My Utmost for His Highest
I was browsing online right before my group project meeting in 3 minutes..and i stumbled upon this...
October 31, 2007
The Trail of Faith
If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you —Matthew 17:20
We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to "walk by faith" ( 2 Corinthians 5:7 ). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.
Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, "I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do." The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" ( Job 13:15 ).
posted by ~*~VaNeSsA~*~ -- 3:57 p.m. (0) comments
Monday, October 22, 2007
Ventage
okay =) here we gooooooooo. ready. set. go =)
Self Characteristics:
- i have great difficulties saying things to "stick up for my rights" in times where i don't want to offend others or i feel like i'm too demanding
- i like to vent online; many times, i even prefer to vent online to verbally venting
- when i vent verbally, the rate at which i speak can increase two-fold or even three-fold if i'm really agitated
- for things, usually i just let them go.. but i guess if they recur over and over again, things add up and it's at this time, when i know i need to say smthg.
- when i do say smthg, i am very careful to say things nicely, not to offend the other person.
Thoughts in my brain when venting:
- a constant interaction between faith and trust in God and the crappy situation at hand.
- i will vent because i need to get it all out
- as a background underlying my ventage, i have the sure foundation of Christ there as well.
- I know that God is in control and that He works for the good of those who love Him
- I know that God is omnipotent and He hears all of our prayers
- I know i will accept whatever He gives me and will try to honour Him in all circumstances.
- so as a step to gaining clarity and peace, I need to vent... and once that's done, God constantly reassures me of His presence in my life and He gives me understanding.
- He takes out the worry and replaces it with the surety of unbreakable faith and trust in my God and Saviour.
am i bottler? i don't really think so. People will know when things bother me. It's not hard to tell. I don't try hard to hide it; there's no reason to. That being said, don't be scared off by my venting. All i ask is for a listening ear, one who understands. Thank you for sticking up with me. God bless you all for caring for me.
posted by ~*~VaNeSsA~*~ -- 8:45 p.m. (0) comments
Sunday, October 07, 2007
The Fruit of Gentleness
I've almost gone thru all of Jerry Bridges' The Fruitful Life and was reading the chapter on the fruit of gentleness..and it really stuck out to me.. I'm going to copy what he says in the book...
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Treating Others Gently:
"A profile of gentleness as it should appear in our lives will first include actively seeking to make others feel at ease, or "restful," in our presence. We should not be so strongly opinionated or dogmatic that others are afraid to express their opinions in our presence. Instead, we should be sensitive to others' opinions and ideas. We should also avoid displaying our commitment to Christina discipleship in such a way as to make others feel guilty, taking care not to break the bruised reed of the hurting Christian or snuff out the smoldering wick of the immature Christian.
Second, gentleness will demonstrate respect for the personal dignity of the other person. Where necessary, it will seek to change a wrong opinion or attitude by persuasion and kindness, not by domineering or intimidation. It will studiously avoid coercion by threatening, either directly or indirectly.
Gentleness will also avoid blunt speech and an abrupt manner, instead seeking to answer everyone with sensitivity and respect, ready to show consideration toward all. Gentle Christians do not feel they have the liberty to "say what I think and let the chips fall where they may." Instead they are sensitive to the reactions of others to their words, and considerate of how others may feel about what they say. When gentle Christians find it necessary to wound with words, they also seek to bind up those wounds with words of consolation and encouragement.
Gentle Christians will not feel threatened by opposition or resent those who oppose them. Instead, they will seek to gently instruct, looking to God to dissolve the opposition, just as Paul taught Timothy to do in chapter 2 of his second letter.
Finally, gentle Christians will not degrade or belittle or gossip about the brother or sister who falls into some sin. Instead they will grieve for him or her and pray for that person's repentance. If it is appropriate to become personally involved with the erring brother or sister, they will seek to restore him or her gently, as Paul instructs us in Galations 6, aware that they too are subject to temptation.
Christians who truly seek to obey God through gentle character will actively pursue gentleness, striving to clothe themselves with it. They will place this godly virtue high on their list of spiritual traits and look to God the Holy Spirit to produce this fruit in their life."
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wowwww...isn't that sooooo coool??? i was reading it and i thought to myself... wow... it's just so good! i really agree with Bridges when he says in like the first page of this chapter..that usually, when people think of the fruit of the spirit, they think of like the "main ones" or the fact that people tend to pray for patience, love, purity, and self-control... but how many people pray for gentleness? such a good point i think =)
sometimes i kinda think that... people often wish not to be gentle as Bridges describes this fruit.. they wish to be "strong", "fierce", and most of all influential... and i really believe that they mean well and they do so in order to care fore other believers, but maybe more often than not, ppl can be intimidated... haha i'll be the first to admit that i do get intimidated a bit by people who exhibit those kinda characteristic traits... it's true...i feel as if my opinion is not as important as theirs..and hey must know all b/c they are more mature Christians than i am... but in the end, i know that's not really the way i'm supposed to feel...
so i hope that i can be really careful with that i say.. and that i can really be sensitive...and gentle.
posted by ~*~VaNeSsA~*~ -- 9:39 p.m. (0) comments
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Interesting news article =)
From --> http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=770369d2-028d-429d-b1c4-6b4b2c449337&k=8723
The report, called the National Study on Balancing Work, Family and Lifestyle, found that 60 per cent of Canadian workers suffer from high levels of "role overload," or stress from trying to balance work and family commitments.
Those falling in that category are 13 times more likely to consider quitting because of unrealistic work demands, 12 times more likely to report burnout, six times more likely to report high levels of job stress, four times more likely to be absent because of physical illness and three times more likely to be depressed.
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wow..that is pretty sad... that is NOT going to be my life as a future accountant God-willing.
posted by ~*~VaNeSsA~*~ -- 3:47 p.m. (0) comments
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Evil vs. Love....
i've been taking these 2 DE courses this term: RS100L Evil and RS100M Love and Friendship... hahah quite the two contrasting courses i'ld say... and i think... it's these psychology and religious study courses which really make me aware of how depraved we humans are... and how much we need to be infused with God's love in us and spread that to whoever we get a chance to...
so i was doing my normal read up of google news...and i stumbled upon this article
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071003.DALLAIRE03/TPStory/National
in short, it talks about this Cdn. ex-United Nations head who was sent over to Rwanda during the times of the ethnic genocide in 1994. This is the first time this Cdn will testify in court and attest to the dehumanizing crimes he witnessed to firsthand...
i was reading this article... and i was overcome with these feelings in which i can't really even grasp... but i can try =)
so first off... i've finished all the lectures for the Evil course... and i've learnt about capital punishment, the Holocaust, the Spaniards Invasion, inequality and pain inflicted upon the poor and those of different ethnicity in the name of "God"... etc... and as i read this article, i am reminded of how evil we human beings can really be... how we can be so hateful... and not even that, but misuse the creativity God has given us to create weapons of mass destruction, to create new ways of killing people... i'm reminded of our inward sinful nature that beckons to us and tries to convince us that we are better than others... the whole "us" vs. "them" mentality... as opposed to the "we" mentality of equality amongst all of His creation...
what drives us? what drove these Hutu Rwandans to kill these Tutsi Rwandans? hate? fear? anger? insecurity? abusive power? fun? selfishness? contempt? grudges?
altho this massive atrocity occurred over a decade ago, the problem does not dissipate ... the problem remains in the fact that history has proven that we humans are driven towards using violence as a means of solving conflict with each other... we [in the general sense] actively engage in hate crimes against each other... and what about us Cdn or US civilians to sit in our comfy chairs at home listening to the news? we sit there... and we kinda stare in horror at what goes on in other parts of the "lesser-known" world to us... or better yet, we choose to change the channel from the daily news at 7 to our favourite new sitcom or drama series....
this... attitude.... this.... insensitivity.... this thinking that those atrocities are so far away from my own life... dare i say... apathy?
not judging... i only can lay claim to these criticism to myself...cuz i admit, I've done it before so many times... or how about even the times i choose to go on Facebook instead of catching up on the news... and praying for them...
neways... the only word that comes up to my mind is... URGENCY.
God desperately wants me to be praying for the hurt, the less fortunate, the poor, the struggling, the abused, the neglected, the LOST ... the world is so much larger than just AFM, my job, my work and study peers, my friends, CCF, my immediate family, my extended family...
haha...yeah...so better get on it =) social justice in the name of God.
posted by ~*~VaNeSsA~*~ -- 1:43 p.m. (0) comments
Monday, October 01, 2007
Love
I'm currently reading "The Fruitful Life" by Jerry Bridges... and i was reading the chapter on the first fruit of the Spirit --> Love.
i found this particularly interesting.. 1 Corinthians 13 paraphrased in motivational statements:
This is a paraphrase from Bridge's perspective:
I am patient with you because I love you and want to forgive you.
I am kind to you because I love you and want to help you.
I do not envy your possessions or your gifts because I love you and want you to have the best.
I do not boast about my attainments because I love you and want to hear about yours.
I am not proud because I love you and want to esteem you before myself.
I am not rude because I love you and care about your feelings.
I am not self-seeking because I love you and want to meet your needs.
I am not easily angered by you because I love you and want to overlook your offenses.
I do not keep a record of your wrongs because I love you, and "love covers over a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8)
interesting eh..
now for the actual Bible translation:
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
cool =) okay that's it ... gniteee