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.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
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
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
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
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!
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!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
And still You want me...
BarlowGirl - I Need You To Love Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqrO07PuZCk
You're a God who has all things, and still You want me...
This song pretty much describes my life's spiritual journey. I spent so much time doing meaningless things and being lost and not knowing where to go. Pushing Him away. But He never left me. He loved me so much that He eventually put me in a position where I was able to open my door, reach out and let Him in. I had it on loop for 6 hours during work. Great song. And BarlowGirl is a great band. Hope they tour Canada.
A friend told me that once you start listening to these type of songs, you'll never go back to listening to "today's" music. And in a way, it's true for the most part. And I completely agree. When I did listen to some of these "today's music", which are mostly about party, drugs, sex, [insert more immoral things here], I never really listened or pay attention to the lyrics because I just simply liked the beats and sound/rhymes. I guess that's why I prefer listening to video game music, instrumental music and trance. They seem to have more meaning and/or emotion, in a way. And peaceful, in a way.
I have actually liked these inspirational type of songs and I still do. I just don't know the name of the singers to be looking for. Because there are songs that I can't stand even if it's meaningful (eeek!) because of the way it sounds. So another friend gave me the annoyed look because of my reasoning. Even suggested some artists which I can't remember except for Chris Tomlin. I also answered my own question too, INTERNET!
So with that little push, I took the time to do some research. Wanted 2 male and 2 female for a nice variety. I also wanted something that will not annoy me. Because let's face it, if you can't stand the music, why force yourself to listen to it? So with that in mind, I was looking for light rock, pop'ish, BackStreet Boys, Celine Dion, Avril Lavigne, Evanescense type. Bought 4 albums off iTunes.
Already have some memorized and the song above is one of them! Well you would think if someone just listened to it for 6 hours straight, they would have it memorized, yeah? In any case, the only other music I listen to are love songs, songs that has a meaning but not necessarily a worship song (ie. Jessie J - Price Tag), or music without lyrics. Though I haven't listened to them in a while. These 4 albums just have so much meaning.
In other news, I did some changes in my "About Me" and "Copyright" pages.
God bless!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqrO07PuZCk
You're a God who has all things, and still You want me...
This song pretty much describes my life's spiritual journey. I spent so much time doing meaningless things and being lost and not knowing where to go. Pushing Him away. But He never left me. He loved me so much that He eventually put me in a position where I was able to open my door, reach out and let Him in. I had it on loop for 6 hours during work. Great song. And BarlowGirl is a great band. Hope they tour Canada.
A friend told me that once you start listening to these type of songs, you'll never go back to listening to "today's" music. And in a way, it's true for the most part. And I completely agree. When I did listen to some of these "today's music", which are mostly about party, drugs, sex, [insert more immoral things here], I never really listened or pay attention to the lyrics because I just simply liked the beats and sound/rhymes. I guess that's why I prefer listening to video game music, instrumental music and trance. They seem to have more meaning and/or emotion, in a way. And peaceful, in a way.
I have actually liked these inspirational type of songs and I still do. I just don't know the name of the singers to be looking for. Because there are songs that I can't stand even if it's meaningful (eeek!) because of the way it sounds. So another friend gave me the annoyed look because of my reasoning. Even suggested some artists which I can't remember except for Chris Tomlin. I also answered my own question too, INTERNET!
So with that little push, I took the time to do some research. Wanted 2 male and 2 female for a nice variety. I also wanted something that will not annoy me. Because let's face it, if you can't stand the music, why force yourself to listen to it? So with that in mind, I was looking for light rock, pop'ish, BackStreet Boys, Celine Dion, Avril Lavigne, Evanescense type. Bought 4 albums off iTunes.
- The Afters - Light Up the Sky
- Matthew West - The Story of Your Life
- Audrey Assad - Heart
- BarlowGirl - Our Journey... So Far
Already have some memorized and the song above is one of them! Well you would think if someone just listened to it for 6 hours straight, they would have it memorized, yeah? In any case, the only other music I listen to are love songs, songs that has a meaning but not necessarily a worship song (ie. Jessie J - Price Tag), or music without lyrics. Though I haven't listened to them in a while. These 4 albums just have so much meaning.
In other news, I did some changes in my "About Me" and "Copyright" pages.
God bless!
Friday, March 30, 2012
What if there's a bigger picture?
Great song. Great message. I can relate. And so can you! Love God and love your neighbor. Your life is not about you.
Matthew West - My Own Little World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Yasgzjc0w
Matthew West - My Own Little World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Yasgzjc0w
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
You are who you are for a reason....
This is very moving. Just thought I'd share it.
You are who you are for a reason....
by Russell Kelfer
You are who you are for a reason.
You're part of an intricate plan.
You're a precious and perfect unique design,
Called God's special woman or man.
You look like you look for a reason.
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb.
You're just what He wanted to make.
The parents you had were the ones He chose,
And no matter how you may feel,
They were custom-designed with God's plan in mind,
And they bear the Master's seal.
No, that trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into His likeness you'd grow.
You are who you are for a reason,
You've been formed by the Master's rod.
You are who you are, beloved,
Because there is a God!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)