1. Praise God!!!! :D i think that God has put in my heart a new passion!!!!!! =P hehe... and it'ld be a wonderful topic to lead a cell group on in the summer... GOd has laid this on my heart during today's wonderful sermon at rhccc... and here's the idea: cultivating spiritual relationships... (or in rev. sam chan's words: spiritual multiplication) the main objective is to glorify God through relating to others the way Jesus related with us: this can be in the form of mentorship, accountability, friends, family, and especially new believers... a) Jesus helped people get to know God. Likewise, we should be helping those in our circle of influence know God more through a variety of ways including: teaching them how to memorize Scripture, doing simple Bible studies with them, and bringing them to church/fellowship. Those are just some simple things u can do. THe most important thing is to lead by example. Why? If new believers and non-believers know that you are a Christian, but you are not leading a godly life, they would associate your behaviour with your god. And as new believers, they may be confused as to how to act "in a CHristian manner" ...so they will look to you as a role model. So think hard about examining yourself and how you present GOd in your life to those around you. b) Jesus taught them God's Word. Pastor Sam made a good point today... a lot of us think that we should let the pastors, the mentors, the "spiritually high" people teach them God's word, instead of teaching them ourselves... we may think its their duty..but in fact, it is ours... and we are fully capable in Jesus Christ to share with them the Gospel and our insight... all you need is to be willing to allow God to use you in whichever way He plans.. do not step down from the challenge GOd has given you... be obedient. c) Jesus prayed for them. Again, Pastor Sam makes an excellent observation... when praying for those in our realm of influence, we tend to pray for their specific needs. THis is good, but it's not enough. We need to dig deeper and pray that: - They'll live for Christ Joyfully. in their everday worship of God. - They'll grow strong spiritually. - They'll serve Christ effectively. - They'll bring others to Christ regularly. - They'll experience fellowship personally. d) Jesus built His character into them. e) Jesus guarded their Spiritual Growth. - on a physical level: nutrition, food - on a mental level: keep watch on what they are filling their minds with. is it pleasing to God, or will it deter their faith? - on a spiritual level: their dignity and self-esteem... f) Jesus released them to serve God's purpose. g) Jesus modeled commitment. commit yourself to those God has put into your life. (a) to (f)
as i look back on this morning's service... I truly thank Jesus for setting the perfect example for us. Time and time again, He touches my heart and just fills my heart with gladness :) Jesus cared soooo much for us.. and I just wanna share God's love so much with those around me... it will be very hard at times, no doubt...and there may be things standing in the way, but i hold onto GOd's promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us. It just brings a smile to my face to think of the day when all the relationships in my lfie GOd has really blessed me with turn into a cultivating spiritual relationship modelled after Jesus himself. i can think rite now of many close friends and family who are a large part of my life and i really hope that Christ will continue to mold me so that i can become a committed worker for Him. I know in many of my current relationships, i lack many of the things i mentioned above in (a) to (g)... but i know GOd can do anything...i have experienced his awesome power and grace..... hehe, God's so cool :D
now..... onto some current struggles of mine:
2. i guess GOd is still teaching me how to love my family even more... how to understand and relate to them better... it seems that whenever i lose some faith and grow more distant with GOd, it is due to problems back at home.... God has been taking such good care of me thru my struggles whenever i'm in watelroo...but when i face some of the hardest trials here back at home, I can feel God tuggin my heart again and again.. and i'm constantly learning how my family dynamics work at home..and how they dont' work =P and each day, i'm learning to have more faith in GOd.
i really thank God now that me and my mom can actually talk about pretty personal stuff relating to our family... i can really see that she's changing to becoming more Christ-like..and we both identified some of hte problems within our family adn what the root causes were.... so she and i both know one of the biggest factors is my dad's stubbornness... he's kinda like the "i'm the man of the house so anything i say goes" -type guy... i mean...he's an awesome, really smart, sacrifical dad... but i guess many times, he lets his temper get the best of him..and all of us (me, my siblings, and my mom) get caught at the receiving end... and i've noticed something about myself since i came home in december....i've become way more emotional than i used to be... i mean....it wasn't like i hid my true feelings from people, but i never seemed to cry often at all...not that i do now, but just more easily than before... and it's always due to family issues...
i dunno if this is a good thing or not....i have completley learned to tune out when my dad gets really really pissed... it's not totally out of rebellion...but i guess more as a response to his yelling... in my heart i know that he means well and yelling at me is his way of showing his love towards me...so i've accepted it... and i take the "moral" of the lecture he gives me and i really do think abou tit and try to change myself for the better... i guess jsut over my 19 years of life, before i learned to apprecaite his lectures, i developed quite a lot of resentment towards him earlier on in my life.... and i hope that i've given it to God and repented....but still, here and there in the present times, i still find myself getting furious at his short-temper if it's aimed towards me or my other family members... and i know that sometimes in my anger i do sin by harbouring such bad feelings towards him.... and i'm constantly learnikng to stop myself before gettign to that point...and praise GOd.... it's kinda been working recently....