Matthew 5: 19
Believing God is more than going to church every Sunday to attend mass. Believing and following God requires following his commands. Well, following God's law is hard, because it has many do's and don't. Some people think that following this do's and don't would lead to a really boring life. But for me, it is not. In this time, taking a stand of faith to be different especially at my age is hard with all the trends and lifestyle that people are now living. You could follow the latest trends and lifestyle without disobeying God. If we really want to follow God, we must be careful on which of trend to follow.
Following God's command takes a lot of faith and courage. As Jesus said in Matthew 5: 19, those people who follow the law would be rewarded. And it takes a lot of faith in believing that. But reward aside, following God would can also be exciting and enjoyable, at the same time it could give you peace.
We often loose hope when we here the doctor say we're terminal. We feel sad because we feel that there is no hope. But there is one doctor who would not believe that anything is incurable, that anything is beyond hope. If you are sick, Jesus can heal you. Jesus won't bother to ask you for any payment. All you need to do is ask Him and believe in him. He can cure any sickness. As in the passage, I quote, "healing every disease and sickness among the people". God is good. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Our God is the ultimate healer, not just of physical illness but spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Free of Charge. A doctor that is beyond our reach, open for 24 hours.
I've heard a lot of miraculous recovery. People with cancer that survived and recovered. This people trust their lives to God. Letting God be in control, always asking for His will in their lives. There was this young lady, her name was Hannah. She had cancer, I for what stage it was. But I know she has a high stage of cancer. She had undergone chemotherapies. The congregation would pray for her always. And now, she stands as a living proof that miracles do happen. She walk and praise God for her recovery. Trust God, his will is always something that is best for us.
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All of us will be tempted whether we like it or not. But is it possible to not fall into temptation? Yes, we can be tempted but not fall into it. Even Jesus was tempted but he didn't fall into it. Jesus showed us a good example of fighting temptation. Jesus was able to fight temptation because he knew God's words and promises. Same with us we can fight our temptation if we study God's words and know his promises. When we are tempted, one good thing to do is, we could also recite some bible verses that show God's promise and faithfulness. It is helpful to be reassured of God's faithfulness to us. Like what Jesus had done. Fighting temptation is hard, but with God's guidance we would be able to conquer it.
RELATED JOURNAL ENTRY: Temptation
It's been more than a month since my last post. It's been a very long november and december for me! A lot of school works and activities that needed to be accomplished. I had my ups and downs. I've struggled physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It seemed as though a day is not enough for all the things that I need to accomplish. But what kept me going was the strength that God provided me. And now after a month of whirlwind, I'm standing up again, ready to continue the promise that I had neglected, the promise to share God's love in all aspect of my life. May it be in school, or in the net. As I continue my journey growing in faith, I hope that I would be able to touch other people's lives and share to them the love and grace that God has given me.
Life is so full of contradictions. One moment your happy. Your life seems to be going so well. Everything seems to be perfect, then just then you fall down. Everything became a mess. family devastated, relationships broken. The life you seemed to have is crumbling down before your eyes.
All of us suffer. We may differ in what we experience but all of us will go through adversities. In James Chapter1, the Bible thought us to rejoice when we go through trials because it helps us become mature. Now in James Chapter 5, the Bible is telling us to be patient in times of hardship.
When we have problems, most of us question "Why is it happening?" Sometimes we blame other people for our problems. Some would just fall down and give up. I know how hard it is to suffer, believe I know. When I was in High School, just starting my faith, my family suffered a major trial. I couldn't help it. I was devastated, so devastated that I attempted to take my own life. I cut myself a few times. I was lucky because I didn't hit a major artery and the cuts weren't so deep, so I survived to tell you my story. But I didn't want to go to school and let other people know what I did. Everytime I had to go out, I would wrap my wrists and make it look like I had just sprained both my arms. When asked, I would say that I fell and landed with both my hands causing the sprain. Aside from my family, only a few trusted friends knew of what I did. I'm 21 years old now, so it was what... about 7 or 8 years back, but I still have few scars left on my wrist. I've never tried to do it again, though I've thought of it few times back then. I was blessed to have some good Christian friends who guided me to strengthen my faith and who made sure I wouldn't try to do it again.
Now years passed by, when I'm in trial, I pray to God and lift to him everything. It might take sometime to pass but patience and right attitude would lead you to have peace in times of adversity. Look at the life of Job. He suffered a lot but he never gave up on his God. God is merciful and compassionate. He is faithful those who are faithful to him. A few months back, my family suffered another major trial. I prayed fervently to God, lift up to him everything and trusted him with all my heart. I never gave up the fight and fall down onto pressure and stress. I never gave up ton trusting God. You know what, even though we were on a major trial, I have this peace in my heart that everything would be alright. And everything did turn out ok.
RELATED JOURNAL ENTRY: Trials
What do you think your life would be a year from now? Or 5 years? What about tomorrow? In looking into our future, people usually consult fortune tellers, astrology, horoscopes, and many others. But instead of trusting our future in these things, why don't we entrust our future into God. God is powerful, and can see our future base on the decisions we made.
Life is uncertain. One day you’re perfectly fine, the next day you found out you have an incurable disease. Some people have the habit of planning ahead, but end up not doing it. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against planning ahead. On contrary, it is good to plan ahead. But in planning our future, we must make God our partner. In planning, we must consider God's will for us. How do we know God's will? We can consult the Bible; I believe that God talks to us through the Bible. And we must also remember that God is powerful. If we ask him to be our partner in planning, he would make sure that our plans would get into actions. He will move anything to make everything according to his plan. He would guide us to every decision that we would make. Make God the partner of your life.
Faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
Passage from our youth service. Read the Passage
When we are conflicts due to our faith in God, what do we do? Do we compromise with God? Ask God to understand whatever our reasons? The faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is really amazing. The conviction they have for God is really commendable. They wouldn't bow to other gods other than God. Even if they were thrown to the blazing furnace, they believed that God would save them and protect them. Because they have an extreme faith on God, they believed that God would never leave them. It was a risk that they made. It was a life and death situation for them, but they stand firm on their faith. And they said that even if God didn't save them, they would not bow down to other gods. And God honored their faith. God did save them from the blazing furnace. The bible said, "They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them." Their amazing conviction towards God led other people to believe in the God that they believed in.
How about us? Does our faith lead other people to believe in the God that we believe in? In our time today, there are a lot of questions about the faith in God. And because of that, it is hard to lead other people to believe in the God. One, I guess, because following God has many rules to follow, law to abide. Seems boring to them? But, if we, Christians, manifest in our lives the faith that we have, it is not hard to lead other people to Christ. If in our lives we manifest our convictions to God, people will see and be able to believe in the Great God that we serve.
I saw this link on Emmyrose blog... And its is beautiful... I do hope you visit this site:
Most people conceived that being a Christian is boring, that is why most people do not want to be a Christian. Yes, there are bible laws and rule to follow, but that doesn't mean that following these rules can make your life boring. On the contrary, I'm very much happy being a young Christian. I enjoy life. I have joy and peace in my life.
The Bible says that either we follow God or follow the evilness of the world. We cannot be both. As they say, "You cannot serve two masters at once." It is either you serve God or yourself. Following God could be hard, at first but as He changes you everyday, the burdens becomes light. For God is good and loving. All we have to do is submit ourselves to Him, repent our sins, humble ourselves to him and have a great faith in a great God.
If we submit ourselves to God, he would change us, not immediately but day by day he is changing us, guiding us to the right path. Whatever our sins are, if we repent with all our hearts, God will forgive us. You might think that I'm a goodie good person speaking of sins and problems, that I don't know anything about it to talk about it. But I tell you, I've seen a lot and experience a lot. I'll tell you my story next time. I've never had so much peace, until I've surrendered my life to Christ. My life isn't boring. It is full of colors. I'm enjoying my life and the world, with God's word as my guide.
Sometimes, in our lives we want to be ahead of others, to better than other people. Sometimes, especially in work ans school, we do everything just to get ahead of others. Earthly wisdom as James said. According to him, there are two kinds of wisdom, one is earthly and the other is heavenly. Earthly wisdom is from our selfishness and envy. And most of the time this lead to disorder and evil practice. While heavenly wisdom is pure, considerate, peace-loving, full of mercy, and sincere.
As a college student, I've seen the evil practice of wisdom. Students love to compete for grades. And just so to get ahead of the competition, students would do everything they could. Some would cheat on exams. Some would ask for some leakage about the exam. Not just in school, in the businss world, in politics. It is a sad thing that God gave us intelligence and we are using it for evil practices. Such a sad thing that we are using our intelligence for our selfish ambitions.
If we lack wisdom, all we have to do is ask God. When ever we are in trials or in temptation, we just have to pray to God for wisdom. He is faithful, he will surely provide us with the wisdom that we ask him.
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