“…so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you” - Joshua 1:5
To actually say these words to someone is showing how much you love and care for that person. Amazingly, this is what exactly God is telling each and every one of us. Its not a generalize kind of love like loving our country, but it’s a personal love. God loves us like there is nobody else in this world.
I was carrying my newborn (barely 1 week old) son around someday and I talked to him. I know he don’t understand any word I said, because while I was talking to him, he was looking everywhere else. A part of me feels sad because I can’t interact fully with my son yet, but I understand that it will take some time before we can interact with each other better. He will need to develop linguistics skills and understanding first.
As I put him to bed, I utter the words “If only you knew how much I love you”. Right away in my spirit, I heard the Lord telling me, ‘That is exactly what I want to tell you too’.
God loves us very much, and would very much want to get intimate with us in every way. But, our level of understanding and knowledge hinders us from getting the best of what God wants us to know. We still have a lot to go to tune in to God and develop our ‘linguistics’ with him. But, rest assured that God loves us very much that all our needs will be taken care of by Him, just as my son receive all his needs because I love him.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Don't Look Back In Anger
"In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold”
Ephesians 4:26
A friend of mine just recently passed on. I haven’t seen him for a very long time, but I remember that he was a really fun person to be with. His passion for worship, music and people has influenced and blessed many. One considerable quality I notice in him was his patience. I’ve never seen him angry or letting his emotions get ahead of him. He was always calm and steady in dealing with any situations, even miserable ones.
We’re all familiar with countless circumstances, where, due to anger, our last words or action to our loved ones or friends turn into our deepest regrets. When the relationship shatters, when friendship falls apart or when the person depart this life, it will be too late to take things back and change.
God’s Word doesn’t forbid us from getting angry, it is an essential part of our emotion, but holding on to anger for too long leads to bitterness, rage, brawling and slander. Holding on to anger turns this essential emotion to sin. We can’t stop the sun from going down, but we can always clear our heads of anger.
This is not easy. Take time to cool off .Put positive and constructive thoughts in your mind. Always remember that it is never worth your time, energy and emotion. Life is short; don’t waste it on being angry.
I’m saddened by my friend’s parting, but I’m proud that he left a legacy of joy and peace with people, by inspiring me to be anger free.
Ephesians 4:26
A friend of mine just recently passed on. I haven’t seen him for a very long time, but I remember that he was a really fun person to be with. His passion for worship, music and people has influenced and blessed many. One considerable quality I notice in him was his patience. I’ve never seen him angry or letting his emotions get ahead of him. He was always calm and steady in dealing with any situations, even miserable ones.
We’re all familiar with countless circumstances, where, due to anger, our last words or action to our loved ones or friends turn into our deepest regrets. When the relationship shatters, when friendship falls apart or when the person depart this life, it will be too late to take things back and change.
God’s Word doesn’t forbid us from getting angry, it is an essential part of our emotion, but holding on to anger for too long leads to bitterness, rage, brawling and slander. Holding on to anger turns this essential emotion to sin. We can’t stop the sun from going down, but we can always clear our heads of anger.
This is not easy. Take time to cool off .Put positive and constructive thoughts in your mind. Always remember that it is never worth your time, energy and emotion. Life is short; don’t waste it on being angry.
I’m saddened by my friend’s parting, but I’m proud that he left a legacy of joy and peace with people, by inspiring me to be anger free.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Waiting On God
Genesis 12:2
“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing”
This is the promise made by God to Abraham when he first left Haran, his ‘home’ country. Before you become a great nation, the first step would be to establish your family. Sorry to say, Abraham only had Isaac, his rightful heir, 25 years later. Talk about progress. Here is a promise, a purpose to be a great nation, and yet the only measurable progress he can see is, 1 son in 25 years. My idea of building myself a nation would be 33 kids in 25 years (estimated 1 child every 9 months). Not realistic and might not be much of a nation, but at least we’d fill up a bus or a village.
We know eventually what the outcome of God’s promise to Abraham is. He indeed became a great nation. Considering that believers of Christ are also Abraham’s seed, his seed are indeed countless as the stars in the sky.
What interests me here is the waiting period, from the moment of the promise until the first sign of fulfillment in the birth of Isaac. I feel that the past 1 year has been a wandering time for both me and my wife. We were always in touch with our purpose, but looking for the next step was a great challenge. Waiting on God was tough.
But considering the adventures and experiences while waiting for the promise; I’ll say that the waiting was all throughout fruitful for Abraham. He had a stint with Pharaoh of Egypt, he fought and won battles, and he also has a successful farming and trading business. He got position, power and wealth. Waiting on God never comes out empty!
This gives me a renewed revelation to keep on waiting on God. I might not see where I’m heading at the moment, but I will count and cherish every blessing and experience that comes my way.
“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing”
This is the promise made by God to Abraham when he first left Haran, his ‘home’ country. Before you become a great nation, the first step would be to establish your family. Sorry to say, Abraham only had Isaac, his rightful heir, 25 years later. Talk about progress. Here is a promise, a purpose to be a great nation, and yet the only measurable progress he can see is, 1 son in 25 years. My idea of building myself a nation would be 33 kids in 25 years (estimated 1 child every 9 months). Not realistic and might not be much of a nation, but at least we’d fill up a bus or a village.
We know eventually what the outcome of God’s promise to Abraham is. He indeed became a great nation. Considering that believers of Christ are also Abraham’s seed, his seed are indeed countless as the stars in the sky.
What interests me here is the waiting period, from the moment of the promise until the first sign of fulfillment in the birth of Isaac. I feel that the past 1 year has been a wandering time for both me and my wife. We were always in touch with our purpose, but looking for the next step was a great challenge. Waiting on God was tough.
But considering the adventures and experiences while waiting for the promise; I’ll say that the waiting was all throughout fruitful for Abraham. He had a stint with Pharaoh of Egypt, he fought and won battles, and he also has a successful farming and trading business. He got position, power and wealth. Waiting on God never comes out empty!
This gives me a renewed revelation to keep on waiting on God. I might not see where I’m heading at the moment, but I will count and cherish every blessing and experience that comes my way.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Spiritual Maintenance
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” Genesis 2:15 (NIV)
How do we imagine the Garden of Eden? I would imagine the most beautiful place on earth. A place of incredible beauty, the kind that makes you shed tears while admiring. If you read through beginning from chapter 2 of Genesis, up to verse 15, you’ll see that God Himself planted the garden. He formed a river through it and laid tress that is pleasing to the eyes in it. It is the one place I would like to see after I die.
The startling thing is, a man has to work it and take care of this garden. All this while I thought all that Adam did all day was trying out fruits and playing by the river. That’s what I would do. God did the preliminary work of laying out the landscape with the best materials, designed the river way, decorating it with beautiful trees and food all over. All that Adam had to do was to maintain it well.
It’s a great picture of our life before God too. God did everything beautiful in us already. He gave us His eternal life, shower us with love and blessings. We were made in His image. We are His most beautiful creation. But, we do need maintenance as well. It’s entirely up to us what kind of garden we want to be. If we want more flowers to add colors, sow flower seeds. If we want more fruits to eat, sow more fruit seeds. If there is an ugly tree that is starting to grow, we pull it out by the roots.
I want to know God better in my life, so I’m sowing seeds by spending more time reading His Word daily. I want to be blessed financially, so I’m sowing seeds by doing research on simple investments I can do. I find that a particular tree of materialism is starting to grow in me, so I pull out the roots by avoiding gadget magazines. Whatever you want or need, be it a balanced career, friends, life partner, child, skills, financial breakthrough or health, start planting a seed today. Whatever is troubling you now, there is a root to it. Remove it immediately before it grows bigger. I believe God will bless what we sow to be fruitful in us to bring Him the glory.
Happy gardening.
How do we imagine the Garden of Eden? I would imagine the most beautiful place on earth. A place of incredible beauty, the kind that makes you shed tears while admiring. If you read through beginning from chapter 2 of Genesis, up to verse 15, you’ll see that God Himself planted the garden. He formed a river through it and laid tress that is pleasing to the eyes in it. It is the one place I would like to see after I die.
The startling thing is, a man has to work it and take care of this garden. All this while I thought all that Adam did all day was trying out fruits and playing by the river. That’s what I would do. God did the preliminary work of laying out the landscape with the best materials, designed the river way, decorating it with beautiful trees and food all over. All that Adam had to do was to maintain it well.
It’s a great picture of our life before God too. God did everything beautiful in us already. He gave us His eternal life, shower us with love and blessings. We were made in His image. We are His most beautiful creation. But, we do need maintenance as well. It’s entirely up to us what kind of garden we want to be. If we want more flowers to add colors, sow flower seeds. If we want more fruits to eat, sow more fruit seeds. If there is an ugly tree that is starting to grow, we pull it out by the roots.
I want to know God better in my life, so I’m sowing seeds by spending more time reading His Word daily. I want to be blessed financially, so I’m sowing seeds by doing research on simple investments I can do. I find that a particular tree of materialism is starting to grow in me, so I pull out the roots by avoiding gadget magazines. Whatever you want or need, be it a balanced career, friends, life partner, child, skills, financial breakthrough or health, start planting a seed today. Whatever is troubling you now, there is a root to it. Remove it immediately before it grows bigger. I believe God will bless what we sow to be fruitful in us to bring Him the glory.
Happy gardening.
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