Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is god's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Yeah this is a pretty verse to quote and write on any write-able surface. But this passage has proven to be a real encouragement to me the past several weeks. It's so easy to blame God when things don't go my way. Countless number of times, i found that i had to catch myself from doing that..hating and complaining to God for every unanswered prayer, tough times, etc etc...but He tells us to be joyful in every circumstance. I always complain about how i'm not making progress in my walk with Christ,.. well here's why. A huge chunk of Psalms is all about King David who cries out to the Lord for all the sufferings he goes through, but there's a difference there between me and David. I continue to blame God, while David turns his sadness to joy. I wish i could just take a leaf out of King David's book.
Pray, pray, pray. Be joyful in everything, because there is a path carved out by God.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Psalms 30:11-12
You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
What really sticks out to me in this verse is how King David is just reveling at how God will turn whatever's bad into good. King David felt that a huge blind had been pulled over him in his despair, but putting faith in the Holy Spirit makes you feel re-clothed, reborn, revived. The gloomy turned into rejoicing even when David was having a tough time. Satan will take that vulnerability and just twist me in every possible way so that he'll see me buckle. I just need to be like King David and trust that God will remove my sackcloth and clothe me with joy.
What really sticks out to me in this verse is how King David is just reveling at how God will turn whatever's bad into good. King David felt that a huge blind had been pulled over him in his despair, but putting faith in the Holy Spirit makes you feel re-clothed, reborn, revived. The gloomy turned into rejoicing even when David was having a tough time. Satan will take that vulnerability and just twist me in every possible way so that he'll see me buckle. I just need to be like King David and trust that God will remove my sackcloth and clothe me with joy.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
what's it gonna be.
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
-- Romans 1:18-25
Ever since Sunday school, i've been constantly taught that God is loving, God is good, kind, merciful, and forgives us of our sins. And while that is true, i can't help but think that maybe it's not all that complete. God is also to be feared, and consequences can be pretty crazy when God gets angry at people. Like this passage- God just gets so fed up with people who decide to live in sin, He lets them do the things that would lead to their downfall. He lets them succumb to their carnal and human desires, and that's scary. The world says that i should "live how i want", "make my own decisions", because "it's my life". Negative. it's not my life, but God's.
What if God left me? I know i sin day to day, but yet he still continues to forgive me and love me. It's such a simple thing to say, but once i try to understand it, it just boggles my mind. I can't live however i want to live because that's what's best for me. Verse 24 says that God gave them over to sin. the world conditions us to live for the self, and fit in some good deeds here and there because it's "the right thing to do", but where does God fit into this picture? Sure, it's nice to do whatever i want, but if i want to call myself a child of God, i can't at the same time call myself a child of the world.
so right now. what's it gonna be. God or the world? its a question that i deal day to day with.
-- Romans 1:18-25
Ever since Sunday school, i've been constantly taught that God is loving, God is good, kind, merciful, and forgives us of our sins. And while that is true, i can't help but think that maybe it's not all that complete. God is also to be feared, and consequences can be pretty crazy when God gets angry at people. Like this passage- God just gets so fed up with people who decide to live in sin, He lets them do the things that would lead to their downfall. He lets them succumb to their carnal and human desires, and that's scary. The world says that i should "live how i want", "make my own decisions", because "it's my life". Negative. it's not my life, but God's.
What if God left me? I know i sin day to day, but yet he still continues to forgive me and love me. It's such a simple thing to say, but once i try to understand it, it just boggles my mind. I can't live however i want to live because that's what's best for me. Verse 24 says that God gave them over to sin. the world conditions us to live for the self, and fit in some good deeds here and there because it's "the right thing to do", but where does God fit into this picture? Sure, it's nice to do whatever i want, but if i want to call myself a child of God, i can't at the same time call myself a child of the world.
so right now. what's it gonna be. God or the world? its a question that i deal day to day with.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Ecclesiastes 1
These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. 2 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” 3 What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. 6 The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. 7 Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. 8 Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. 10 Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. 11 We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.
12 I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem. 13 I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. 14 I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind. 15 What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered.
16 I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.” 17 So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind. 18 The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.
9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. 10 Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. 11 We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.
12 I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem. 13 I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. 14 I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind. 15 What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered.
16 I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.” 17 So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind. 18 The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.
-- Ecclesiastes 1 (New Living Translation)
******
Everything is meaningless!!!!!
Solomon is so right. We live our lives in futility. I like to think that i have this grand goal in life, to fulfill whatever God's purpose may be for me. But then i get sidetracked by a million other distractions that life throws at you, and so eventually my head is in a million different places, and i lose sight of my so-called destination. It's sorta eye-opening when he describes humans living their lives like their chasing the wind. The wind ultimately has no goal..it just breezes through with the flow. It has no purpose, no destination, no will. Humans do have those things though, and that's what is eye-opening. God created human beings with the ability to think, ration, choose, plan, etc etc etc..and yet we choose to live like the wind- ignorantly and impulsively.
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