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Saturday, February 21, 2009
morning rush
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Thursday, February 19, 2009
time to sow
Lately, I ’ve been prodded by the Holy Spirit to examine my lifestyle. I was confronted with the question, “Am I inviting God to bless my activities or am I accepting God’s invitation to His activities? My life reflected the former. I finally realized that my “honeymoon” phase was over. So now I ’m back to leading a small group and working at the resource center to greet new guests/members and get them plugged into church. I ’m excited about it.
Here’s a snippet from Henry Blackaby’s, “Experiencing God.”
"Self-centered people try to keep their lives unruffled and undisturbed, safe and secure. Our temptation is to give our time and effort to the goals of this world. Then, when we are successful in the world’s eyes, we seek to bring God into our world by honoring Him with our success.
God is not interested in receiving secondhand glory from our activity. God receives glory from His activity through our lives. Deny yourself and join the activity of God as He reveals it to you."
Here’s a snippet from Henry Blackaby’s, “Experiencing God.”
"Self-centered people try to keep their lives unruffled and undisturbed, safe and secure. Our temptation is to give our time and effort to the goals of this world. Then, when we are successful in the world’s eyes, we seek to bring God into our world by honoring Him with our success.
God is not interested in receiving secondhand glory from our activity. God receives glory from His activity through our lives. Deny yourself and join the activity of God as He reveals it to you."
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
john 2
a good friend of mine is getting married this april and i was honored with the task of serving as a bride’s maid. she is an unbelievably precious woman with a heart full of secret conversations with her savior. to witness this moment in her life, up close and personal, is a real treat because it allows me to experience jesus as well.
i thought this would be a good intro to john 2 where jesus performed his 1st miracle.
[verse 1-5]
Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus' mother told him, "They're just about out of wine."
Jesus said, "Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me."
She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it."
i think this short passage would best describe the weight of a mother’s influence. try to imagine this mother-son conversation with me for a moment. mary makes a subtle hint - “w/o wine, the festivities would cease, do something my son.” jesus calls her out and says, “look, it’s not my time – don’t push me.” she disregards her son’s comment and orchestrates the miracle to happen anyway.
three thoughts:
1.) as a child and well into his adult years, jesus had performed miracles in his own household. she knew his extraordinary capabilities. (obviously, she bore him through the holy spirit) anyway, the point is, she knew him. 2.) her knowledge of his abilities allowed her to draw out his potential and 3.) god allowed mary to kick-start his ministry – even when jesus humbly refused.
to all the mama’s, i commend you for persevering to know your children and instill them with godly values. through your consistency, you will be able to draw out their full potential. eventually, god will allow you the honorable task to warmly but firmly kick-start their destiny in Christ. and because of it, the world will change.
i thought this would be a good intro to john 2 where jesus performed his 1st miracle.
[verse 1-5]
Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus' mother told him, "They're just about out of wine."
Jesus said, "Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me."
She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it."
i think this short passage would best describe the weight of a mother’s influence. try to imagine this mother-son conversation with me for a moment. mary makes a subtle hint - “w/o wine, the festivities would cease, do something my son.” jesus calls her out and says, “look, it’s not my time – don’t push me.” she disregards her son’s comment and orchestrates the miracle to happen anyway.
three thoughts:
1.) as a child and well into his adult years, jesus had performed miracles in his own household. she knew his extraordinary capabilities. (obviously, she bore him through the holy spirit) anyway, the point is, she knew him. 2.) her knowledge of his abilities allowed her to draw out his potential and 3.) god allowed mary to kick-start his ministry – even when jesus humbly refused.
to all the mama’s, i commend you for persevering to know your children and instill them with godly values. through your consistency, you will be able to draw out their full potential. eventually, god will allow you the honorable task to warmly but firmly kick-start their destiny in Christ. and because of it, the world will change.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
couch potato and john
i got home around 6:30 last night to a boiling pot of sinigang. i had been craving it since last week and my husband decided to surprise me with a pot of the yummy goodness filled with tomatoes, onions, kang-kong, squeezed tamarind, and pork ribs. delicious. although i had told myself that i would hit the gym that evening, i felt gorged so i decided to watch some tv until i was able to function again. wrong move. i ended up watching tv for 3 hours straight. 3 HOURS. the worse part is, this has become a daily routine. Lord, help me. i ’ve fallen into that trap.
as i lay in bed @ 11:30pm, i was restless with guilt. that’s when i busted open my yoga mat and decided to do some pilates (mediocre stretching was more like it). it helped me breathe a little easier (still being satiated with asim soup). regardless, i knew deep inside what i had become…
a couch patato. (cue: scary horror music)
you know that feeling when you haven't been exercising but you convince yourself that you can still do the things you did when you were 19? it's the biggest mental denial ever. anyway, the good thing about this entry is that i have accepted the truth -- and knowing what i've become is half the battle.
here’s another segment on my thoughts on john 1.
[verse 43-50 NLT]
45 Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses[a] and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
46 “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
47 As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”
48 “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”
49 Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.”
i ’m going to begin by focusing on this question– can anything good come out of Nazareth?
i guess it's best to describe nazareth as mean and ugly place. in one passage the Nazarenes even attempted to kill Jesus by throwing him off a cliff (Luke 4:29) Uh, can anything good come from south central LA? (i’m tempted to talk about how God can use second-rate people to do great things but i ’ll leave that for another entry)
in the next verse, jesus heralds nate (aka bartholomew) as a true descendant of jacob, a righteous man without a false bone in his body. nate is stumped and asks, “how do you know this about me?” then jesus replied, “coz i saw you chilling under the shade, studying my word, wondering when will i ever come.” then bam! with such a simple revelation nate is awestruck with certainty and excitement- his Savior has come!
one of the best things i love about jesus is his ability to bring colossal revelations in the simplest, sweetest, and most basic of ways- in ways that are personal and customized to hit my christie-shaped heart. and the best part? once you decide to believe, he’ll show you even greater things unimaginable. why? coz like i said, he’s just that awesome.
as i lay in bed @ 11:30pm, i was restless with guilt. that’s when i busted open my yoga mat and decided to do some pilates (mediocre stretching was more like it). it helped me breathe a little easier (still being satiated with asim soup). regardless, i knew deep inside what i had become…
a couch patato. (cue: scary horror music)
you know that feeling when you haven't been exercising but you convince yourself that you can still do the things you did when you were 19? it's the biggest mental denial ever. anyway, the good thing about this entry is that i have accepted the truth -- and knowing what i've become is half the battle.
here’s another segment on my thoughts on john 1.
[verse 43-50 NLT]
45 Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses[a] and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
46 “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
47 As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”
48 “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”
49 Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.”
i ’m going to begin by focusing on this question– can anything good come out of Nazareth?
i guess it's best to describe nazareth as mean and ugly place. in one passage the Nazarenes even attempted to kill Jesus by throwing him off a cliff (Luke 4:29) Uh, can anything good come from south central LA? (i’m tempted to talk about how God can use second-rate people to do great things but i ’ll leave that for another entry)
in the next verse, jesus heralds nate (aka bartholomew) as a true descendant of jacob, a righteous man without a false bone in his body. nate is stumped and asks, “how do you know this about me?” then jesus replied, “coz i saw you chilling under the shade, studying my word, wondering when will i ever come.” then bam! with such a simple revelation nate is awestruck with certainty and excitement- his Savior has come!
one of the best things i love about jesus is his ability to bring colossal revelations in the simplest, sweetest, and most basic of ways- in ways that are personal and customized to hit my christie-shaped heart. and the best part? once you decide to believe, he’ll show you even greater things unimaginable. why? coz like i said, he’s just that awesome.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
john 1
several days ago, i heard a preacher on the radio share his evangelizing tool in bringing people to christ. encourage them to read one chapter of john each day with a sincere curiousity to be answered by the question, "jesus, who are you?" i've decided to take on that challenge as my bible study for the month. obviously, each chapter brings a unique revelation of who christ is in my life. so now i'm going to share a succession of 21 posts of selected verses and simple thoughts from this radical book.
[verse 1-2]
The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
Imagine that. God himself became the living word. The power of every thing he spoke… At his word, life existed! To conceive of this pure power and authority is too grand for me. Has God ever spoken to you? Has he ever whispered you a promise, a word of encouragement, a pledge of love? God said, and there was. The moment he spoke, things happened. There were no if’s, or’s, or but’s. There was no maybe. When God promises you something, it’s the real thing. There’s God-power behind that spoken word. So when he tells you something like, say, “I will bless you in time of famine” or “Your sins are seperated from you as far as the east from the west” or “I have inscribed you in the palm of my hand and I care about your broken heart”, you best believe it. Why? Because he’s just that awesome.
[Isaiah 43:13]
“From eternity to eternity I am God.
No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.
No one can undo what I have done.”
[verse 1-2]
The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
Imagine that. God himself became the living word. The power of every thing he spoke… At his word, life existed! To conceive of this pure power and authority is too grand for me. Has God ever spoken to you? Has he ever whispered you a promise, a word of encouragement, a pledge of love? God said, and there was. The moment he spoke, things happened. There were no if’s, or’s, or but’s. There was no maybe. When God promises you something, it’s the real thing. There’s God-power behind that spoken word. So when he tells you something like, say, “I will bless you in time of famine” or “Your sins are seperated from you as far as the east from the west” or “I have inscribed you in the palm of my hand and I care about your broken heart”, you best believe it. Why? Because he’s just that awesome.
[Isaiah 43:13]
“From eternity to eternity I am God.
No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.
No one can undo what I have done.”
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