Wait 57 More Days (Genesis 5-8)

In the first month, the first day of month, Noah finally behold, the face of the ground was dry! Yet he did not come out of the ark! He had to wait for 57 more days until the Lord said to him, "Go out from the ark" and he went out with his wife and every other couples, human and non-human animals, so that they may swarm on the earth and multiply.

57 more days! 1368 more hours! 4.9 x 10^6 more seconds!

One couldn't describe those dreaded 57 days of silence. Noah waited. Silence. Human animals waited. Silence. Non-human animals waited. Silence. Then Noah heard the Lord say, "Go out". Noah called everyone, "We all go out". Every living thing came out. They multiplied. They filled the earth through every "seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, that shall not cease".

Why did Noah wait? Did the Lord told Noah to wait for His direction? Maybe. Did Noah even thought about getting out of the ark when the dove didn't return as a sign that he may come out? Maybe. Did Noah know that by claiming that he may see the dry ground, he is blind? Maybe.

In John 9:39 Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."

I love this! Noah saw the dry ground. He didn't budge! As if he didn't see. Then the Lord spoke. And he moved as if he finally glimpsed the dry ground. Noah didn't see with his own eyes, but with the Lord's eyes.

Lord, help us not to budge in where we are now as we wait for your next direction. Amen.

Try Winter White Wonder Drinks!

Time with family = time to try some new recipes! I tried Komucha float and Raw Eggnog this year! They are delicious! You could try it with your family or friends!

Komucha Float

One scoop of vanilla ice cream and Komucha bottle (Gingerberry or Raspberry flavor recommended). Mix them well and enjoy!

*spiced dark rum wasn't included*

Raw Eggnog with Keifir
6 eggs
1/2 cup honey
Dash of nutmeg
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cream milk
1 cup keifir
spiced dark rum, to taste (optional)


Separate eggs into two bowls. Beat eggs whites until fluffy. Beat egg yolks, then add and beat honey. Then milk, cream and keifir and spices. Fold/mix in egg whites and add rum. Then let dudes and dudettes chill!

Lambs in Midst of Wolves (Luke 10-12)

My eyes glued to those figures who acted in audacious faith within the set of DVDs all the morning! John Wycliffe, Martin Luther and William Tyndale boldly challenged the Church of England according to the Scriptures even in the face of death penalty, which later enabled all of us to read our own Bible today! Now we are able to learn from God's people how we may live boldly even in the midst of wolves.

Jesus' said to the appointed seventy-two, "Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road." Today, Jesus says to us, "Go and find your extraordinary path; behold, I am sending you to be the light to the dark world. Don't limit yourselves to financial, resources, supports, or abilities. But act in audacious faith."

God may send us who lack financial, resources, supports, or abilities to show those wolves that God can turn His lambs into His lions! God wants to use His ordinary children to boast about His grace when He made them extraordinary. Steven Furtick wrote Sun Stand Still to show us that "even on the day of the sun stood still, an ordinary event paved the way for an extraordinary victory:
-God may allow you to receive a negative report from the doctor. ORDINARY. But you trust Him in a way that causes all your close friends to see Christ clearly through your response. EXTRAORDINARY.
-God may call you to serve as an unsung youth pastor of fifteen kids, leading meetings in a moldly basement, with an Atari for entertainment. ORDINARY. But he may also be providing you with the opportunity to pour your life into one of those teenagers who will go on to preach the gospel in a thousand places you'll never go. EXTRAORDINARY.
-God may lead you to stay at home with your young children, forfeiting a second income. ORDINARY. But along with diapers, dishes, and naps, you receive the gift of time- to model discipline, instill values, and speak life into your kids. They could grow up to be Joshuas in their own generation. EXTRAORDINARY.
-God may have placed you in a line of work that seems to have no eternal value and provides very little in the way of personal fulfillment. ORDINARY. But he knows you're the only Christian witness many of your co-workers and clients will ever meet. They'll observe what God looks like as you labor with excellence and integrity every day. EXTRAORDINARY."

Let us believe like John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, and William Tyndale that God may turn our ordinary event into an extraordinary event.

Jesus' First Ministry was Unwelcomed (Luke 4-7)

Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. He was tempted by the devil during his forty days fasting. He finished his fasting. He went through Galilee to teach in their synagogues. Then he went on his way to his hometown Nazareth to begin his ministry. He opened the scroll of Isaiah,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

After Jesus closed the scroll, he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown." Jesus went on to explain that even Elijah didn't help anyone but one in the land of Israel. He was sent to only Zaraphath among many widows during the three and half years of famine. The same goes for Elisha. None of lepers were cleanesed, but only Naaman. Thus they were filled with wrath. They tried to throw him off the cliff. Jesus went away.

Why didn't Jesus allow them to say something before being direct with them? Why did Jesus say something that would make them angry? Why did Jesus even bothered to go to his hometown?

I'm uncertain. But Luke 12:49-53 states that Jesus came not to give peace, but rather division. God also came to divide the people at the Tower of Babel. Our God is a jealous God. Therefore He came down to refine us, and through the process we may be defined!

Jesus' first ministry is to shake us and then his last ministry is to unify us. Jesus want us to cast away our old ways of thinking, our carnal thoughts.

God Will Make A Way (Isaiah 1-3)

I've been watching the Lord of the Rings with my family in California for the past few days. I couldn't not share the analogy! Mary would treasured up all these things in her heart and ponder them, as she did with what the Shepherd told her (Luke 2:19) and what Jesus did as a boy (Luke 2:51). Mary love to wonder!

Frodo was carefree before Bilbo Baggin left him the Ring! Virgin Mary was carefree before the Holy Spirit come upon her. Gandalf came to Frodo to explain him that he's to be the Ringbearer. The angel came to Mary to tell her that she's to be the mother of Jesus. Gandalf urged Sam, or Samwise the Brave, to stay with Frodo after he eavesdropped their conversation. God's angel showed up in Joseph's dream again to tell him to go with Mary. Frodo carried his burden with Sam and Mary carried her burden with Joseph.

The Nine Fellowship were gathered together to complete the mission together, but throughout the journey they were assigned to other duties by the Flow. Gandalf the Grey fell, but he later returned to the Fellowship as Gandalf the White. Boromir was slayed. Merry and Pippin were kidnapped by the Orcs, but they met Treebeard who later gathered all Ents to go into the war. Frodo and Sam escaped to complete the mission. Aragorn, Gimili, and Legolas decided to go with the Flow and fight for the earth. Throughout their journey, they didn't realize that the Flow assigned them into the correct mission to defeat Sauron the Dark Lord.

The angels sang and encouraged them, then they went away from them into heaven. The shepherds saw the newborn baby lying in a manager and returned to their places. Simeon and Anna, at their old ages, witnessed the promised six weeks old baby Jesus at the Temple. The wise men came to offer the less-than-two-years-old baby gifts and left into the new path to avoid the path of Herod. Mary and Joseph received the warning from the angel and they departed for Egypt. They all went into different paths, but they didn't realize that God had assigned them into those positions to defeat Beelzebub the Prince of Demons.

All of us may carry a God-assigned burden like the Ringbearer or the Mother of Jesus, but God's the author. He will make the way for us. All we need to do is to walk like how the Ringbearer walked unknowingly into Mordor and how the Mother of Jesus unknowingly raised Jesus into the Savior.

Mercy (63-64)

Prayer for Mercy:
"Look down from heaven and see from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me."

What's mercy? It's a compassion shown to an offender or a blessing resulting from a divine favor or compassion. In Exodus 17, Israelities whined. They grumbled against Moses. They offended God by saying, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us with thirst?" By the mercy, God gave them water. God told Moses to strike the rock so that water may come out of it. God didn't demand an apology nor any explanation from Israel before He gave them His compassion!

Moses asked, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" Moses was offended. He was afraid. He ran to God, "What shall I do? They are ready to stone me." God saw that they needed the compassion. God put aside the fact that they threatened Moses. God saw that they were afraid, and out of unholy fear they threatened Moses! He gave them mercy without any obligation.

BUT in Numbers 21:4-9 God showed his disciplinary action against Israel as He sent fiery serpents among the people. In Isaiah 63 God had trodden the winepress alone, which spattered their lifeblood upon His garments and stained all His apparel. God's so full of wrath!

Why was God so full of mercy and yet so full of wrath? Only He knows what's in our hearts and what's in His soverign plan. His thoughts are higher than ours. His ways are higher than ours. As the heavens are higher than the earth. But our earthly-brain may offended Him when we didn't trust Him to do His part.

Let us implore Him to stir His heart for us again and to look at us with compassion! Stir up love!

Our Wedding Rehearsal (Isaiah 61-62)

"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exault in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." -Isaiah 61:10

I was with my family. We were in front of television. And Bayless Conley was speaking inside the box in front of us something like this, "Our expectations may lead us to disappointment, while our expectation in God will lead us to success." I captured those words in my heart. We set our plans. When we failed we blamed God for not keeping His promise. We forgot that our plans are not God's. We had to let it all go. We jumped into God's plans. We began to succeed!

Our definition of success:
-the achievement of something planned or attempted
-the attainment of fame, wealth, or power

God's definition of success:
-the achievement of understanding a piece of God's blueprint for us and walk in the illumination
-the attainment of the garment of salvation, the robe of righteousness, and the jewels of adornation.

When we focused on our definition of success, then we shall fail as His bride. If we look onto God's definition of success, then we shall prevail! We shall come into harmony. We shall dress ourselves up as His bride. Maybe something hindered us in our preparation for the wedding. Maybe a robe didn't fit us perfectly. Maybe we are trying on a robe of our own definition of success. We have to cast that robe aside and look for the right robe. When we couldn't find the right robe, maybe the flow had ceased.

We agony in our prayer. Our prayer shall open up the heavens. With the heavens open, the flow shall resume. With the flow, we could find the right robe. Thereafter, our dress rehearsal begins!

"Life on earth is just the dress rehearsal before the real production." -Rick Warren

Who's Jeshurun? Hit Dial Up! (Isaiah 44-47)

When you read about Jeshurun for the first time it's like opening the Bible to Isaiah 44:2 and starting to read. It's tough to get a degree of familiarity with Jeshurun by reading Isaiah 44:2 because you haven't read Deuteronomy 32:15 or 33:5 or 33:26. This name isn't a person, but let me give you some context to Jeshurun so you can get acquainted.

The name seems to be a symbolic name for Israel. In KJV version, it was mentioned only three times in Deuternomy only, "But Jeshurun was waxed fat, and kicked", "He [the Lord] was king in Jeshurun", and "There is none like unto God of Jerushun". If you read carefully, you will see Jeshurun's personal pronoun. The pronoun is he. It is Israel in it's masculine form.

Daughter Zion is a feminine form of Israel.

I also discovered that Jeshurun's root is being same in the book of Jashar, also meant the book of the upright. Jashar showed up in Gibeon when the sun stand still in Joshua 10:3. And he showed up in Ziklag when David lamented for Saul and his son Jonathan in 2 Samuel 1:18. If I could sum it all up, then we will have six roots of Jeshurun in the Bible that we, the women, could look him up and hit dial up!

I hit dial up! I am getting acquainted with the book of Jasher. Um... but I will also get acquainted with Sun Stand Still when my mom will introduce him to me in California. Now I have two wonderful guy-books who I could hang loose with!

Psychological Warfare (Is 36-39)

Rabshakeh, a high-ranking Assyrian military officer, stood and shouted, "Don't allow Hezekiah to fool you into trusting the Lord to deliver you out of the hand of the king of Assyria. Remember that Hezekiah is trying to misled you!" Then Rabshaken pried them into some clever psychological questions, comparing their one true God to all the gods of these lands that the king of Assyria have taken.

Judah's soldiers didn't reply. Soldiers of one true God remained unbended for they heeded Hezekiah's instruction, "Do not answer him." They stood unwavering around the walls of Jerusalem while a trio of messengers, the household overseer, the secretary and the recorder, came to Hezekiah with thier clothes tore to tell him of Rabshakeh's words. Then Hezekiah tore his clothes and sent for Isaiah.

If you were one of Judah's solders, would you defend yourself or remain silent? Why did Hezekiah command them to not answer a high-ranking military officer? The soliders boycotted their case. There is no judge in the courtroom.

After Hezekiah heard this, he called for Isaiah. Thus, he second-handed heard the Lord saying, "Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land." But the hassle continued. Hezekiah prayed the promised-prayer. Isaiah came to tell him that Promise Keeper beforehanded heard his prayer! Then the early sun met Hezekiah with one hundred and eighty-five thousand of dead bodies in the camp of Assyria!

Who will we need to withold our case from? The case belongs to the Utimately Promise Keeper.

"Ephphatha": the United Islands (Isaiah 13-16)

"What does one say to outsiders who ask questions? Tell them, 'God has established Zion. Those in need and in trouble find refuge in her."

Zion is of one place where Israel dwells together. Upper room on the day of Pentecost is of one place where disciples were together. Martha's Vineyard is one place where cultures come together. The Hebrides Islands is where two frail women prayed together. They came together to ask God to establish a refuge for those in need and in trouble.

"Ultimately, many of the tribe became Christian, including the paw-waws (spiritual leaders) and sachems (political leaders). It become arguably the first successful cross-cultural church planting mission in the history of Protestantism (Eliot's work on the mainland began a few years later)... the first Native American graduates of Harvard were from Martha's Vineyard... there were many native preachers on the island who also preached in English churches from time to time." I love how Martha's Vineyard had more history to the island than Native American! It once had a high rate of genetic deafness for almost two centuries documented. There are about 1 out of 155 deaf birth rate on Vineyard, which was 20 times higher than the nation. There were about 65% of deaf marriages that was a mixed marriage between deaf and hearing spouses on the island. Martha Vineyard Sign Language was created and commonly used by the residents, including hearing, and that allowed the deaf residents to easily blend into society. This is heaven!

Let us also look into how those two frail women prayed into the victory on the Hebrides Island. It is one of my favorite revival stories because the name of the island is He-brides, Jesus will come to marry us when we are united as the Body of Christ. "Peggy Smith was a blind 84-year-old prayer warrior. Her sister Christine suffered from severe arthritis. Yet these two frail women were not willing to see the enemy claim victory on their island! Together, they prayed fervently for revival... That revival continued for the next 30 years, and God showered His blessings on the entire region." If the story of the Hebrides Awakening show us that even two frail women could pray into the victory, then how powerful it would be for us, even if there's only two of us, to pray together.

"Remember also God's solemn assessment of the human unity He observed at the tower of Babel. 'Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them" (Genesis 11:6, NASB). Just think of the incredible power of human endeavor when those involved were united even in rebellion against God. Then think of the awesome power that our unity can produce when energized by the power of the Holy Spirit in revival. This is the power to change a nation and to frustrate the plans of those who wish to destroy us." -Steps to Revival, Pat Robertson

May our prayer language "be opened" as we draw near to God so that we may pray the Ephphatha prayer to our God, so that He may answer our prayers by drawing near to us and energize us by the power of the Holy Spirit in revival!

"Ephphatha": the Broken Hierarchy (Isaiah 9-12)

"In that day the root of Jesse who shall stand as a signal of the peoples- of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea."

Who is the root of Jesse that shall stand as a signal of the peoples? Jesus! What does the Lord meant by 'extending his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant'? If we read Acts 3:22-23, "Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.'" After Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, God had established a new statues for the people to follow, which was the first rescue. After the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament, God fulfilled the Law and Prophet through Jesus, 'not even an iota nor a dot' (not a slightly difference) shall be removed. We often mistake that those Laws are to be obeyed and those Prophets are prophecies to be fulfilled, but if we look into Luke 24:44, we will see Jesus telling them that "Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." That's awesome! If you ever read Pentateuch, the Law of Moses, again we got to look through Jesus' lenses and see what the Law reveals us about Jesus!

In order to fulfill the prophecies, Jesus was cut off from the Heirarchy briefly after He cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Even though Jesus was blameless, he had to be cut off from the Heirarchy for the people's sake! God say to us, "I shall be your God and you shall be my people!" Jesus had to be cut off from the Heirarchy briefly so that through his blood, we may enter the Heirarchy to be His royal bride once again! Jesus is our Prince who came to our rescue.

Before we may marry Jesus, we got to learn a lot more about Jesus! We might want to ask Him those questions before marrying Him:
-What type of meat shall fill His belly?
-Does He leave His clothes everywhere?
-Will He want to adopt few children?
-Does He love to ride 250cc Ninja?
-Does He root for Viking?
-Does He have a good relationship with His parents?
-Why did the Law deny the Deaf the right to participate fully in the rituals of the Temple?

Now, which of those questions may help us to know Him more as His bride? I would assume that learning more about the Hebrew Scriptures that includes the Law, Psalms, and Prophets will help us to know Him better. Why did the Law deny the Deaf the right to participate fully in the rituals of the Temple?

Actually, I had no idea! Remember that it only comes from the Deaf's perspective. In non-Jewish's perspective, they might ask, "Why did the Law deny the foreigners?". In women's perspective, they might ask, "Why did the Law deny the women to be the Levites?" All of those people group were denied the education of the Hebrew Scriptures, except the few. Therefore, non-Jewish, women, and the Deaf cannot fully run the rituals in the Temple at that time.

In 355 BC, "The philsopher Aristotle claims that 'Deaf people could not be educated [since] without hearing, people could not learn.' In keeping with this thinking, the deaf son of King Croesus of Lydia is not recognized as his father's heir."
-American Deaf Culture Historical Timeline

Before the Christ, we experienced the relationship brokenness. But after the Christ, we are given the ministry of reconciliation so that we may enter the Hierarchy again and none of us will be the Frost Nips that shall be rejected from the Body of Christ.

May we say, "Ephphatha" for every inch of our 50,000 to 100,000 miles of vein in our Body of Christ to "be opened" so that the blood may flow throughout us once again in our preparation to wed Jesus!

‎"Ephphatha": Coal vs Salvia (Is 5-8)

Isaiah told God, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips!"

God didn't stop here, for He sent one of the seraphim to Isaiah with a burning coal in his hand. The seraphim touched Isaiah mouth with coal secured in tongs that came from the altar. Then seraphim said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." God took care of Isaiah's messy mouth!

Let us pause here for a moment! Which kind of Ephphatha would you like: a coal that came from the altar or a salvia that came from Jesus' mouth?
Premise 1: If the coal came from altar in the Holy Place, then it must be holy!
Premise 2: If the salvia came from the Son of God, then it must be holy!
Premise 3: Ephphatha coal existed before the Christ.
Premise 4: Ephphatha salvia existed after the Christ.
Premise 5: Fiery coal and watery salvia do not mix.
Premise 6: We, the modern people, exist after the Christ.
Conclusion: Therefore, we need Jesus' salvia!

Or should I set it as this (in a non-argumentative style of writing): Ephphatha coals for the hearing and Ephphatha salvia for the deaf?

Now Isaiah told the Lord, "Here am I! Send me." And he received the commission from the Lord to tell the others about what the Lord is saying, "Go, and say to this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'" Isaiah wondered how long will they be blind and deaf, he asked and the Lord replied, "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land." The Lord shall make His cities waste! His land shall be barren of the people and things.

Helen Keller quoted, "Blindness separates us from things, but deafness separates us from the people".

God warned the people of Israel through Isaiah that they will not understand nor perceive. To understand is to know His voice and to grasp meaning of something. To perceive is to know His presence and observe/identify what comes from God.

Say to us all, "Ephphatha" so that we may understand and perceive!

"Ephphatha": the Diamond Edition (Isaiah 1-4)

"And I will restore your judges as the first, and your counselors as the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city."

This verse repeats the past as if God told His children that He will rewind the DVD. Then we see the repeated stories of Israel departing the Egypt in deliverance, reclaiming the land of Canaan, and continuing in prosperity when God appointed the judges after Joshua to keep them in order. No, our God, who is full of surprises, just installed a Platnium Edition Isaiah 1:26 DVD into our DVD player. Who would ever force their kids to watch the same dull movies? Disney created the Platnium Editions to give us a thorough restoration and remastering, moreover Disney expects to release all its Diamond Editions by 2016! God wouldn't want us to watch the same old 500 B.C. Isaiah 1:26 DVD edition again, so He expects Diamond Edition Isaiah 1:26 to be released sometime soon!

God will restore us to our judges when the Messiah came. In Matthew 19:28, Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Jesus will be our Judge and we will be the judges and counselors beside him through the Holy Spirit as a co-heir with Jesus. It's awesome!

"It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples... neither shall they learn war anymore."




In blue and gold, the Gallaudet seal fingerspells "E-P-H-P-H-A-T-H-A" around the book, which says Mark 7:34 in the Hebrew writing.

I love the Diamond Edition of Isaiah 1:26! I can see how the tangible stories just turned into the intangible stories. I wonder what the Diamond Edition of Mark 7:33-37, which is also known as Ephphatha would look like. When Jesus healed a deaf man he was "looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is ,'be opened.' And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly." Is that it? No there's more! Jesus "charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure." When Jesus is telling them to be quiet it triggers them to say more! Why did it trigger them to say more? I believe that Jesus didn't just physically heal the man, but he also released the dunamis inside them. Once the dunamis was released, they couldn't stop! They reached to their fullness of heavenly-self that they couldn't not praise their true God like the children of God!

In the Diamond Edition, Mark 7:33-37 will turn into thousands of spiritual Ephphatha! Jesus told us that we will accomplish even greater works than he. Can you imagine the latter days when the Lord shall release the dunamis in all of us!

Lord, may You turn this Gallaudet seal into LIVE among us and may great things that haven't come out of Gallaudet yet shall come.

Out of Prison- Unmasked (Ps 142-145)

"Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name!"

God's faithful to His promise because He brought me out of prison on January 1, 2009! I giggled this morning when I reviewed my old blogs about my days of imprisonment and saw how God carried me through my days of spiritually and physically imprisonment.

On July 3, 2004 I wrote about how hard it is to read or do things while I'm living in different motels on Xanga. Today, I laughed when I reread everything I typed when I was seventeen years old! I realized how much information I once withhold from all my friends. When my family first moved out of an apartment to store up all of our furnitures in a storage and stay at our first Motel 6 as homeless at La Sierra Ave, Riverside, CA by SR 91/Riverside Freeway with 28 maximum number of days to stay. When the number of days maxed out, we will have to move into another Motel 6 or into a campground. All campgrounds and motels have their maximum numbers of stay, but there are a few homeless people who will negotiate with the campsite owner/manager to stay longer. In Xanga, I wrote "I finished reading about 75 pages [of Undercover by John Bevere] since June 15 [it's been 18 days]. I am going so slow!!! Everytime I opened the book to read, I was distracted by something else." I smiled at my seventeen-self! I refused to say or confess that I was down. Actually I wasn't able to read because those negative thoughts surrounded me at that time, I was imprisoned with hopelessness and confusion. My friend, Breanna, asked me if she could take me out for my birthday. I didn't reply because I don't know how I could explain to her about family's situation, which is private. We all don't know how we could tell them without burden them or confuse them. We agreed that it's better for us to keep it in silent. I had to let my friends go since I knew that it will be hard for them to understand. I tried so hard to leave my family and friends into God's hands as I tried to read page-to-page.

On November 22, 2004 I finally expressed how I felt about leaving some of my friends, "I would like to hang out with some of my old friends that I haven't seen for a long time, but I don't know if I can. I am kinda of confused with some stuff like why I am not hanging out with some of them anymore. Oh well.. I missed some of my friends at the youth group at the Rock. I guess I have to move on or something.. but I still don't see why I should. The world may be too weird sometimes and unfair. Soon I will be off on my own.. Hopefully I will find some friends like I have there."

My seventeen-self was the same as my confused and angry twenty-two-self. One day, I decided that God's not keeping His promise to bring me out of the prison at all. In my 4th year at Gallaudet University, it was as if I told God, "I'm going to fix this myself! You stay in your waiting room and I will be the doctor!" I decided to put God aside for a full 6 months because I was fed-up with God for not giving me a new Spiritual-knitted family that I once had at the Rock.

But God rocked my world on December 30, 2008! I exploded with anger on the way to airport when my dad suddenly turned around! I was set to go NYC for the New Year Eve with my friends from DC. I pulled the sliding door back and unbuckled myself to show my dad that I was capable of doing something crazy, threatening him to stop the caravan. When he slowed down because he feared for my life, I jumped off and grabbed my bags to climb over the fence in an effort to find a ride or so to the airport. After a long stubborn night, I failed. I had to wag my tail down and wait expectantly for my dad to come back and he did. I went home thinking, "My dad owes me $50!" I went to bed in anger, "my life is pointless! All of it is pointless!" After a long night, I submitted my life,"Okay..." then I went to sleep.

I made sure that my mom drove the caravan on the next day. So I got on the next flight and got to DC. When I got to DC, I realized that it would be unwise to go to NYC with all of my stuff into the crowd without signing myself into a hotel with my friends before going to New Year Eve ball dropping at the Times Square. I had to give up. I had two choices: to keep fighting for self-fulfillment or to submit myself to God and let Him fill me up. I decided to look through my book shelf to see if there is something short that I could read for NYE as my "rededication date" with Him. I found "Steps to Revival" by Pat Robertson which is only 32 pages long! Sure, I need a recovery program from God to reignite me! After that night, God opened the scroll of blueprint for my life and guided me through my recovery program and igntie me big time!

The first step of the God-given recovery program began on January 4, 2009, I finally saw that God began to knit a new Spiritual family for me at National Community Church (NCC) when Pastor Heather Zempel preached Prison series "Perspective". "What do you do when life imprisons you? Paul knew who his life was about and what his life was about, and that perspective enable him to find freedom and joy in midst of difficult circumstances." Wow, I just submitted my life to Him to get myself out of 6 months imprisionment! Then I wore my new NOTW prison hoodie to the next service at NCC

I allowed God to take care of His promise and stay into the present as I unclenched my hands to wait upon Him and rest in Him. David had to allow God to bring him into the kingship as he faithfully thank God. I had to allow God to keep His promise as I thank Him continually like a trusting child who is sitting quietly at the dining table for her parents to bring her the meal rather than a child who is jumping at her parents' side impatiently for the meal, causing the waiting time to lengthen.

"The Holy Spirit is showing me that there are those of you that feel alone and isolated especially during these holiday seasons. You have been through so much adversity in your life and it seems never ending. Many of you have built a wall of protection around yourselves because you have suspicion and mistrust of people and you won't even allow Jesus through.
The Lord says I want to restore the years back to you that have been consumed by the enemy as well as your own mistakes that you have made. It is My desire to restore those things that have been stolen. Trust Me to show you how to get out of the place that you are in and bring you into a life of joy and abundance." -Elaine Tavolacci, 11/27/2010

Partnership with God (Psalm 127-129)

"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for He gives to his beloved sheep."

God is telling us that we cannot do it all by ourselves just like how Jethro once told Moses that he cannot do everything by himself. After Moses took Jethro's advice, he found some capable men to delegate his leadership for 1,000, 100, 50, or 10 men so that his load may be lightened. Those capable men will judge the people of Israel's cases, but when the certain issue is tough they shall bring it up to Moses so that Moses shall not worn himself out. "Even youths shall faint or grow weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles." -Isaiah 40:31

If Moses needed to share some of his burdens with his people to lighten his load, then how much would we need to share our burdens with God and His people. Actually our burdens shall be in vain if they come from us only. In Exodus 18, God removed the burdens from Moses so that he may come unto Him at the top of the mountain. God also instructed Moses in Exodus 19 to remind the people of Israel to come unto Him.

"Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wing and brought you to Myself."

God saw that Israel didn't have time to go to God when Egyptians forced them into hard labors, so God brought Moses to deliver them out of hard labors in vain so that they may receive the partnership with God in their labors. "For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building." -1 Cor 3:9

The people of Israel also consecrate themselves to meet the Lord at the foot of the mountain. Although they didn't come closer to the Lord like Moses had, but they went closer because Moses told them what the Lord had said to them through him! The partnership with God didn't only allow Moses delegate his responsibilies among the capable leaders, but enabled him to bring them closer to God! Moses was willingly to step aside a bit to allow His children to come unto Him!

It's just like how Jesus rebuked the disciples for not allowing the little children to come unto him. God nudged Moses to allow the people of Israel to come into the partnership with God.

Surreal is the Reality (Psalm 124-126)

After I read, "When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, 'The Lord has done GREAT THINGS for them.' The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad."

My heart leaps when I read GREAT THINGS, so I searched for a certain lyric, "God of this City" and recited:

"No one is like our God
No one is like our God

We believe
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
We believe
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city."

Amen.

Do you realize that God surrounds us all the time! He surrounds us like the gigantic mountains! "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people from this time forth and forevermore." We are in His presence daily that we don't need to ask Him for it because He is everywhere, but it is up to us to allow ourselves to feel, see, taste, smell or hear Him. When we began to open our five senses up to Him, we will finally discern His presence. We laugh, froze-our-smiled, or weep in His presence as if all the reality was merely a dream because the reality of this world is surreal, when the surreality of the spiritual realm is real for it last from this time forth and forevermore.

The Secret Ingredient: No Yelling! (Ps 76-78)

"I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might, I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens.

I found myself in trouble and went looking for my Lord;

my life was an open wound that wouldn't heal.

When friends said, "Everything will turn out all right,"

I didn't believe a word they said.

I remember God - and shake my head.

I bow my head - then wring my hands.

I'm awake all night - not a wink of sleep;

I can't even say what's bothering me.

I go over the days one by one,

I ponder the years gone by.

I strum the lute all through the night,

wondering how to get my life together." (MSG)

A football coach may yell at the top of his lungs at the players. Although the fans told the coach that everything will be allright, the coach still couldn't sleep. The coach couldn't stop thinking about what went wrong and how he can get the players back together to play like a true team!

The sports psychology tells us that the secret ingredient to the improvement are:

1. Yelling and screaming does not work, the study shows, with 94% youth football players. Yelling and screaming can also make it harder for them to improve!

2. It's estimated that 4 out of 5 Pop Warner players suffer from a breakdown in confidence, while the popular methods of motivation will usually backfire.

3. Varsity high school football coaches that use routines and rituals with their teams are three times as likely to have a winning record! (http://www.footballpracticeplans.com/tsi/tsi.html)

What does it tell us about how we can be a better parent, mentor, guardian, friend, or person?

First of all, it tells us that yelling at the top of our lungs at someone or at ourselves is probably 94% ineffective. Stay calm, sing throughout the sleepless night if you have to.

Second, find an effective method of self-motivation or method of motivating the others before you all may lose your motivation by patting others' back, give them high fives, compliment one another, say thank you, and more!

Third, set up a daily routines and rituals to lessen the frustration such as reading the Bible using the one-year Bible reading plan the first thing in the morning and pray through the plans for the day or so.

Renew the 83% Doubt (Ps 73-75)

"How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you."

One thing I love the most about preaching, blogging, sharing stories, and etc, is that God may prick our heart through our sharing! Actually it will stings at first, but we will be grateful for those stings when we finally awoke from our dreams to realize that we were ignorant about those truths for a while.

After reading Kim Potter's article this morning, her article about the spirit of the 10 disbelieving spies prickled my heart, "What am I like those 10 disbelieving spies? I thought I was like Joshua and Caleb for I consider myself steadfast." After some time of thinking, I learned that I overlooked the disbelieving 10 in those specific areas of my life that had caused some of His promise to "delay". I can imagine myself joining David's choirmaster, singing with my hands from the "O Lord, Do Not Delay" hymn in Psalm 70. Then I will kneel before the Lord afterward to beg Him to speed up the renewal of my mind even though I knew that I couldn't tell Him to hurry up when it's my mind that needs the speedy renewal.

Maybe we are not bold enough to confront those Giants such as applying for a job, lead a group, try out for a team or a band, start something new and creative, believe and hold on to something unseen as you wait, confront or speak up about a barrier, learn more about a language and/or a culture, meet someone new, ask someone out, go on a mission trip, move out, or any other specific areas in your lives that you are afraid of or thought you weren't good enough for due to your own measurement.

While we are waiting in the wilderness, we speak and meditate upon His words day and night until our minds renew before we may enter the Promise Land. We will need a complete version of 12/12 Joshua-and-Caleb or Jossie-and-Calebina mindset to enter the Promise Land by claiming His promise.

Secret Insults Go Unhidden (Ps 57-60)

"There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips - for 'Who,' they think, 'will hear us?' But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you hold all nations in derision. O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress."

Our parents, children, siblings, relatives, co-workers, classmates, roommates, or acquiantances may sting their cruelsome words into us secretly, thinking that no one shall know. They are in those four walls building. They are safe from any types of exposition, so that they may verbally abuse you whenever they want to! They would come back to gain their control over you by abusing you verbally daily. They come back with swords in their lips again and again like an evil version of a persistent widow until you give up. They wanted you to believe in their stingy words.

How did David respond to those sneaky wordy-stings? He fixed his eyes upon the Strength, his Lord, who will expose cruelsome truth. David shouted to God, "For You are my Strength, I shall remain in Your fortress and fix my eyes upon You, O God!" David didn't simply believe that the Lord shall be his fortress, he believed that the Lord shall also laugh at them. The Lord is going to take care of them. David simply had to fix his eyes upon his Strength.

David knew that he was anointed to be a king and that nothing may stop God from keeping His promise. All he had to do is to allow God take care of those bellowers. "Why should I stop what I am doing? I learned how to rely on the Lord to slay the lion and the bear, protecting my sheep. It is my first small step to become a king who will protect his people. I learned how to trust in Your name only, not in my resources nor in my own strength, as I came to Goliath who had been waiting for 40 days and nights for a challenger. I defeated him with You at my side. You shall finish what You've started, O my Strength!"

Keep our eyes on Him as He shall make the way for us into our "Promise Land" through us.

Holy Discontent (Ps 54-56)

"Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan, because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked."

Sometimes it is hard for me not to criticize people in my head, we all do! Why didn't this person do this or that? It is a sign of our Holy Discontent! All we want to do is do this or that. We want to push. We hated it when we could not do something about it! We are restless in our complaints. So what should we do?

"The best thing you can do is to move toward your area of holy discontent until you have clear direction from God as to what action you should take to resolve it. For example if the plight of the poor becomes your holy discontent, then increase your exposure to the poor... move toward the poor, not away from them." -Bill Hybels, Holy Discontent

Looking back, I understood why God wanted me at Gallaudet University even though I didn't realize it until now. I once wanted to go to any Division 1 or 2 college to play some basketball or go to a Christian college such as Rhema Bible College in Oklahoma, but I ended up going to Gallaudet as a last choice after I was weary with those desires. God must have wears me out for a reason! God wants me to move toward Gallaudet University, not away.

"God will birth new visions in you to become part of the solution. Stay near it so you can pick up fresh sights and fresh sounds that will stoke the firestorm of frustration in your soul. Why? So that God will have a topped-off energy supply in you to use in doing some seriously positive things in the world!" -Bill Hybels

God may move you toward something or allow you to go through something for a purpose. Patience is the key. Your restlessness may store up a topped-off energy supply in you until God lit your holy discontent, and then you shall explode! Dunamis!

Who is the Holy Spirit Before Jesus? (Ps 50-53)

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me."

Some believers do not realize that the Holy Spirit was active in the Old Testament. Although it was active in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit had not work in great number of people He has done since the Day of Pentecost.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Yes Jesus left so that the Holy Spirit may come upon us on the Day of Pentcost so that we may go to the end of the earth as His witnesses. Now let us look at what David is trying to do. David asked the Lord to clean his heart so that he may remain in His presence and follow the Holy Spirit. Did David followed the same Holy Spirit that send Jesus' disciples 'to the end of the earth'?

Yes he did! If you read Psalm 67 carefully, you will see how David earn to be the light to the world. He begged the Lord to shine His face upon the Israel so that the ends of the earth shall fear God. David is obviously led by the Holy Spirit in his kingship because he understood the true meaning of witnessing His love to the nations other than Israel.

Let us ask the Lord for a clean heart first like how David asked Him for a clean heart so that he may remain in His presence, in His path.

No Fear: $100-300 Worth of Blog (Ps 46-49)

"Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the inquity of those who cheat me surrounds me, those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches? Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit."

I couldn't not delight in how God answer us in our time of need. After a minor accident today, I wondered what challenge I may learn from this accident after calmly exchanging our insurances and the long wait for the police to inspect our vehicles. I came back home wondering how much a small car dent would cost me. So I googled up the average cost to fix a small dent and it would cost at least $100, unless you had a plunger in hand! You may be able to get a dent out by a plunger, keep it in head.

It's probably my first 'my-fault' minor accident after other three previous accidents in my entire life that involve the police. The first one was my bicycle accident, I hit a pregnant woman when I was a teen because she ignorantly crossed the bike lane while I raced against my neighbor friend. I stopped and stood still, not knowing what to do, while my neighbor friend urged me to bike away. I'm glad I didn't escape the scene as a teenager. Our natural reaction is to escape the problem rather than confront the potential consequences of our mistakes. After my first police report, I had to wait for few months to see if any of the lady's immediate family would sue me for this minor non-fault mistake. But none came.

Back to the present. I thought this old man was decent because he didn't grump over his car dent, but I realized that he actually fell short of God's definition of decent because he didn't pardon the price of my $100-300 mistake. He is probably a well-retired guy with some retirement money stored up, while I'm simply a missionary girl.

Can you imagine how much God has stored up in the vaults of heavens? God once told Job, "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? (Job 38:22-23)" Our God is a decent Man who has everything stored up, but He is more than merely a decent Guy for He saw us in debt to the price of death due to the minor fruit-accident fault and pardoned us. Actually He didn't simply pardon us, He gave up His own Son to ransom us. Can you imagine a decent old man paying you for the worth of the car dent you had make by your own mistake? Instead of paying $100-300 to the well-retired guy, God would pay you $100-300 for the car dent you just made and you couldn't even pay Him back!

Hey, you probably just read a $100-300 worth of blog! Pay up! Squeak!

Disciples' Blindspots (Matt 25-28)

It breaks my heart knowing that I also have those blindspots after reflecting about how the Twelve Disciples had their blindspots. Those twelve disciples had heard many prophecies that came to them directly from Jesus' mouth, yet they did not understand them til the day of Jesus' resurrection. Man, they are truly blind! Well, me two! Well, can I have the permission to add this, you three?

-Judas said to Jesus, "Is it I [who will betray you], Rabbi?" Jesus told him, "You have said so."

-Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. [Jesus quoted from Zech 13:7]"

What did those disciples do after they heard what Jesus had said about what is to come? The Bible didn't say anything about how they passionate did something about those prophecies. They probably simply denied those prophecies just like how Peter denied, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" And all the disciples said the same. Sometimes Jesus' prophecies are hard to believe, "No way!" Those disciples completely forgot what Jesus said, even Peter forgot that a rooster will crow three times. Peter denied Jesus til he heard the third crow and his eyes met Jesus' sympathy eyes. Peter finally checked his blindspot.

Why did it broke my heart when I understood that we all had the blindspots?

Let us look at how the disciples respond to Jesus' plea. "Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here, while I go over there and pray.'... 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.'... And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, 'So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.'"

Why didn't they pray earnestly like Jesus did? They had their blindspots. Therefore they didn't see the whole picture. They were unprepared. And they fled when Jesus was crucified. It broke my heart because those disciples stumbled unprepared, but I am grateful that they got up after the fall to finish their race.

Let us check our blindspots.

Question-Trappers (Matt 21-24)

Did someone ever trapped you by their questions that you could not either say "yes" or "no"? Someone once asked me those question-traps! I knew that I couldn't say either "yes" or "no" even though I disagreed. If I said yes to the question, "Am I right?" then I'm lying in His eyes although I will please that person. If I said no to the question, then that person will become angry simply because I am being honest with my answer. Therefore my final answer was, "If I say yes, then I am lying and if I say no, then I will make you mad, so I won't be able to answer this question." It worked! That person left me alone after this response!

In the same way, the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus through their question, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" Jesus knew that this question is a trap question, so instead of answering, Jesus asked them a trap question, "I also will ask you one [trap] question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. [now here comes the trap question] The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?" Oh man, those Pharisees realized that Jesus understood this game, so they had to huddle together to decide how they may outwit the trap question. One of them speak for the group, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From man,' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet." After they explained why they are not able to answer this question, they justified that their answer is, "We do not know." They were cornered down!

Jesus didn't allow the Pharisees to be question-trappers because he outwitted them by asking them a trap question to become a question-trapper himself! Now after they responded, "We do not know", Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." Actually I think Jesus said this, "Man, you had to defend yourself for your non-answer, I don't! I simply say that I will not answer you by what authority I do these things!"

I love Jesus' wit! Next time I got to be well-prepared like Jesus was to be able to ask a trap question before answering a trap question.

Jesus also acted as a question-trapper in Matthew 22:41-46 when he trapped those Pharisees with this question, "If Jesus is the son of David, then why did David called him the Lord?" They couldn't dare to ask him any more questions! Jesus scared them away!

Make Tents No More (Matt 17-20)

Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James and John and his face shone like the sun while his clothes became white as light. Peter quickly said, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah."

Peter and others wanted to serve them. Their hearts were pure, but God becokoned them to listen to Jesus and they fell face down terrified before God's glory which came among a bright cloud. Why did God told them not to make those tents and to listen to Jesus? Obviously, they wanted to serve Jesus and other two men when they didn't need it for they still needed to keep moving. As they lied face down those two men disappeared whilst Jesus remained. Therefore they saw only Jesus when they lifted up their eyes.

After this incident, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead." Because Jesus died, we know this! It was a burdensome-secret that Peter, James and John had to carry among themselves. Why is it a secret?

Let us go back to the old ways, the king of Israel wrote, "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!" It reminds me of Jesus' transfiguration. This author also developed a blueprint for the Temple, which his son Solomon later completed in the years of his kingship. It reminds me of Jesus' tents to be made.

Without Jesus, they had to build the Temple for their atonement. But with Jesus, they don't need to build the Temple, or the tents if you like. Israel showed His glory to the nations through it's city. Today we show His glory through our temples, our fruits. During the time of transformation, God told them to listen to Jesus for he had something to say to them. And Jesus told them to tell no one of the vision until the resurrection. They kept it a secret until Jesus is raised from the dead, then they wrote!

Make tents no more! We are to move among the cities and to the end of the cities!

ZERO Into Thousands of Patience (Matt 13-16)

Jesus was grieved when he got the news about the death of John the Baptist. He was on the way to an out-of-the-way place by himself on a boat. But his plan was unsuccessful because someone saw him and the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. Jesus couldn't get away from them! But instead of escaping the crowd, Jesus saw that they followed him because they are in need. So Jesus had compassion on them and he healed them, encouraged them. He even missed a meal for them!

Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."

Jesus didn't tell them to go away or to come. Jesus gave up his time to be with them and stayed with them. But a little boy provided 5 loaves and 2 fishes, which multiplied into 5,000 R12!

Here's this math error in this world, we often focused on the ZERO in our lives, which caused us to miss the opportunities. Jesus commanded ZERO to get out. Instead of having that ZERO patience, Jesus went to the 5,000 rather than grieving on his own in the out-of-the-way place. Jesus had that 7 x 7 x 7 patience.

"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" -Matt 16:25-26

Giving + Praying + Fasting = Top Secret! (Matt 5-8)

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

How may we increase our focus on seeking the kingdom of God? We must take away our worries, our weeds, first.

Don't be worry about what we wear, eat, or drink because God even took care of birds of the air and the lilies of the field. In this chapter, God's telling us to spend our time thinking about God not about the things of the world because God will take care of those things. God will take care of what's outside of our walls just like how God took care of what's outside of Hezekiah's kingdom. In fact, Hezekiah's name means "the Lord is our strength". Hezekiah decided not to be weakened by 185,000 enemies out of the walls, so he seeked the Lord for His strength and He answered, "Your prayer to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard" (2 Kings 19:20). Then the angel of the Lord came out to the battlefield around Hezekiah's kingdom to fight for him. The top secret weapon! "And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold these were all dead bodies." -2 Kings 19:35

Hezekiah had the top secret. Elijah had the top secret too, but he once lost it in 1 Kings 19 when he flees Jezebel. When Elijah lose his top secret, what did he do? He listened to what the angel commanded him to do: "Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you." So Elijah "arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God."

Wow! Elijah fasted for 40 days and nights! What is the top secret for his fasting? Let us look at "went in the strength of that food". What food? Jesus said, "I'm the spring of living water and the bread of life." The Word in the "manna" is probably the top secret food that strengthened Elijah for the journey to seek God. While Elijah fasted for 40 days and nights to seek God, God gave Elijah His top secret voice: a whisper among the loud! Unlike deer that didn't hear a vehicle among the people and the vehicles, Elijah heard God's voice even among the earthquake, the fire, and the wind.

Hezekiah prayed. Elijah fasted. God took care of them and added the top secrets to them. The top secret weapon and the top secret whisper!

Before we may expect any top secrets from Him, we shall seek Him better by increasing our giving, praying, and fasting before the Lord to reduce our tendency to be worried about things around us. Three guides to increase our focus:
-We shall give without letting our left hands know what our right hands are doing.
-We shall pray a heartfelt prayer without any intelligence empty lengthy phrases.
-We shall wash ourselves and put lotion on us to look clean so that no one may know we are fasting, but our Father.

When we increase our focus, we shall seek the Lord better and the Lord shall add His top secret to us!

Our Leviticus Festivals (Lev 21-24)

Before we talk about Leviticus Festivals, let's talk about the month of September (which refers to the month of harvest). Sept is a prefix with Latin root meaning "seventh". In ancient Rome there were only 10 months and the first month was March. In about 700 B.C. Numa Pompilius, the Roman King, changed the calendar to add two more months.

Leviticus Festivals:
-Shabbat (Sabbath): weekly day of rest
-Rosh Hashanah (Sept 1; Lev 23:23-25 - 1st day of 7th month) - It marks the beginning of Jewish new year, proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation (time to get together).
-Yom Kippur (Sept 10; Lev 23:26-32 - 10th day of 7th month) - A 25-hour fasting begins on 9th day at evening to evening on the 10th, it's the only fasting day decreed in the Bible. It is a time to enumerate one's own wrongdoings into three different parts: inquities, transgressions, or sins (http://bit.ly/av7xlu)
-Sukkot (Sept 15-22; Lev 23:33-44 - 15th day of 7th month for 7 days) - People gather together to give thanks for a bountiful harvest with the themes of the gathering of the second grain crop and the autumn fruit. (1 of 3 pilgrimage festivals)
-Passover, Pessah (March 14 at twilight; Lev 23:4-8 - 14th day of 1st month, and 15th for 7 days for the Feast of Unleavened Bread) - Freedom is the main theme of the festival where Israel came out of Egypt into the Exodus, a liberation from bondage. Families were in hurry, so no leavened bread is eaten in memory of the 10th plague that the Lord "passed over" homes of Israel and their departure. (1 of 3 pilgrimage festivals)
-Shavout (Late May or early June; Lev 23:9-22 - 50 days after Passover) - It marks the peak of new grain harvest and the ripening of first fruits, including seven species mentioned in the Bible: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomengrates, olives, and dates. When the Lord gave us the harvest, we are to bring the firstfruits of our harvest to the priest to give thanks for a bountiful harvest. (1 of 3 pilgrimage festivals)

Those are Jewish festivals included in the Leviticus festivals, later Purim, Hanukkak, and etc are added to Jewish festivals. It would be creative for us to add those Leviticus festivals to our festivals of how God wrote our chapters in His book!

Kari-ish Festivals:
-Wholly Surrender & Rededication (Jan 1; Kari 22:158) - A time to give up and tell God to get out of the waiting room to help us out, fixing our Spiritual Family's crisis so that we may be restored and renewed.
-A Turn Around (April 10-12; Kari 22:257-260) - A memorial celebration of how God rescued Kari from Egypt, so that she may be on the path to the Promise Land.
-A Day of Birth (July 6; Kari 0:1 & Jeremiah 1:5) - Celebrating mother's womb and God's calling for Kari before she came to be!
-Spiritual Cliff, No Turning Back (Oct 26; Kari 23:110) - Time of realization that there's nothing aside God's path for me. Nothingness is not better than death itself, therefore there is no way of turning back to the old ways of life so I had to press through to stay on God's path.

What about you? What are the most important parts of your life that impacted your spiritual journey? Let's create your own name-ish festivals to remember those major turning points! Those name-ish festivals may help you to retrace your way back to your original love and passion for God.

Greatest Commandment Revolts (Lev 17-20)

What did Jesus actually say in the New Testament that differs from the Old Testament's Greatest Commandment? Let's first look at what the Old Testament says about the Greatest Commandment:

-Deuteronomy 6:5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."

-Leviticus 19:18, "You shall not take vegeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."

-Job 31:13-15, "If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me what then shall I do when God rises up? When He makes inquiry, what shall I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?"

Those Greatest Commandment were in Old Testament. Jesus came not to repeat those Greatest Commandment, but he came to revolt Jews' way of thinking when he said, "Love thy enemy". It's easy for the Jews to think that "love thy neighbor as thyself" refer only to those that act like one of His people, but they don't need to love those who don't act according to His people like Gentiles.

Jesus didn't simply revolt Jews' way of thinking, he also sent us out to the Gentiles through the Greatest Commission that didn't exist in the Old Testament. Or did it? There's an article that argues that God also sent Jonah to a mission trip to Ninevah, the Lord say to Jonah, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." (Jonah 3:2) Even God took His time to chase after Jonah to make him go to Nineveh. Then how much does Jonah's mission trip meant to God? That much!

IJFM challenges us to think that Israel, representing a royal priesthood, serve as a priest, but to whom does Israel serve? They were to act as priests to all the nations in the whole world (http://www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/13_1_PDFs/01_Kaiser.pdf). Let us re-read the whole Bible and see ourselves as Israel to see how Israel went through different seasons of life like birth pangs, just like us!

We got to shine like Israel shined (Ps 67) so that the whole world may fear Him. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Matt 14:14

No Frost Nip Here! (Lev 5-8)

Hate Leviticus? Ever watch "Love Comes Softly"? It is a fiction movie based on Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly series (twelve series in total). In the first movie, Marty unexpectantly lost her husband when they just found their land in the West. Marty had to give up her homeland in order to move into the west with her husband, and now she was trapped in the west with deceased husband and a baby coming! So a stranger, Clark, had to propose her to marry him for the baby's sake and for Clark's young daughter's sake! So she married him in order to shelter her own baby and raise Clark's daughter properly. In the end of the year, she aimed to go back to the east, but love slowly comes! She finally fell in love with Clark! Yes, our love for Leviticus may come slowly!

I love how God called all of us out of darkness into His marvelous light. I think He called us to immerse ourselves into His old laws in Leviticus. Let's see if Leviticus will open up some new mysteries for us. Here is our "No trick or treat"!

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." -1 Peter 2:9

I'm grateful that we are chosen to be His own royal priesthood! In Leviticus, Aaron and his sons were chosen to be priests, so they had to go through the consecration process. They washed themselves, dressed themselves up according to the specific instruction, and so on. But here's one thing that sticks. Moses had to take some of ram's blood on the lobe of their right ears and on the thumb of their right hands and on the big toe of their right feet.

What does that mean?

That I do not know, but when I read this, I visualized the concept of Passover when the Lord passed over those homes that had the doorposts covered with the blood of lamb (the tenth plague). The Lord didn't abandon the firstborn of Israel to save Israelities! The Lord took His time to tell them to kill their lamb and mark their blood on the doorposts. He took His time for those people!

In the same way, I felt like the Lord is telling us that He is taking His time for Moses to take some of ram's blood on OUR lobe, thumb, and toe because we are His priests. We are His body of Christ even "as far as the east is from the west". God didn't want to abandon even the smallest part of the Body of Christ, so He covered those parts of the body with the blood. What a promise! Our ears, fingers, and toes are the farthest part of our body from the heart. That's why the frost nips are often observed at the end of those body parts (including nose), if any of them are turning "pasty white" as you began to lose the sensation, then it is a first warning sign of frost nip! But the good news is that:

None of us will be removed from the Body of Christ for God had protected us from the FROST NIP. Jesus prayed, "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one" before he died and when he died and resurrected, his blood covered us all. AMEN!

Even God won't let us abandon the book of Leviticus! No frost nip here. The blood may flow into Leviticus soon...

The Days of Our Youth (Ecc 11-12)

"Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, 'I have no pleasure in them'"

A lot of us are like the infants tossed back and forth by the waves by the complexity of life. There are a lot of things in our lives that we have to think about or to figure out, and no certain solution came. We are confused by many things, by many different views of the Bible teachings and the doctrines. We drowned. We gave up.

I feel like God's telling us to remember our innocent lives back then and cherish them, and to teach those young people about our Creator now before the evil days come. We need to encourage those young people now because once they neglect God, the capacity for having joy in one's life is diminished. We need to get started now while they are still young.

Are we seeing the need? Proverb 7:7 says, "I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment." When we see the need, we act by teaching them about the Creator, such as teaching the deaf youth through this project: http://www.igniteasl.com/

Relationship Brokenness (Ecc 9-10)

"But all this I laid to heart, examing it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice."

In one event of the Bible, there is a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery by the Pharisees. Her background is unknown. When she was caught, Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground before he said anything. Then he faced the Pharisees and challenged them to throw a stone at her if they are without sin. But they dropped the charge and walked away for no one is without sin. Then Jesus told her, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."

We do not know if she fell once again into the adultery after this. But we all knew that she was transformed after this! She finally found the hope in restoration. She knew that she can now sin no more through Jesus. Her relationship brokenness with God is now finally restored through Jesus. Now her life is written in the Bible.

The same goes with those five women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew! Tamar lost her husbands and later acted like a whore to restore her relationship with her father-in-law in effort to correct the Jewish customs that her father-in-law had broken. Despite her action seemed unconventional, she was named for her courageous. Rahab was a prostitute of Jericho who lied to save the two spies, which also saved her and her family and named her for her courageous in the Bible. Ruth lost her husband and abandoned her home to go into a new culture to be with her mother-in-law and her true God, but for her courageous she found Boaz! Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, lost her first husband and her first son due to the act of adultery with King David, but for her courageous she raised Solomon into a wisest son and a king. Mary was an unwed mother who almost lost her engagement to Joseph, but God took care of it and she gave the birth to Jesus!

Those women experienced a relationship brokenness, but they all were honored in spite of their background. God took care of the matter because He is the only One who may examine what is in our heart for the same event may happen to anyone, but our responses are what set us apart!

Misused Silence (Ecc 4-5)

"And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice."

We may work together as a Body of Christ just like those lionesses:

"Using their prowess, lionesses work together to protect the pride's cubs... Lionesses realize that cubs of similar age have a greater chance of survival due to equal access to food and training. All these golden babies tumbling around means there is no lack of nursing mothers. Because the pride consists of related females, the lionesses will nurse and train one another's young... if they go too far, a mama lioness is always nearby to provide a growl or cuff to the one that gets out of hand." -Lioness Arising, by Lisa Bevere

If those lionesses could work together, then how much more could we work together as spiritual mothers and spiritual fathers for those spiritual nuturing cubs? Proverb 6:6 tells us to watch those ants and learn, in the same way, we should learn from those lionesses through Lisa Bevere's observance and stand up to voice our stand to protect, to build up those cubs equally.

Lisa Bevere (Lioness Arising) spoke her voice when her son showed her the content of the book:

"There was an assortment of thoughts of teen suicide, vandalism, spouse and child abuse, violence, underage drinking, alcoholism, parental abandonment, and shoplifting. We also came to a highly objectionable sexual passage. I determined I would call the school in the morning and request that Arden be assigned another book to read. But later that day, I realized the other parents had no idea what was in this book. Was it right that only my son was protected from its content? Knowing what I did, could I remain silent? Wasn't it my responsibility to protect these other children and parents as well? She spoke. Within the week the book was pulled. They were glad an error in the selection process had been discovered. Throughout this process I didn't pull the Christian card. I didn't rant and rave at the school's teachers or administration."

I love Lisa Bevere's example! She voiced her opinion to protect all sons and daughters who are not her own as well! Even she didn't preach about Jesus to them, but she showed the character of Jesus through her action. Her action speaks louder volume. We should be like her by speak to edify one another. Use our words skillfully to build, admonish, correct, and encourage as we cut off the enemy's force by not speaking against one another. Lisa didn't rant or rave, but shared her opinion to help the school. That's Da Gurl!

The sad thing is that Lisa wrote about some women (or men) who chose to remain silent:

"Both of these young women were raped and brutalized by vicious predators. In both cases the childless wife was charged as an accomplice to her husband's crimes. When my son Alec realized women were involved, he was shocked. 'Why didn't the wives rescue the young girls?' he asked, unable to fathom a world where women didn't resuce children. All I could answer was that neither of these women was healthy. They had choices, and they chose to remain silent. For some reason a mother's heart had not awaken in either of them... it's interesting to note that both male abusers twisted scriptures and used unhealthy views of submission to manipulative their wives and the girls."

Can you imagine yourself as an accomplice to somebody's crimes in this world? No! Our hearts had to be awaken for most of us no longer knew how to speak or take advice from one another. Be the voice for the daughters and sons.

Striving After Wind in Vain? (Ecc 1-3)

"How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind."

Sometimes even after a greatest victory or greatest defeat, we may get up early in the morning with the feeling that we are merely striving after wind in vain. It is hopeless. Why are we here? This son of David wondered. After a lengthy time, he realized that there is only one answer. So he wrote this, "I percieved that....":

"Also, He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live."

Although we know that cannot avoid the "harsh reality" of this world, but we may choose to walk into the path of joy in the suffering and joy in the joy itself. In accepting a reality of every season and a time for every matter under heaven, we may take the pleasure in knowing that God is doing something good through everything.

"A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace."

Ask With A Holy Passion (James 4-5)

"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."

If we look back to our prominent Proverb 31 Woman who fears the Lord, we will see how she did everything for her households so that her children and her husband rise up to call her blessed and praised her, "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all."

This woman looked after her own things rather than looking over her shoulder to see what her husband had done or to see what her children had done. When she saw the lack, she will take care of it. "She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands... she brings her food from afar... she dresses herself with strength and made her arms strong..." She's willingly to go out of her way to seek for something that will fill up her households without idleness. She is full of energy. She has the Holy Restlessness. She will ask for what she do not have for the household, not for herself. She didn't spend them for her own passions, but for her households. Therefore, her children and husband turned to bless and praise her!

Don't we all want to be like that woman? Proverb 31 Woman doesn't necessarily apply to women only for it also apply to any men and any children. Let us all run that race with our Holy Restlessness in order to finish it with faith! Let us run like Steve Prefontaine pass those people with t-shirt that read "LEGEND" and those teammates with t-shirt that read "STOP PRE!" Nobody can stop us.

Tactful Songs (Prov 23-25)

"Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, and like vinegar on soda." -Prov 25:20



Things are beginning to get a bit tense. We probably automatically reset our minds on those songs to lift ourselves up. So we sang those cheerful songs among the people in the times of tension. We were lifted up. We thought that the other should feel lifted up as well. We didn't understand why our friend didn't.



We didn't sing a tactful song.



When our friends had a heavy heart, it's not time to break loose from the tension to sing our cheerful songs to break ourselves loose. It's time to stay in the tension to be with our friend in sympathy. It's better to stay with a friend through something than to take a cover away from our friend through a song! We learn how to sacrifice our thoughts and feelings in order to get into our friend's whenever our friend allowed us to enter his. We pull our friend across the chasm to the other side slowly. Avoid the disconnectedness. Slowly our friend will get out of the heaviness of heart.

Tongue Gives Life & Connectedness (Prov 18-19)

"From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits... it's His glory to overlook an offense."

It is our choice to give words of life or words of death. Our words are like food to everyone's mind, that's where most of our brain stimulations come from. We eat food. We eat mind food. We eat spiritual food. It is our responsible to take care of our health by eating right food. It is our responsible to take care of our mind by eating words from the right people. It is our responsible to take care of our spiritual by eating His words, the Bible.

We may think, "maybe we don't need to say anything" to get ourselves out of the power of our tongue. We just become like a lamp hiding under the cover because we aren't willing to give the power in our tongue of life! We became disconnected from everyone else in achieving God's mission because we didn't either gave the life or gave the death through our tongue. In order to give the power of life, we have to become connected with them. The power of our words wouldn't give the death if we aren't somehow connected with them.

"Weak leaders sometimes get so caught up in the vision of where they're going that they forget the people they're trying to lead." Believe it or not, there are some great leaders out there who forgot that they are leading the people not the program. "If you want to influence others, and you desire to get them moving in the right direction, you must connect with them before you try to take them anywhere. Attempting to do it before connecting is a common mistake of inexperienced leaders." -Becoming A Person of Influence

"Discipline your son for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death."

While there's chance, we are called to discipline each other to set our mind on hope. Becoming connected with one another is more than being one of His voices that will help us to understand His puzzle, it is becoming a voice to one's mind. It's not about the spiritual revelation from God, but giving a life. Connectedness. Blood flowing in the Body of Christ regardless of what language, culture, or race we are. We don't want one limb from the Body of Christ to fall off.

Navigate the Answer (Prov 15-17)

"Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed. To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!... The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer... but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence."

As a navigator, we will need to carry the map and the compass with us at all time. To navigate the ship, a destination had to be set. Our destination is to walk from the earth into eternity as we finish our race with faith. To accomplish this, we had to carry a map and a compass. What's a map and a compass? A map is like a puzzle that had to be completed by His revelations through the Bible and through us. While a compass is the Spirit that guides us.

We need many advisers to make an accurate puzzle, to discover His mysteries. It's just like Lisa Bevere wrote in "Lioness Arising":

She thought, "Thank you God, it's finished (the book)! I don't want to write it again." But she suddenly sensed God speak to her spirit, "I'm sorry you feel that way... because I need you to write again." She was befuddled, then He went on, "I'm releasing strategies from heaven. They will be found in my Word. You will not have all of these strategies by any means, but you will have a measure of them. You must write and record what I speak to you so that when my daughter gather, there will be a whole picture. If you do not bring your piece of the puzzle, the picture will not be complete."

God is telling Lisa Bevere that He needs her to write. It's not because God favored her, but because God knew that she will be the voice for Him. Just like how God knew that we all will be the voice for Him. So that we all may get many advisers from His people, us! God is going to see His lion and lionness arising, succeeding!

We got to fight for His insights by taking time to ponder His answer and listen to reproof, so that we may learn how to navigate our voice!