of Christ. His bride, the church, the people.

This shouldn't be so! Why only Sundays? It should be everyday! But that's the problem... I still do not know many people I can comfortably talk about anything and everything. I wanna jump at any opportunity to get to know His people and connect. But at the moment, I do not have any close relationship with another child of God. I want to have one... even just one... But why is that so hard to have?

And why do I even have any desire for that? Why do I need to have another person to encourage me? To care for me? All of those are good but why? Why do I feel that? Because of my Lord Jesus, God is with me. Shouldn't that be enough? Yes, I feel great and I can overcome these feelings because of God's promise and His Word. Meditating on them eases my heart. His voice calms my mind and convicts me. But why do these feelings of loneliness and sadness, etc. frequently returns?

Hear my cry, Oh Lord!