BANG! "Bang" is the perfect way to describe how I feel after seeing how other people view those chapters differently, then I found out that I viewed Elihu wrong! Dang, that's why we need to read Bible together, even I need you to read your Bible "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - threefold cord isn't quickly broken.". Take your sword up for "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another". Cool! I left my wrong view of Elihu in previous blog... why sweep our errors under the carpet? The best thing we can do is showing people how we can learn from our errors!
After this, it hits me that I have a new flaw that I was blind to, but now I can see! What is the new flaw that I have? My emotion attachment. Some of you may have some emotion attachment with some people out there after seeing how they suffer, we will stand up to defend them 100% like how I defended Job 100% in my mind! But it clouded my mind as a result to find a bullet into my body because I was defending in a wrong position! It makes me rethink!
Now I feel like Job, sitting before Elihu, listening to some of his wisdom and gulp! DANG! Maybe some of you are like Elihu, being in silence for so long. Being in silence because you are young, women, culturally different, homeless, unintellegent or any type of discrimination, remember that God will use us all. Maybe we got this prophetically, "We got to advance forward to keep ourselves moving as He moves". Maybe it is time for us to take a stand and speak about His revelations (whatever may be His), about how He changed us like how God changed Elihu's thought. He realized that he has been sitti ng cowardly for so long and he finally take a stand with the mysteries that He has revealed to him and share them to his brethens although he has some flaws!
I think I like how Elihu corrects Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar for speaking without any prophetically answers, without any insight. He also show Job that he cannot be perfect although he is faithful, all sinners are equal in His sight. All godly leaders will want to have Elihu to take a stand and share the possibly prophetically truth, to keep themselves humble, to decrease themselves and increase God! Maybe those leaders thought they did what's right in God's eye, but forgot to keep inquiring for any revelations. Instead of defending ourselves from the harsh realities of the world, we got to shift ourselves from defending to self-correcting by asking Him to correct us and keep advancing forward! In a real battlefield, we cannot stop to tend to our wound in the open because we may be captured and experience the defeat! But we got to wrap our wound quickly and move quickly. Keep our shield at the front as we walk.
Good news, God can refine us through our cute errors too! Yea, we may hear a lot about sufferings already, maybe errors sound or look good in your ears or eyes! Elihu says, "But those who learn from their suffering, God delivers from their suffering."
Share and let this blog fly!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
A Cute-Deadly Young Pharisee (Job 31-33)
***FYI- My view on Elihu is wrong... let's read the next blog to understand why I am wrong... Here is an evidence of my error, a failure is something we learn from, our greatest gift! By failing, I passed something by learning from it and change my view! I will explain what I learned!
After the excitement as I found out that Job's three friends finally fall into the silence, Elihu came to strike me! I feel like I want to shut my Bible and put it aside! But I got to go through this one! After solving a problem, here came a new climax, but this one goes up to Mt. Everest! Oh boy!
When I first saw that Elihu responded, my attitude went like this: Oh I wish I have a little cute brother who wants to vent out his anger. I would pat Elihu's head like how my brother used to pat my head when I vent out in anger, trying to prove myself! But as I grew up, my attitude changed! I started to praise him, saying "Kupo! My brother sure know a lot!" quoting from Final Fanansty XI game that my brother used to tease me to make me argue! I learned to turn myself upside down and use this quote to encourage rather than venting out! That's what Elihu need! Maybe he will change someday! (FYI- this blog is dedicated to my wise brother who taught me this, "Kupo!")
The Mt. Everest came when Elihu cleverly said, "I was wrong". That is one of a deadly pharisee's strategy to attack a person, by talking smoothly (fake humility) by confessing first! Elihu said that he was wrong about "Experience will tell the longer you live, the wiser you become" and then he pointed out that "it's God's Spirit a person that makes wise human insight possible." to earn his position as a spokesman, as a judge! So he will be able to earn the right to judge Job! We can never earn that right! Smooth talker! Deceiver!
His humility through confessing is proven a fake because after saying all of those things, he lashed out his anger at Job's three friends for having nothing wise to say to Job! Now we need to take our time machine and go into the future and see how Jesus act! When the disciples failed to cast out demons, they came to Jesus and asked for His help. So, Jesus went to cast out demons and answered their question, "through fasting and prayer your faith will increase". Wow! Jesus told them to go to Him to increase their faith rather than lashing out anger at them for not being mighty-mighty! Jesus knew that they are humans, so Jesus build them up by telling them that all they need is Him!
I love those three questions that Pastor Mark shared this morning about what we may ask Him:
1. Did we suffer because of our sins?
This question may be dangerous because it is 50-50! Some of us may turn back to Him when we experienced some pain and feel like He reminds us that we need Him. But some of us may go through some sufferings even though we are blameless before Him like Job but he still have more to grow! Be careful with this type of question!
2. Is it a spiritual attack from the spirit called "Satan"?
When it does, we should be angry at Satan instead! Sometimes it can be true because Satan can be like lion that prowls around waiting to devour you. But we shouldn't be afraid! We should kneel before Him and pray instead of living in fear. Worship Him when the fear began to creep in us. Go to bathroom (or other places) to lift your hands up in praise Him to lift yourself up when you need it.
3. Does God tests us through our sufferings?
Sometimes God may use our sufferings to prepare us to be His friend, to show them His glory! We will become gold after our sufferings as we open up to the others and share our testimonies about how God gave us the inner peace after all of those! To be able to handle things better by maturing. To understand others is a greatest gift we can get from God!
After the excitement as I found out that Job's three friends finally fall into the silence, Elihu came to strike me! I feel like I want to shut my Bible and put it aside! But I got to go through this one! After solving a problem, here came a new climax, but this one goes up to Mt. Everest! Oh boy!
When I first saw that Elihu responded, my attitude went like this: Oh I wish I have a little cute brother who wants to vent out his anger. I would pat Elihu's head like how my brother used to pat my head when I vent out in anger, trying to prove myself! But as I grew up, my attitude changed! I started to praise him, saying "Kupo! My brother sure know a lot!" quoting from Final Fanansty XI game that my brother used to tease me to make me argue! I learned to turn myself upside down and use this quote to encourage rather than venting out! That's what Elihu need! Maybe he will change someday! (FYI- this blog is dedicated to my wise brother who taught me this, "Kupo!")
The Mt. Everest came when Elihu cleverly said, "I was wrong". That is one of a deadly pharisee's strategy to attack a person, by talking smoothly (fake humility) by confessing first! Elihu said that he was wrong about "Experience will tell the longer you live, the wiser you become" and then he pointed out that "it's God's Spirit a person that makes wise human insight possible." to earn his position as a spokesman, as a judge! So he will be able to earn the right to judge Job! We can never earn that right! Smooth talker! Deceiver!
His humility through confessing is proven a fake because after saying all of those things, he lashed out his anger at Job's three friends for having nothing wise to say to Job! Now we need to take our time machine and go into the future and see how Jesus act! When the disciples failed to cast out demons, they came to Jesus and asked for His help. So, Jesus went to cast out demons and answered their question, "through fasting and prayer your faith will increase". Wow! Jesus told them to go to Him to increase their faith rather than lashing out anger at them for not being mighty-mighty! Jesus knew that they are humans, so Jesus build them up by telling them that all they need is Him!
I love those three questions that Pastor Mark shared this morning about what we may ask Him:
1. Did we suffer because of our sins?
This question may be dangerous because it is 50-50! Some of us may turn back to Him when we experienced some pain and feel like He reminds us that we need Him. But some of us may go through some sufferings even though we are blameless before Him like Job but he still have more to grow! Be careful with this type of question!
2. Is it a spiritual attack from the spirit called "Satan"?
When it does, we should be angry at Satan instead! Sometimes it can be true because Satan can be like lion that prowls around waiting to devour you. But we shouldn't be afraid! We should kneel before Him and pray instead of living in fear. Worship Him when the fear began to creep in us. Go to bathroom (or other places) to lift your hands up in praise Him to lift yourself up when you need it.
3. Does God tests us through our sufferings?
Sometimes God may use our sufferings to prepare us to be His friend, to show them His glory! We will become gold after our sufferings as we open up to the others and share our testimonies about how God gave us the inner peace after all of those! To be able to handle things better by maturing. To understand others is a greatest gift we can get from God!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Message to Ladies (and men)!!! From "Beautiful You" Conference...
The "Beautiful You" conference was amazing! I feel like it is one of greatest gift from God! I got this ticket for free because someone dropped out and said "YEA!" to grab the ticket before the opportunity ends! I read "Fight Like a Girl", "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry", and even her husband's book, "Undercover". They are simply amazing in how God used them to encourage many people out there, including me!
Messages from this Conference:
She explained about how she tried to be like someone (forgot her name) and be buff! So she found a personal trainer to find out that she has to be assessed first! So she had to go through those crap to find out that she is tiny and fat! So she realized that she is fat inside although she looks great on the outside! It is similar to our physical and spiritual discipline! We may look spiritual on the outside, but are the opposite on the inside! It is better to work on the inside first and let it works on the outside itself! How? By knowing Him first, make Him a priority in your life, 100%!
She also told us that we, women, can be like a kitten, being gentle and soft, and a lion, being brave and strong, at the same time! Whoa!!! Lisa Bevere owns a motorcycle Ninja (to show the world our boldness, I add!)! Yeah we, women, can be strong and tough! Yeah we can stand up and be outspoken and fight for His causes! But the difference between being strong and being a feminist is that being feminist is to criticize someone and pull them down! That isn't what we should do! We are called to be strong to build someone/something up! God brought Eve into Adam's live to be a helper, to solve his problem! We are like a problem solver! Guys need us!! (psst... oh boy, yeah we need them too!)...
Kitten- eyes glow in dark... like how we should be the lamp to the dark and be able to discern many things, to notice something in the dark! Soft, but wise and able to see things!
Lion- Strong and brave, will chase the prey and capture the prey (we don't kill, but capture the lost for His glory)... interesting, lion will live during the day and hunt in the dark! Like lamb in midst of wolves.
Stop being unnatural! Be authentic! Don't hug our brethens sideway, but to embrace like a brethen. Of course, sometimes we got to be wise, but we got to stop living in fear and be loving by being natural!
Sometimes we got to focus something 100%. Instead of going out with friends to gossip or to do some shopping, maybe we are called to stay home to know Him first, to serve Him... and then to serve family or roommates.
Stop saying "satan" to the people when they sin, but to bring a plan to change any plans that won't bring Him any glory. Be strong and confront those plans without "sin" or "satan"... but to bring a plan to change! Don't tell them that this plan "isn't proper for me as a Christian", but to change the plan without telling them that you are a Christian! Who cares about words and gibberish! Action speaks louder volume, so let's act! Because they will recognize the vibe and know!
Don't every try to stop the Holy Spirit from flowing! If it flow at any place that don't do Him good, let it flow! If it flow to the sinners, let it flow! Even if it flow in Sodom and Gomorrah, then let it flow! Who are we to stop His flow, His work?! We are called to build others up not to kill others! We are called to build their visions not to kill their visions. Lift their dreams not to kill their dreams! It is God's job to change people, to remove their transgression! He is the Judge.
If we were deeply hurt, then we are able to heal them deeply! Since we, women, are often hurt deeply compared to men, then we are called to heal them deeply! In the last days, we, women, will rise! Acts 2:17 shows that His sons and daughters will prophesy! Yeah we will go out to tell the world about You! Also Revelation 12, we women will build up the church to be His bride! We are designed to build, to restore that relationship! A call for unity, Oneness!
1 John 2:20-21 "But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write (or speak) to you, not because you don't know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth."
YEAH LADIES!!!! HE WILL USE YOU, YOU ARE ALREADY ANOINTED BY HIM!
**(FYI- I added some of my own words to make it a bit more completed from my notes! )
Messages from this Conference:
She explained about how she tried to be like someone (forgot her name) and be buff! So she found a personal trainer to find out that she has to be assessed first! So she had to go through those crap to find out that she is tiny and fat! So she realized that she is fat inside although she looks great on the outside! It is similar to our physical and spiritual discipline! We may look spiritual on the outside, but are the opposite on the inside! It is better to work on the inside first and let it works on the outside itself! How? By knowing Him first, make Him a priority in your life, 100%!
She also told us that we, women, can be like a kitten, being gentle and soft, and a lion, being brave and strong, at the same time! Whoa!!! Lisa Bevere owns a motorcycle Ninja (to show the world our boldness, I add!)! Yeah we, women, can be strong and tough! Yeah we can stand up and be outspoken and fight for His causes! But the difference between being strong and being a feminist is that being feminist is to criticize someone and pull them down! That isn't what we should do! We are called to be strong to build someone/something up! God brought Eve into Adam's live to be a helper, to solve his problem! We are like a problem solver! Guys need us!! (psst... oh boy, yeah we need them too!)...
Kitten- eyes glow in dark... like how we should be the lamp to the dark and be able to discern many things, to notice something in the dark! Soft, but wise and able to see things!
Lion- Strong and brave, will chase the prey and capture the prey (we don't kill, but capture the lost for His glory)... interesting, lion will live during the day and hunt in the dark! Like lamb in midst of wolves.
Stop being unnatural! Be authentic! Don't hug our brethens sideway, but to embrace like a brethen. Of course, sometimes we got to be wise, but we got to stop living in fear and be loving by being natural!
Sometimes we got to focus something 100%. Instead of going out with friends to gossip or to do some shopping, maybe we are called to stay home to know Him first, to serve Him... and then to serve family or roommates.
Stop saying "satan" to the people when they sin, but to bring a plan to change any plans that won't bring Him any glory. Be strong and confront those plans without "sin" or "satan"... but to bring a plan to change! Don't tell them that this plan "isn't proper for me as a Christian", but to change the plan without telling them that you are a Christian! Who cares about words and gibberish! Action speaks louder volume, so let's act! Because they will recognize the vibe and know!
Don't every try to stop the Holy Spirit from flowing! If it flow at any place that don't do Him good, let it flow! If it flow to the sinners, let it flow! Even if it flow in Sodom and Gomorrah, then let it flow! Who are we to stop His flow, His work?! We are called to build others up not to kill others! We are called to build their visions not to kill their visions. Lift their dreams not to kill their dreams! It is God's job to change people, to remove their transgression! He is the Judge.
If we were deeply hurt, then we are able to heal them deeply! Since we, women, are often hurt deeply compared to men, then we are called to heal them deeply! In the last days, we, women, will rise! Acts 2:17 shows that His sons and daughters will prophesy! Yeah we will go out to tell the world about You! Also Revelation 12, we women will build up the church to be His bride! We are designed to build, to restore that relationship! A call for unity, Oneness!
1 John 2:20-21 "But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write (or speak) to you, not because you don't know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth."
YEAH LADIES!!!! HE WILL USE YOU, YOU ARE ALREADY ANOINTED BY HIM!
**(FYI- I added some of my own words to make it a bit more completed from my notes! )
The Mystery: Path to Where Wisdom Resides (Job 28-30)
My heart jumped as if I just hit the pot of gold when I read about Job looking for the place where Wisdom resides! What is Wisdom? It is understanding of how we should proceed or act upon our knowledge! Wisdom tells us when we should do it, what we should say, and provide any kind of direction for us to follow.
Job mentioned that silver, gold, iron, copper, and other stones that come from different places and different ways of the refining process! Copper is smelted from the ore, unlike gold! We all are like the stones, we all go through different process to be beautiful! To be who He created us to be!
BUT... no bird of prey knows, no eyes have seen, no creations has walked upon the path to Wisdom! The path to where?... The path to an increased faith "overturns mountains by the root"... wow! So, where is it?!? Sounds like the Lord of Rings doesn't it? Walking across the narrow path, crossing the lava to the place of Wisdom where no one had crossed! Um... what is the name of the place? Yeah it is called Gethsemane! It is the place where Jesus was led to die in order to save us! But how do we get there?
"Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding."
What's "the fear of the Lord"? Let's look at what Jesus did. Jesus came to the earth to submit to the plans of the Father, even Jesus stopped Peter from cutting a soldier's ear so Peter won't infer His plan for Jesus. Even Jesus refused to defend Himself that Pilate had no choice, but to wash his hands to show his innocence and allowed the people to accomplish their evil schemes! BUT they are deceived because all of those things are according to His plan! God outwits them all! We all have a clever God!
How do we get to Gethsemane, the place of Wisdom? There is the only way to get there, by retracing Jesus' steps. We got to imitate Jesus! What does it means to imitate Him? Yeah this is so deep! We got to understand what Jesus went through before we open our eyes to be able to find our way across! To go through what Jesus went through, we will have to understand His sufferings. To sit with Him, to walk with Him, to cry with Him, to shout in agony with Him, to be shut-out with Him, to be alone with Him, to shout "Eli, Eli, why has You forsaken me" as we become the mud at the bottom of the container like the final process of the gold being refined! To die to ourselves like how Jesus died. To become His true friend as He called us to be His friend. HIS FRIEND.
Job mentioned that silver, gold, iron, copper, and other stones that come from different places and different ways of the refining process! Copper is smelted from the ore, unlike gold! We all are like the stones, we all go through different process to be beautiful! To be who He created us to be!
BUT... no bird of prey knows, no eyes have seen, no creations has walked upon the path to Wisdom! The path to where?... The path to an increased faith "overturns mountains by the root"... wow! So, where is it?!? Sounds like the Lord of Rings doesn't it? Walking across the narrow path, crossing the lava to the place of Wisdom where no one had crossed! Um... what is the name of the place? Yeah it is called Gethsemane! It is the place where Jesus was led to die in order to save us! But how do we get there?
"Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding."
What's "the fear of the Lord"? Let's look at what Jesus did. Jesus came to the earth to submit to the plans of the Father, even Jesus stopped Peter from cutting a soldier's ear so Peter won't infer His plan for Jesus. Even Jesus refused to defend Himself that Pilate had no choice, but to wash his hands to show his innocence and allowed the people to accomplish their evil schemes! BUT they are deceived because all of those things are according to His plan! God outwits them all! We all have a clever God!
How do we get to Gethsemane, the place of Wisdom? There is the only way to get there, by retracing Jesus' steps. We got to imitate Jesus! What does it means to imitate Him? Yeah this is so deep! We got to understand what Jesus went through before we open our eyes to be able to find our way across! To go through what Jesus went through, we will have to understand His sufferings. To sit with Him, to walk with Him, to cry with Him, to shout in agony with Him, to be shut-out with Him, to be alone with Him, to shout "Eli, Eli, why has You forsaken me" as we become the mud at the bottom of the container like the final process of the gold being refined! To die to ourselves like how Jesus died. To become His true friend as He called us to be His friend. HIS FRIEND.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Our Brains need Defragmenter While Reading!
I have been thinking a lot lately about my reading speed! I'm still reading "the Unstoppable Force" by Erwin Raphael McManus although it's due for the Protege huddle yesterday. I began to analyze myself why I didn't want to rush through the book to finish it in time for the huddle?
It just came up in my mind that creativity comes from the process of removing the old ways of thinking to welcome new thoughts! Yeah, that's what I've been feeling! I felt that this book has brought a lot of new thoughts and illumination into my brain that I need to be able to let my brain to wander around tons of files inside my brain to toss some old files, to create some spaces like how we click "defragment" to clean our computers! Which allows more new thoughts to enter our brain!
The question is, how do we know which book should we take our time to read? Of course, we should take time to read our Bible! Maybe challenge ourselves to read 15-30 minutes for every chapter we read! But allow 1/3 of our time reading the texts and 2/3 of our time to let our brain to do some defragmentation!
Remember the fable: Tortoise beats the hare!
We all need to bring creativity into our brain to be able to go out and share about Him! Though the Gospels and testimonies! Yeah He wants us to share about how He changed our lives. How He turned our worst pain into good cuz our God is a loving God!
It just came up in my mind that creativity comes from the process of removing the old ways of thinking to welcome new thoughts! Yeah, that's what I've been feeling! I felt that this book has brought a lot of new thoughts and illumination into my brain that I need to be able to let my brain to wander around tons of files inside my brain to toss some old files, to create some spaces like how we click "defragment" to clean our computers! Which allows more new thoughts to enter our brain!
The question is, how do we know which book should we take our time to read? Of course, we should take time to read our Bible! Maybe challenge ourselves to read 15-30 minutes for every chapter we read! But allow 1/3 of our time reading the texts and 2/3 of our time to let our brain to do some defragmentation!
Remember the fable: Tortoise beats the hare!
We all need to bring creativity into our brain to be able to go out and share about Him! Though the Gospels and testimonies! Yeah He wants us to share about how He changed our lives. How He turned our worst pain into good cuz our God is a loving God!
Keep Fighting to Find Beautiful You! (Job 25-27)
I found it funny that Bildad said that God doesn't see good in us, even the stars and the moon! But hey! If you look at Genesis, you will find that God said that He saw that everything He made was good! Oh boy! Bildad finally doomed himself into silence among his other two friends as he spoke briefly for the first time to end his 3rd found of fight! If you look back, you will see that Eliphaz ended his 3 rounds, Bildad ended shortly in his 3rd round, and Zophar didn't even enter his 3rd round. So Job "took over" Zophar's turn and kept speaking!
I love how Job described God, "Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?" -Job 26:14
I pictured a kitten's gentle whisper "MEOWING" turning into a lion's thundering "ROAR", a short video that my home church back in California has shown! When we are in search for our lost kitten, we will have to look or/and hear carefully to find a frighten kitten hiding in a corner! God isn't like a frighten kitten, but His voice may be hidden. We will have to learn how to recognize His voice. But His power is like a lion, we all can see how He kept the earth in motion, kept the balanced gravity to hold His creations on the earth (neither trap us like an anchor or let us flying across the space!), and many more!
Yeah we recognized Him like Job (and his friends)! But do we understand that we need to keep fighting our fight of faith? After grabbing a free ticket to the "Beautiful You" conference, I recalled a book I read 3 years ago called, "Fight Like a Girl" by Lisa Bevere. So, I went into my storage to find that book this morning and found the highlighted, "Girls are meant to fight like girls, but for some odd reason, most of us would rather be told we fight like men." That's the error in the society's ways that we live in today! We shouldn't fight like men, or even like a girl, but to let the "man" in us male and female that God created in His own image fight! That's how Job fights, by abandoning the hope in life, and fight with Hope...
What does that mean? Job said, "Will he [or she] take delight in the Almighty? Will he [or she] call upon God at all times?" Will you call upon Him and keep fighting, but not as a man or as a girl, but as His people! We are all called to Him first. We fight our fight of faith by calling to Him. We got to fight through the storms like how we refined the gold using storm precipant, God refines us using the storm. We got to cry to Him and go into that battle and keep fighting to enter the next level to become "BEAUTIFUL YOU"!
Let's commit ourselves to keep fighting in the battle we are called to fight:
"In short, what God did was bless Israel (replace it with Your Name here) by forcing them (You) to engage in a battle that they (You) were afraid to fight. As result of this, Israel not only experienced victory in that one particular battle but discovered that there was no city too strong for them and that the Lord delivered them all." - Erwin McManus.
"Fight Like a Girl" - http://www2.messengerinternational.org/product.asp?id=ENGSPEC-0016
I love how Job described God, "Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?" -Job 26:14
I pictured a kitten's gentle whisper "MEOWING" turning into a lion's thundering "ROAR", a short video that my home church back in California has shown! When we are in search for our lost kitten, we will have to look or/and hear carefully to find a frighten kitten hiding in a corner! God isn't like a frighten kitten, but His voice may be hidden. We will have to learn how to recognize His voice. But His power is like a lion, we all can see how He kept the earth in motion, kept the balanced gravity to hold His creations on the earth (neither trap us like an anchor or let us flying across the space!), and many more!
Yeah we recognized Him like Job (and his friends)! But do we understand that we need to keep fighting our fight of faith? After grabbing a free ticket to the "Beautiful You" conference, I recalled a book I read 3 years ago called, "Fight Like a Girl" by Lisa Bevere. So, I went into my storage to find that book this morning and found the highlighted, "Girls are meant to fight like girls, but for some odd reason, most of us would rather be told we fight like men." That's the error in the society's ways that we live in today! We shouldn't fight like men, or even like a girl, but to let the "man" in us male and female that God created in His own image fight! That's how Job fights, by abandoning the hope in life, and fight with Hope...
What does that mean? Job said, "Will he [or she] take delight in the Almighty? Will he [or she] call upon God at all times?" Will you call upon Him and keep fighting, but not as a man or as a girl, but as His people! We are all called to Him first. We fight our fight of faith by calling to Him. We got to fight through the storms like how we refined the gold using storm precipant, God refines us using the storm. We got to cry to Him and go into that battle and keep fighting to enter the next level to become "BEAUTIFUL YOU"!
Let's commit ourselves to keep fighting in the battle we are called to fight:
"In short, what God did was bless Israel (replace it with Your Name here) by forcing them (You) to engage in a battle that they (You) were afraid to fight. As result of this, Israel not only experienced victory in that one particular battle but discovered that there was no city too strong for them and that the Lord delivered them all." - Erwin McManus.
"Fight Like a Girl" - http://www2.messengerinternational.org/product.asp?id=ENGSPEC-0016
Thursday, February 25, 2010
How We Refine Gold vs How God Refines Us (Job 22-24)
"But he knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and have not turned aside." -Job 23:10-11
How do we refine a gold? Here is the instruction:
1. Put your gold into a container and add a specific amount of nitric acid to the gold. Then let it sit for 30 minutes.
2. Add hydrochrolic or muriatic acid you might have to wait for an hour or even wait overnight for the mix to turn brown and hot before you can filter the acid!
3. Pour the mixture into other container, acid should be a clear emerald green, if it isn't, then we must re-filter the mixture (go back to 1-3)! Because it shows that the gold is still contaminated (still carrying the unclean).
The first three steps are part of preparing us for the storm ahead. We must be ready to face something we cannot handle by facing something smaller first like how David faced the lion and the bear and overcome them with his slingshot. If he haven't been tested with those two creatures, he mightn't be able to face the Giant like the 'storm precipitant'! There is no doubt that Job went through something before he got the blessing from God because Job often claimed that He has blessed Job. If Job hasn't done anything, then how may He bless Job and regarded him the most faithful and upright?
If we failed the test, we won't die for God is full of mercy! Like how we can go back to steps 1-3 if the filter process hasn't turned into a clear emerald green to show that we have increased our faith through something! God will forgive us 7 x 70! What number will we get? I am a mathematic teacher myself! WRONG! We didn't get 490! Sorry, I just flushed mathematic degree into the toilet and turned to Him, so the answer will be infinite! Like the symbol of 8 being flipped over into the symbol of infinite! Yeah God's way is being flipped over in our eyes, but His way is true!
4. Add water and urea mix to the acid slowly. Let it boil and the foam will appear, but be sure that it won't overflow and lose some gold! When it stop foaming, stop adding water/urea mix.
5. Boil clean water separately and add storm precipitant (Secret product, the manufacture refuse to give out the recipe for the chemicals! So you will have to buy it!). Add it to the acid slowly to prevent overflowing. It will turn muddy. Wait for 30 minutes, then use precious metal detection liquid to detect dissolved gold so none of them will go away wasted.
It is like how we do not understand how the storms may refine us like the gold! His recipes are like a mystery to us! Job said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." after everything was taken away from him! Then after that, He will restore us like how a precious metal detection liquid restored the scattered gold to oneness! Healing comes!
6. Pour the acid into other container by filtering, then you will see the mud at the bottom of the container, don't throw it away! It is full of gold! Then add water 3-4 times and rinse to get the mud out to find the pure gold! Then pour aqua ammonia on the gold, the white vapors will appear, then rinse again for one more time before letting the gold dry to be completed!
While we are being restored (healed) after being dead to our flesh like the 'mud at the bottom', to be last, to be nothing! God removed the something so that we may be restored to Him. Then He shall give us a renewed vision like 'aqua ammonia' to be fully alive in Him, to be transformed, to shine radically, to fly like an eagle!
But after that, we will need to be dusted to keep clean and pure! So that we won't grow weary or faint, but to keep flying like an eagle!
Remember, before all of those may happen, we will have to wait for long time. 30 min + 1 hour (or overnight) + 30 min = 2 hours... but comparing gold to us, it may be like 20 years... then to God it may be like 1/50 day to God (according to the formula 1000 years = 1 day). So that will be like 28 minutes and 48 seconds to God for our 20 years of waiting! Sheesh!
How do we refine a gold? Here is the instruction:
1. Put your gold into a container and add a specific amount of nitric acid to the gold. Then let it sit for 30 minutes.
2. Add hydrochrolic or muriatic acid you might have to wait for an hour or even wait overnight for the mix to turn brown and hot before you can filter the acid!
3. Pour the mixture into other container, acid should be a clear emerald green, if it isn't, then we must re-filter the mixture (go back to 1-3)! Because it shows that the gold is still contaminated (still carrying the unclean).
The first three steps are part of preparing us for the storm ahead. We must be ready to face something we cannot handle by facing something smaller first like how David faced the lion and the bear and overcome them with his slingshot. If he haven't been tested with those two creatures, he mightn't be able to face the Giant like the 'storm precipitant'! There is no doubt that Job went through something before he got the blessing from God because Job often claimed that He has blessed Job. If Job hasn't done anything, then how may He bless Job and regarded him the most faithful and upright?
If we failed the test, we won't die for God is full of mercy! Like how we can go back to steps 1-3 if the filter process hasn't turned into a clear emerald green to show that we have increased our faith through something! God will forgive us 7 x 70! What number will we get? I am a mathematic teacher myself! WRONG! We didn't get 490! Sorry, I just flushed mathematic degree into the toilet and turned to Him, so the answer will be infinite! Like the symbol of 8 being flipped over into the symbol of infinite! Yeah God's way is being flipped over in our eyes, but His way is true!
4. Add water and urea mix to the acid slowly. Let it boil and the foam will appear, but be sure that it won't overflow and lose some gold! When it stop foaming, stop adding water/urea mix.
5. Boil clean water separately and add storm precipitant (Secret product, the manufacture refuse to give out the recipe for the chemicals! So you will have to buy it!). Add it to the acid slowly to prevent overflowing. It will turn muddy. Wait for 30 minutes, then use precious metal detection liquid to detect dissolved gold so none of them will go away wasted.
It is like how we do not understand how the storms may refine us like the gold! His recipes are like a mystery to us! Job said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." after everything was taken away from him! Then after that, He will restore us like how a precious metal detection liquid restored the scattered gold to oneness! Healing comes!
6. Pour the acid into other container by filtering, then you will see the mud at the bottom of the container, don't throw it away! It is full of gold! Then add water 3-4 times and rinse to get the mud out to find the pure gold! Then pour aqua ammonia on the gold, the white vapors will appear, then rinse again for one more time before letting the gold dry to be completed!
While we are being restored (healed) after being dead to our flesh like the 'mud at the bottom', to be last, to be nothing! God removed the something so that we may be restored to Him. Then He shall give us a renewed vision like 'aqua ammonia' to be fully alive in Him, to be transformed, to shine radically, to fly like an eagle!
But after that, we will need to be dusted to keep clean and pure! So that we won't grow weary or faint, but to keep flying like an eagle!
Remember, before all of those may happen, we will have to wait for long time. 30 min + 1 hour (or overnight) + 30 min = 2 hours... but comparing gold to us, it may be like 20 years... then to God it may be like 1/50 day to God (according to the formula 1000 years = 1 day). So that will be like 28 minutes and 48 seconds to God for our 20 years of waiting! Sheesh!
Also here is a cool lyric!- http://youtube.com/watch?v=9Y8zP34AhuU
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Spiritual Domestic Violence (Job 19-21)
Spiritual domestic violence pattern is similar to physical domestic violence patterns, they are often overlooked, denied, or excused. Physical domestic violence often leave a biggest and long lasting scar psychological- EMOTIONAL SCAR, which creates a wall that separates us from the people. The thing is that they are often overlooked, excused, and denied by those who are hurting. In the same way, we often overlooked our SPIRITUAL SCARS. Are we denying our spiritual scars? Is there any wall of separation overlapping us from getting closer and closer to Him? Is there any spiritual flies that follow us everywhere above us, blocking us from seeing Him completely? Something that we need to unveil and unveil many layers that remain between us and God before we can finally fathom His perfect Love?
Signs that you are in spiritual domestic abuse- continually fear or continually numbness. Fear- "Oh no I did that! Now He will punish me..." then we got ourselves into attacks instead of forgivness, forgetting that He is graceful and ready to forgive when we recognize our mistake and change! Now because of FEAR, we are alone in the dark until we shut down those thoughts. Numbness- We will keep living our life without any type of fear, losing the spiritual sensitivity, not feeling loved by Him.
Spiritual domestic violence "is used for one purpose only, to gain and maintain a control over you by using fear, guilt, shame, and intimidation to wear you down and keep you under their thumb." Like how Job's friends compared Job to the wicked to pull him down. Zophar demands Job to listen and then called him, "you will perish like a dung!", "your dreams are worthless!", "you are chasing over nothing!", "you will be nothing, gone!", "God will cast you out, vomit you!", "God cannot stand to look at you!", and all of those LIES... All they want to do is to make you like a tail, so that they can become a head! Just like the Pharisees! If you know or live with someone who's like a Pharisee, you got to guard your heart for it is a wellspring of life! Guard it with your whole life! Reject those kind of LIES from creeping into your mind to build a wall that will separate you from Love.
We all are abused spiritually in one way or another. We all will have to make a step... one small step to get out of the shell like how a duck will fight to be birthed out of the egg shell! If someone tried to help a duck out, then how can a duck become strong? We all got to fight to get out through removing one piece of a egg shell at a time before we will get out, then a breakthrough will come! Then we will shout, "we are FREE!!!" Free to have a whole relationship with Him, to be who He created you to be, to be out of fear. "Perfect love casts out fear."
We are all called to Him... to keep advancing His Kingdom and take hold of His Kingdom, do not ever let go! Other step toward it, stay! One more, stay! More, STAY! Never look back... Our pasts are all gone! We are transformed into His image, into our true self! Biker, cowgirl, math nerd, beach bum, messy, high-maintence, healthy guru, loyal, or whoever you are!
Signs that you are in spiritual domestic abuse- continually fear or continually numbness. Fear- "Oh no I did that! Now He will punish me..." then we got ourselves into attacks instead of forgivness, forgetting that He is graceful and ready to forgive when we recognize our mistake and change! Now because of FEAR, we are alone in the dark until we shut down those thoughts. Numbness- We will keep living our life without any type of fear, losing the spiritual sensitivity, not feeling loved by Him.
Spiritual domestic violence "is used for one purpose only, to gain and maintain a control over you by using fear, guilt, shame, and intimidation to wear you down and keep you under their thumb." Like how Job's friends compared Job to the wicked to pull him down. Zophar demands Job to listen and then called him, "you will perish like a dung!", "your dreams are worthless!", "you are chasing over nothing!", "you will be nothing, gone!", "God will cast you out, vomit you!", "God cannot stand to look at you!", and all of those LIES... All they want to do is to make you like a tail, so that they can become a head! Just like the Pharisees! If you know or live with someone who's like a Pharisee, you got to guard your heart for it is a wellspring of life! Guard it with your whole life! Reject those kind of LIES from creeping into your mind to build a wall that will separate you from Love.
We all are abused spiritually in one way or another. We all will have to make a step... one small step to get out of the shell like how a duck will fight to be birthed out of the egg shell! If someone tried to help a duck out, then how can a duck become strong? We all got to fight to get out through removing one piece of a egg shell at a time before we will get out, then a breakthrough will come! Then we will shout, "we are FREE!!!" Free to have a whole relationship with Him, to be who He created you to be, to be out of fear. "Perfect love casts out fear."
We are all called to Him... to keep advancing His Kingdom and take hold of His Kingdom, do not ever let go! Other step toward it, stay! One more, stay! More, STAY! Never look back... Our pasts are all gone! We are transformed into His image, into our true self! Biker, cowgirl, math nerd, beach bum, messy, high-maintence, healthy guru, loyal, or whoever you are!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
We need the "Superman" inner self (Job 16-18)
Job repeated, "Hope" many times in his responses! As I mentioned that hopelessness is from the spirit of LIES in the previous blog. Job's responses show that he really know God! I wonder how can it be? Some of us can be encouraged through difficult situations as we cling on to His promises. It makes me wonder what kind of promises did Job have from God that makes him to cling on to his Hope? It is something that only Job knows! What about you? We all need some promises from Him to hold on to! Maybe we should ask, A.S.K. - Ask Seek Knock...
Maybe he had some dreams or prophecies, but he had no Bible to read during Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob's time! How can it be? During that time, most of history are being passed down through the repeatition, called folktale. It also can be passed down through songs like how Moses sang among the people to help them to remember His laws. Maybe we can sing our testimonies as well, about how He had helped us in different situations and places! Shout EBENEZERS!
Job seems to have a super inner self! Like an invisible SUPERMAN to us, who love to read comics or watch TV! He has some emotions, but he never let go of Hope! That makes me wonder why his friends couldn't see that Job has the SUPERMAN inner self? Maybe they have seen it but denied it because they rather to believe in the fate? That is what I call supernatural inner self! A miracle! Bildad asked Job, "why are we stupid in your sight?" and later he told Job, "Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out." but what he didn't realize that it is what he is! Bildad didn't see the invisible MIRROR. Indeed, the light of Bildad and other friends are put out. Maybe that's why they didn't see Job's supernatural inner self.
"Perfect love casts out fear" 1 John 4:18
(I call it supernatural inner self because it casts out fear, casts out the spirit of LIES...)
Before Bildad began to talk, Job told his friends that it is easy to point fingers til you are in my shoes. Yeah, if his friends experienced what Job experienced, they probably react differently and realize that Job is supernatural because of Hope in him.
Maybe he had some dreams or prophecies, but he had no Bible to read during Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob's time! How can it be? During that time, most of history are being passed down through the repeatition, called folktale. It also can be passed down through songs like how Moses sang among the people to help them to remember His laws. Maybe we can sing our testimonies as well, about how He had helped us in different situations and places! Shout EBENEZERS!
Job seems to have a super inner self! Like an invisible SUPERMAN to us, who love to read comics or watch TV! He has some emotions, but he never let go of Hope! That makes me wonder why his friends couldn't see that Job has the SUPERMAN inner self? Maybe they have seen it but denied it because they rather to believe in the fate? That is what I call supernatural inner self! A miracle! Bildad asked Job, "why are we stupid in your sight?" and later he told Job, "Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out." but what he didn't realize that it is what he is! Bildad didn't see the invisible MIRROR. Indeed, the light of Bildad and other friends are put out. Maybe that's why they didn't see Job's supernatural inner self.
"Perfect love casts out fear" 1 John 4:18
(I call it supernatural inner self because it casts out fear, casts out the spirit of LIES...)
Before Bildad began to talk, Job told his friends that it is easy to point fingers til you are in my shoes. Yeah, if his friends experienced what Job experienced, they probably react differently and realize that Job is supernatural because of Hope in him.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Be Deaf to the People, Not to God! (Job 13-15)
"I'm taking my case straight to God Almight, I've had it with you -- I'm going directly to God. You graffiti my life with lies. You're a bunch of pompous quacks! I wish you'd shut your mouths -- silence is your only claim to wisdom." -Job 13:3-5 MSG
Let's take our case to God and let Him be the Judge. Do not let ourselves be deaf to God and listen to our friends for we will be 'whitewashed', it is like turning on TV with no clear picture or seeing the wall with a bunch of different graffiti! The only way to the clear and true image of our purpose is to run to God not to the world! We should ask that question, "Why do You stay hidden and silent?" and keep seeking Him, only one true God!
Deafness, in my view, is one of the greatest gift from God to me (you all may have different experience of how He helps you to grow in different ways, other than deafness). It helps me to gain my claim to wisdom by being silence in a lot of ways, which made me realized that my blabbering are worthless. It is better to be silent and speak whenever He wants me to speak! "Be slow to speak and be swift to listen"! Sometimes I feel like God saved my neck through those kind of situations! There are some days when I'm frustrated because I have something to say, but missed the chance since the interpreter normally lags behind and then the others have moved on to other topic, leaving me strangled on the island! But then, I start to recognize that God is a true God! He will open the way for me to speak when He opens the door, and He will shut the door in other time when it is not the time for me to speak! So, He will guide me to someone else. After that I realized that God doesn't want me to speak to those people but to this person, that's why God shut the way! KEWLNESS!!!
I love how God told His people that He made some of us deaf and blind for a purpose! Yeah, God told Moses to stop being a coward in his inability to speak fluently by showing him that He uniquely made the deaf and the blind! Jesus also told the people that the blind isn't cursed, but was created so that works of God might be displayed in him! I bolded "might" because it is up to us to let the works of God to be shown through us! YEAH! It's the golden opportunity!
Let us be deaf to our friends with worthless chatters and take the case to our true God!
Let's take our case to God and let Him be the Judge. Do not let ourselves be deaf to God and listen to our friends for we will be 'whitewashed', it is like turning on TV with no clear picture or seeing the wall with a bunch of different graffiti! The only way to the clear and true image of our purpose is to run to God not to the world! We should ask that question, "Why do You stay hidden and silent?" and keep seeking Him, only one true God!
Deafness, in my view, is one of the greatest gift from God to me (you all may have different experience of how He helps you to grow in different ways, other than deafness). It helps me to gain my claim to wisdom by being silence in a lot of ways, which made me realized that my blabbering are worthless. It is better to be silent and speak whenever He wants me to speak! "Be slow to speak and be swift to listen"! Sometimes I feel like God saved my neck through those kind of situations! There are some days when I'm frustrated because I have something to say, but missed the chance since the interpreter normally lags behind and then the others have moved on to other topic, leaving me strangled on the island! But then, I start to recognize that God is a true God! He will open the way for me to speak when He opens the door, and He will shut the door in other time when it is not the time for me to speak! So, He will guide me to someone else. After that I realized that God doesn't want me to speak to those people but to this person, that's why God shut the way! KEWLNESS!!!
I love how God told His people that He made some of us deaf and blind for a purpose! Yeah, God told Moses to stop being a coward in his inability to speak fluently by showing him that He uniquely made the deaf and the blind! Jesus also told the people that the blind isn't cursed, but was created so that works of God might be displayed in him! I bolded "might" because it is up to us to let the works of God to be shown through us! YEAH! It's the golden opportunity!
Let us be deaf to our friends with worthless chatters and take the case to our true God!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Test the word & observe the creation! (Job 10-12)
Job's 3rd friend criticized Job for being ignorant! Zophar counsels that Job's "doctrine" that Job is pure is wrong and Zophar hopes that God will show Job the correct doctrine! But Zophar was wrong!
Job responded well again! He told his friends that we must test words like how our mouth test food! He told them that they can learn by observing the creation for He is the Creation to learn! It reminds me of a proverb (6:6)... telling that people are sluggard and that they ought observe the ants and learn from them, how they work together in unity! Do you know how ants work together? By their antenna! Like how the Holy Spirit works in us... as Oneness! Are you sluggard like Zophar? Or confused with the doctrines? Or confused with words, whether they are from the Lord or not. Both Job and the proverb encouraged us to go and observe the creation to see how He created them! Awesome!
Then maybe we will be like Job, strong in our faith and know what we have done right or wrong, by seeing how He created the world! Observing the creation is part of worshipping, just by staring at them in aweness! Notice how simple it is for the creations to live? Why is it so complex for us? Because we are born as sinners! So we begun with complex! To know Him, we have to learn how to remove them and become more simple. Be like children before we enter the kingdom! A CALL TO SIMPLICITY! A CALL TO THE ELEMENTARY TEACHINGS!
Job responded well again! He told his friends that we must test words like how our mouth test food! He told them that they can learn by observing the creation for He is the Creation to learn! It reminds me of a proverb (6:6)... telling that people are sluggard and that they ought observe the ants and learn from them, how they work together in unity! Do you know how ants work together? By their antenna! Like how the Holy Spirit works in us... as Oneness! Are you sluggard like Zophar? Or confused with the doctrines? Or confused with words, whether they are from the Lord or not. Both Job and the proverb encouraged us to go and observe the creation to see how He created them! Awesome!
Then maybe we will be like Job, strong in our faith and know what we have done right or wrong, by seeing how He created the world! Observing the creation is part of worshipping, just by staring at them in aweness! Notice how simple it is for the creations to live? Why is it so complex for us? Because we are born as sinners! So we begun with complex! To know Him, we have to learn how to remove them and become more simple. Be like children before we enter the kingdom! A CALL TO SIMPLICITY! A CALL TO THE ELEMENTARY TEACHINGS!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Human's Perilous "IF and MAYBE"! (Job 7-9)
Bildad was saying "IFs and MAYBEs"... IF your children sinned, then MAYBE God destroyed them... IF you will seek God and beg, IF you are pure and upright, then MAYBE God will restore you and your habitation.... WELL! Who is Bildad to assume things of God?! How can he dare?! Sometimes we got to back off and let Him be the Judge! Just shut your fleshy mouth when you don't know the answers!
Job had a strong response again (ch 9)! He told Bildad that "God destroys both the blameless and the wicked" and that there shall be "no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both"... So what's the solution? The solution is that WE ARE ALL SINNERS period and that ONLY GOD can JUDGE us! Arbiter means a person is being empowered to judge. Job said "NO ARBITER"... means no one can on the earth can be the judge for only God is a Judge.
We got to dump those IFs and MAYBEs into the toliet and learn to love each other and let God be the Judge, otherwise we would be like an obstacle to Him when we tried to judge ourselves. PERILOUS! A verge of spiritual suicide! I love Job's example, he sacrifice the offers for all of his children daily- it shows that he doesn't judge who sin, but forgive them daily without knowing the sins! We should be like Job!
How can we avoid being a judge? We got to be like Job, to die to our selves. Job said that life has no hope (ch 7), which is true! We got to have no hope in our lives, but to have hope in Him. To die to our selves and to be alive in Him! Yeah that's the definition of our friendship with Jesus!
Job had a strong response again (ch 9)! He told Bildad that "God destroys both the blameless and the wicked" and that there shall be "no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both"... So what's the solution? The solution is that WE ARE ALL SINNERS period and that ONLY GOD can JUDGE us! Arbiter means a person is being empowered to judge. Job said "NO ARBITER"... means no one can on the earth can be the judge for only God is a Judge.
We got to dump those IFs and MAYBEs into the toliet and learn to love each other and let God be the Judge, otherwise we would be like an obstacle to Him when we tried to judge ourselves. PERILOUS! A verge of spiritual suicide! I love Job's example, he sacrifice the offers for all of his children daily- it shows that he doesn't judge who sin, but forgive them daily without knowing the sins! We should be like Job!
How can we avoid being a judge? We got to be like Job, to die to our selves. Job said that life has no hope (ch 7), which is true! We got to have no hope in our lives, but to have hope in Him. To die to our selves and to be alive in Him! Yeah that's the definition of our friendship with Jesus!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Words of No Hope... LIES! (Job 4-6)
The part that gave me a goosebumps was when Eliphaz told Job that a spirit glided past his face and voiced this to him:
"How can a human be right before Him? How can someone be pure before the Maker? Even He doesn't trust His own servants... even our bodies will be gone, dead like a dust, like a moth..."
What does that sounds like? A spirit of whom? It sounds like a spirit of lies! Why LIES? Because it is a spirit of hopelessness!
First, God is Love. Most of us know the famous verses about Love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.. If you look at verse 7, you will find that "Love always protects, trusts, hopes, and perserves." Now you can see that this passage in Job 4:15-21 shows that the spirit is full of no hope!... Eliphaz is telling Job that he has no hope because he is full of sin and will die like a dust with nothingness! NO! It sounds like a serpent in Adam and Eve's time... the voice seems to beckon Job to a place of no hope!
I bet Job is thinking something like this "For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth." (Ps. 71:5). Since Job had been faithful before the tragedies had befallen on him!
I love how Job responded! "But what does reproof from you reprove? Do you think that you can reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is wind?". A definition of a despairing man is the man who is given in to hopelessness. So, Job had the wisdom to discern that his friend has the spirit of hopelessness and that it is not from God!
We should be like Job, learn to SHUT DOWN the SPIRIT of LIES. And be filled with the spirit of hope, of Love! We need to polish our inner self to make our inner self like pearls! Through our self-discipline, by shutting down the spirit of lies, to be free! FREEDOM!
"How can a human be right before Him? How can someone be pure before the Maker? Even He doesn't trust His own servants... even our bodies will be gone, dead like a dust, like a moth..."
What does that sounds like? A spirit of whom? It sounds like a spirit of lies! Why LIES? Because it is a spirit of hopelessness!
First, God is Love. Most of us know the famous verses about Love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.. If you look at verse 7, you will find that "Love always protects, trusts, hopes, and perserves." Now you can see that this passage in Job 4:15-21 shows that the spirit is full of no hope!... Eliphaz is telling Job that he has no hope because he is full of sin and will die like a dust with nothingness! NO! It sounds like a serpent in Adam and Eve's time... the voice seems to beckon Job to a place of no hope!
I bet Job is thinking something like this "For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth." (Ps. 71:5). Since Job had been faithful before the tragedies had befallen on him!
I love how Job responded! "But what does reproof from you reprove? Do you think that you can reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is wind?". A definition of a despairing man is the man who is given in to hopelessness. So, Job had the wisdom to discern that his friend has the spirit of hopelessness and that it is not from God!
We should be like Job, learn to SHUT DOWN the SPIRIT of LIES. And be filled with the spirit of hope, of Love! We need to polish our inner self to make our inner self like pearls! Through our self-discipline, by shutting down the spirit of lies, to be free! FREEDOM!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
My "Job Testimony" (Job 1-3)
"Job doesn't curse God as his wife suggested him to do so, getting rid of the problem by getting rid of God." from Message Bible introduction.
That's it! It is the perfect way to express what I did recently! I decided to get rid of the problem by getting rid of God during my senior year in college for one semester before I turned back to Him during the New Year Eve 2009! That's when I started to see how God moved in my life with renewed eyes, yeah the scales had fallen off on that day when I announced that I am going to rededicate my life to Him wholly again!
Then after the introduction, I read about how Job had been faithfully in confessing (sacrificing animals) the first thing in the mornings! That's why he was upright in His sight! He kept checking to see how he can repent and grow daily by remembering Him!
Job was prepared to face the suffering that will come soon by remembering Him daily! It was like how I grew in Him through the youth group during my junior year before facing a terrible 6! We cannot face something tough before we grew strong in Him!
Then Job faced four strucks rapidly! First messenger came to tell him about the loss of animals and workers, then while he was speaking, another came! I love how the pattern of the story, 'while he was speaking' shows how fast the destruction came! Like how fast the blessing came for Cornelius for Peter was still speaking when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Matt 10)! Basically Job lost all animals (animals, sheep, and camels, and the workers/drivers) and all of his children, and then his health!
Wow! Job lost three things! I love this pattern because I kinda feel emotionally attached to this chapter. For I also lost three things at once in the end of my junior year in high school! On the last day of school, we moved out and ended up homeless. On that day I lost my friends in my public school almost 100%, lost home, and lost my Spiritual family at the church (which was the worst of all!). But He gave me one thing, the book to encourage me through it all!
Then after that, did you look at how Job responded?! I love how he responded... he decided to worship Him the first thing after four strucks, before his health got bad! He said, 'The Lord gave, and taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." He didn't jump around to praise Him... Not at all! He just acknowledge Him that everything is His! Authentic worship!
Then he began to curse his life instead of cursing Him. That's the best way we can respond! Rather than getting rid of the problem by putting Him away, we ought face the problem and hate the life to continue loving Him!
After those terrible 6 (6 months of being homeless, in either motel or tent), we moved back into an apartment! My relationship with Him finally got easier. I went to Gallaudet afterward. But one thing still stay missing, THE ROOT. After turning away from Him (July 6 to Dec 31, 2008), I finally turn back to Him and found a Spiritual family (church), where an inner healing comes! Yeah I still wait for more blessings to come and in His time they shall! =)
-To those who went through the chapter of Job as well... trust me... keep waiting... http://fromgardentocity.com/blog/post/job-1-3/
That's it! It is the perfect way to express what I did recently! I decided to get rid of the problem by getting rid of God during my senior year in college for one semester before I turned back to Him during the New Year Eve 2009! That's when I started to see how God moved in my life with renewed eyes, yeah the scales had fallen off on that day when I announced that I am going to rededicate my life to Him wholly again!
Then after the introduction, I read about how Job had been faithfully in confessing (sacrificing animals) the first thing in the mornings! That's why he was upright in His sight! He kept checking to see how he can repent and grow daily by remembering Him!
Job was prepared to face the suffering that will come soon by remembering Him daily! It was like how I grew in Him through the youth group during my junior year before facing a terrible 6! We cannot face something tough before we grew strong in Him!
Then Job faced four strucks rapidly! First messenger came to tell him about the loss of animals and workers, then while he was speaking, another came! I love how the pattern of the story, 'while he was speaking' shows how fast the destruction came! Like how fast the blessing came for Cornelius for Peter was still speaking when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Matt 10)! Basically Job lost all animals (animals, sheep, and camels, and the workers/drivers) and all of his children, and then his health!
Wow! Job lost three things! I love this pattern because I kinda feel emotionally attached to this chapter. For I also lost three things at once in the end of my junior year in high school! On the last day of school, we moved out and ended up homeless. On that day I lost my friends in my public school almost 100%, lost home, and lost my Spiritual family at the church (which was the worst of all!). But He gave me one thing, the book to encourage me through it all!
Then after that, did you look at how Job responded?! I love how he responded... he decided to worship Him the first thing after four strucks, before his health got bad! He said, 'The Lord gave, and taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." He didn't jump around to praise Him... Not at all! He just acknowledge Him that everything is His! Authentic worship!
Then he began to curse his life instead of cursing Him. That's the best way we can respond! Rather than getting rid of the problem by putting Him away, we ought face the problem and hate the life to continue loving Him!
After those terrible 6 (6 months of being homeless, in either motel or tent), we moved back into an apartment! My relationship with Him finally got easier. I went to Gallaudet afterward. But one thing still stay missing, THE ROOT. After turning away from Him (July 6 to Dec 31, 2008), I finally turn back to Him and found a Spiritual family (church), where an inner healing comes! Yeah I still wait for more blessings to come and in His time they shall! =)
-To those who went through the chapter of Job as well... trust me... keep waiting... http://fromgardentocity.com/blog/post/job-1-3/
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Fearless vs Foolishness (to write)
It's amazing how God has given me a vision through someone at National Alpha Breakfast to write a book by challenging me to write one after a good talk about how our testimonies may help the others to grow! In fact, I began a draft outline about what I will write on Dec 11 (by looking at Date the Word was last Modified). I thought that I should be open to anything and try to write one. However, I think that this outline stinks! It's worthless to try to write something related to deaf ministry manual or history! Jesus never talk about any manual! The apostles always shared about the gospels and testimonies, along with signs and wonders to reveal His glory to the lost or to challenge disciples to grow!
Now, where should I begin? At first I felt led to begin with a prayer, which is a cornerstone to our faith! So I began to pray right after I said, "Yes" to write a book, and it is sealed to come. After few days of prayer, I felt led to pray specific prayers. So, I started to think about the plans to inspect and find specific resources I will need to begin. Then I sudden felt the urge to stop praying and buy! Are You sure?... Man! But it seems like He wants me to do so!
On that day, I decided to start looking for new pager, new laptop, and some books to start with. While I am proceeding, I received an email from my mother about one credit card that I shut down few years ago. It came with a bill! Obviously, it was a mistake! This credit card was stolen, so I applied a fraud few years ago and it was approved, but it came back now with many late fees! FYI-Gotta keep your credit card records even thought if you decide to shut down the account! Whoa! Planning to buy those stuff must be a mistake?! NO! I love it when things seem to go downward because when troubles come, it shows that the blessing is on the way (yeah I often think like that way). So, I feel encouraged as I move up.
So am I being a fool to buy those stuff when I am in the red? It's kinda funny how I love living a simple life in the past few years when I am able to buy those things, but now I start to get in the red, and ended up purchasing those! Crazy, uh? But after I upgraded my pager, purchased a Netbook laptop, and few books. I felt the unspeakable joy for few days! Love it!
Things = no joy (emptiness), BUT things + God's given purpose = full of joy!
Before I bought this laptop, I went on the metro to Pentagon City to Best Buy store. While I'm on the metro, I was going through the dark tunnel and I was full of thoughts and a bit of doubts. I upgraded my pager and found out that I can check many emails, blog, surf the internet through the pager, so I began to think about blotting off laptop from the small list. But when I came out of the dark tunnel to see the beauty! Snow icebergs in the river, the bridge, forest on the side of the river, and more! I suddenly forgot about my thoughts and enjoyed the beauty. Oh yeah that's it! That's how I feel when I upgraded my pager, if I felt led to do it, then I shall finish the list! DONE! Ta-Da! It's time for progressing... um... 2010 or 2020 vision? Who knows! KEEP MOVING! Once you are out of the boat, you got to walk on water by faith!
Now, where should I begin? At first I felt led to begin with a prayer, which is a cornerstone to our faith! So I began to pray right after I said, "Yes" to write a book, and it is sealed to come. After few days of prayer, I felt led to pray specific prayers. So, I started to think about the plans to inspect and find specific resources I will need to begin. Then I sudden felt the urge to stop praying and buy! Are You sure?... Man! But it seems like He wants me to do so!
On that day, I decided to start looking for new pager, new laptop, and some books to start with. While I am proceeding, I received an email from my mother about one credit card that I shut down few years ago. It came with a bill! Obviously, it was a mistake! This credit card was stolen, so I applied a fraud few years ago and it was approved, but it came back now with many late fees! FYI-Gotta keep your credit card records even thought if you decide to shut down the account! Whoa! Planning to buy those stuff must be a mistake?! NO! I love it when things seem to go downward because when troubles come, it shows that the blessing is on the way (yeah I often think like that way). So, I feel encouraged as I move up.
So am I being a fool to buy those stuff when I am in the red? It's kinda funny how I love living a simple life in the past few years when I am able to buy those things, but now I start to get in the red, and ended up purchasing those! Crazy, uh? But after I upgraded my pager, purchased a Netbook laptop, and few books. I felt the unspeakable joy for few days! Love it!
Things = no joy (emptiness), BUT things + God's given purpose = full of joy!
Before I bought this laptop, I went on the metro to Pentagon City to Best Buy store. While I'm on the metro, I was going through the dark tunnel and I was full of thoughts and a bit of doubts. I upgraded my pager and found out that I can check many emails, blog, surf the internet through the pager, so I began to think about blotting off laptop from the small list. But when I came out of the dark tunnel to see the beauty! Snow icebergs in the river, the bridge, forest on the side of the river, and more! I suddenly forgot about my thoughts and enjoyed the beauty. Oh yeah that's it! That's how I feel when I upgraded my pager, if I felt led to do it, then I shall finish the list! DONE! Ta-Da! It's time for progressing... um... 2010 or 2020 vision? Who knows! KEEP MOVING! Once you are out of the boat, you got to walk on water by faith!
Are you John the Baptist-Mary or Martha-Mary?
We may all love the Lord with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength like Mary. But are we either John the Baptist- Mary (or Mary-Mary if you like) or Martha-Mary? Some of us may see some terms such as prophetic-teacher, prophetic-evangelism, or apostolic-pastor. It is often like this: characteristic-called... if you are prophetic-teacher, then you are a teacher with some characteristics of a prophet in you. So are you like Mary with the characteristic of John the Baptist or Martha?
Mary- Loving God with her whole heart
Martha- distracted from God by home or religious or other duties
John the Baptist- Either no duties (eating locust and honey) OR serving the people with his disciples (then lead them to Jesus when He came, 'Behold!')
Luke 10:40-42 ESV- "But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her"
Uh?! Martha was distracted! It seems like Martha had forgotten the simple fire drill! STOP-DROP-ROLL! Sometimes we need to pause and look around us! Maybe there is a lost sheep out there, or some people who are in the verge of wandering away to become lost! Um... but, we have a lot of things to do! YEAH! But leaving a sheep alone ain't the way to go!
Did Jesus set an example? Sure! He told them in the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15) about how a shepherd will leave 99 sheep to look for one... ONLY ONE... lost sheep. Often we all are like Martha, filled with all of those religious duties that we forgot about reaching to the others. BUT I need to finish those duties!... well we can either abandon the duties and allow someone to take over! OR we can invite a sheep to join us in serving like how Jesus called his Twelve!
SLOW DOWN AND INVITE SOMEONE! Can't we serve WITH someone and enjoy serving together? Keep your eyes open, be on look-out with Holy Anticipation! BANG!
Mary- Loving God with her whole heart
Martha- distracted from God by home or religious or other duties
John the Baptist- Either no duties (eating locust and honey) OR serving the people with his disciples (then lead them to Jesus when He came, 'Behold!')
Luke 10:40-42 ESV- "But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her"
Uh?! Martha was distracted! It seems like Martha had forgotten the simple fire drill! STOP-DROP-ROLL! Sometimes we need to pause and look around us! Maybe there is a lost sheep out there, or some people who are in the verge of wandering away to become lost! Um... but, we have a lot of things to do! YEAH! But leaving a sheep alone ain't the way to go!
Did Jesus set an example? Sure! He told them in the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15) about how a shepherd will leave 99 sheep to look for one... ONLY ONE... lost sheep. Often we all are like Martha, filled with all of those religious duties that we forgot about reaching to the others. BUT I need to finish those duties!... well we can either abandon the duties and allow someone to take over! OR we can invite a sheep to join us in serving like how Jesus called his Twelve!
SLOW DOWN AND INVITE SOMEONE! Can't we serve WITH someone and enjoy serving together? Keep your eyes open, be on look-out with Holy Anticipation! BANG!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
NCC 2nd Saturday Service
Juanita Dudley led the group, while Stephanie Wilkinson, Juliana Heerschap, Helene Scalliet, and I followed her lead to the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center. We all used our muscular muscles to shovel a mass snow over to huge heaps all around! We had to take a 10 minutes break to breath our worn lungs out! Then we busted some more to overcome our "Impossible Mission"... cuz with God nothing is impossible! So, we marched into Helene's car to return to our base! When we neared our base (Ebenezers), we found a helpless neighborhood, a SUV with a crippled tire! So, our muscular muscles came into action and we speedied to their aid to set them free, and saw they fly away! We marched into our base. Our leader, Juanita, gave us an unique medals/rewards as His ambassadors.... we got a hot mint chocolate to refresh our muscles! Wow,
Juanita showed us how the leaders should treat the troops in this new generation, with a purchase of hot mint chocolate to refresh us, to end the day well, by honoring our body's cravings!
BTW... yeah here's a photo of me shovelling a huge heap of snow... to show-off my muscles into action! But then the guilt of being macho, I had to humble myself and reduced myself to shovelling a small scoop of snow! Yeah I was BIG, but now I am SMALL!... u know "first will be last and last will be first"? That's what happened to me! WARNING!!! Its too late for me! But yall still have the chance to change! =)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
We Shall Feed Our Spirit
Fasting from food is to weak our body. While fasting from His words or prayer is to weak our faith in Him. I love the concept that we often overlooked is that sometimes we fasted from reading our Bible! We may think, "No way!"... although we may not intend to start that kind of fast, but we did! We have to eat, or we shall die. It is same with our spiritual food, we have to eat spiritually or we will die spiritually! Maybe we should fast from food and read Bible instead and die, it is better to die physically than spiritually!
There are a lot of different fast from food in the Bible... Jesus for 40 days before He started His 3 years ministry, Moses fasted for 40 days to bring His new laws to Israel, Daniel fasted for 10 and 21 days to see the visions and dreams, also to increase literature knowledge, Nehemiah fasted 3 days to inspect the wall and rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, Esther fasted with her people for 3 days to rescue Jews, and many others who may fast to repent. Like how David lied flat fasting and praying for 7 days for his son, and got up when his son died and move on. Maybe we need to fast to recognize that our faith are weak and we need to reverse it, and then move on to walk upon His path with increased faith! Paul fasted for 3 days when fish scales Walking deeper into His path for "Deep calls to deep" (Psalm 42).
We need to prepare our heart... maybe our soul are downcast, we need to remember Him and become thirst for Him day and night. Eating the Scrolls, the Bread of Life for only He can satisfy your hunger.
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5) the apostles who did many signs and wonders asked Jesus this! Also they asked Jesus, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" (Matt 17:19). Then Jesus responded with, (Matthew 17:20 Some manuscripts) "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Why is that?! Because our spirit inside us are hungry and weak! Maybe our spirit is on a verge of suicide! We need to feed our spirit. Even the apostles who did signs and wonders forgot to feed themselves spiritually that they failed to cast out demons and ran to Jesus. Like how Peter failed to keep his focus and drowned and shout to Jesus. Like how we forgot to feed ourselves spiritually and we need to shout for His help.
We can start reading thru Bible from Lent to Lent together, the reading plan will appear at http://fromgardentocity.com/ coming soon. Also there is a facebook group called fromgardentocity where we can talk about Bible as we read thru it!
There are a lot of different fast from food in the Bible... Jesus for 40 days before He started His 3 years ministry, Moses fasted for 40 days to bring His new laws to Israel, Daniel fasted for 10 and 21 days to see the visions and dreams, also to increase literature knowledge, Nehemiah fasted 3 days to inspect the wall and rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, Esther fasted with her people for 3 days to rescue Jews, and many others who may fast to repent. Like how David lied flat fasting and praying for 7 days for his son, and got up when his son died and move on. Maybe we need to fast to recognize that our faith are weak and we need to reverse it, and then move on to walk upon His path with increased faith! Paul fasted for 3 days when fish scales Walking deeper into His path for "Deep calls to deep" (Psalm 42).
We need to prepare our heart... maybe our soul are downcast, we need to remember Him and become thirst for Him day and night. Eating the Scrolls, the Bread of Life for only He can satisfy your hunger.
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5) the apostles who did many signs and wonders asked Jesus this! Also they asked Jesus, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" (Matt 17:19). Then Jesus responded with, (Matthew 17:20 Some manuscripts) "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Why is that?! Because our spirit inside us are hungry and weak! Maybe our spirit is on a verge of suicide! We need to feed our spirit. Even the apostles who did signs and wonders forgot to feed themselves spiritually that they failed to cast out demons and ran to Jesus. Like how Peter failed to keep his focus and drowned and shout to Jesus. Like how we forgot to feed ourselves spiritually and we need to shout for His help.
We can start reading thru Bible from Lent to Lent together, the reading plan will appear at http://fromgardentocity.com/ coming soon. Also there is a facebook group called fromgardentocity where we can talk about Bible as we read thru it!
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