Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Unanswered ?


Well just today as I was reading my bible I came across this verse :

Isaiah 44:21 "Remember these things O Jacob, for you are my servant O Israel. I have made you, you are my servant; O Israel, I will not forget you".

Many times it feels as though God takes His time in answering our prayers. Basically He does take His time for good reasons I guess. But sometimes we all do feel that God has forgotten us when the challenges of life mounts up and as we go through pressures from all side.

But really during those times, God is still with us helping us to deal with those challenges one by one. I know in my own life at the moment, things are not very clear on what I should do next but I know that God is guiding me one step at a time.


This verse made me to realize that God has not forgotten me and my needs and that He is continuously guiding me everyday. Sometimes we all need this reminder from God. So I just want to encourage you today that God has not forgotten you !

Be encouraged, God is by your side even when it feels like He is not. He is there!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Unexpected ?



I like this song very much, found it on You Tube. Have a listen to this song!


Well just today as I was driving my car, I found out that the car radiator was leaking. This was totally unexpected but thank God that I am still driving the car. Hopefully I would make it to the interview today.

There are so many day to day unexpected situations that we all face. Some brings us smile and some the opposite. Its easy to thank God when things go perfectly well and its really hard to thank God when it doesn't.

But really I guess, its all about coming to the place of experiencing God's unconditional love wherever we are at in our life and no matter how bad the situation maybe, God still loves us just the way we are.

I pray that I will lean on God and experience His unconditional love to a higher degree then now and I pray that you will too!.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Better oppourtinites mean you are better ?

Just on the long weekend. Me and my friends planned to go on a fishing trip. As I was waiting for my friends to get ready, I came across a particular program on the TV. I actually thought about this particular topic many times before but yet I continue to struggle with this.

This particular program focused on children living in the poor countries and how their future was very dim if there was no assistance for them.

It is said that 6 million children under five die every year as a result of hunger ! 34 million children between the ages of 7 to 18 have never been to school, 2 million children are believed to be exploited through the commercial sex trade and this list goes on ! check out this website http://www.care.org/campaigns/childrenpoverty/facts.asp

Now for those of us who are born in developed countries don't go through the circumstances that these children go through. Almost most of us have the privilege of going for a buffet breakfast, dinner and lunch. Some people eat so much until they have problems with their health on the other hand 6 million children starve to death each year?

Where is the balance ? do the rich countries live in the expense of the poor ?

Teenagers drop out of school when there is opportunity to study further but for the other children they don't even have the chance to go to school because of poverty.

Thinking about these things make me to wonder, just because we are in a developed country and have the resources to buy anything that we want, Does it makes us better then them ?

I am no better then those children who are struggling for food,education, love, and protection. Why ? We are all created in the image and in the likeness of God, we share the divine image no matter what culture or country we are from. Because we all came from God !

Yes God has blessed us with many things, how are we using those blessing to bless others. Remember that God has called us and made us to be a blessing for others.

Let us not take for granted with what we have, use it to make poverty history! Because those who suffer are our brothers and sisters. We are one as a family in Christ. We have been called to serve the poor and make a difference in their life in whatever ways we can!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Whats Next ?

Personally all of us go through those times of confusion now and then. God brings us into that place so that we would rely on Him for guidance. But in saying that, sometimes God's guidance does not come instantly. He takes His time in guiding us through on what to do next. Am I right ? Well at least for me!

But during that time, how are we responding to God ? Really, sometimes it feels like you are between two blocked walls that does not permit you to go anywhere. No matter what you try you still end up feeling like that. But it is in those times we really feel God speaking to us and encouraging us.

In the moment of confusion and distress, I get to experience God's peace when I make the decision to lean on Him. For most of us, we lean too much on ourselves as a result of that we go through those times of frustration.

Leaning on Him meaning that "believing that He will guide me always and meet my needs at all time" no matter how things seem to be. Looking back in the past, God has been faithful to guide me and meet my needs. And I don't think that God is about to fail to do that in the present because God cannot change.

Perhaps God works in our life through these situation to change us to become the person that He want us!

Monday, October 19, 2009

When Things Dont Work Out.

Its been a challenging couple of weeks, during this time I have been learning to be patient. Being patient is not easy when you get a lot of thoughts running into your mind of how the future will unfold if you don't take full control of your situation.

But on other hand God has been speaking to me, to trust Him with all my heart and not to lean on my own understanding. Many times I have to keep reminding myself about this verse, when I tend to get discouraged.

"Trusting God with all my heart" easy to say it but hard to put into practice when you mind keeps running up and down on how to sort things out. But I guess until I come to the place of complete rest, I cant really trust God. ( Be still and know that I am God) Psalm 46:10

So to trust God, I have to rest and submit everything into His hand. Again easy to say this but hard to really put into practice. But I guess it doesn't really matter how many times you fail to trust God but rather its about how God still holds us and sustains us in the midst of doubt and confusion. Until we come to the place of full resting and submission, we know He is still there for us!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Will

Have you ever came to place in your life where there was a struggle to do God's will and your will. God is saying go to the left and another voice says go to the right. And here I am standing in the junction between two roads scared to take the left or the right. I know, if I travel on the left it is going to mean a lot of sacrifice which (includes relationship,money,time and loneliness) But if choose to travel on the right side then I guess I will not be satisfied with what I will be doing and yet to face disappointment not too far from the road.

Many times we can see in the bible those giants of faith struggled with their own will and with God's will. For an example Samson and Delilah, he absolutely knew that it was not God's will for him to get married to Delilah but eventually he did. And guess what ? He lost his eyes ! Another guy, Jonah in the bible. Ran away from proclaiming God's message to the people of Nineveh and guess what ? he was in the fish's belly three nights and days, he nearly died.


They are no different from me and you! but we all serve a compassionate and a loving God who respects our free will through out the journey of life. I guess there is always going to be conflict within each one of us and I believe the difference will be which voice do you choose to obey and are you willing to travel the path that God has called you to ? Unless Christ becomes the master of my life, my "will" often time will conflict with God's will. But when Christ becomes the master of my life 100% His will becomes my will automatically.


For Christ to become the master of our life, it is an ongoing process which we cannot attain perfection fully in a very short time but we should be open before God and ask Him to help us to do His will rather our own will. For when chose to be open before God and ask His help, we are on the pathway of making Christ as our master.


"I give myself to Christ so that I may find my real self because He alone knows who I am really"

Monday, April 6, 2009

Forgiveness and Conflict

forgiveness

Forgiveness,

Forgiveness and conflict go hand in hand in church life. Forgiveness is something easy to be said but hard to be done when it comes to relationship. All relationship go through conflict which sometimes stretches that relationship.Conflict also can often cause emotional hurt which resides deep beneath the emotional feeling that one could experience in their daily life.

Just the other day I was asked to attend a meeting in the evening to specifically deal with
conflict with two of my friends. All though during the past months I have tried my best to resolve the conflict but was not successful since one party was not willing to be open and understandable. But during the period of time, that relationship grew colder which in turn gave growth to bitterness. Somehow I was caught in the middle of this conflict between two of my friends.

Often times I felt frustrated because I could see that situation was not getting better because the
conflict was not resolved in the beginning itself. However there came a call for both parties from a respectable person to end this conflict issue as soon as possible and they both agreed.
During that meeting one evening, each shared their part of story of what really happened. Surprising enough both parties discovered that it was just a miss communication error, that one party interpreted wrongly the message that was communicated. But because of the misinterpretation of the words that was communicated a period of time lead growth to conflict without a purposeful intention.


Two parties offered their apologies to each other and reconciled their relationship through the love of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness and reconciliation is no strange word in the Bible itself. Just as we were forgiven by God we need to forgive others although it may take a journey or two to forgive, but try to take that journey to forgive because you will feel that huge weight being lifted of you.

The more you carry unforgiveness, the more you are weighed down by the feeling of hurt and pain which God never intended for man in the first place. Well, I don't want to live the rest of my life with pain and anger towards somebody else ! we are only going to live one time so let us make it right.However since we are fallen in our nature, our very words that we speak could often hurt certain people without us noticing it.

On the other hand, some might interpret wrongly and use it against us.often this could be seen in the church !But no relationship and conflict is hard for God to restore, as long as we are open to God and others, you can count that you relationship is on the way for restoration. It may take time but trust God to heal that pain and hurt, God is a healer!

1 John 4:9,