->you typedd*: blog

(Wednesday, June 30, 2010-)
+11:31 AM]*

# Day 181 - 2010

Why is all I see in the Bible stories now that of failure in relationships, behaviour and principles? It's the very same people that I once saw as perfect forefathers of faith, but since CLAS1003, I've started to notice the humanity of them, how they didn't have a clear code of conduct like what Christians more or less have today. Perhaps that's why the Mosaic law had to come. People did what they saw as right in their own sight. And perhaps that's the understanding of the law that I've been searching for. That without it, life for the forefathers was really a moral mess. Lying, stealing, dishonesty, infidelity... Of course those are labels through modern lenses, but still, they do fall short of God's absolute standard.

And perhaps the plus point which is too cliche that I don't even want to admit it, is that God still used them. It wasn't because the were all so consecrated and holy and doing things all right, but merely because God was keeping His covenant with Abraham. Isaac, Jacob, their lives were in a mess, screwing around, passing on generations of wrong attitudes and behaviour, but God still came through. Of course this isn't the way God wants me to live, just clinging on to His faithfulness while I remain unfaithful. It will work, because even when I'm faithless, He will remain faithful. And probably the main point of all these is for times like this. When I'm the Isaac and Jacob.

God is still faithful, He will always be,

God will see me through, because of His mercy,

His kindness and grace,

I have a chance,

Hope to find my place.

Yup, the day is winding down, the pressure of procrastination and fear building up. And I guess even typing this is escapism in work. Well, it's not going to for much longer.

Let's try once again, to concoct an action plan.

1.30 - Wash clothes

1.35 - Eat lunch

2.00 - Dry clothes

2.10 - Sort out things to throw from my table

2.30 - Gather notes on table

2.45 - Get clothes from dryer and dry them

3.00 - Email Roland, resms Justin

3.30 - Study Aero - shut down computer

5.15 - Pay rent

5.30 - Break

6.30 - Cook and eat dinner

7.30 - Pack up clothes and vacuum room

8.30 - Sort out Sydney and homebound clothes

9.30 - Study Classics

10.30 - Study aero

Lets see, that's ambitious... but lets do it!

the story ends like this;
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(Friday, June 25, 2010-)
+9:43 AM]*

# Day 176 - 2010

Like father like son

the story ends like this;
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(Wednesday, June 23, 2010-)
+5:21 PM]*

# Day 174 - 2010

Today was a semi-productive day so far, cuz of Elder, but also cuz of the alarm stopping... oh well.

It's still happy though :)

Today's reading, what I noticed was two bad examples of parenthood. I think the Bible doesn't have perfect examples all the time, and they aren't clearly labelled as bad. But from what I feel and know, this shouldn't be the way.

^5-6 But Abraham gave everything he possessed to Isaac. While he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons he had by his concubines, but then sent them away to the country of the east, putting a good distance between them and his son Isaac.

and

^27-28 The boys grew up. Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob was a quiet man preferring life indoors among the tents. Isaac loved Esau because he loved his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

We see a pattern where the father Abraham showed favouritism to the promised son, Isaac, and trying hard to ensure the nation would prosper. Yes big faith, believing that that one son will birth a nation, and prepared the way by "chasing" away his other sons. But I don't feel that is the way to go. Then we see the pattern repeat in Isaac, where he too had favourites. And his wife as well.

What I learn from this is that though we are called, though we have the promise, we can still do things wrongly. That's why God is so important in every aspect of our lives and not just ministry. So that we leave a legacy that is patterned after God. And that legacy not just the ministry that we served in, but a legacy that was our life while here on earth, and the impact it leaves in eternity.

Yup. Relationships are a major issue, because people matter. And when one is in a position of influence, it must be taken seriously, because we may not know all the repercussions.

the story ends like this;
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(Monday, June 21, 2010-)
+12:21 PM]*

# Day 172 - 2010

Struggled to wake up today, but finally did it, and decided to start he "day" with what I learnt in church. To start with praising God. And by altering my habits. No LoL for today. And if it can last, tomorrow as well :) Tomorrow I will got to uni to study! And then reward myself with a hungry jacks lunch :D

And today's QT is also an extension of yesterday's awesome sermon by Rudy. And I found his name, it's Eliezer!

Anyway, Genesis 15 was right, dunno why I didn't see it last night, but here goes. Chapter 15 opens with the famous saying:

¹ After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
"Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward."

And today I discovered a little more why God said that! Key words are "After this", or in some other translations, "After these things" or "Some time later", key point it is happens after what happened in chapter 14, so I simply read what happened in 14. And it was the rescue of Lot, plus the tithe to Melchizedek, and the refusal to take plunder from the King of Sodom.

I am your shield could probably mean that God was reassuring Abram that He was with him, even in the rescue of Lot, which was a pretty great feat. And also, after refusing to share in the bounty and take the offer of the King of Sodom, he may have been a bit ticked off, so God's reassuring him, "I am your shield". And it's also for the future, where God's people will get into all sorts of trouble, He was their shield when they bothered to look to Him.

And that God Himself was the reward, or God would reward Him greatly, either way, Abram was going to be blessed greatly. So what was the blessing?

³And Abram continued, Look, You have given me no child; and [a servant] born in my house is my heir.

⁴And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This man shall not be your heir, but he who shall come from your own body shall be your heir.

It was what Abram had wanted all along, a son, an heir! And yup, the servant born would be Eliezer. And instead of material wealth that God blessed Abram with first, He promised Him that He would have something he truly wanted, a son! And where did this come from? I believe it's the principle of the tithe.

¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem ^{d]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[d]} brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, ¹⁹ and he blessed Abram, saying,
"Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator ^{e]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[e]} of heaven and earth.

²⁰ And blessed be ^{f]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[f]} God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand."
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Yup, Abram gave the tithe in 14, and "After these things", God made the covenant that he would have a son. So it is true that when we seek God's kingdom and His righteousness first, He will add all things unto us.

Yup, that's the principle for today :)

the story ends like this;
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(Sunday, June 20, 2010-)
+6:01 PM]*

# Day 171 - 2010

Today's church was really awesome. It was just two songs. Like A Fire, the song I listened to just before leaving my room, and Hope of All Hearts (the "new" song) haha! I love being so spoilt for going to Planetshakers Conference :P

It was good. Ps Chris shared a word about how God remains faithful. From 2 Timothy 2

¹¹Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
¹²if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
¹³if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

Yup, and he talked about how in life, many things can be unfaithful to us, or we can be unfaithful to many things. And even then, God will remain faithful to us. And it goes against the flow of that passage. If we disown Him, He will also disown us, but even when we're faithless, He will remain faithful. I'm not too sure why it says "He cannot disown Himself", and I have two interpretations, wonder which is right.

1) We are inseparably joined with Him when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. I am His and He is mine.

2) He is Faithful period.

And as he was sharing this, I was suddenly reminded of my talk with Jojo in the afternoon, and I hope the message to her made sense.

Then the message by Rudy (at least that's how I think it's spelt), was just awesome. Not in the powerful delivery kind of awesome, though he was a good communicator, but in the simplicity that things clicked in my head.

Why do I do the things I do? Simple.

1) because I want to be close to God

2) because I want to be the best at what I do

I pray, and praise to be close to God. I make a decision every morning to praise God, to make Him the center and anchor of my day.

I read the word, because I want to be a man of revelation. And the only way is if I study the Word!

Somehow when he preached those few lines, it really struck and stuck. It's really that simple. Yup, I know I've been thinking about these issues for a long time, and I believe a breakthrough has just happened, and I'm claiming it, all in the simple name of Jesus and His words through Rudy.

And then there was a revelation of a servanthood sermon. The Genesis 24 account of the part where Abraham charges his chief servant, whom I think is Eliazar (dunno how to spell), to get a wife for his son Isaac. And the part that clicked was why did he do it? Just a few chapters ago, Abraham pleaded with God to have a son so that his belongings will not go to his servant. So I think he was in line to get everything, yet he served his master faithfully and found a wife for Isaac. And he did such a good job that sermons are preached out of his behaviour!

So yup, something to dig over the next few days!

Yay for Edge Live!

And yup, somehow the talk with Jojo has got me thinking, but in a good but yet perplexing way. Life is going on!

the story ends like this;
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(Wednesday, June 16, 2010-)
+4:09 PM]*

# Day 167 - 2010

Today has been a slow day, and I've only been awake for 3 hours and it's dark :P Ooops!

And guess what, today's reading has something to do with it!

Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

It's talking about working out our salvation in that context, but I believe to me, it's about being productive and not getting all messed up. Seize the day, use the daylight well. It's ending soon! Get to doing what I'm supposed to be doing :)

the story ends like this;
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(Monday, June 14, 2010-)
+4:51 AM]*

# Day 165 - 2010

Two hundred more days to go in 2010. Just watched Australia get slaughtered in the World Cup, right here in Australia. Sad.

Today's reading takes a bit of pondering

So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

I guess the part that really speaks to me here is the comparing with others. Firstly for me, I guess is not pridefully comparing myself to other people. That has been an ongoing lesson since I got here. Then there's enviously comparing myself with others, and that has been ongoing for even longer. The close balance to draw here is wanting to learn from someone to become better (or politically correct way of saying it: to be more like Christ), and the feeling of being an inferior Christian or not good enough because I don't do my QT as long, or as intense, or as regularly, or pray as much, etc etc.

The balance is found in the part anchoring this verse, were were fashioned to be certain parts, and different parts have different strengths. Some are strong in lifting, some are strong in thinking. Very different, but very vital. So the challenge is to know what we're made to be, cuz once we know that, we won't have to be comparing etc. And upon thinking, I realise the question of inferiority on QT and prayer is better addressed by the maturity question, where Ps Martin Steel spoke about how an apple that is bitter when it's young is perfect, for the stage of maturity that it's in, but it should be sweet when ripe.

The part where this addresses best is what is followed up by the next verse

^6-8If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Yup. I've gotta know where my place is in the body of Christ. To do what has been assigned to me, and not enviously compare to what others have achieved or are doing. Neither do I pride myself with having arrived, because there's still so much to be done, and so much more to learn. And speaking of learn, here's more direct speaking from the Word,

^14-16Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.

^17-19Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone.

Probably the hardest parts for me are in those verses. It's as clear as clear can get. Make friends with nobodies. Yeah, gotta do that! And also Wintercamp!

Prayer time :)

the story ends like this;
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(Sunday, June 13, 2010-)
+1:22 PM]*

# Day 164 - 2010

Its been a while since I got to worship so freely, and with such an old song. Maybe I'll just put the chords and lyrics up here, who knows who may be blessed as well :)

I FEEL LIKE I'M FALLING

HILLSONG / Praise

Key: D#

Intro: || C#m7 | C#m7/B | A2 | A2 ||

C#m7
STANDING

C#m7/B
TALL IN THIS WIDE

A2
SPACE

C#m7

GETTING

C#m7/B
LOST IN YOUR EM

A2
BRACE

F#m7

I SEE A

E/G#
FIRE BURNING

Amaj7
BRIGH

A6
TER

F#m7

IT'S CALLING

E/G#
ME TO CATCH THE

Bsus4
FLAME

E
I FEEL LIKE I'M

B/D#
FALLING

C#m7

OVER AND

A2
OVER IN LOVE WITH

F#m7
YOU

IT'S NOT JUST A

E/G#
FEELING

BUT I

Bsus4
KNOW THAT HE IS

E
REAL

I FEEL LIKE I'M

B/D#
FALLING

C#m7

INTO THE

A2
ARMS OF THE MIGHTY

F#m7
GOD

IT'S NOT JUST A

E/G#
FEELING

BUT I

Bsus4
KNOW THAT HE IS

C#m7 (E)
REAL

YOU'RE DRAWING ME CLOSER TO YOURSELF

IT'S THE SAFEST PLACE I KNOW WHERE TO HIDE

WITH ONE GLANCE YOU CAPTURED MY HEART

YOU SPEAK YOUR WORD THAT SET ME APART

E
I FEEL LIKE I'M

B
FALLING

C#m7

I FEEL LIKE I'M

A
FALLING

C#m7

I FEEL LIKE I'M

F#m7
FALLING

FALLING INTO THE

Bsus4
ARMS OF LOVE

Yup, that was the song for today, and it tied in with Jesus, Lover of My Soul in E as well :) And it all tied in with today's reading, of the grafted branches in Romans. And this is the part that spoke to me the clearest. A sober reminder of who God is, the almighty, autonomous God. He deals rightly, for all His dealings define what is right. It's like the saying "God cannot lie, if He said the carpet is green, and you look down at your black carpet and behold, it is green."

And so there is also this side of God where He is kind, where I fall into His arms of love, but today's reminder after that beautiful song is that there is also a ruthless severity of God against sin and those who play dead towards Him. And for me, that playing cannot last any longer. It also reminded me of another quote I saw Shaunster tweet from Ps Brian or someone.

Good leaders are indispensable, great leaders are not

So yeah, that's my reminder from this verse today.

Make sure you stay alert to these qualities of gentle kindness and ruthless severity that exist side by side in God—ruthless with the deadwood, gentle with the grafted shoot.

And after that, it summed up with this verse

God's gifts and God's call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded

That even when I'm deadwood and cast out, there is still hope because I know God has a calling on my life, and no matter what I do, God will never abandon me. Yes I can miss my full destiny, but God is able to work things out for my good :)

the story ends like this;
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(Saturday, June 12, 2010-)
+1:41 PM]*

# Day 163 - 2010

Know the truth.

This suddenly came to me.

³¹To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. That's what suddenly struck me.

The degree of my freedom is proportional to the truth that I know.

The truth that I know is not dependent on the amount of knowledge I have, but on the amount of knowledge I have accepted as truth.

the story ends like this;
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