Shine Your Light.

(Romans 1:11-13 ) I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

Paul wrote this to the church in Rome to let them know how he felt about them. When I read this, I felt that it related to my life immediately because it's exactly what I'm going through.Paul said, "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong -- that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith." In Paul's life, after he got saved and after he gave his whole life up for the sake of the gospel, his goal was to help others and let their faith increase. In my life, I love to help people, to see them grow makes me think of a mom taking care of her kid and being so proud of how she has raised him. After devoting so much time, focus, and attention to be a supporting friend to others, in turn, I would like to see them grow and to see that after all that hard work, we can mutually encourage each other instead of it just being a one way thing.

The past two weeks I have been very encouraged by a friend whom I've been talking to more. Seeing how she has grown in her spiritual life and how now we are able to communicate about anything with the same focus and goal in life makes me so happy. It allows me to see that there is a God who changes lives, who can do all things and that he will never forget about us. This, in turn, gives me hope to see my friends who still need to be fed in all different ways, that one day they would grow and understand, and one day the encouragements would not just be going one way but it would be going both ways.

On top of that, the past two weeks, working with TEAMLIGHT has been a blessing. Though my team wasn't big at all, it was actually just one-to-two people helping me per day, it was a blessing to see how they've gotten out of their comfort zone so fast. In the first week, I had Renee in my team, and we both went out to do outreach and try to get raffle tickets signed. in the beginning she was telling me how she was very uncomfortable doing this, she wasn't good at outreaching and she wasn't good at talking to people. So we did it together so that I could help her and encourage her in becoming more bold for Christ. On Thursday Nichonar was on my team and I also went out with him individually to help him and to show him how to speak to others and how to reach out to others using raffle tickets. He said the first time he ever did it, he didn't know what to say to people, how to approach people, and what to do when they asked questions. After a couple of runs doing it with him, he became more comfortable approaching people. So although my team wasn't big, I got to work individually with two great people who were opened in taking the next leap of faith, evangelism.This week, which is a week later, we had to continue on doing our TEAM LIGHT outreach. In my mind, I really wanted our team to show that as Christian, we are considered light of the world, we can shine no matter how weak we are, for Paul said, when we are weak, then we are strong. So what really made me smile was, on Monday I went to Renee's small group to support her while she leads. She was talking about boldness and how we should pray and fast to do things even like evangelism and how important it was. On Wednesday when I went out with her to do outreach again, she said she didn't mind doing it by herself anymore, in fact, she actually went by herself the other day and started from the 13th floor and was outreaching all the way down. I was so proud and happy to see that after just a little push and encouragement, she turned around and encouraged me all the more. On Thursday, Nichonar was the same thing. After more information and understanding how to reach out, he was able to go on his own and talk to other people more comfortably. Though he still needed a lot of work he said, it was getting a lot better.

These two things really made me smile, to see that people I invested some time in helping, God worked for the good. It reminds me that I should never give up in helping a soul, helping a friend, helping someone God calls their child, because in the end, it will all be worth it.

"Did you pray about it?"

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:18).

Praying always means pray at all times, on every occasion (whether it is outside, inside, hot, cold, whether your sad or happy, whatever it is), inwardly without ceasing. Many times we pray for just the requests that would come true to us, a prayer for ourselves, but we need to pray for others, pray for the world, pray for God's kingdom, pray to thank God and worship him, etc.

In the Spirit means letting the Spirit lead, guide, direct, and help us to know what we have to pray for, because the Bible says "...we do not know what we ought to pray for but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."
We need to be alert by seeing how God is currently blessing us with answered prayer requests while we are praying right now.

I thought about prayer recently, how I haven't been doing the actual kneeling down and praying or really just devoting one special time of praying to God. This verse says to pray continuously, and in my mind I know I'm praying continuously about how I should be as I continue my day on with God by my side.

Recently I've been talking to others about my "job dilemna" and it's so crazy how the first question people ask is, "Did you pray about it?" I guess God's really trying to tell me something that I NEED to pray and it's a must, not just to pray about the issue itself, but to continue to develop that loving relationship with him. It really encouraged me and touched me to see my friends help me include God in my life as they are trying to include God in theirs. Normally that question is a question we don't want to hear, but prayer is definitely powerful and through prayer, I know that God has got my back.

How much love?

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8


The bible tells us to love love love and to let that be the only thing that you never stop doing.

I was reading about the verse and stumbled upon this, I thought it was explained wonderfully!:

"Did not our failure to meet our obligations to God and man accrue for us an unpayable debt? Now that the debt has been paid, we are obliged not only to strive to avoid further indebtedness, but also to expand and perfect the giving of love.

This paradox is more apparent than real, because love is not an added duty but the inclusive framework within which all duties should be done. Love is the motivating power that frees and enables us to serve and sacrifice with largeness of heart and generosity of spirit."
(Copied from "http://bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Bible.show/sVerseID/28275/eVerseID/28277"

Recently I've been thinking about care. My problem is that when I love someone or if I really care for someone, I'll show it to the most fullest extent. There are just a few people in my life that I care for like no tomorrow, I care for them so much that if something happens to them, it feels like it's happening to me also. If they are happy it makes me happier to see them happy. If they are going through some sort of emotional struggle, I'll feel them also and it hurts me a lot. Even if they don't consider me their friend I'll still feel for them.

An example; I have this friend who I care for VERY deeply whether this person notices or not. I treat this person like I'm living their life. I'll call this person Nancy for the sake of not naming their real name. There was one day Nancy came up to me and said that she was scared because she found out that she had some weird bodily condition and she never experienced anything like this before. Normally she's a very joyful girl, but that day, her mood was SO off and it was affecting me too because I felt her pain. That night during praise all I was thinking about was how God can help her in a time like this and how I, as a friend, can help her also. It was hurting me a lot and it made me tear to see her like this. I didn't know what to do but just to react normally and continue on being a regular friend, because that's all I could do -- listen to people's problems and nod. So recently Nancy has been exceptionally happy because there has been some positive changes in her life. Every day I see her, she has a smile on her face and this dream of hers was actually becoming reality. Seeing her eyes twinkling and grinning from one ear to the other couldn't make me any happier! When I love and truly care for someone, I feel everything they are feeling and I would truly go out of my way to always be their for them no matter what the cost is.

So the Bible tells us that that is love. He tells us to love one another and I'm pretty sure that means all. I love some. That "motivating power that frees and unables us to servce and sacrifice with largeness of heart and generosity of spirit", I have that only to limited people. Sometimes I feel that, hm that's life deal with it, I'm just a limited human being and I only have the ability to love some; other times I think, what if Jesus was to only specifically love some and not all? Yeah, that's not right, that's not what living this life is all about. Though I'm just mere human, I live a life to follow Jesus, he did it and because of Him, I should be able to do it also.

Lord, please help me to genuinely love & care for all and not some because I know Your love is unconditional and I want to share that with all those around me.

Proverbs 16:3 -- God got us.

Proverbs 16:3 (New International Version)
3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

We must submit all our plans to God before it even gets executed; before during and after the situation all should be in God's hands before anything.

This is a verse that's always on my mind when I am doing something.

Though school is something I haven't really committed fully to God, I'm working on it with His help.
School is one of the things that is hard for me to focus on and to use to glorify God because my grades are just average and the amount of time I dedicate to school work is not enough.

As of right now, I don't know where I'm going in my college career and what I want to major in and what I want to do in the future. This is something I want to leave to God to take care of as long as I'm committing to my responsibility and following through with it. I know that God will never let me go and that he's there to guide and direct me every step of the way, I just have to walk in the light. :)

Galatians 5:1 -- FREEDOM :)

 

I wanted to start this blog site with a verse and while I was looking through my old book trying to find a good verse to put out there, I found th

is one. Why? Who knows.

In my own words, this verse says: 

Jesus died on the cross for us for a reason and that is so we can live an abundant life, to not worry about earthly things but to take up our cross and follow Him.

This verse really means:

Freedom is ours because of the accomplishment of Christ. Paul didn't tell his readers to fight to be free through work&deed, but that we are already free. Back then, many false teachers had Galatian converts under intense social pressure to become Jews by being circumcised. Yoke of slavery means the law.

I think:

I read this verse and thought about my own life. About how free I've been and always will be because of the love of Christ. The reason why my life is always so "awesome" and how I can still continue and endure in this life is because of Christ's love for me. 

I thank God so much for raising me up in a Christian surrounding most of my life. It made me view life in such a different perspective. One that allows me to not let any problems, hardships, or trials hinder others or myself from seeing the glory of God. This verse is the exact reason why I don't worry 

and stress a lot and the only reason why I can put a smile on my face even when I'm not always in the mood. Knowing that God has always got my back, knowing that we are already free just gives me the assurance that everything is okay.

I read somewhere:

"Imagine a prisoner who is suddenly surprised to find out that he has been pardoned and set free. He did nothing to accomplish this. He was not even aware that is had happened. But there he stands outside the prison walls, a free man. Now it is his responsibility to live as a free man."