My soul sings your love it knows no end.
Sin lives in a costume; that’s why it’s so hard to recognize.
Impatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth. Lust masquerades as a love for beauty. Gossip does its evil work by living in the costume of concern and prayer. Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership. Fear of man get dressed up as a servant heart. The pride of always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom. Evil simply doesn’t present itself as evil, which is part of it’s draw.
Accurate self-assessment is the product of grace.
-Paul d Tripp. Whiter than snow
The crowning achievement is the word of God
Discipline : freedom
You Are Special (by hedmannj)
Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
Lord, I need wisdom in my finances.
How do i give like Jesus?
How do i spend in a Godly way?
How do i invest in the future and save for your kingdom?
2 categories:
1. we worship money as god.
2. we worship God using our money.
Matthew 25:14-26
Moses saw that suffering for the cause of the messiah was “greater wealth than the treasures of egypt.”
Hebrews 13:5-6
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
This verse is a command.
Why is the writer of Hebrews instructing us to keep your life free from the love of money? In 1 Timothy, Paul writes that the love of money is the root of all evil. Money by itself is not whats evil but what men would do for money because they want it so bad is what is evil. I went to Walmart once, and I remember a woman complaining about how money is the root of all evil. We can sometimes forget that it’s the LOVE of money.. not money itself. Money can be used for both good and bad.
So, the love of money. Love is consuming. Love for anything can be consuming. A person can get so greedy that they become consumed. They are no longer in control but the object of affection now determines how to live, what to do, when to do things. When people are consumed by their love of money, they are no longer in control of their lives but they are enslaved by this desire. They become victims.
There’s hope. What is the solution to not be consumed by the love of money?
It’s to learn how to be content.
What does it look like to be content? To know God who is provider, shelter, reward is how we can learn the art of contentment.
The writer of Hebrews is saying to us not to be a slave of the world.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36
He is commanding us to be free. True freedom is depending on God. When we know God, we realize that everything we have already was given to us from Him. So knowing God leads you to a life of contentment, not only because He provides but He becomes your reward. When God becomes your reward, it doesn’t matter whether you have or don’t have.. you win or you lose.. because like the end of the verse says, “I will never leave nor forsake you.” You have already won when you’re in God.
A friend and I were talking once and he was telling me how we have the cheat sheet to life. Even if we fail.. even if we don’t live up to a standard.. even if we die early.. even if we get sick.. even if we lose everything.. we still win. We still get glorified bodies. We still get to be with Jesus. We still have abundant life even while we are living. We still have hope. We still will be raised. We still are being new.
This is what it looks like to be Content. Immovable. Satisfied.
So the question I’d like to ask is.. do you know God? Do you want to be satisfied?
Has he become your reward in this life that you are able to let go of everything else that is of less importance?
Giving offering is a step toward surrendering before our God.. allowing him to be King over your life.
While taking a shower, I started to ask… who would love me if I had nothing to offer? What if I was more of a burden.. a waste of space..? What if I was a total failure, loser, and a curse to all humanity? What if all I did was cause hardships and sufferings?
While panicking and thinking of all these “what ifs”, I was immediately comforted by this verse.
Psalm 27:10 For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
Truly, He is faithful.
So, I did my first two miles today without stopping. @_@. hooray!
After exercising with my mum, we listened to bruno mars: just the way you are on our way home.
While translating each line so my mum can get the full picture.. she laughed and said this song is soooo “just in the beginning of the relationship”. (when you’re bbyung gah suh.) Anyways, while listening, I started to question if the line “there’s not a thing I would change cause you’re amazing just the way you are” really made sense.
I think to not have someone change would be impossible. We are all changing and in order to truly love someone, we must choose to embrace and commit to the person despite the changes that the person had gone through, is going through, and will be going through. Really, through the thick and thin.. through the ugly and the beautiful.. through the nasty and the awesome. Now, THAT is love. LOL. and.. a side note! (if someone didn’t want me to change.. especially for the better.. it’d be so sad! I mean if a person is demanding change…. or when i’m feeling ugly or low and they’re saying that to comfort me then that’s cool.. but what I’m talking about is when they’re telling me to stay the same for the sake of staying the same. It’s like telling someone to not grow up.. to not mature.. to not be free.. to not learn.. to not advance… that is so not cool and so second grade.) haha. Anyways.
I went to a dinner with couple of friends. A friend messaged me the next day after sharing with her of how i’m picking up disciplines.. to mature.. and she said to never change because I’m one of the most awesome people she’s ever met. She didn’t understand that I saw areas in my life where I needed to mature in.. being more self-aware.. and taking up disciplines so that I’d be more intentional… but though I (tried to) explain myself.. she kept telling me never to change and to stay exactly the same.
Well, all I kept thinking was, “I’m sorry. Change is inevitable. I will be changing. BUT it’d be for the better.”
The reason why I know it’d be for the better is because Christ is my Lord. He’s the one conforming me to His likeness. Through discipline, hardship, and suffering I’ll be put in the fire to come out refined like gold (like Jesus).
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
In the midst of all the changes that will be happening in life.. there will be ups and downs.. failures and celebration.. sorrow and rejoicing.. God’s love will not change. He is the one who knows everything.. and I mean EVERYTHING.. all shame, guilt, hurts, pains (& pains inflicted on others), sorrows, embarrassments, joys, loves and everything else that falls in between. He was there. Even though he knows everything, He still loves me unconditionally. MAN! (jaw dropped, eyes rolling back, chin up with hands in the air).
My pastor said a quote that sticks with me til this day.. and it’s “to be fully loved is to be fully known.”
It’s really about taking risks. Taking risks to love. Taking risks to surrender. Taking risks to trust. But the risk taking is not that difficult when firmly planted in God and in who He says He is in His word.
Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Only God fully loves me because He fully knows me.
And now that I come to think of it, I think bruno mars was talking more on looks not on love. LOL
You are the Uncreated one.
Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
I’ll sing your praise all of my days.
Walking out of death into life.
