2012/01/30 Nothing to Lose and Nothing to Prove

I heard our brother Andrew from our church passed away last Wednesday. He got killed in a car accident while he went on bike riding trip in Pintung. This is extremely shocking for some of us especially he is a close friend to the Ximen ministry and on top of that he's still young.  It really dawned on me, we never know when will God need us to get back to heaven and fulfill our mission on earth. Yesterday  Pastor Jon was preaching about what the Scriptures depicted how Paul died with a great satisfaction since he has done everything and been obedient according to God's will. Follow Jesus is beyond a life and death matter, I meant way beyond!! Jesus was being very clear several times in the Bible by saying "And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27" What do you mean by that JC? Well, God is not looking for someone who is extra talented or extremely eloquent, he is looking for someone is willing. Willing to give his life to God and being along for His ride! By the time we stand before Him and look back to what we've done in the past, we will not just die with regret nor in vain.

For some of us, we've been blessed by great fortune, friends, family and abundant of resources. We could never imagine the life of people in Burkina faso or Haiti still suffering with clean water and food.  Church and Christianity are NOT just about the fancy building and fancy people with great outfit to be self helped, it's about meeting other people needs. "But the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. Luke 12:48" To tell the truth, I am still struggling with how to love people. Back then, I had a 8 years long-term relationship with my ex and I thought love is just something among two people. This relationship is so codependent and not healthy because I was this girl full with jealousy, hatred, anger and I could only think of my boyfriend is my possession and I became just as one of those dogs don't share with chew toys. Afterward I became believer, I gradually understand what enemy is trying to destroy is that genuine love. Love is patient, love is kind, love is not envy, love is not boast, love is not self-seeking, love is not easily angered, love is not proud, love is putting others before yourself. So like literally I am such an alien to love because I have no clue of what love is and I've got so caught up by selfishness. I am not saying I am coping anything better or becoming an impeccable person or anything. But what I am trying to say is, gradually God is setting me free from this bondage; as a matter of fact, that wasn't easy and of course there's definitely bumpy on my road to come follow Jesus. The thing is, it's worth it! It's all worth it because as a child of God, the things of this world don't apply to us anymore. You have nothing to lose and nothing to prove. Your life is not about you soooo not about you.

2012/01/29

It's been a while for me to write something on the blog. These days I've got so caught up by lots of stuff going on in my life. I feel like there are times we read through Bible verses but didn't actually take in those verses. Do we really have faith in the Lord? Are we one of those seeds which are being eaten by birds or withered without roots? You may very well discovered Jesus didn't just mention this parable one time. As a matter of fact, He keeps reminding us how God loves us and value us with His grace. In Matthew 7:11 He says " If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"  Oftentimes we just got so distracted by the things of this world, have you ever felt so good about yourself and being confident about your job, your desire or your performance and all of a sudden, people's comment will totally destroy what you've believed in? Have you ever thought about why? We will go on and on trying to figure out why? But have you ever thought about why would you feel upset about this? It's because you are letting those words to affect you; you are the one letting those words taking over the voice of truth. I was born and raised of a Babylonian system that screams money is your first priority in terms of your career objective. The other day while I was talking to my mom and sharing my desire of being an ambassador in Christ just to go across countries and make disciples of all nations. She simply reacted by saying how do you know you are going to pass the national exam and be a diplomat? I told her because God has been speaking to my hearts this is what I've been called for. Last week Pastor Jon was preaching how imagination can do big thing that you could never imagine. Sometimes people are just being defeated before you take a step of faith to realize it. Doubts is that poisonous arrow to kill our dream. If you have a dream and you can't make it then why would God give you a dream that you can never achieve it?  If God is calling you to be an photographer then why are you sitting at the office of the software engineer? If God is calling you to be a preacher on stage then why are you hiding in the shadow of someone else back?  If God is calling you to be a fashion designer then why do you feel like you're trapping in a sales manager's body? If you feel like you don't belong to those places why don't you take a leap of faith and step out to your comfy zone and actually realize what God has calling you to do. He sees you as His one of a kind creation, your imagination and your creativity are not the same as someone else's.  I am not saying you have to jump to a snap decision of whatever comes across your mind. My point is if you feel like your desire is not what you're doing now, the first thing you need to do is ask.  Ask God why? Why would you have this kind of desire? God is the one created you and He knows you best. John 10:27 says" My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." We are children of God, Jesus is our Shepherd, He knows everything about us and He is the creator of every single one of us. He will most certainly fulfill your imagination and sharpen you as the one and only child He created you to be.

2012/01/18 When You Believe

"There can be miracles, when you believe.
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles you can achieve.
When you believe, somehow you will.
You will when you believe."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxIN79n4jVo

This song sound familiar huh? While I was reading Mark chapter 9 it talks about "Believe."  As a matter of fact, in Greek "Believe" and "Faith" is the same word "pistis." Scripture defines faith is "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrew 11:1"  Here's the thing, there are time we just can't convinced ourselves to totally and wholeheartedly trust everything will be fine in God's hand. Whenever we pray,  we will still  have doubts and uncertainty of what we hope for. If you look through Mark chapter 9, you would have known how Jesus was being irritated by the unbelieving generation. Haha! I could tell his expression would be like =..= ...sigh....... and then He said " unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?"

Sometimes, people just can't choose to believe in God nor believe in love. Not that they don't want to but they just need to overcome something.  In this generation, is " God is Love" this idea becomes too obsolete for people to believe?  If you want to know why would some believers could be filled up with joy every second of their life and you would love to experience that kind of joy,  you may ask God to soften your heart just as He did to the evil possessed kid's dad. That guy was very honest with God and he said " I do believe; help me overcome my disbelief!  Mark 9:24"  While we come before God, we don't have to pretend or try to convince ourselves anything, all you have to do is being honest with Him and ask His strength to overcome whatever you need to conquer. If you read through Matthew and Mark you could see even though back in the days people were experiencing wonders and miracles performed by Jesus, they still let fear and doubts dictated them. Why?  Because it's not about what we see that counts yet it's about what are hearts. Once your heart is soften and conquer disbelief, you will be set free and  you would very well realize "with  God all things are possible!" He never backs out His promises.

2012/01/17 Let's Show Galiah Who's the Boss!!!!

This Sunday Pastor Jon from my church was preaching about the Faith in our own ability. Some times we are just being blindfolded by the hesitation and the doubts and overlook what God has created us as gifted yet versatile creature. We put more focus on worries and our deficiency in stead of appreciating what God has given us. Every single one of us is so different from the other,  every single one of us inherit special ability from above, we need to find it just as the miner exploring the untapped resource, if you really know how to appreciate what God has created to be, you will be amazed. As we walk along the life road, of course we will encounter obstacles and challenges but you have to remember whatever we encounter, the hand of our Father is always in charge of every situation. God has prepared out past and makes it bare fruits of the future. It's perfectly ok to fall but you need to remember the most important part is about rising every time we fall.

2012/01/16 Prayer Relay Game

Dear all,

We want to do a special treat and be more intimate with our Abba Father during the entire Chinese New Year.
We are going to pull off a Prayer Relay Game from today til 1/31 and then we will see how does it go? If it turns out awesome, we are likely to have this kind of Relay Game for the rest of the months in 2012. Prayers are very important in terms of being a child of God, that's the time of interceding and listening what God has to say. Some people might misunderstand the true meaning of praying and think praying is passive; as a matter of fact, prayers are active and it's a motion of actually waiting on God. Everyone in this game, before you actually prayer, you can proclaim "Father God, your son/daughters is listening, I can hear the voice of God." As for the topic we prayer for, I have some thought,

Topics:

1. Nations
   we could pray for more than one countries and ask God to move those specific countries.
2.Church
  our church or specific church you've been connecting to.
3.Cell Group Member:
Fran, Tiv, Dumile, Justine, Tanya, Freya, Leelo, Mirabelle, Christine, Gaby, Viole, Adrianna, Maya......

You guys could be creative in terms of praying!!   You guys can pray for whatever that come across your mind.
The thing is, we need to make sure the stick doesn't fall during the relay game so I just arrange a schedule for some of us, later on if we have more member we could add more people in the game! It's always good to have more prayer warrior. 

Schedule:
1/16 Jus
1/17 Fran
1/18 Tiv
1/19 Dumile
1/20 Freya
1/21 Tanya
11/22 Jus
1/23 Fran
1/24 Tiv
1/25 Dumile
1/26 Freya
1/27 Tanya
1/28 Jus
1/29 Fran
1/30 Tiv
1/31 Dumile

2012/01/13 Replace My Heart with Yours!

The other day I got into a big fight with one of my best friends and it really dawned on me how judgmental I was. Here's the thing, we were about to host a reunion with some friends and she randomly asked me who's going to the event and then I was a lil bit irritated so I told her "why do you care? You are so tensed about this, Come on! Chill, relax! Just show up!" Because I was irritated by the fact that I am the one who is responsible for pulling off the reunion and I feel like I was the one doing the work and all you folks need to do is show up and why do you have all these opinions kind of mentality and I just assumed she probably asked because she wants to avoid someone which is never true. Anyway, afterward she called me and we had a quarrel over this topic. But during the entire conversation, God kept telling me "Have you ever thought about what would Jesus say or do with it? He will never react the way you react, He can loves me that much, how come you can be that selfish and think about yourself before others?"  Therefore, I kept it quiet during the whole conversation because I knew what I did and I need to bare the consequences especially trying to find an excuse can't do any good on that matter. So, I just simply said I was sorry about the whole thing and Wazapp her again. I know my friend would never hate me, but what if today I was the one being misunderstood?  The Scriptures says" Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.  Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Philippians 2:3-5 " Obviously, at that moment I didn't honor God nor my friend. If putting others before yourself it's hard for me to do then I should at least "Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. Luke 6:31" which I didn't do it neither.  So today while I was doing my devotion, I had a thought I asked God to replace my heart with His and I was like God could you please tell me how to love? You said Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Apparently, I need to learn the genuine love and its value. I can feel some part of me still hold on to this world and I hate myself for doing or relying on that,  I start to thank Him for making me the way He makes me, bless me with all that He can give. The things of this world I am about to give up can't compare with living a life with Him. I was like "God, I want to be honest with you, it makes me sad to say goodbye to my old self and my old memories with this world but I know it's time for me to move on! Because it is worth it to follow you; it is worth it to give my life for you; it is worth it to be like you! "

2011/01/11 We Are in This World, Not of This World.

By the time we choose to follow Jesus, the standard of this world does not apply to us any longer. Scriptures says "Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23" Sometimes we still tied ourselves up to the Babylonian system of this world. The other day I was listening to Pastor Jaeson Ma's sermon,  he said something about if you're a believer in God, you have nothing to prove and nothing to lose. It  really dawned on me that I am so obsessed with people's approval. For example, I enjoy being welcomed and loved by people and how people sees me as a person not a child of God. So the other day while I was taking shower, God really speaks to me " Why do you care?" "Why do you want to parade all the things you've done for your cell group or your volunteer works so that you can win compliments from other people?" and then I got Matthew 6:6 popping in my head. Why do I have to parade about those things? If I just do those things out of people's approval so that I  can brag about myself then that's coming from my own pride.  Because it's not about us anymore, it's about Him! It's so not about you! God didn't choose you to be a Christian artist, Christian movie star,  Pastor  and Missioner but a child of God. My point is don't let those labels stop you from being who you are as a child of God. It's not about what we do that forge us to become who we are; it's about who we are as a child of God so we do everything out of love! It's not about we as Christians sit together in schools or workplace and feel comfortable just being around with Christians. That is staying in your comfy zone  to look for survive, we need to go out, mobilize and break bread with those who need us. We might seem eccentric but unique in a good way at the same time. Think about why would your colleague, your friends or your classmates like to share about their private life with you?  Not that because you are good Christian and you have great moral standard but that you are different, you will make comment not of this world. You are creative and let them think of Jesus. If you look through the Matthew you will realize how much Jesus love to chill with nonbelievers, he enjoys wedding party, associate with the nonbelievers. Even some pharisees were holding a judgmental prejudice but see how Jesus reacted? He didn't even care how people sees Him because He is not of this world so do you.

2012/01/09 Forgiveness or Partial Lobotomy?

Let's see if you could whisk away all the bad memories of how people mistreat you by undergoing to a brain surgery, would you choose to go through the surgery or to forgive someone. In my opinion, unforgiveness is just like a big entrance to greet Satan and the rest of its evil army. Have you ever spent your entire free to reminiscing something that is totally against other people, such as "Oh! The other day my boss just put me down in front of lot of my colleague and I don't deserve those kind of treatment!" "I think Susanna just doesn't like me!" "Who the heck he think he is?" Yea yea, those scenarios you name it! In some cases, it's not that person against you or anything, it's just the way he or she treats people and you've been all over your head and think the worst possible situation to put yourself in a crappy position. Ok, in some cases, those scenarios might be true but you still can't bring yourself to forgive that person. Why? Think about how many times you ask God for forgiveness and He gave you the grace and mercy nicer than anyone deserves. Remember in Matthew 18 that unmerciful servant begged the master to canceled his debts and refused to cancel the debts other people owed him. In Scripture Peter asked Jesus about how many times should he forgive his brother??? 77 times!!! "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."
Hence, I just want to encourage every single one of us to really think about if you have any unresolved issues, misunderstandings between you and your friends, family or enemies just go ask God for strength and courage to forgive that person. After all, He brings reconciliation and resurrection to your life. As children of God, we have the blood of Christ and we are His representative on earth. Aren't we suppose to be like Him?

2012/01/06 If You Wanna Win Big, You've Gotta Play Big!!!

Often times we are just focusing on the people around us being saved and asking God to change them, I just feel like God wants us to do more cuz by the power and the authority we've inherited from above we could do greater things than we could never imagined. Asides from praying for ourselves, our family, friends, colleagues and classmates, how about praying for those strangers you've run into on the street, subway, bus or on the plane and proclaiming salvation and freedom to those people. Not that you have to step out and speak in tongues in their face but you could still ask God for more guidance to pray for them. In addition, I would like to challenge you to ask God a nation for you to disciple that specific nation, to bring His kingdom to that nation. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7" Let's ask Him boldly, ask Him with your grounded faith, ask Him like you mean it!!  Come on, think about it "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible Matthew 19:26." As children of God, everything we've hoped for is possible. It's not impossible anymore but Himpossible!!


Let's read Matthew 18-19 and tell us what you think!! WooHoo

2012/1/5 Unconditional Love

What exactly is the truth definition of love? You might very well respond”Oh! I love my boyfriend, I will cheer him up whenever he feels upset, cook him dinner and offer my shoulder for him to cry on!” But what if “Love” is something way bigger than you can never imagine? Are you willing to die for him? Lay down your life for your family, your friends or someone you don’t know or even someone you once hated? Would you say you understand and be willing to love? I wasn’t a believer before last February, and  I was brought up by being educated that “There’s no such thing as free lunch!” Therefore, I was having hard time to understand how can one person, one God is willing to die for every single one of us, I thought that was just exaggerating. As I continue to walk on the journey with the Lord, read through His words and see how many things that He has done for His creation then I gradually believe true love does exist in this world. Have you ever done something for someone you love or someone you don’t even know and makes you feel being filled up with joy after you did that? Even giving up your seats to the seniors on the subway could make you feel extremely happy about that! Where does the joy coming from? The joy coming from doing something out of love!! As children of God, we have authority and the fruits of God coming from Heaven, the Scriptures says “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.—Galatians 5:22-25”  Our job is to be a true blessing and the imitator of the Lord, do everything out of love! Love is selfless, love is sacrifice, love is eternal til the end of age, love never perish! Why would God made you fashion designer, teacher, artist, singer, student so that you could be the most blessed human beings on earth and you could blessed yourself? No!!!!!! God gave you those resources and creativity to love those who needs Him. So I would like to urge you to truly and deeply love not just those people around you but also those who you don’t know or once hated. Even a simple smile on the face out of love could soften the hardest heart. Remember, it's not about you anymore, it's about Him!

2012/01/04 Pray for Taiwan

I am so sick of enemy trying to manipulate my country and screw up the unity of Taiwanese people! Today I want to urge every single one of us to pray and proclaim unity in Jesus name. You guys probably notice as the election draws near, Taiwanese people are separated to two sides and people are so hostile against each other. For example, my parents are what they call neutral voters which means they are not happy with both sides and always complaining about how lousy President Ma is and whining if Miss Tsai is elected Taiwan will be heading toward failure. Ok, here's the thing, I am not in to political hostility and I feel like praying for the current leader and future leader of Taiwan to be imparted by the wisdom and peace coming from above. The situation now we're encountered kind of remind me while people in Israel were complaining about Moses and Aaron. In stead of fighting against each other, why wouldn't us just trust in the Lord to choose the most ideal leader to lead this country to His glory!

2012/01/03 Challenge? Bring it over!

There are times, people just enjoy challenging us in terms of our faith in the Lord. Have you ever thought about why? They will be like ”oh! You Christians are just buck-passing and irresponsible group of people! You don’t know what is reality! You are so naive!” Is that all there is? Why would people say something like this? Because the way we react just don’t seem the way “normal” people we react. In stead of blaming or hating people, we choose to forgiving them, in stead of whining and being cynical to this world, we choose to see the goodness of the Lord. As a matter of fact, God knows every challenge we’ve encountered, and I believe He made it that way! Why? Because He wants us to actually apply what we have learned from Him to our daily life. Sometimes my friends are like” You talked about God all the time! You are over religious!” But I will always tells them, that’s a thing about meI am crazy about Jesus that’s why I talked about Him as my boyfriend! Religious? Religious is some thing you did out of obligation not out of love. That’s see, my mom worshiped idols like twice a day and during different occasions she prepared 3 kinds of fruits and chicken. Who made all those rules? Men did!! Why would you follow some rules made by men and served something out of fear? I choose to believe Jesus because I believe He saved me, He set me free from fear, anger and burden. When I’ve been through the worst time of my life He stretched out His hands to hold me fast. Some people might say “oh! Come on! How can you believe something you can’t see?” Obviously, I never hold His hands like physically but the encounter of the Lord being touched by the Spirit it’s so enormous that intense that you can’t never imagine. It’s the grounded Faith that us stand firm in Him. God didn’t just send us to earth to be sociable to Christians, He sent us because He needs us to bring Heaven down to earth, while the Pharisees saw Jesus was chilling with those non-believers, they were like being judgmental toward Jesus but what did He responded? “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick . Mark 2:17” It’s out purpose to being around with the nonbeliever by the great love we’ve showed to them, they will be touched by the Holy Spirit. Being a believer it’s not selling  insurance or impulse purchase and instead of inviting them to church why don’t we just be the church to those who need us? Mobilize the Bible in stead of debating with them. Remember, we may be the only Jesus people ever known. Some people might have a stereotype of Christians of being non-tolerate about other religion so they would have told you “ See? George Bush was leading a whole army to destroy the Muslim.” But you may very well tell your friend, whatever Gorge did that’s his choice, am I doing the exact same thing as he did? No! So stop comparing us as those who made wrong decisions. Speak “truth” with all your love and gentleness, you will see how they being blown away by the goodness of the Lord through you.

2012/01/02 Faith or No Faith?

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrew 11:1 Sometimes it’s easy for us to be effected by the standard of this world, and give away all of the power we have then throw in the towel while people says something bad about our dreams. A single word, a certain look could kill the things that you once believed. But then again, non of these would have happened if you don’t let them. Let me ask you something, what did you want to be when you’re a kid? Be an astronaut, a rapper, an actor or actress, a pilot, an artist or a princess who lives happily ever after. However, as you grow older, the society tells you to get real and stop living the fantasy. They also tells you happily ever after only exists in the fairy tell and then you start to buying it. Guess what? Happily ever after does exist if you have faith in it. You could be whatever you want as long as you have faith. God created you for a reason, He created you for a purpose, He placed a gift inside your heart while He created you. Every gifts takes practice, if you fully trust in the Lord and do whatever He called you to do without doubts, I guarantee you, your life will not be in vain. Does it takes chances to trust something you don’t see? Oh, yea! Most certainly! But does it worth it? Oh, yea! Most Certainly! I am not asking you to quit your job just as a snap decision as I did but what I am trying to say is really thinking about what you are doing now. Do you feel honoring? Do you think that’s the job or a major you’re so in love with it? Are you just being settle down to the place in which is a comfy zone and think of it as a job that pays the bill? Do you trust in God and firmly believe that this job is what God has been blessed you with all His resources so that you can bring breakthrough to your workplace or you just sit there and be stagnant?! Think about it and do something about it!!!

2012/01/01Work It Babe!!!

How do you know what is your destiny? If you do know your purpose and your mission, are you willing to give up everything you have just to pursue the passion God has put inside your heart? Sometime the earthly treasure stop us from receiving the real treasure God wants to give us. Just as my spiritual dad always says, as Asians, we are often settle down by a major we don’t even like, a job we hate and we keep whining about how miserable we are instead of trying to do something about it, we just keep complaining, choosing to live a horrible lifestyle, tying up ourselves to the things that we don’t want to be tied up. The Scriptures says this, “you can not serve two masters.” If you choose to follow Jesus and give your life to Him why all the bondage still stop you from doing something what your heart and soul has been desire? When God says”Go!” He meant “Go!” He doesn’t want you be afflicted from the things of this world. Have you ever whining to yourself “God, I don’t have money to do the things that you want me to do! What about my job? What about my life?  I am not a pastor, I am not a missioner, I am not strong enough and I don’t wanna be devour by the lions in the jungle!” If you are afraid of taking risks then you will probably wind up with regrets when your life is hitting a final curtain call! It’s never to late to mobilize your calling, as long as you have a heart to say I do and really trust in God of what He has doing in your life. Faith is trusting something that you don’t see and yet you still believe in it. It does take risks, but come on, “No Risks, No rewarded!” As a child of God, we are born to live on the edge. Will you rather be a Christian that goes to church on weekly basis, have a lukewarm heart, just think of it as a religious service and keep receiving people’s blessing and being spiritually fattening or you will really wanna show your true color as a child of God and live from inside our of His glory. Why would the Scriptures says “All things work together for work good?” Some people might think, ok being a Christian means whenever we encounter troubles or obstacles of our life we’re just going to church and asking for prayers, that’s it! If you’re holding the thought like this, you are fool!  “All things work together for your good !” WORK means not just taking in people’s blessing or the words from the Bible but actually put into practice. So, right now, stop keeping reminiscing your time or energy to analyze your calling, just WORK IT BABE!!!!