Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God
So true. I never really realized it before, but the reason (before I believed) that I hated people that had Christ in them was because they made me see that I was a sinner.
As Christians we're supposed to live up to verse 21
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God
Since we're all sinners when we come into the light all our darkness is going to be exposed. Hence why sanctification hurts like ......hell. Its like being blind your whole life and suddenly being able to SEE. Your going to want to close your eyes cuz everything is SO BRIGHT, but if you keep your eyes open then eventually your eyes will adjust and you will find something so much better.
I think a lot of the times we tend to "close our eyes." We feel ashamed of what we've done in the past so we don't completely share it with others, but to really come into the light we need to be able to share and testify to all the darkness that was in our life before so that others can SEE PLAINLY how God has changed us and give praise to HIS name!
In the church today we definitely don't do that. We tend to do the exact opposite. We hide the darkness in our hearts as Christians and put masks on to save our face (its in our sinful nature). When the bible clearly tells us:
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
-James 5:16
We want to be victorious over sin?
Then we got to bring it into the light and pray over it.
We need to die to ourselves daily and submit ourselves completely to Christ
No pride only JESUS. Of course this is WAY easier said than done.
Lets be serious I'm definitely like 3940349 away from there.
So we got struggling Christians in the church living in serious sin cuz they're fighting alone with no one to watch their back.
We got unbelievers coming into the church and being completely turned off because they don't think they're good enough or think everyone is fake and a hypocrite.
If we could only be humble, open and real how much more would the church GROW!
How much more would we be blessed by God's favour!
We are broken people reaching out to broken people
We tend to forget that very easily and then ministry becomes a
"I'm the superhero going to save the sinners"
Instead of:
"Hey I struggled with the exact same thing you do and this guy named Jesus saved me"
Lets pray humility and lots of it every single day of our lives!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Awesome Things God Did
just thought I would share with you guys a few awesome things God did today
After service I saw this guy standing by himself so I started to talk to him. I found out that he decided to go to church on his own and that he had never been to church before. I asked him if he believed in Jesus and he said he didn't want to say he didn't believe but he still had doubts. So I thought to myself, OK that's cool. Its awesome enough that he came to church. I invited him to join the uni fellowship after Sunday school. I didn't think he would come but he did, he even went to eat with them beforehand so I was really surprised.
So anyways the program for fellowship that day was praise and prayer so we prayed and as I was praying I really felt like angels were in the room so it was like the most peace I have ever had EVER I think. I didn't expect the guy to pray but he did and when he prayed like right away I could tell that he understood and knew God or was starting too. He was asking God to forgive him of his sins, thanking him for the troubles that he had to go through and for bringing him God. I was blown away. I talked to him after I asked like how he came to know about God and Christianity and he said "I was interested in religion so I decided to Wikipedia a few of them one day to find out which one could apply to me" and that's how he first came to know about God he was like "yeah I've been wanting to go to church for a long time now but I was too scared." He wants to reach out to his brother and his family except that they're like all Buddhist and yeah lots of other family issues.
ISN'T THAT SO COOL?!
LIKE THROUGH WIKIPEDIA
Ok another story.
So Cherie and Eunice did their interview thing for Fairchild this afternoon.I decided to drop by and support them. Most of the time I was praying over them. HAHA I swear everyone around me thought I was a little crazy, but w/e.
I was praying for Cherie and Eunice to trust in God, to not fear, for His peace to be with them, for courage to proclaim what God did for them and for God to just use them to glorify His name. There were times when I had serious doubts while praying. I was like "Is this even going to do anything?" but I kept going cuz I knew somehow that God does answer prayers!
Anyways they did their interview thing and It went really well. Cherie and Eunice nailed the Chinese :P haha. Afterward I thought "ok so did my prayers actually do anything?"
Something inside me told me it did so I was like "ok I guess somehow God did something I couldn't see or is going to do something through this"
Then Cherie texted me just awhile ago it said
"Heyy, I just had the most deep convo with my aunt today, finally! I was given the courage! Thanks for all your prayer, and being there today! You started us talking about God. Amazing how God uses us! =)"
Pretty awesome ehh? PTL
and PRAY!
After service I saw this guy standing by himself so I started to talk to him. I found out that he decided to go to church on his own and that he had never been to church before. I asked him if he believed in Jesus and he said he didn't want to say he didn't believe but he still had doubts. So I thought to myself, OK that's cool. Its awesome enough that he came to church. I invited him to join the uni fellowship after Sunday school. I didn't think he would come but he did, he even went to eat with them beforehand so I was really surprised.
So anyways the program for fellowship that day was praise and prayer so we prayed and as I was praying I really felt like angels were in the room so it was like the most peace I have ever had EVER I think. I didn't expect the guy to pray but he did and when he prayed like right away I could tell that he understood and knew God or was starting too. He was asking God to forgive him of his sins, thanking him for the troubles that he had to go through and for bringing him God. I was blown away. I talked to him after I asked like how he came to know about God and Christianity and he said "I was interested in religion so I decided to Wikipedia a few of them one day to find out which one could apply to me" and that's how he first came to know about God he was like "yeah I've been wanting to go to church for a long time now but I was too scared." He wants to reach out to his brother and his family except that they're like all Buddhist and yeah lots of other family issues.
ISN'T THAT SO COOL?!
LIKE THROUGH WIKIPEDIA
Ok another story.
So Cherie and Eunice did their interview thing for Fairchild this afternoon.I decided to drop by and support them. Most of the time I was praying over them. HAHA I swear everyone around me thought I was a little crazy, but w/e.
I was praying for Cherie and Eunice to trust in God, to not fear, for His peace to be with them, for courage to proclaim what God did for them and for God to just use them to glorify His name. There were times when I had serious doubts while praying. I was like "Is this even going to do anything?" but I kept going cuz I knew somehow that God does answer prayers!
Anyways they did their interview thing and It went really well. Cherie and Eunice nailed the Chinese :P haha. Afterward I thought "ok so did my prayers actually do anything?"
Something inside me told me it did so I was like "ok I guess somehow God did something I couldn't see or is going to do something through this"
Then Cherie texted me just awhile ago it said
"Heyy, I just had the most deep convo with my aunt today, finally! I was given the courage! Thanks for all your prayer, and being there today! You started us talking about God. Amazing how God uses us! =)"
Pretty awesome ehh? PTL
and PRAY!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Family
Something God has been driving into my head lately is this:
The FAMILY IS THE CHURCH.
It is first a church where God is worshiped and second a family.
This is a huge problem within the Chinese Christian church today.
There's to much pride and darkness hidden within the family.
They just live together. They don't really talk to each other.
I mean the believing parents barely live out their faith for their kids the way they should. Most of the time they don't. They're still too tied down to cultural traditions.
1At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2He and all his family were devout and God-fearing
- Acts 10:1-2
The whole family was devout and God fearing. What does that mean? Except that the whole family were active believers that had their own personal relationship with God?
He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)
-1 Timothy 3:4-5
What does manage own family mean but to manage the spiritual health and growth of one's own family before going to care for the needs of others.
Lets be serious
We have fallen so far of the standard God expects of us.
The reason I'm blogging about this is that I feel God telling me to break this barrier down within my own family.
We're a "Christian" family well my parents are and I am.
My siblings just go to church, but the thing is I have never heard my parents testimony I don't think they really even know mine completely. I never see them praying or reading the bible. We don't do family devos or worship together. I mean they tried but sorta gave up.
Can we honestly say we're devout and God fearing?.......
Is our household being managed well?
So prayers please.
The FAMILY IS THE CHURCH.
It is first a church where God is worshiped and second a family.
This is a huge problem within the Chinese Christian church today.
There's to much pride and darkness hidden within the family.
They just live together. They don't really talk to each other.
I mean the believing parents barely live out their faith for their kids the way they should. Most of the time they don't. They're still too tied down to cultural traditions.
1At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2He and all his family were devout and God-fearing
- Acts 10:1-2
The whole family was devout and God fearing. What does that mean? Except that the whole family were active believers that had their own personal relationship with God?
He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)
-1 Timothy 3:4-5
What does manage own family mean but to manage the spiritual health and growth of one's own family before going to care for the needs of others.
Lets be serious
We have fallen so far of the standard God expects of us.
The reason I'm blogging about this is that I feel God telling me to break this barrier down within my own family.
We're a "Christian" family well my parents are and I am.
My siblings just go to church, but the thing is I have never heard my parents testimony I don't think they really even know mine completely. I never see them praying or reading the bible. We don't do family devos or worship together. I mean they tried but sorta gave up.
Can we honestly say we're devout and God fearing?.......
Is our household being managed well?
So prayers please.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Questions of the Day
How do you live like your going to die?
How do you live as one just passing by?
How do you live letting go of all?
How do you live as to not fall?
I've looked everywhere
there's nothing here
nothing that can fill me up
its all seems to dry me up
What I seek is somewhere on the other side
The other side of this thing called life.
How do you live as one just passing by?
How do you live letting go of all?
How do you live as to not fall?
I've looked everywhere
there's nothing here
nothing that can fill me up
its all seems to dry me up
What I seek is somewhere on the other side
The other side of this thing called life.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
The More
I seek God
The more I know God
The more I know God
The more I see how far we have fallen
The more I see how far we have fallen
The more sensitive to sin I become
The more sensitive to sin I become
The more it distresses me to see it everywhere I go and in myself
The more it distresses me to see it everywhere I go and in myself
The more I want to be free
The more I want to be free
The more I realize that I'm stuck in this sinful hell till I die
The more I realize that I'm stuck in this sinful hell till I die
The more I realize my desperate need for God
The more I realize my desperate need for God
The more I want to seek Him and follow and His commands
The more I want to seek Him and follow and His commands
The more I realize I fall so short of these expectations
The more I realize I fall so short of these expectations
The more I am thankful that He died for my sins
The more I am thankful that He died for my sins
The more I want to worship Him
The more I worship Him
The more grace He gives me
The more grace He gives me
The more he renews my mind
The more he renews my mind
The more out of place in this world I become
The more out of place in this world I become
The more the world hates me
The more the world hates me
The more trials I must endure
The more trials I must endure
The more I look to God for help
The more I look to God for help
The more He strengthens me to do His work
The more He strengthens me to do His work
The more work is done through me by Him for His Kingdom
The more work is done through me by Him for His Kingdom
The more attacks I get from the evil one
The more attacks I get from the evil one
The more I look to God for help
and on and on and on and on and on
The more I know God
The more I know God
The more I see how far we have fallen
The more I see how far we have fallen
The more sensitive to sin I become
The more sensitive to sin I become
The more it distresses me to see it everywhere I go and in myself
The more it distresses me to see it everywhere I go and in myself
The more I want to be free
The more I want to be free
The more I realize that I'm stuck in this sinful hell till I die
The more I realize that I'm stuck in this sinful hell till I die
The more I realize my desperate need for God
The more I realize my desperate need for God
The more I want to seek Him and follow and His commands
The more I want to seek Him and follow and His commands
The more I realize I fall so short of these expectations
The more I realize I fall so short of these expectations
The more I am thankful that He died for my sins
The more I am thankful that He died for my sins
The more I want to worship Him
The more I worship Him
The more grace He gives me
The more grace He gives me
The more he renews my mind
The more he renews my mind
The more out of place in this world I become
The more out of place in this world I become
The more the world hates me
The more the world hates me
The more trials I must endure
The more trials I must endure
The more I look to God for help
The more I look to God for help
The more He strengthens me to do His work
The more He strengthens me to do His work
The more work is done through me by Him for His Kingdom
The more work is done through me by Him for His Kingdom
The more attacks I get from the evil one
The more attacks I get from the evil one
The more I look to God for help
and on and on and on and on and on
Thursday, April 1, 2010
YEAH Another Thing =)
I have been praying for the fellowship at my school (Charis) since.... well a long time now. Its amazing how they meet together every week and hold on to God even though everything goes against them. I've been praying for God to really bring them DEEPER into who He is, show them what it means to be a Christ follower and then for them to SHINE in their school campus. I've also been praying a lot for the leaders because I really felt that they were trying too hard, not trusting in God enough and trusting too much in themselves. (but I didn't say anything because I knew it was in God's hands)
So for the past month now I've been attending the fellowship weekly to support them.
Today they had a program to remember what Jesus did for us. I really wanted them to experience God, so the whole time I was praying in my heart "God come fill this place with Your presence, let them truly see You and worship" There was time of silent prayer and reflection and then we started to worship.
God showwedd uppppp yooo it was sickkkk as I was worshiping I felt God telling me to pray for the people around me to be able to worship Him so I got on my knees and prayed my heart out. The HOLY SPIRIT started praying through me so whispers came out of my mouth (I had no clue what I was actually saying) but It felt so awesome to be USED by God in such a powerful way. So as I prayed/ the Spirit prayed He started moving and more and more people started to truly WORSHIP you could FEEL the vybe! Then there was a time of confession and the thing that blew me away was that the leader confessed her sins in front of everyone.
Afterward I looked around me and EVERYONE had the "I just met God face" LOL
The person sitting beside me asked:
"Hey what did you pray for?"
and I said
"That you guys could truly worship. Did you feel like you truly worshiped God today?"
and with like the HUGEST smile he said "Yeah"
So then I thought O maybe I should talk with the Chair and see how she's doing. So I asked "So what did God teach you today?"
and she said "That I should serve God not people"
and I asked
"So who do you think you were serving the whole past year?"
"People"
"What did you do differently today?"
"I focused on myself and God and stopped worrying about other people"
and then I shared about what God has taught me about being a leader and prayed over her =)
and then I was like PTL God is working!
YEAHHH
So for the past month now I've been attending the fellowship weekly to support them.
Today they had a program to remember what Jesus did for us. I really wanted them to experience God, so the whole time I was praying in my heart "God come fill this place with Your presence, let them truly see You and worship" There was time of silent prayer and reflection and then we started to worship.
God showwedd uppppp yooo it was sickkkk as I was worshiping I felt God telling me to pray for the people around me to be able to worship Him so I got on my knees and prayed my heart out. The HOLY SPIRIT started praying through me so whispers came out of my mouth (I had no clue what I was actually saying) but It felt so awesome to be USED by God in such a powerful way. So as I prayed/ the Spirit prayed He started moving and more and more people started to truly WORSHIP you could FEEL the vybe! Then there was a time of confession and the thing that blew me away was that the leader confessed her sins in front of everyone.
Afterward I looked around me and EVERYONE had the "I just met God face" LOL
The person sitting beside me asked:
"Hey what did you pray for?"
and I said
"That you guys could truly worship. Did you feel like you truly worshiped God today?"
and with like the HUGEST smile he said "Yeah"
So then I thought O maybe I should talk with the Chair and see how she's doing. So I asked "So what did God teach you today?"
and she said "That I should serve God not people"
and I asked
"So who do you think you were serving the whole past year?"
"People"
"What did you do differently today?"
"I focused on myself and God and stopped worrying about other people"
and then I shared about what God has taught me about being a leader and prayed over her =)
and then I was like PTL God is working!
YEAHHH
Just Believe
So today was a pretty sick day. It was happy day for me (I don't get many of those cuz I'm always getting attacked) but today God gave me a break and allowed me to be blessed. I was talking to a friend about what God has been doing in my life recently and as I was talking, this completely random guy comes up to us and says:
"Hey can I listen?"
"Um sure"
He hung onto every single word I had to say about God. (The Spirit was working on his heart like crazy)
So when I was done sharing I asked him
"are you a follower of Jesus Christ?"
"I think so I don't know this guy was talking to me about it other day but he went to Columbia"
"Do you believe in God?"
"Yes I mean people after generation all do the same things it doesn't make sense there has to be" (paraphrased but he said some pretty wise things)
"Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins?"
"Yes but I don't know if he was God or just a man because I was talking to a Muslim who said he was just a prophet. I guess it doesn't matter either way He died for our sins"
(going through verses in my bible trying to show him)
"No you need to believe that Jesus Christ was both God and man and was perfect no one else can pay the price"
"But theres so many religions I'm scared of going to heaven and telling God I believe but God saying but you didn't believe the right thing and then I heard a story about a man who was waiting for God @ the 11th hour and died at 10:30"
"Do you believe your a sinner?"
"Yes I'm a sinner I need to be saved" (this guy was so convicted it blew me away)
"What do all other religions believe they need to do to be saved?"
"Well I was reading about the law of Moses"
"Yes God gave us the law of Moses so we would understand that we could not fulfill it, that is why we needed Jesus to die for us because he was the only one who could fulfill the whole law" (at this point I wish I had memorized the book of Romans better XD sigh* but still this guy knew about the law of of Moses and wasn't even a Christian or Jew)
"Yes I read that if you even look at woman lustfully you sin"
"Then believe and be saved"
"I don't know I want to look at things from a wider angle first I'm still not sure. I don't want to be wrong"
"You can't you need to have faith in order to have the truth revealed to you. You need to go in and see for yourself. I sense a lot of doubt in your heart still"
"Yes I don't know"
"Just have faith and believe He'll change your life"
"I want to where is the faith store?"
"God loves you he brought you here right now so you could accept Him. He's been putting all these random people in your life so you can believe. Can you feel His Spirit tugging at your heart right now?"
"I think so"
At this point I felt that he wasn't there yet but HE WAS SO CLOSE so I prayed over him, gave him my contact information and told him to EMAIL me when he believed.
Isn't that crazy? its like God put this random guy in my life at that exact time to give him the exact words that I gave.
It blew me away how this guy could be brought so far and deep into the truth and not be blinded by the world. He told me that he was Catholic before but honestly this guy was so innocent and so sincere just wow. I used to think that it was almost impossible to bring someone to God who was so lost but I dunno I guess God showed me that He works without the help of anyone.
I think another thing that I learned was that this guy was so close, he knew all the right things. Its like God brought him right to the doorstep of salvation and yet he didn't have the faith. It reminds of the story in Mark 5:21-43 where Jesus says "Don't be afraid; just believe."
and then the guys response to me brought the story in Mark 9:14-30 to mind where the man says "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
anyways pray for this guy his name is Hosea
I really want to get an email saying "I BELIEVE!"
"Hey can I listen?"
"Um sure"
He hung onto every single word I had to say about God. (The Spirit was working on his heart like crazy)
So when I was done sharing I asked him
"are you a follower of Jesus Christ?"
"I think so I don't know this guy was talking to me about it other day but he went to Columbia"
"Do you believe in God?"
"Yes I mean people after generation all do the same things it doesn't make sense there has to be" (paraphrased but he said some pretty wise things)
"Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins?"
"Yes but I don't know if he was God or just a man because I was talking to a Muslim who said he was just a prophet. I guess it doesn't matter either way He died for our sins"
(going through verses in my bible trying to show him)
"No you need to believe that Jesus Christ was both God and man and was perfect no one else can pay the price"
"But theres so many religions I'm scared of going to heaven and telling God I believe but God saying but you didn't believe the right thing and then I heard a story about a man who was waiting for God @ the 11th hour and died at 10:30"
"Do you believe your a sinner?"
"Yes I'm a sinner I need to be saved" (this guy was so convicted it blew me away)
"What do all other religions believe they need to do to be saved?"
"Well I was reading about the law of Moses"
"Yes God gave us the law of Moses so we would understand that we could not fulfill it, that is why we needed Jesus to die for us because he was the only one who could fulfill the whole law" (at this point I wish I had memorized the book of Romans better XD sigh* but still this guy knew about the law of of Moses and wasn't even a Christian or Jew)
"Yes I read that if you even look at woman lustfully you sin"
"Then believe and be saved"
"I don't know I want to look at things from a wider angle first I'm still not sure. I don't want to be wrong"
"You can't you need to have faith in order to have the truth revealed to you. You need to go in and see for yourself. I sense a lot of doubt in your heart still"
"Yes I don't know"
"Just have faith and believe He'll change your life"
"I want to where is the faith store?"
"God loves you he brought you here right now so you could accept Him. He's been putting all these random people in your life so you can believe. Can you feel His Spirit tugging at your heart right now?"
"I think so"
At this point I felt that he wasn't there yet but HE WAS SO CLOSE so I prayed over him, gave him my contact information and told him to EMAIL me when he believed.
Isn't that crazy? its like God put this random guy in my life at that exact time to give him the exact words that I gave.
It blew me away how this guy could be brought so far and deep into the truth and not be blinded by the world. He told me that he was Catholic before but honestly this guy was so innocent and so sincere just wow. I used to think that it was almost impossible to bring someone to God who was so lost but I dunno I guess God showed me that He works without the help of anyone.
I think another thing that I learned was that this guy was so close, he knew all the right things. Its like God brought him right to the doorstep of salvation and yet he didn't have the faith. It reminds of the story in Mark 5:21-43 where Jesus says "Don't be afraid; just believe."
and then the guys response to me brought the story in Mark 9:14-30 to mind where the man says "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
anyways pray for this guy his name is Hosea
I really want to get an email saying "I BELIEVE!"
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