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Blessed and Watched with Abundance

Deuteronomy 2:7
The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. The Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.

There are many areas in which I am not good at and I could easily brood over them. As I read this verse, I looked at my hands and I reflected not on what I cannot do, but what I can do. I am not multi-lingual but I am given a strong hold on one language. I cannot speak publicly but I am given clear speech. I cannot sculpt or paint but I am given drawing and computer-based talents.  I cannot organize but I am given the spirit of serving. I cannot perform miracles but I am given the grace of my God who can. 

In my journey, I could easily lose these gifts for the sake of a couple of failures, being overwhelmed by inabilities or the comparison to people with other abilities. But the Lord my God has watched over me in my journey of learning, changing and performing. He has been with me and indeed, I have not lacked anything. For the Lord my God knows and tends to my needs and even my wants. 

Have you ever thought of what your life is leading to? What you would do with it? I have. I don't care what I cannot do. I know what I can do and in that, I aim to do it well for the benefit and, hopefully, change in others for a better life. I do not have a particular kind of people to focus on but I do want to witness people, as a whole, live their lives without hurting themselves or others; without beating themselves up and with understanding the amazing life of serving others.

Someone prayed over me recently, declaring excellence beyond other works in what I do. I don't think he was talking just about my drawings. Thank you for your prayer - it is received and appreciated.

-Thank You, God-

Anger Management

Anger is probably one of the most interesting topics to me, current day. Maybe it's because I've experienced (and still am experiencing) so many kinds of anger, and not just experiencing that but experiencing ways on responding to it.

How many times can and do we get angry a day? We could very well wake up on the wrong side of the bed and feel like we're having a rotten day for the next 24 hours. We could have a day with petty problems like a car breakdown, not finding a (good) parking space, forgetting our homework, computer crashing on us, annoying classmates, rude people... And the problems mentioned are surely petty because they aren't enough to really, actually hurt us. But they can make us angry.

My life, when it concerns anger, can be broken down into three stages: past, past and present.

Anger Management #1
I am easily angered. Flukes, delays, pressure, stress, faults, words.. everything gets to me. I react, I flare up. I frown, I scowl. I swear, I curse. I become silent, I withdraw. I shout, I cry, I blame, I accuse. I spend the next hour in an isolated self-pity party, wondering why the world is against me, why people always fail me, why problems are out to get me.

Anger Management #2
I am fairly easily angered. Some little things still annoy me, some more important matters, but I approach the anger differently. I begin to ignore it, pretend that it didn't even happen. I dismiss the person who angered me momentarily, stop associating with them till the anger wears off and we easily become friends again. At times, I even dismiss the problem or source of anger altogether, but other times I find myself persistently complaining about it.

Anger Management #3
I am still fairly easily angered. But I find that I am angered by things so different from before. My approach has changed too. When someone angers me, I pray for them. When something angers me, I pray for peace over petty problems.

Anger isn't always a bad thing. If we're angry for a right reason and if we respond correctly, there's nothing wrong with it. Anger is just a feeling, after all. It comes naturally, we cannot stop it. See the three different stages of anger I have gone through in my life? It may not apply to everyone, nor is it a statement that I do not anger anymore. Even more so, I admit that every day I encounter, see or hear people, words, attitudes and situations that make me so angry sometimes. Sometimes I become so angry, I feel like strangling someone, breaking something. I feel angry because... because I know it displeases God. Because I know it could work out differently if people took the liberty to choose correctly. Because I am unable to do anything about it.

But you know what? While I know I am unable, I know my God is able. That is why I pray.

If you read one of my previous posts about my encounter with a group of people online, I was angry, so angry with them. I eventually resorted to praying for them, because there was nothing else I could do. Nothing else and nothing better. Who knows? Perhaps my prayer added another brick on their path to knowing God.

When I counsel people who have a horrendously negative outlook on people and life, who use swear words to describe others, who prefer to dwell in intolerance rather than forgiveness, pride rather than humility, I also get angry. But I am not one good with words or persuasion. I am not a miracle-worker: I cannot change their perceptions and behavior with the snap of my fingers. But I can pray for them and that they are enlightened with a life-changing experience that will give them a happier life to live in.

I heard someone say something very inspiring today, about how we can take our anger and change it into something good. What do we achieve, after all, by taking out our anger on someone? Rather, when someone actually tries it, changing the anger to do something good for another is so much more fulfilling. Not very long ago, I wouldn't have believed that.. at all. If you had said that, I would've snorted, turned away and decided that I will treat those I dislike anyway I liked. And I probably would've picked to make them feel bad, to ignore them, to hold a grudge.

But when I began to do something good - pray, forgive, love - I found that it became so much harder to become angry and so much easier to manage my anger. I discovered what it means to have peace in Christ Jesus even in anger.

Anger management. Do you have it?

Difference between Requirement & Desire

Many months of non-blogging and I have returned with a Word from God that I received today :)

Hebrews 9 & 10 speaks about Christ being the final sacrifice for mankind. We all know that God's law required priests of the past to offer sacrifices to God for the cleansing of the people. Heb 9 & 10 of the Bible makes one point very clear: such sacrifices are no longer required because Christ was the ultimate sacrifice. In other words, when Christ died on the cross, He permanently took away our sins.

On the surface, Hebrews 10 (vs 1-18) looks very much like a repetition of Hebrews 8 & 9. But as I read Hebrews 10 (vs 1-18), God revealed something different to me. He showed me the difference between requirement and desire.

The reason people had to present sacrifices and offerings in the past is because this was required of God's Law for the atonement of their sins. By right, because God's law is absolute, people today are also required to present offerings! HOWEVER... simply because it is required of the Law, doesn't mean it is desired by God.

 "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, 
 but a body you prepared for me; 
 with burnt offerings and sin offerings 
 you were not pleased. 

(Hebrews 10:5,6)

Now, God even proved (admittedly, we humans tend to ask for proof of a lot of things) to us that He didn't desire repeated sacrifices and offerings from us. He spared us the trouble by sending down His Son, Jesus Christ, who became the ultimate* sacrifice. Yes, he provided the sacrifice.

*ultimate = final. As in, final final. Nothing can be more final. Eternity final. I trust I've gotten through to you.

TODAY... God doesn't require us to give Him sacrifices, but He desires something from us. He has offered us an undeniable offer: He has provided a way to eternal life with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. To walk the way to eternal life is simply to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord (paraphrase of Romans 10:9 NIV). This is God's desire: that we take up on His offer and love Him and walk with Him.

That is all He desires.

In times of uncertainness, FOLLOW GOD

As I read 1st chapter of Colossians tonight, I stumbled upon this: But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. (1 Col 22-23)

I am advancing into a new season of my life where I will enter a new culture, new surrounding and new and different experiences. I've said to people before that I don't ever want to move from this faith and what I received back were cautionary words, warning me not to be too confident. I can't seem to express correctly when I speak, but what I really mean by my "declaration" isn't that I definitely won't ever stumble in my entire course of life, but that I don't want to.

Maybe it's hard for other people to understand - that's fine. But I know one thing, as Peter says in the book of John, "Lord, You know all things".. Indeed Christ knows all things of the past, present and future. I don't know what is in store for me, I don't know what will happen along the course of life, I don't know if I will weaken or be strengthened in this faith, but I truly hope that Jesus sees my heart today and knows my sincere desire to walk with Him.

I am shaken by other people's comments but not stumbled. Instead, I will only let such things affect me to the point that I will consider my life and future and pray about them to God and leave them all in His mighty hands.

"Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

Truth

Here are a few things I received from Wikipedia on "Truth":

Ghandi summarized his beliefs first when he said "God is Truth". He would later change this statement to "Truth is God".
~
Alfred North Whitehead, a British mathematician who became an American philosopher, said: "There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that play the devil".

The logical progression or connection of this line of thought is to conclude that truth can lie, since half-truths are deceptive and may lead to a false conclusion.
~
"it is generally recognized that there is no absolute truth but nevertheless that there are objectively valid laws and principles".

You want absolute truth?



This is absolute truth. Not satisfied? There's a lot more where that came from. In an argument about truth, it is not just my relative opinion because absolute truth is real.

Luke 23:34

Seasonally, I go to this online chat/drawing game site (it's like an online Pictionary) to have a little fun challenging myself at drawing (as, at my own initiative, I usually draw the same old boring animals). I meet a lot of strange people there, not surprisingly - nice people, rude people, rule-abiding people, rebellious people, polite people, foul-mouthed people, etc.. I've learned to either ignore or leave a room when something less appropriate happens.

Today, as I stepped into a room, I "overheard" a conversation between some people who were talking about someone very casually, very ordinarily. I didn't think much of it at first but as they went on, a word caught my eye. One of them mentioned the name "god". It sparked my interest so I read on and they proceeded to talk about someone whom one of them had met and this person was a mess and has been a mess since his son died.

Here's the case: I knew there were a couple of players on the site that had nicknames involving the word "god" and I assumed, at first, that one of them was the subject of this conversation. But as I continued to read, they were not talking about "a" god, they were talking about God and this son they referred to was God's Son, Jesus Christ.

I had no idea how to respond, so I listened incredulously as they as they not only referred to God as a human-like being, but as someone who was so messed up, so broken over the death of his Son that he had to go to a person for counseling. I can hardly remember what else was mentioned and personally, I am glad I don't remember, because a one-time experience of that conversation was enough to boggle the mind.

I may not remember the details, but I remember what I felt and thought during the time. I was... stupefied. I just couldn't, and still can't, comprehend that I had just sat through a conversation where people talked about my God and were reducing Him to a torn, messed up man who acted like he had no hope in this world. I couldn't comprehend how they casually joked and teased about God and they laughed! They laughed.

I was stunned, literally.. and I was crying, inside, because my God, whom I know is sovereign and all-powerful, the Creator of everything, was being ridiculed by His own creation. Not just rejected, but ridiculed.

I was burned up, I was annoyed, I wanted to shout at them, rebuke them and teach them a thing or two. But someone wise once said, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing". It dawned on me that these people (and they are not alone) do not know God, they do not realise what they do. I don't know whether they acted purposely or out of ignorance, but either way, shouting at them wouldn't have done any good. So I left the room. If Jesus, in the position He was put, had the grace to ask God to forgive those who mistreated Him, I figured I need to learn to be as forgiving as He.

One thing I do know for sure at the end of the day is I know who my God is and what He isn't is a hopeless, crushed man who seeks other people for sympathy, counseling and therapy. He does not talk to men and mourn over the loss of His Son because His Son, Jesus Christ, is risen and living. I know God is self-existent and He does not need us, but He loves us. He does not seek hope, He is hope. And incredibly, despite His sovereignty and power, He is also the grace who loves us and saves us.

Let there be a REVIVAL!!

This is who I am - one of God's crew. Anybody wanna make somethin' outta it, they gotta talk to The Boss. 'Cuz no one's gotta say who I gotta be besides The Boss.

This is God's grace:

It SAVES us
It JUSTIFIES us
It BLESSES us
It EMPOWERS us
It is SUFFICIENT
It is SURPASSING
It is FREE

Nothing in this world is free, you say? It's okay, God is not of the world.

He is God.

Real World

Merr is back =)

The "prayer warrior" has not been the best prayer warrior I must say, it's seriously time to replenish my spiritual life.

My world can become so unreal sometimes. My imagination has an ability to transform stories and worlds into movies I watch, books I read, then I got to bring myself back to earth. You got it, I'm rather aloof. Only realized it when my English teacher once wrote that I can be a little aloof at times.

I can release everything I'm thinking, feeling or even everything I'm not thinking or feeling into my virtual world, it's so convenient. My imagination is like a TV set playing endless shows that I like to watch, and guess what? I'm the director.

That's cool. But it's not the real world. It's amazing how many ways in so many areas my life and thoughts and decisions can be split.

Isn't the human brain the greatest?