hey there! hope you guys got a good night's sleep. apparently i didn't. and what better way to counter insomnia than communing with the Lord. (well..i'm not sure if i had insomnia. i blame my irregular sleeping patterns).
a friend of mine from youth had to return to the States permanently and his flight was on the following day. so a bunch of us threw him a farewell dinner. it was fun. i talked to this friend of mine about covering a song and he suggested what i thought was a wonderful piece. he said that it was about the song writer being at the lowest point of his/her life. (i can't recall the gender of the artist by the way). it was based on the book of Ecclesiastes that tells us of how there is a time for everything. a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. (Ecc 3:4).
when i got home and jumped into bed, i spent the first God-knows-how-many-hours tossing and turning. you see, i didn't know this friend of mine long but he has been around long enough to earn a place in my heart together with all my other close friends that i would not be keen on loosing any time soon. you get the point. so i asked God: "why give me a friend when you are going to take him/her away?". call me anti-social but i've always been apprehensive to get close with people i know aren't gonna be around for long. so i often clam up and withdraw myself. anyway, back to God. haha. when i was softly conversing away with God, He (i mean God) reminded me of that song my friend was talking about. the one based on the book of Ecclesisates. God reminded me that He has made everything beautiful in it's time and there is a season for everything that happens under heaven. despite the fact that i may not comprehend what He has installed for me at that particular point of time, i can be assured of the fact that He is faithful and will cause everything to happen for the good of His people. i guess God has a special purpose for everyone. His definition of good may not be in line with what we have in mind, but as His children, we ought to trust in Him and aline our thoughts with His plans and promises instead. so help us o Lord, to rest in You and know that You are good. strengthen us that we may set our eyes upon You in all things. Your goodness is the greatest there ever is and i trust that, Lord. You have a season for everything to happen under heaven. but there are things that remain out of season Lord and that is your love and right to be praised.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Monday, 30 January 2012
say no to substitutes
hey guys! it's been a while and i think it's a great time to start blogging again. the first month of 2012 has indeed been memorable. i believe God has His own way of teaching me stuff. sometimes in an endearing manner and sometimes in a not so endearing manner. i call that discipline! (awesome)
for the past few days, God has been doing a great job of getting my attention towards the things i wasn't doing right. like the way i've been trying to 'substitute' Him. i didn't realize what i was doing wrong until i experienced a complete emotional downfall a few days ago. i guess it was God's way of telling me i'm not where i should be and that i wasn't doing what i was suppose to.
i believe God made us to not only worship Him but to enjoy Him as well. and when i say 'enjoy' i don't mean like how you would enjoy a meatball sub or a rousing game of team fortress where the joy's only for the moment. enjoying God means enjoying His presence in our daily lives. you can only truly enjoy God when you acknowledge Him and reside in Him in everything you do. but that's not what i'm gonna be blogging about today. oh well, food for thought.
Psalm 127:1 says "unless the Lord builds the house, it's builders labor in vain. unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain". this amazing piece of scripture reminds me of a very important principle in one's life- if it ain't God, it's in vain. 1 Corinthians 3:11 tells us of how no other foundation can be laid other than Christ Himself. in my previous article i talked about how God made us in such a way that we are destined to be one with Him. and until we achieve that, we will not have true wholeness. it makes a lot of sense because we can't establish our lives on any other besides God. and when i quote 'establish our lives on God', i meant making Him your joy, strength, delight, confidence and firm foundation. and apparently that is exactly what i've got wrong. (uhh..) i've been guilty of trying to substitute God instead letting Him take His rightful place as my one and only center. and all this happened without me realizing it! the right thing to do is to reside in Him and establish yourself on Him. let me make you a list of things i've been doing wrong just in case you're already getting tired of reading. (bear with me)
-instead of making God my confidence, i've somewhat made music my confidence thinking the better i get the more confident i deserve to feel about myself.
-instead of seeking self-worth in God i sought the approval of people around me. i was so concerned about how people would perceive me instead letting God's word define me for who i really am-fearfully and wonderfully made in the image and glory of the most high God.
-instead of residing in God's love, i sought the love and attention of other people that i let overtake God. i've loved other things when i should be loving God. His love should have been all that mattered to me. ( i mean think about it, God's love is unchanging and is not affected by circumstances unlike the love of man)
-i thrived on pride instead of giving God honor. (you see, when i was serving in the worship team the other day, i was so concerned about the way i looked and sang instead of focusing on what really matters-presenting myself first and foremost as a servant of God and worshiping Him with all i've got because He deserves it.)
and the list goes on....but you get my point. =). this too reminds me of a portion of scripture in the book of Ecclesiastes. you see, that book was written by solomon himself. he had all the luxuries in the world as king and tried seeking joy and wholeness in them. in the end, he came to a conclusion that all of it was meaningless.
my conclusion is, don't let anything or anyone rob you the right of establishing yourself on Christ; making Him all that sustains you. He is after all your rightful, firm foundation. if a marriage is not established on Christ, it's established on something broken. it's the same for all of us. married or not. God gave us marriage as an illustration of our relationship with Him. think about it. if you were a husband who gave everything for your wife, you wouldn't want your wife residing and seeking joy in other men.
for the past few days, God has been doing a great job of getting my attention towards the things i wasn't doing right. like the way i've been trying to 'substitute' Him. i didn't realize what i was doing wrong until i experienced a complete emotional downfall a few days ago. i guess it was God's way of telling me i'm not where i should be and that i wasn't doing what i was suppose to.
i believe God made us to not only worship Him but to enjoy Him as well. and when i say 'enjoy' i don't mean like how you would enjoy a meatball sub or a rousing game of team fortress where the joy's only for the moment. enjoying God means enjoying His presence in our daily lives. you can only truly enjoy God when you acknowledge Him and reside in Him in everything you do. but that's not what i'm gonna be blogging about today. oh well, food for thought.
Psalm 127:1 says "unless the Lord builds the house, it's builders labor in vain. unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain". this amazing piece of scripture reminds me of a very important principle in one's life- if it ain't God, it's in vain. 1 Corinthians 3:11 tells us of how no other foundation can be laid other than Christ Himself. in my previous article i talked about how God made us in such a way that we are destined to be one with Him. and until we achieve that, we will not have true wholeness. it makes a lot of sense because we can't establish our lives on any other besides God. and when i quote 'establish our lives on God', i meant making Him your joy, strength, delight, confidence and firm foundation. and apparently that is exactly what i've got wrong. (uhh..) i've been guilty of trying to substitute God instead letting Him take His rightful place as my one and only center. and all this happened without me realizing it! the right thing to do is to reside in Him and establish yourself on Him. let me make you a list of things i've been doing wrong just in case you're already getting tired of reading. (bear with me)
-instead of making God my confidence, i've somewhat made music my confidence thinking the better i get the more confident i deserve to feel about myself.
-instead of seeking self-worth in God i sought the approval of people around me. i was so concerned about how people would perceive me instead letting God's word define me for who i really am-fearfully and wonderfully made in the image and glory of the most high God.
-instead of residing in God's love, i sought the love and attention of other people that i let overtake God. i've loved other things when i should be loving God. His love should have been all that mattered to me. ( i mean think about it, God's love is unchanging and is not affected by circumstances unlike the love of man)
-i thrived on pride instead of giving God honor. (you see, when i was serving in the worship team the other day, i was so concerned about the way i looked and sang instead of focusing on what really matters-presenting myself first and foremost as a servant of God and worshiping Him with all i've got because He deserves it.)
and the list goes on....but you get my point. =). this too reminds me of a portion of scripture in the book of Ecclesiastes. you see, that book was written by solomon himself. he had all the luxuries in the world as king and tried seeking joy and wholeness in them. in the end, he came to a conclusion that all of it was meaningless.
my conclusion is, don't let anything or anyone rob you the right of establishing yourself on Christ; making Him all that sustains you. He is after all your rightful, firm foundation. if a marriage is not established on Christ, it's established on something broken. it's the same for all of us. married or not. God gave us marriage as an illustration of our relationship with Him. think about it. if you were a husband who gave everything for your wife, you wouldn't want your wife residing and seeking joy in other men.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Promises. How and When?
wow! 2012 already? awesome! that means i'm gonna have to add another year to my age. miserable. yet. epic.
there's no way of telling what the new year holds for all of us. that's why i find it a whole lot more easier just to trust God rather than to worry my butt off about something that's not meant to be in my control in the first place. haha!
but one thing we can be sure of is that a new year would mean new challenges ahead. some epic. some not so epic. but all in every way significant. i've been thinking about this for some time now so i made an equation that helps put everything together.
New Challenges = New God-willed lessons to be learned
New God-willed lessons = Better man / woman of God
but what i'm gonna be bloggin' about is something a whole lot different (i hope it relates one way or another)
getting to know God has been awesome all the way and yet somehow, i'm still far from close to all He truly is. thus, the awesome journey continues. anyway, at one point of my life (probably before physical adulthood), i came to know God as Someone Who is undivided when it comes to His Word. what i'm trying to say is that God is completely faithful in everything He says. what He says He will do. really does make sense since it's impossible for Him to lie and stuff. the bible tells us of how every word that goes forth from His mouth will NOT return to Him void but will accomplish the things it was sent out to do in the first place. awesome right? that means every promise is a sure 'yes' and not an 'urm...maybe..we'll see how things are'.
but how and when is a different story.
so the other day at church an amazing woman of God testified on how He (when i say 'He' i mean God) progressively brought His promise over her life to pass. it was amazing to see how God fulfilled His promise. but it was what she said next that rocked my world (emphasis added). it was one of those moments in life when God uses the testimonies of others to get you back up on your feet and back on track. so this wonderful person (the lady i mean) said that it's not just about believing that God will do it but it's about partnering with Him every step of the way. it's not about just laying back and expecting God to bring everything on a silver platter to your doorstep but it's about taking the required steps and making the necessary sacrifices along the way. sometimes, the best of promises come with the most painful of sacrifices.
the awesome testimony was followed by an awesome sermon by pastor and it was called 'from barrenness to fruitfulness'. when i first heard the title i was like, "hey..this could be of good use to me since i feel pretty barren at the moment". you see..i was at that place again where i kinda lost sight of God's will over my life and i was living for my desires instead of His. i was constantly being a pain by simply ignoring His presence and not letting Him be who He wants to be in my life. ahhh. you get the point.
so i was one of those people who were just sitting back and not doing anything i was suppose to. forgetting that there IS a great promise that has been made over my life. practically i was going through a period of barrenness.
there were many characters in the bible who went through a period of barrenness.
one of them included Abraham. God promised Abraham that he will be a father of many nations.
like i said, a promise is a promise but how and when it's gonna be fulfilled is a different story.
So Sarah (Abraham's wife) happened to be barren. and i guess she got tired of waiting so she asked Abraham to go lay with her maid Hagar instead and have a child by her.
i guess we all have a little bit Sarah in ourselves. the moment we don't see God's promise come to pass in our self-appointed time, we panic and begin to do stuff our way out of God's will.
God works in His own timing and His own timing alone. 2Peter 3:8 states that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. i had to learn this the hard way. haha.
in our period of barrenness we must not lose sight of what God has promised and CONTINUE to commit ourselves to our faithful Creator and nevertheless CONTINUE to do good. just like Hannah. despite being barren and all she continued to seek God and pray.
we tend to reason with God despite knowing at the back of our minds somewhere that God will always turn out right in the end. let's face it, reasoning leads to doubt. so it's up to us to set aside our worldly mindsets in order to make way for complete and undivided trust in His love. i guess the reason why some of the israelites didn't get to set foot on the promise land was because they constantly challenged God with their complaints again and again and refused to acknowledge the fact that it was God who preserved them and brought them that far in the first place. don't let your barren thoughts get the better of you and hinder you from experiencing God's version of fruitfulness in your life (and trust me, His version is always the best there is).
.
there's no way of telling what the new year holds for all of us. that's why i find it a whole lot more easier just to trust God rather than to worry my butt off about something that's not meant to be in my control in the first place. haha!
but one thing we can be sure of is that a new year would mean new challenges ahead. some epic. some not so epic. but all in every way significant. i've been thinking about this for some time now so i made an equation that helps put everything together.
New Challenges = New God-willed lessons to be learned
New God-willed lessons = Better man / woman of God
but what i'm gonna be bloggin' about is something a whole lot different (i hope it relates one way or another)
getting to know God has been awesome all the way and yet somehow, i'm still far from close to all He truly is. thus, the awesome journey continues. anyway, at one point of my life (probably before physical adulthood), i came to know God as Someone Who is undivided when it comes to His Word. what i'm trying to say is that God is completely faithful in everything He says. what He says He will do. really does make sense since it's impossible for Him to lie and stuff. the bible tells us of how every word that goes forth from His mouth will NOT return to Him void but will accomplish the things it was sent out to do in the first place. awesome right? that means every promise is a sure 'yes' and not an 'urm...maybe..we'll see how things are'.
but how and when is a different story.
so the other day at church an amazing woman of God testified on how He (when i say 'He' i mean God) progressively brought His promise over her life to pass. it was amazing to see how God fulfilled His promise. but it was what she said next that rocked my world (emphasis added). it was one of those moments in life when God uses the testimonies of others to get you back up on your feet and back on track. so this wonderful person (the lady i mean) said that it's not just about believing that God will do it but it's about partnering with Him every step of the way. it's not about just laying back and expecting God to bring everything on a silver platter to your doorstep but it's about taking the required steps and making the necessary sacrifices along the way. sometimes, the best of promises come with the most painful of sacrifices.
the awesome testimony was followed by an awesome sermon by pastor and it was called 'from barrenness to fruitfulness'. when i first heard the title i was like, "hey..this could be of good use to me since i feel pretty barren at the moment". you see..i was at that place again where i kinda lost sight of God's will over my life and i was living for my desires instead of His. i was constantly being a pain by simply ignoring His presence and not letting Him be who He wants to be in my life. ahhh. you get the point.
so i was one of those people who were just sitting back and not doing anything i was suppose to. forgetting that there IS a great promise that has been made over my life. practically i was going through a period of barrenness.
there were many characters in the bible who went through a period of barrenness.
one of them included Abraham. God promised Abraham that he will be a father of many nations.
like i said, a promise is a promise but how and when it's gonna be fulfilled is a different story.
So Sarah (Abraham's wife) happened to be barren. and i guess she got tired of waiting so she asked Abraham to go lay with her maid Hagar instead and have a child by her.
i guess we all have a little bit Sarah in ourselves. the moment we don't see God's promise come to pass in our self-appointed time, we panic and begin to do stuff our way out of God's will.
God works in His own timing and His own timing alone. 2Peter 3:8 states that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. i had to learn this the hard way. haha.
in our period of barrenness we must not lose sight of what God has promised and CONTINUE to commit ourselves to our faithful Creator and nevertheless CONTINUE to do good. just like Hannah. despite being barren and all she continued to seek God and pray.
we tend to reason with God despite knowing at the back of our minds somewhere that God will always turn out right in the end. let's face it, reasoning leads to doubt. so it's up to us to set aside our worldly mindsets in order to make way for complete and undivided trust in His love. i guess the reason why some of the israelites didn't get to set foot on the promise land was because they constantly challenged God with their complaints again and again and refused to acknowledge the fact that it was God who preserved them and brought them that far in the first place. don't let your barren thoughts get the better of you and hinder you from experiencing God's version of fruitfulness in your life (and trust me, His version is always the best there is).
.
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