What to pray about?
One example, we can see from a letter that Paul wrote to the Colossians church (Colossians 1:9-14), "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
How do we pray?
One way Jesus taught His disciples (Matthew 6:6), "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Do I have to pray?
Well, yes. Because Jesus, Himself prays. His disciples also prays. Jesus commanded us to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul as well as to love one another.
Why do we pray?
Praying is like talking with someone, plus focusing all your time, energy, and mind into the person you are talking with about something. (Remember when Jesus prays in the garden, "his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:44)
Just like talking, praying can be in a form of giving thanks, asking, sharing your thoughts, ...
The more you spend time talking with someone, the more you know about that person :)
When can we pray?
Now :P, 24-7....
Monday, August 21, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
"Do not test Me", says the Lord
In the morning, when I woke up, God reminded of one thing: Do not test God.
Have you been in a position, where you don't know where you are going or not knowing what to do?
It seems that everything is fine. You are in a comfortable spot. You have everything in your life being taken care of.
Sometimes, you wonder, "If God wants my attention, won't He budge me from my seat? Or start an earth quake?"
Or sometimes, you wonder, "If what I am doing is wrong, wouldn't God stop me from doing it."
God is patient, and generous. But, I know that He is a loving God too. Wouldn't He come and rescue me?
"Why is he letting me to do this?," you may ask.
It says somewhere in the bible, that His commandments is written in our heart. We know somehow, that what we are doing is right or wrong.
But, we still lean toward making the bad decision anyway. "It feels good to me," you may say. "It's temporary though," some may add.
"So, what am I suppose to do now?" you may ask.
It says in the Bible that God will reward those who dilligently seeks Him. And all the commandments can be summed up to two: love your God with all your heart and soul, and love your neighbor.
You may not see the result right away. You may see yourself making a decision that is different than what you used to.
But, He or She who is in Christ is a new creation.
God loves you. He wants you to change the way you make your decision. It is no longer about our selfish desires anymore. Trust in the Lord always. He always keeps His promise.
Don't worry, you will see it at the end, when God says, "Well done, my faithful servant. Welcome Home."
Jesus loves you.
Have you been in a position, where you don't know where you are going or not knowing what to do?
It seems that everything is fine. You are in a comfortable spot. You have everything in your life being taken care of.
Sometimes, you wonder, "If God wants my attention, won't He budge me from my seat? Or start an earth quake?"
Or sometimes, you wonder, "If what I am doing is wrong, wouldn't God stop me from doing it."
God is patient, and generous. But, I know that He is a loving God too. Wouldn't He come and rescue me?
"Why is he letting me to do this?," you may ask.
It says somewhere in the bible, that His commandments is written in our heart. We know somehow, that what we are doing is right or wrong.
But, we still lean toward making the bad decision anyway. "It feels good to me," you may say. "It's temporary though," some may add.
"So, what am I suppose to do now?" you may ask.
It says in the Bible that God will reward those who dilligently seeks Him. And all the commandments can be summed up to two: love your God with all your heart and soul, and love your neighbor.
You may not see the result right away. You may see yourself making a decision that is different than what you used to.
But, He or She who is in Christ is a new creation.
God loves you. He wants you to change the way you make your decision. It is no longer about our selfish desires anymore. Trust in the Lord always. He always keeps His promise.
Don't worry, you will see it at the end, when God says, "Well done, my faithful servant. Welcome Home."
Jesus loves you.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Mortify The Desire of The Flesh!
Read the following excerpt from Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 -10:
5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
A couple words I'd like to elaborate of their meanings:
inordinate = Exceeding reasonable limits; immoderate, excessive
concupiscence = A strong desire, especially sexual desire; lust.
I was listening to a daily devotion for children. It mentions about the consequences of sin.
As human, we tend to make excuses for our mistakes (just like Adam or Eve). However, "these excuses won't change the fact that we have disobeyed." And of course, this can lead to God's wrath.
Well, Paul have clearly said that we have to mortify our fleshly desire. And the word "mortify" means 'to discipline (one's body and physical appetites) by self-denial or self-inflicted privation'. Paul didn't stop there, but he also continues to explain how we can mortify the deeds of our flesh, which is to put off the 'old man' and put on the 'new man' in us.
Our mind has to be renewed and transformed to the likeness of Christ. We should no longer live our lives the old ways when we didn't know Christ. But, we should strive to please God with our body, soul, and mind.
We should listen to what the Spirit have to say.
To break the chain off of addiction whether it is to drugs, smoking, alcohol, anger, etc. will be almost as impossible if we do it with our own strength.
I am battling a type of addiction myself. However, I remember that day when I invited Jesus Christ into my life. The addiction went gradually disappearing.
At times, the temptation might come to us again. No one say that it takes only one Knocked Out punch.
Christ is on our side now. He is our faithful trainer. He is our faithful medicine man. He will care for us until we finish the game. However, our trainer won't let us just stand there in the middle of the ring acting like a punching bag.
Jesus, our trainer wants us to fight back. He wants us to evade. He wants us to run around. He wants us to punch back and knock the enemy out.
As Ephesians 4:27 says, "Do not give the devil a foothold." It continues on to Ephesians 5:15-21, "15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."
Remember be filled with the Spirit.
Jesus loves you.
5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
A couple words I'd like to elaborate of their meanings:
inordinate = Exceeding reasonable limits; immoderate, excessive
concupiscence = A strong desire, especially sexual desire; lust.
I was listening to a daily devotion for children. It mentions about the consequences of sin.
As human, we tend to make excuses for our mistakes (just like Adam or Eve). However, "these excuses won't change the fact that we have disobeyed." And of course, this can lead to God's wrath.
Well, Paul have clearly said that we have to mortify our fleshly desire. And the word "mortify" means 'to discipline (one's body and physical appetites) by self-denial or self-inflicted privation'. Paul didn't stop there, but he also continues to explain how we can mortify the deeds of our flesh, which is to put off the 'old man' and put on the 'new man' in us.
Our mind has to be renewed and transformed to the likeness of Christ. We should no longer live our lives the old ways when we didn't know Christ. But, we should strive to please God with our body, soul, and mind.
We should listen to what the Spirit have to say.
To break the chain off of addiction whether it is to drugs, smoking, alcohol, anger, etc. will be almost as impossible if we do it with our own strength.
I am battling a type of addiction myself. However, I remember that day when I invited Jesus Christ into my life. The addiction went gradually disappearing.
At times, the temptation might come to us again. No one say that it takes only one Knocked Out punch.
Christ is on our side now. He is our faithful trainer. He is our faithful medicine man. He will care for us until we finish the game. However, our trainer won't let us just stand there in the middle of the ring acting like a punching bag.
Jesus, our trainer wants us to fight back. He wants us to evade. He wants us to run around. He wants us to punch back and knock the enemy out.
As Ephesians 4:27 says, "Do not give the devil a foothold." It continues on to Ephesians 5:15-21, "15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."
Remember be filled with the Spirit.
Jesus loves you.
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