rediscovering our relationship with God
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the bright and morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours
Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
and watch me rise again
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
I am yours
musings of our walk
Thursday, July 29, 2010
to produce fruit
was looking at matthew 3 today in anticipation of ISCF tomorrow, and one verse that really struck me was
"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance", cause it says in v10 that
"every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire".
it comes as a very timely reminder, because it's just about crunch time. trials are in. hmm, 4 days? and today in english we were looking at past year questions and it was quite intimidating. there are so many possible things they could ask and theoretically i could prepare for a multitude of questions by knowing the texts extremely well and by spending enormous amounts of time on it.
but just reading the passage, i'm thinking, is this what i
should be doing? not to say that i shouldn't be studying, but is spending hours and hours and hours of precious time studying for one english exam just so i can do well the fruit that God wants? is it the fruit that comes of repentance, of knowing Jesus and what he has done for us, the fruit that comes of knowing that i am a sinner through and through and that it is only through God that i am saved?
where do i draw the line of "doing my best"? i guess i've realised that ultimately nothing should compromise my relationship with God. if i'm so worried about exams that it becomes my dominating concern, then i should be taking a step back and reassess my priorities.
in the end, i think that as a Christian we should recognise that all things that God gives us is a gift, and is a form of honouring Him. and that includes studying for exams. it is a huge privilege to be able to be educated, and so when it comes to studying i should be trying to see it as a gift and something to be... (as bad as it may seem) joyful (not happy,
joyful XP) about. ^^
maybe it's just me, but i think this simple change in mindset makes all the difference. studying changes from a selfish pursuit to producing fruit that God wants, as people around us perceive our actions and the things we say and our general emotions. and so yeah.
like lil said, God doesn't care about our ATAR. but He does care about what our priorities were during this time, and who we were doing it for. so let us all use the impending trials as an opportunity to honour Him in our lives, to show that when it truly matters, our faith in God and His awesomeness is really all we need =]
posted by [[ëlãiñë]] at 4:40 PM
Monday, July 26, 2010
More questions God won't be asking
He won't care how many:
1. People you brought to Christ
2. Hours you read His Word each day
3. Years you went to Church
4. Friends you invited to ISCF
5. Bible studies you wrote
6. Questions you answered correctly
7. Minutes you prayed each day
8. Times you proclaimed Jesus as Lord
Being a Christian isn't a numbers game.
It's not the physical actions we do that will save us. It's Jesus crucified on the Cross. His love covers all and sometimes we get caught up with carrying through the motions of being a 'Christian' we forget that. We feel guilty that we're not 'devoted' enough, we feel inadequate because it doesn't seem like our evangelism does anything, we feel 'righteous' because we've not missed ISCF for the past 5 years.
It's not like that.
Let's allow our actions to be an outworking of what we truly desire and adore in our hearts.
I pray that it is Christ.
posted by Lil at 9:01 PM
Saturday, July 17, 2010
REVIVAL
Dear God
Wow what a day it has been. I THANK you for such a mind blowing, revolutionalising conference at RICE Revo and I pray for all 400 of us who were empowered by the Word you spoke through Adrian Tam. I pray especially for the bunch of us Ruse people who were there and vow to bring back change and revival to our school.
God, thank you that you scared me today through what was said. Thank you that you helped me realise we have ONE term left to make a difference and influence our non-Christian friends and tell them about Jesus. I pray that in this one term every Christian will be challenged to display their true priorities and as the great struggle ahead ensues I pray that you might remind us that your strength will shine in our weakness.
I pray for today's talk on BURNING with God's Love. I pray that we'll realise that to keep burning we need to fuel the fire. From Romans 12:1 we need to offer sacrifices to keep the fire going - living sacrifices, our bodies. And ultimately we need to be ignited first, by Your love. The endless love that surpasses comprehension sets us ablaze. But we can't just understand what Jesus did intellectually, or in theory. Lord help us to experience it and encounter Your love for us. Help us to say YES to Jesus everyday, and in doing so, say NO to every other thing that keeps us from You.
Jesus thank you that although we are lukewarm as Christians, I'm believing You will melt our icy hearts, help us not to just say the right words and act like a follower of the most High God, but display what is truly in our hearts.
God help us not to give up hope as the days darken. Help us to hold on to You and settle not just for the blessings you've given us now but strive to know you more and deeper. And God help us not to be selfish. Help us to share this wonderful News with the world. Help us really care for our friends enough to risk condemnation by speaking to them about the amazing joy and peace and LOVE of Jesus Christ.
Finally I pray for upcoming RICE events: Fever and Rally. I pray that we'll have an incredible attendance from Ruse of Christians and especially non-Christians. Jesus I praise your timing - thank you that Fever is the Saturday rightt after Trials! And Rally the Saturday after on the 21st August. God help us realise how huge these events are, but also help us understand that it's not the flashiness or the fun that will draw people to You, it is Jesus on the cross.
Soften our hearts and the hearts of our parents so that we might be able to all desire to go and be allowed to. Help us with transport and I pray that you'll postpone/cancel/whatever anything that clashes.
Jesus give us the desire to be like the guy in Psalm 63. And help us become more like that too. Hungering for you day and night, being completely satisfied by you and you alone, desiring only you.
In the name of our amazing Christ Jesus,
Amen
posted by Lil at 7:56 PM
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Questions God won't ask on Judgement Day
1. What was your ATAR?
2. How many Facebook friends do you have?
3. What is your waist size?
4. How many pages long is your resume?
5. What was your high score in Minesweeper?
6. What height are you?
7. How many scholarships did you get offered?
8. What colour car do you want?
And I could go on.
I'm in the same boat as everyone else with struggling to stop worrying, as Jesus tells us in the Gospels. We're so much more precious to God than birds and flowers! And He'll protect and bless us, so all we have to do is trust. So keep in mind what is most important with eternity in perspective.
Let's stop being selfish worriers and start being selfless warriors for God!
posted by Lil at 5:57 PM
Saturday, July 3, 2010
100%
There is no certainty to life on earth. (Just look at the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle =P) There is no foolproof plan, no sure secret to success, no absolutes, no guarantees, no unanimity. The unsinkable ship sank.
But that's just things of this world. We aren't of this world and so we can have a 100%. We can have no doubts, no fear of uncertainty, no question of our blessed eternal future. There is nothing that can shake our faith in Jesus.
Following on from what Ronni spoke about in her talk yesterday (yay!) we have to stand firm. Why? Because we are in a war. A war against doubts, temptations, falsehoods and uncertainty. But what makes it so much easier to fight in this chaos than we first think is the fact that there is a certain promise, secure hope, unchanging truth upon which to stand.
So let's put on the full armour of God, pray in the Spirit, root ourselves in the Word and be prepared!
posted by Lil at 1:37 PM
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Just pull out your weeds – they’re not going to be carrots
I remember in ag, every time we had to plant carrots, all the weeds in my plot looked like carrots (except you know, the clovers...) and I didn't want to pull out a carrot, so I just didn't weed. =)
It's like that with life a lot of the time. We have all these good things in life we don't want to get rid of because we think they'll get somewhere. They might be weeds, butttt they might be carrots(!) so we leave them in to grow. For example, me, I want the best of all world (don't we all? =P) - I'd like to do half the degrees I've heard of, I'm interested in way too many things, I want to learn heaps of languages and instruments and visit so many places and do so many things. But God's picked out a path for my life already. And it's good =) It doesn't involve most of the things I would've liked to do, but that's cos I just don't realise they're weeds yet. They are things that won't really glorify God, but bring me pleasure and glory should I pursue them. They need to be pulled out!
I've been reading Luke and I got up to the Parable of the Sower in chapter 8. I think most of us Christians can relate with these verses:
7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants... 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, they do not mature.
It's really struck me this time reading that we are distracted, choked, but GOOD things. By riches and pleasures as well as worries. God has showered us with worldly blessings and we need to thank Him for that, and enjoy the wonderful world He has given us. But it can't choke us. The world can't be our focus.
So let's re-evaluate why we do some things we do. Prune out the good things in life to make way for the BEST. And pull out those weeds!
posted by Lil at 5:21 PM
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Les Mis
This might be a bit of a random post..
As some of you might know, I watched Les Mis on Friday ^^ it was pretty awesomee. But some parts of that musical really made me think about how we should live as Christians. There are two characters I want us to think about in particular: the bishop and M. Thenardier. They both claim to be Christians, but if you have any idea what the musical's about it's obvious from the way they act what they truly believe.
The amazing sacrifice the bishop makes for Jean Valjean is just crazy. After he's backstabbed and robbed by this ex-con, he continues to love and give and it is these actions of his faith that bring Valjean to God.
M. Thenardier is a greedy crook who pretends to be everyone's best friend while he cheats them. The scene when he and his wife bargain for Cosette is especially disgusting. It is obvious they are only labeling themselves as 'Christian' when it pleases them. Yet we cannot be too quick to judge. At Ruse, as it was in Les Mis, it is a unique environment where it is almost 'cool' to be a Christian, and a lot of people can claim to be Christian without living that way.
In comparing these two types of 'Christians' I felt it really linked well with Church Service on Thursday. Hamish told us that faith without works is useless - we need to express our faith through what we do (but not to earn our salvation!). This is a seriously tough challenge. How many people do you reckon would know you're Christian without you having to tell them? Could they tell from the way you love and serve and share and sacrifice like the bishop did? Or would they take you for a hypocrite in your faith?
Yes yes, gesta non verba and all =P our actions do speak out our faith louder than mere words. Here at Ruse especially, we're smart - we can phrase things nicely, logically. But can we live it?
Especially with exams approaching, let's live out our faith LOUD. =D
Praying for us all with study and stress mounting!
posted by Lil at 1:55 PM