Dec 8, 2011
Last weekend I took two days off. On Sunday, I was getting antsy. I just wanted to run!!!! (That is how I felt) The whole afternoon I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. It is pretty bad when you are having withdrawals from running. That night I couldn’t sleep. I realized I was making running an idol.
God has been teaching me to put him before everything else. Jesus says in Luke 15:26-27, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparision-your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-yes, even your own life. Otherwise you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my own disciple.” There are thousands of excuses we can come up with for not seeking the Lord. It could be work, school, running, or a number of other things. These things in the end will not matter. In the end there are two things that will matter. The first is knowing Jesus and having a relationship with Him. The second is telling others about Jesus so they too can have a relationship with God.
So the question for you and me to contemplate is what is holding us back from having a deeper relationship with Him? Are you making an excuse not to know and follow Him above everything else?
Prayer: Father, so many times I fail to put you as the most important thing in my life. Please forgive me for those times I make idols out of the gifts you give me. Help me to seek and follow you above everything else. I ask you would take away my idols and help me to glorify you in everything I do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Nov 29, 2011
When you pray for the Lord to answer your requests… Do you realize He will answer them at what ever cost He chooses to? Are you willing to go through the answer to that prayer, no matter what it is? We have a choice to respond in a Godly submission, or respond to our flesh.
God has a sense of humor to answer prayer (Of course you probably knew that)
As you can see in the picture there is one of my friends. I just got this picture not that long ago. I thought “What in world? Why does he have “MY” cup and why is it in he HIS department room?” I really thought he took it just for a joke to see if I would go pick it up. With thinking that I went to his department and there I see “MY” cup and in the inside… it has remnants of coffee inside. “He drank from “MY” cup with out asking me! How could he, and how rude!” Is what I thought. I was a little bit offended and upset. Isaac then starts to tell me how he had no idea that cup was mine but he always saw me drink out of it and thought I’d appreciate the picture of him and that cup. RIGHT!
I then remembered a prayer I said to our dad last night. I asked the Lord to help me to be like Fred (one of the Gospel For Asia Staff) and not to become offended in situations but to respond to offense by choosing to let go and yield to God. I then started to laugh and praised God for this. Though it may seem very silly… God used this funny situation to open up my eyes. Sure, there will be more to come but I love how our Father has a sense of humor and how he loves us SOOOO much that he answers are prayers because we cry out to Him to have him respond to us.
Be encouraged to see that when we pray He HEARS and ANSWERS. Let us all not make the wrong choice to respond in a selfish way to our prayers being answered even if they are not the way we would want them to have them answered.
Have a beautiful blessed day brothers and sisters!
Do not loose heart and KEEP on praying!
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).
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Aug 17, 2011
“While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jarius, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” Over hearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid just believe.” Mark 5:21-43
This summer I went into my three month internship with some expectations. Some of them were met, others were not. Having been at Gospel for Asia for a month last year, I did not expect to be out of my comfort zone as much as some of the other interns. Boy, was I wrong.
Everything was going well until one day we went to Celebrate Freedom. There we were to pass out the new No Longer a Slumdog books. To be honest, I was scared and I told another intern straight out, “I don’t think I can do this.” Now, I’ve been at multiple events in the past representing Gospel for Asia but this time I was intimidated because I actually had to STOP people who wouldn’t normally stop at this kind of booth. I was really insecure about this. After our group prayed to God though, it was almost as if He was strengthening all of us to go on and I noticed as my time went on, I became more and more excited about passing out the books.
Once I was in the airport over the July 4th weekend, and I saw this man sitting by himself on the other side of the terminal. God kept on pushing me to go and talk to Him, and each time I said “no” the conviction I needed to go over there got stronger and stronger. Eventually it go so strong, I knew I had to go and talk to him. So I went over and sat with Him and started asking Him some questions. I knew God wanted me to give Him a gospel tract, but I went away before being able to give him a Gospel tract. I was too afraid.
God, as He always does used my failure as a time of teaching. He comforted me saying, saying, “Even though you fail, I still love you.” That really boggled my mind a lot.
Also during this time, I came to the place in Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll where it talked abouat not fearing being the most common command of Jesus. This greatly encouraged me during this time.
I’m still not perfect. God will continue to challenge me to get out my comfort zone, as he challenges all of us in our weaknesses. Yet, one thing I do know, God will work through us as we turn to Him whether through our weakness our strengths.
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Jun 12, 2011
Recently I have been thinking how silly it seems that I trust the Lord with my salvation and eternal life, yet, I feel I don’t always need to trust Him or come before Him with my day-to-day life. It seems silly in light of verses from the Word like that of Colossians 3:4, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Christ who is my LIFE…I take this to mean not just my eternal life, but also my new earthly life, purchased by His blood. I now cling to this verse. I never want to forget what my life is, or rather, who my life is. I should not live this life for myself, but rather, for the One who made it, gave it, and redeemed it in the first place.
The Lord has been stretching me so much since coming to Gospel For Asia. Every day he teaches me how to trust Him more, how to love Him more. I feel He is really working in my heart to show me the beauty of a life completely and totally abandoned of self and completely and totally surrendered to Him and His will. I am seeing more and more that Christ is enough—more than enough. Christ is my all in all, the desire of my heart, the love of my life. Because of this, my heart now breaks for those I know who are not living in the light of Christ.
Each day I am in the Gospel For Asia office, as I see the pictures and read the stories, especially those of the children in Asia, I feel more and more sorrow that they are living in the darkness of this world. So many people throughout Asia haven’t even heard the name of Christ; I still can’t really grasp this fact. However, the Lord is moving in a mighty way! Every day the workers out on the field are reaching people with the Gospel, and people are hearing the love of Christ.
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May 19, 2011
One of my favorite book series as a child was “The Boxcar Children”. For those of you who haven’t read these great books – Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny are orphans. (They have a grandfather but they don’t think he’d like them.) So they’re out on their own. One night they find a boxcar to shelter them from the rain and then they decide “Let’s live here. It’s a good place.”
I always admired Jessie and Violet. Jessie was so full of life and Violet was so sweet and positive. I wanted to be like them. I realized while reading the books again, that every other sentence Jessie says she “says laughing”. No wonder I thought she was friendly and fun. Do I have that joy? Every sentence Violet says is positive. She never complains. When Henry brings home a tablecloth that needs to be hemmed “Violet pleaded ‘Oh, may I hem the tablecloth?'” Am I there? Definitely not.
While growing up I wanted to be just like the boxcar children. They lived out in the woods, bathing in a creek, finding dishes in the dump, and solving mysteries. “So I’m pretty sure I’d still like to live in a boxcar” I thought the other day. It seems so adventerous to me. Out in the woods living simply and using what I have to survive. Then I was thinking, “Would I really want to live in a boxcar if someone let me right now?” The answer was probably not. I’d end up being pretty miserable wondering why I ever wanted to live without electricity and comfort. I’d end up complaining and be an all around unhappy person.
The boxcar children are so much fun because they have a positive attitude about everything. I realized, your boxcar is what you make it. I put that on an index card at my desk so I can remember that I can be positive or miserable anywhere in life. Maybe someday God will lead me to live in a boxcar – but I don’t think He will. Right now I’m looking at my desk as my boxcar. It’s right where I’m supposed to be so I’m trying to find ways to love it as much as I can and to look at every day as an adventure.
So… how’s your boxcar today?
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