During my long extended vacation, I had an amazing epiphany about how the way we view ourselves affects our intimacy walk with God.
See it all starts in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them".
While I was on vacation I happened to gain a few kilos, and because of that I noticed I struggled with looking myself in the mirror. When I did look at myself in the mirror I said negative things about myself that were not so flattering. The thing was during my vacation I had specifically hope that I would use this time to especially take the time to focus on meditating in God's word, worship, prayer and lots of sleep. However most of the time during my focus sessions I honestly had a hard time pressing in, or feeling in touch with God. I kept asking myself what was going on. Why am I having a hard time being still in God's presence, while on my vacation I realized that most of the time I was plain negative. I had a hard time sleeping; I didn't want to meet up with any friends in fact talking to God started feeling like a chore. I honestly felt like I was literally avoiding God. It felt easy to spend time watching "the real housewives of new Jersey and Real housewives of Atlanta compared to writing love letters to Jesus. I honestly spent at least four days of my honeymoon vacation with God mostly depressed hahahah.
In the middle of the night while lying in my bed crying and I asked the Lord what is happening I feel were not connecting lately, I told the Lord that this was supposed to be our get away together yet here I am drained with four sleepless nights and craving more salt and vinegar potato chips.
I told Jesus that you're supposed to fill me up but here I am just feeling miserable. During the night the Lord showed me two things that He, that one of the reasons I couldn't sleep was because of the caffeine in the cough medicine I was taking ha-ha. Two the Lord showed me that I had been speaking negative things about myself while looking into the mirror. I finally had the revelation that because I was avoiding the mirror I was also avoiding God, which equated to me not being able to connect in intimacy with Him. Avoiding my image resulted to feeling a void with God.
In John 1:18 it says "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known"(Jesus Christ)
Now I know I've never seen God in person or in flesh, but I know his presence. It makes total sense that God would create each one of us in His image, how we see ourselves is how we relate to God. If you hate the way you look, or you're very critical towards yourself and others it is possible that your relationship with God will embody how you perceive yourself. I believe that God created us in his image so that we would be able not to only relate to him, but experience a void filling intimacy with Him.
To have a high Self esteem is not God's concept of loving yourself. However believing and knowing that God loves you and that you resemble him is the confidence we need to know and believe that when we look in the mirror we're women of Great worth. The Word of God is not only a spiritual mirror of us, however it is a character building mirror that affirms our Godly image and Identity in Jesus Christ. I believe speaking and praying the word of God while you look yourself in the mirror is a way of asserting truly who you are.
Recommended reading
Eat the cookie Buy the shoes (Joyce Meyer)
Recommended Song
How He Loves Us (Kim walker Smith)
To Encourage Women and the men in their lives.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Touching The Father's Heart. (Prayer Series Part 1)
During my Junior Year in University, which is like 5 years ago amazing how great I look, anyway I remember listening to a sermon by a Taiwanese pastor. He was preaching at our tiny Pilipino church in the area that I lived in.
The Sermon was mainly about how we need to believe that God is our father and that there's nothing more that pleases God than to be loved by us.
While listening to the sermon I suddenly thought of my own father and my relationship with him. I reflected on my childhood and how my father's attention and love, sitting on his lap, listening to him tell stories made me feel so loved. I thought about how my Father always had a solution for every problem even buying me a pair of shoes, He was like superman and still is to me. I had always known that my father loved me and that in his love for me he also loved my attention. My father's temper used to get me soooo angry, especially when I became a teenager I just did not want him to have the last word. But every time I acted that way my mother would give me a look and I knew from that look that I had gone too far. But even then when those heated moments were over, I truly believed that my father loved us all, and He always had a way of making up time for either over working, and His way of apologizing was not an audible sorry but it was through his actions, either taking you out for a treat, taking us on a surprise shopping trip, a calorie infested meal or giving you money to waste on yourself.
While I listened to the sermon, it finally dawned on me that I had never said that I love you to my father, like actually say it I love you. I had never even said it in my own native language.
I started thinking to myself how I could possibly deeply say I love God and never had uttered those same words to my earthly father. Actually growing up the only time my father would say I love you is when he was just about to spank you or after spanking you, or disciplining you, or refusing to let you go out with your friends, so for me if He said I love you, It was because He was Pisst haha.
So during my epiphany in church I started thinking if ever I were to meet the man that I would marry someday, it would be unhealthy to tell him I love him when I haven't been able to say that to the one man whose always been there for me.
So after the sermon we sang a " Father" related song and I felt the holy spirit prompt me to call my Father and tell him that I love him and that I truly appreciate him. After the service and repenting my heart out I made that phone call and I told him that I loved him and appreciate everything He and mom have done for me. After I said this my father's first words were, “is everything ok”?? This is a normal response for a family that is lives oceans apart from each other. I said to him I felt I should call him because I just listened to a touching sermon. His response back was "Thank you Sisi(an affectionate word in my native language) praise the Lord for your phone call".
Now that was the response I was expecting knowing my for father so long. After that phone call, my mother called and told me that my father was “very touched” by my call.
WHAT’S BEHIND THE TOUCHING STORY” :)???
What does this story have anything to do with prayer?? Especially because I've shared it before, well recently on my vacation,I asked the Lord to help me to grow in prayer. I specifically asked the Lord to show me how to live a lifestyle of prayer that touched His heart, and being in his presence knowing that I'm touching the matters and concerns of his heart.
A scripture in Matthew 6:8 came to mind. "Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask Him". I spent some time meditating on this scripture. Why would the Lord give me this word? I realized that a majority of my prayer time in the past has been mostly about needs. Not necessarily my needs but even interceding for the "needs" of others, the Needs of a specific vision, the needs of government, nations, family, work, healing on an on.
The Lord showed me that living a lifestyle of prayer and intimacy with Jesus that is mostly "need" oriented can get you burned out. Now my personality Just like most Women of Worth, I have a gift to see need and pull my resources together or me together:) to pray for God to intervene or I just figure out how to intervene , just simply feel the need do something about it.
THE WORD
However; reflecting on Matthew 6:8 I realized that praying from a need focused stand point gave me quantity time with the Lord, but not quality time.
Now there's nothing wrong with that, but as children of God we're meant to grow and not remain stagnant. Since I had asked the Lord to help me to grow in Him ,this was something that He pointed out has a already has a solution.
I realized that for me to CONTINUE grow and walk steadily in my intimacy with Jesus, I need to believe that God is concerned way more about my needs, than I could ever be concerned. However constantly praying about my needs or the needs of others kept me from Enlarging my territory and that is communing with God and knowing what touches his heart.
EMPOWERMENT
Basically what Matthew 6:8 is teaching me is that God is reminding me that He’s Got my back on what I need, but He wants to empower me in our intimacy walk and rejoice with Him in breakthrough prayer, He wants to empower me in my prayers by knowing the secrets of his heart, the things that are on his heart, the things that touch his heart, and those things definitely also include me.
So I asked the Lord what is on your heart?? How can I partner with you in this? One of the things the Lord said was on his heart was He desires me to journal the things He'll teach me through His word, to learn to walk in courage and not let the things of the past slow me down,to pray for the Salvation of President Nelson Mandela, My native country and for Taiwan.
It is empowering to know that not being need oriented in my lifestyle of prayer means having a valuable partnership with God and to “Be still and know that He is God”.
We'll continue with our Prayer series on how to touch the father’s heart.
You mean so much to God and you're a child of His and that means you're of Great worth. Jesus adores you.
WOW.
Recomended Reading
Eat the cookie Buy the Shoe (Joyce Meyer)
Recommended Song
Running (Mary Mary)
"The Father's Song"(Matt Redman)
The Sermon was mainly about how we need to believe that God is our father and that there's nothing more that pleases God than to be loved by us.
While listening to the sermon I suddenly thought of my own father and my relationship with him. I reflected on my childhood and how my father's attention and love, sitting on his lap, listening to him tell stories made me feel so loved. I thought about how my Father always had a solution for every problem even buying me a pair of shoes, He was like superman and still is to me. I had always known that my father loved me and that in his love for me he also loved my attention. My father's temper used to get me soooo angry, especially when I became a teenager I just did not want him to have the last word. But every time I acted that way my mother would give me a look and I knew from that look that I had gone too far. But even then when those heated moments were over, I truly believed that my father loved us all, and He always had a way of making up time for either over working, and His way of apologizing was not an audible sorry but it was through his actions, either taking you out for a treat, taking us on a surprise shopping trip, a calorie infested meal or giving you money to waste on yourself.
While I listened to the sermon, it finally dawned on me that I had never said that I love you to my father, like actually say it I love you. I had never even said it in my own native language.
I started thinking to myself how I could possibly deeply say I love God and never had uttered those same words to my earthly father. Actually growing up the only time my father would say I love you is when he was just about to spank you or after spanking you, or disciplining you, or refusing to let you go out with your friends, so for me if He said I love you, It was because He was Pisst haha.
So during my epiphany in church I started thinking if ever I were to meet the man that I would marry someday, it would be unhealthy to tell him I love him when I haven't been able to say that to the one man whose always been there for me.
So after the sermon we sang a " Father" related song and I felt the holy spirit prompt me to call my Father and tell him that I love him and that I truly appreciate him. After the service and repenting my heart out I made that phone call and I told him that I loved him and appreciate everything He and mom have done for me. After I said this my father's first words were, “is everything ok”?? This is a normal response for a family that is lives oceans apart from each other. I said to him I felt I should call him because I just listened to a touching sermon. His response back was "Thank you Sisi(an affectionate word in my native language) praise the Lord for your phone call".
Now that was the response I was expecting knowing my for father so long. After that phone call, my mother called and told me that my father was “very touched” by my call.
WHAT’S BEHIND THE TOUCHING STORY” :)???
What does this story have anything to do with prayer?? Especially because I've shared it before, well recently on my vacation,I asked the Lord to help me to grow in prayer. I specifically asked the Lord to show me how to live a lifestyle of prayer that touched His heart, and being in his presence knowing that I'm touching the matters and concerns of his heart.
A scripture in Matthew 6:8 came to mind. "Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask Him". I spent some time meditating on this scripture. Why would the Lord give me this word? I realized that a majority of my prayer time in the past has been mostly about needs. Not necessarily my needs but even interceding for the "needs" of others, the Needs of a specific vision, the needs of government, nations, family, work, healing on an on.
The Lord showed me that living a lifestyle of prayer and intimacy with Jesus that is mostly "need" oriented can get you burned out. Now my personality Just like most Women of Worth, I have a gift to see need and pull my resources together or me together:) to pray for God to intervene or I just figure out how to intervene , just simply feel the need do something about it.
THE WORD
However; reflecting on Matthew 6:8 I realized that praying from a need focused stand point gave me quantity time with the Lord, but not quality time.
Now there's nothing wrong with that, but as children of God we're meant to grow and not remain stagnant. Since I had asked the Lord to help me to grow in Him ,this was something that He pointed out has a already has a solution.
I realized that for me to CONTINUE grow and walk steadily in my intimacy with Jesus, I need to believe that God is concerned way more about my needs, than I could ever be concerned. However constantly praying about my needs or the needs of others kept me from Enlarging my territory and that is communing with God and knowing what touches his heart.
EMPOWERMENT
Basically what Matthew 6:8 is teaching me is that God is reminding me that He’s Got my back on what I need, but He wants to empower me in our intimacy walk and rejoice with Him in breakthrough prayer, He wants to empower me in my prayers by knowing the secrets of his heart, the things that are on his heart, the things that touch his heart, and those things definitely also include me.
So I asked the Lord what is on your heart?? How can I partner with you in this? One of the things the Lord said was on his heart was He desires me to journal the things He'll teach me through His word, to learn to walk in courage and not let the things of the past slow me down,to pray for the Salvation of President Nelson Mandela, My native country and for Taiwan.
It is empowering to know that not being need oriented in my lifestyle of prayer means having a valuable partnership with God and to “Be still and know that He is God”.
We'll continue with our Prayer series on how to touch the father’s heart.
You mean so much to God and you're a child of His and that means you're of Great worth. Jesus adores you.
WOW.
Recomended Reading
Eat the cookie Buy the Shoe (Joyce Meyer)
Recommended Song
Running (Mary Mary)
"The Father's Song"(Matt Redman)
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