Encouragement

Micah 7:18-20 -

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.

There is a real battle that must be waged against condemnation and guilt. They have no part of us. To dwell there is to be outside of Christ. For there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. [Romans 8:1-2].

I wrote neither of these things. They were told to me and have been very encouraging.

So, I believe I'm going to begin writing more here. Not because I have more to say, but because I'm less afraid of saying it. Relating to the last post, God has showed me that in my fear to not be prideful and needlessly push others away or create rifts within the Body of Christ, I've just shut up and decided I shouldn't say something unless I'm completely positive of it's truth, relevance, and the fruit that would come of it...talk about struggling with pride. Anyways, God has been giving me a lot more strength of conviction and removing my fears that I'll be wrong, offend someone, or change my mind. Those things will happen, I apologize in advance. Praise God

Stuck?

Do you ever feel stuck? I've been feeling stuck recently in a place that probably seems pretty ridiculous to be stuck in. 'I want to love the Lord and serve Him with my whole life.'

Isn't that where we are supposed to be stuck and never want to get out? I guess that's not exactly what I mean then. I was convicted today as I was thinking about this. If my goal is really what I said above, but something seems to be hindering me from that...then I have something else that is conflicting with that goal. In the case I'm talking about, I think it has been a desire in some way to please man above my Father. Paul says in Galatians, after laying into them about false preachers, "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." Paul says in Corinthians, "To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law." But Paul was not saying compromise your allegiance and service to Christ for anything. Christ comes first. Loving God comes first.

I think we get in trouble, or at least I have, when we cloud THE goal with fears of somehow hindering our secondary goals and desires, even if that is seeing the lost accept Christ. I've let these fears, of losing the secondaries get in the way of doing the primary, through which everything else is born from.

God's Temple

I read Ezra the other day and am reading Nehemiah right now. They are both encouraging books about God's provision and sovereignty. He wanted the temple and Jerusalem to be rebuilt, so they were. What could a King or army do against the God of creation? Nothing.

Besides just being encouraged about God's sovereignty and the fact that He is for us who love Him whom He has called, I saw a connection between God's temple in Israel and the Church. As the temple/a temple of the Holy Spirit, It's clear that God wants us built up as well. But like Israel, who's sin lead to the destruction of the temple and their exile, just as God had promised it would, when we sin and follow our flesh we are essentially working for the destruction of the temple. At best I think this delays sanctification, and I don't really want to know what the worst is. However, again like Israel, God is not hindered. What its the destruction of Solomon's temple compared to the temple of Christ which was torn down and raised up for eternity in three days. Even our sin brings about the fruition of His will and the true temple still stands forever.

His ways are above our ways and His will is unstoppable. I for one am glad I'm on His side.

2012

I was thinking about the end of the world today. It's a pretty sobering topic. We've probably all been asked, "What would you do if you knew you would die tomorrow?" Probably gave some deep or not so deep answer and moved on assuming we've still got a good 50 years or more.

Those apostles, they always seemed to think the end was coming before the weekend. I was mulling over that today. Jesus said that only the Father knows the time, He talked about the signs, He even said he wouldn't return until every nation heard the gospel...so what was with all the end times stuff? Paul even told people, making clear that it wasn't a command from God but just his wise advice, they should just remain as they are when they were called to the faith. Unmarried, married, slave...whatever. "...the time has grown very short...For the present form of this world is passing away."

Was Paul wrong? 'God's time is not our time, he is not late in fulfilling his promises as some consider it. One day is like 1000 years and vice-versa.' I think I'm ok with that...but if I got to the end of my life nearly 2000 years ago, hadn't married, lived like every day was my last...then came to find out we still had about 100 generations to go before the end, how would I feel?

Then I saw the trailer for the movie 2012... It's one thing to consider your own mortality, but the above question is a little different than, "What if you knew that everyone was gonna die tomorrow...or next year." Hmm...then I looked around my room and began thinking of what my life is full of. How much would I still care about if this were the case. Those souvenirs in the corner...my degree...possible vacations in the future...learning piano? I think I would have bigger concerns while facing the Apocalypse. Maybe that's what it was really about for the apostles...they probably were aware that they had no idea when Christ would return, but I bet they wasted a lot less time living like it was tomorrow.

Truth

God is. There is a design, and there is a Designer. He is good beyond comparison and beyond comprehension. He is light. He brings sight to a blind eye, and understanding to a dull mind. I will continue to praise Him and trust Him. What more can I do?

Tokyo Adventure!

I arrived in Tokyo on Friday at 2:00pm after a six hour bus ride from Nagoya. At the bus stop, I met my friend Erika, who I hadn't seen for over two years. We met during my Summer Project at Disney World in the summer of 2007. It was so awesome seeing her again! We then made our way to Asakusa, where we met Nicole and Abby and checked into our 'capsule hotel'.

After this we spent about an hour and a half browsing the markets at the temple. Then off to Tokyo Disney!!! Pirates, Splash Mountain, Electric Lights Parade, Space Mountain, Fireworks, Halloween Parade (Banzai Villains!), Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan....and then we called it a night.



The next two days were filled with site-seeing, views from huge buildings, crazy outfits, hectic train stations, and the longest most tiring search for two lost bags of souvenirs. If you go to Tokyo, I suggest not leaving anything on the subway...But God provided!

The weekend was so jam-packed, so now I'm taking a vacation from my vacation, and thinking about how amazing God is. We went to church on Sunday and met some great people. He provided for me when I lost all my souvenirs (I was pretty much resigned to not getting them back...but He's just graceful like that), and he allowed me to see my friend who I believe He continues to pursue with his Grace. Pray that the Gospel would transform Japan and Erika!