Say "Yes" to Jesus!

Right afterwork today, I went to the Haven. Every Tuesday and Thursday, they have this 1 hour worship session for students just to relieve themselves from some school work. Typically I don't have the time to go but today, before studying, I decided to stay because somethings always attracting me towards it. The music was amazing. As I walked in, they were singing this song that kept saying "yes". I don't know the title or the artist, but right away, I could just feel God's presence so overwhelming in the room. It was definitely a wow moment.

Today, Tim Dilena, the associate pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle, spoke. Not only was he hilarious, but he had SUCH a great message.

He spoke about: 

Scripture: 1 Samuel 26.

• Once you know what God wants you to do, it doesn't mean great things are going to happen right away the next day. The process is actually what happens the next day. God does not show you the process, he just shows you the ending. If God shows you the process, than it's a nightmare and he knows you'll say no. But if God shows you the ending, you'll definitely say yes. He used King David's story as an example.
• First, we need to attack the Ahimelech spirit. Ahimelech never said "no", but he also never said anything. It's not that we don't say "no", it's that we don't say anything. Ahimelech had the opportunity but he just sat there. In Christianity, God wants you to things voluntarily and you do it by saying "yes". Christianity is a very vocal religion; it asks you to do something. The problem is, in church we just know how to clap our hands to praise, but we don't know how to say and do something. We need to use our mouth because it's the tool that God uses. When your pastor's preaching, it's good to say Amen. When you open your mouth, that's when it becomes crazy. God says, I need you to open up your mouth, I need you to become a witness.
• Pastor Tim's story about meeting the Houston Rockets. Houston Rockets and him were staying in the same hotel, he told God, if you just let me talk to them, I'll evangelize to every single one of them. Be careful of what you pray for because that's exactly what heppened. He was stuck in an elevator with them for 29 floors, and he made it possible for them to hear the gospel in such a unique way.
• He flies Delta Airlines a lot also. One day he got to sit on the first class seating. A hilly billy just happened to sit next to him and that guy went straight to sleep for the 2.5 hours on the plane ride. It just so happened that he was sitting next to Kid Rock on the airplane. He lost his opportunity to speak to him and evangelize to him because he kept his mouth shut and never opened it up. He promised God that it will never happen again. He told God, "Please let me open up my mouth and let me volunteer every single time." 
• The devil always uses self consciousness, pride, insecurity that never allows us to want to open up our mouth. How will people ever hear if there is no preacher? Clapping doesn't do anything, we can't clap to communicate. All we have to do is raise my hand and volunteer to do it. It may be wrong motives but God can use it to change everything. God put the nature of Abishai in pastor Tim. He had said yes to everything that came him way. 
• Do things that need for God to show up. Do stuff that require a miracle. Challenge the youth today, they are crazy and can create their own olympics with the things they do. Kids today want to be challenged. They want to go to six flags they want to go to a mission trip to rwanda if it requires risking their lives. Kids want to be challenged. 
• Pastor Tim said that he'll evangelize even though he doesn't like to because he couldn't get the gift of healing. But God turned it around and told him he'll fix that. One day, he was at aprayer meeting with two intercessors, one Bible man, and one Demoniac. Pastor Tim's record of healing was very horrible and when he was praying over the person who needed to be healed, he even used the diclaimer: God, if it's your will, then heal him. At the end of the story, the guy was healed miraculously, even due to his lack of faith. When you volunteer, even if it looks stupid, God may just show up and may just do something. God's going to say and do something that needs a miracle. 
• Luke 5:3. There were two boats. Jesus went on one of them. That boat went out a little further and caught a whole lot of fish that they had to call the other boat who did not volunteer to come over. I'm sick of being the other boat. I want my own fish story. I want to volunteer. I want to be the one who can make the difference. 

Gifts on my lap.

After the start of graduate school, everything's been such a blessing. My perspectives on things have changed a lot and I'm just really glad everything's happening the way it is. God always works for the good of those who love him and I fully believe that.

Some things that have been happening lately:

• It's totally weird how when I kind of wanted/needed a job, things didn't seem to be falling into place. All of a sudden, about two weeks ago -- I had three things offered on my lap and then another one last week. The first couple of classes, one of my professors liked my smile... and she just recovered from a stroke and needed help cleaning her office after the move. She asked me and I helped her -- then she mentioned how she was considering offering me a job as an aid to direct their mentors program. That same week, my friend from school contacted me and told me about a job they were offering in the undergrad admissions. She remembered me because I asked her in the beginning of the school year, thank God. I went for the interview and was hired the day of. At the same time, Bobby was leaving LV and said that his manager needed people who spoke Chinese to work there and he just so happened to ask me. And then last week, Keisha, the front desk girl at the graduate school pulled me to the side and told me, "Joan, God has a place for you here in Nyack, I can just see it. Btw do you work?" And she said there were possibly openings for me. Fortunately and unfortunately, I already started my work as administrative assistant in the undergrad admissions. I don't understand this but I'm accepting these things as it comes. God does have a place for me here and I believe it, I'm loving it so far.
• I also realize that just living and breathing is such a spiritual battle. The more I look to God and spend time with him, the more the enemy will attack on my weak sides. That night after I got accepted the job from the interview, I had such a great night until I got home. Things became chaotic, I felt so helpless and I totally wasn't able to handle or manage the situation that was going on. It broke my heart so much to see my family torn to pieces and I really didn't know what to do. I know the more I play steady on God's side, there's gonna be a lot more of these, but I declare joy, peace, freedom over everything in my life. I trust that God will help us overcome it. He is and I believe it. I just continue to pray that as I go through struggles and such, God would keep me close to him and stay faithful no matter how hard it gets. I surrender it all. 
• Going to class is such an encouragement. I enjoy it so much, aside from my Saturday class, I think just because it's on Saturdays but I know my perspective has to change. I made my schedule for next semester already -- it's going to be Tuesday nights, Thursday nights, Friday and Saturday afternoon, and work during day times. Schedule and life is starting to get busy again but I'm thankful that I have all these opportunities in my hand and will strive in each one with excellence. If God's throwing these gifts left and right on my lap, why not receive it and glorify him with it? I'm still working on time management skills, balancing all of these things together, but it's doable.

God's good, I don't know how else to put him into words. 

This is a song that highlights my current life situation:

Praise the Lord @ TBN

Yesterday we went to TBN to watch live broadcast. Guest stars included: Joel & Victoria Osteen, Joseph and Wendy Prince, Cece Winans, Israel Houghton. I was so exhausted from the day but still went to go for support for EMC. About forty of us went I believe... didn't hit the fifty mark but it's all good. It was definitely a blessing though. 

Here are some things I wanna keep in mind:

• "If you surrender to God's will, then the will of God will surrender itself back to you."
• Where sin is, grace abounds. 
• Romans 6:14, Romans 5:17

Below is a GREAT song by Cece Winans called "Always".

Quotes

Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just
like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price
we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal – Vince Lombardi

What you do with your time is a valued commodity.
If you can manage your life and use time well,
it'll be an amazing asset in your life. - John Maxwell

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.
Working together is a success. – Henry Ford

One of things I keep learning is that the secret of being happy
is doing things for other people. -Dick Gregory

Know thyself means this, that you get acquainted with what you know,
and what you can do . ~ Menander
Who can I today and how can I today add value to someone else?

Peace

God, I believe you make all things new.
Please send peace in the places where I need it the most and only you know.

http://peacewithgod.jesus.net/

I feel very spiritually defeated today. What started off as an amazing week has led to a horrific day.
I don't even know what to say, I don't know what to do, I'm trying really hard to hope and faith in God.
Everything in life has been going great, but when it comes to the enemy trying to attack my family, that's not cool at all and I don't even know what to do about it. I feel so spiritually weak. Please God, help me to put all my hope and trust in you. I really need it. So many things are just collapsing or at least it feels like it out of no where. It's not funny.

Drain Flies.

Oh. My. Gosh. These things just won't leave me alone. They stick on my walls.
They are not afraid to fly near my face. They're not even afraid to die.

Failure

"If you've never failed, you've never even tried" - Denzel Washington
Failure is the best way to figure out where you're going, your life will never be a straight path.

What are you going to do with what you have?



RIP Steve Jobs

Great speech, Steve Jobs.

Below is a quote he said at the last two minutes of this speech that I thought was profound.

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share, no one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now, the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you'll gradually become the old and be cleared away...

You're time is limited so don't waste it living someone else life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs

                                                         "Stay hungry, stay foolish."

Culture & Socialization

Reading "Lives Across Cultures" by Gardiner & Kosmitzki.

There are things about my own culture and I want to appreciate the culture and society I grew up in:

• As an infant, I remember sleeping in a crib and occasionally on with my parents. The crib, though, was always close enough to the parents room where they could always keep in watch. As we grew older, my siblings and I started sleeping in one room together. Two on a bunk bed, one on a coffee table, and the other on the floor inbetween the table and the bunk bed. We slept this way for about 10-15 years until we moved out to a bigger place where we now all have our own rooms. But when my brothers come back from college, we have no problem rooming together and sleeping in the same room because we grew up this way. In the future, I would probably place my kids in the same room, it brings more intimacy and lead the kids to be closer in the future. Separating them into different rooms would bring about too much individualism, wanting to create their own identity too soon, and a want for privacy at an early age.
• In terms of eating preference, I probably would draw closer to eating rice with all my meals, preferably with veggies and meat. My dad was always a person who couldn't be satisfied to eat a meal without meat or else he'll be hungry fast, so I'm the same way. Things like hamburgers and American fast food turn me off to eating, lol.
• With the choices that my aging relatives have made in life.. I see that my grandparents from my mothers side are very happy. They raised four girls that grew up to all be pretty successful, have kids of their own, and are very fortunate in their life. Their own daughters keep in touch with them all the time and they live with the eldest one. My grandma always has something to brag about, either whether about her own children or her grandchildren. My grandpa is very satisfied at his old age too, he's 90 years old and still does all the house chores at home as well as the gardening. He made wise choices such as giving up smoking which led him to a healthier life style. On the other hand, my grandmother from my father's side is an amazing women but I'm not sure how happy she is with her life. I know for sure she definitely trusts God with all of her heart and she's still living a pretty healthy life, but she doesn't have all of her children by her side all the time. Because her husband died, she's alone most of the time taking care of all the house chores and taking care of herself, and it seems that she's a little lonely. Thats why my heart breaks for her because she has the best heart in the world and too bad she can't come to America to live with us because she'll nag about all the flaws in our home. My mom seems to be living the greatest in life right now. God has been dropping a whole bunch of greatness in her life and she feels like now is her prime. She's wiser, she's more active, she's more experienced, and she overcame so many things. Now is her time, and she's making all the choicees that satisfy not only her but God. My dad, on the other hand, seem to

Path towards Success

Just took some notes about what John Maxwell said:

Success is not a destination, we don't become successful.
Success is a journey, a process. It's a daily thing.

Example: In school, the day you graduate you get a diploma, you just got recognized for the success you already were. So many times people have a tendency to devalue the moment, today. What they do is they greatly value the destination. They talk about when I get there, or if I do that, or when I accomplish this.

Book: "Today Matters" by John Maxwell
Many times, we make decisions and we manage decisions. It's not the decision that makes you, you make decisions. What you want to be tomorrow, you've got to do today. You visualize tomorrow, that gives you hope, your motivation and your dream, but you value today. What I do everyday is either getting me closer to that vision, dream, goal, or we are getting farther away from it.

Everyday we are either repairing or preparing.. Everyday I spend repairing, I'm not spending preparing. When we repair when we fail to manage the decisions that we make. When we prepare, everyday we manage the decisions that we make.

Your footprints to success is your footprints of success. It's another step to prepare your potential.

Each one of us in our lives should live hungry everyday understanding that we are to live until we die.
Success can't be summarized in a degree or a program or a diploma. Today, if we are learning to coach, speak, doing the things that are central to the decisions, then congratulations.

Overtime, it shows that. Expression: "I've worked all my life to become an overnight success."
You didn't get good at that moment, you've been good for a long time, it just showed up someday!
Everyday -- learn, grow, absorb, everyday we want you to do the things that will one day help you be the person you want to become. The only thing that is better than take the journey by yourself is to do it with someone else.