Love

Sometimes things just gets so beautiful when they are filled with love! :D The simplest words and smile can bring forth beautiful colours that light up others' soul. There no need of decoration or packaging because it is the most exquisite beauty that God has ever given us!

The most intimate interpersonal relations are often the outcome of profound contemplative experience that people share. That is why we often get to see,hear or understand each other at a whole new level. There are times when we know we cant convey feelings through verbal communication, but at a blink of an eye or just what we call a "hunch", sometimes the connection goes beyond words and the souls can reach mutual conclusion. It's not an extrasensory perception that I am referring to, but it's a kind of intuitive awareness that you build up, which some might even label it as "reading minds". I have always believed that no one can ever understand anyone deep enough if their soul aren't connected in any way by love since they can't reach a level of empathy to truly feel for each other. Well, this term "truly" is subjective to every individual and every relation, but I guess it's a boundary that's best defined by ourselves. When Jesus says:"as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you...", I believe He saw this connection with our Heavenly Father, and through this love He connect to the soul of man. No man learns how to love unless they've experienced the love of God.

May the Lord teach us how to love the people around us, and help us to love the people in the world. Our love is never fair, nor are they equal to every individual, but may our incompleteness be forgiven in His merciful nature, and that His graceful hands will lift us up to do things that's beyond who we are. It always starts with the gospel. I believe the depth of understanding this might be different, but we will always come back to it for answers.

Today's Prayer

Today's prayer:

"Lord you are the King of Kings and the Lord of lords, the alpha and omega, the God of all. Lord I just hope that in this last moment of this sad day, I could spend this time with you in prayers, in hope of sharing with you all that's in my bleeding heart. Please be mercy on me and forgive me for my sinful nature. There's nothing worthy enough that I could offer to you, but I hope to surrender my little self to you, praying that I could be a pleasant servant for you to use. As much as the sadness inside that's killing me, I pray that may not the sorrow dwells, but the joy of the gospel triumph! Lord, still I believe that the tomorrow will be better! Cuz I am having faith not in anything else but just who you are. In all, may the glory and praise be yours, for you are the only one worthy. Thank you for everything.

In Jesus most precious name I pray. Amen."

Once I heard from a sermon: "Find not the hopelessness in the hope, but the hope in the hopelessness." Tomorrow will definitely be better! The more that we are going through, the more shall we proclaim that better things have yet to come! The Lord has prepared a feast for us in heaven.

Wrestle

Speaking of the flesh and the Spirit, I believe most of us know what we should abandon and what to seek after. However, none of the true followers of Christ aren't struggling in between those two because these are part of taking up the cross we should bear. We are always having the difficulty of making the right choice, meaning the one that we know we have to do, and there are a few different response to this matter! Some people choose to take an escapist attitude, they run from making a decision. These people usually keep facing the problems again and again, giving themselves lots of excuses to the issues at hand. On the other hand, Some people choose to sink with it. These people will get so troubled and emotional over the problem, blaming everyone and everything else, and yet do nothing to fix it. They usually ended up being overwhelmed by it, telling themselves that they just can't do anything about it. There's another kind that will force themselves to go through the tough decision and make the harsh choice. They might feel pain and sad in the process, but ultimately they learn to rely more on God and find joy within!

The funny thing is we are always switching roles between these people, sometimes being an escapist, sometimes sink in excruciating pain, sometimes force ourselves to make the choice. None of us are perfect, and we will always be in between, struggling all the time! However, only those that are truly after the heart of God, willing to be set apart for Him to use, will see beyond the flesh. Their spiritual eyes see not of the works of the world or ministry within church, but fixated on the hand of God that brings about graceful provision and the growth of the kingdom of God. I am not saying that ministry in church is not important, but we have to always keep in mind that we belong not to the church, not to ECF, we belong to the kingdom of God! Definitely, we have to serve within the church, yet we must set our eyes further and let the ministry move outwards! Spreading the Good News(gospel) is the key!

Most importantly, I feel that gospel is not just important to people who are yet to accept Christ, but it is just as important us, who proclaim to be the Son/Daughter of God by the promise in the Gospel! The more we struggle in the journey of transformation, the more we have to hold on to it just like Jacob, never let go!!
No matter what happens in life, don't ever let go!!!!!

Compassion

It's always painful to see loved ones around you suffering. This year I had two friends that lost their dad to cancer, and 2 more struggling to see their loved ones being tormented by it! It's really heart-wrecking to feel so dearly for them and yet we can't even tell them "It's ok! He/She will get better!" because deep in our hearts we know that none of us can be certain of anything!

Brothers and sisters, I urge of all of you to really put a thought into this. All of us have experienced bitterness in life, surely, though some may choose to turn a blind eye, but many of us are trying hard to make life better! There is no need for argument that life isn't kind and might even be cruel at times, especially when we are carrying the identity as Sons and Daughters of God, living in the tension of the now and the coming. Sometimes we might get so drawn into all these bitterness and helplessness that we ended up emo-ing and whining about life being unfair, and ask God "what have we done to deserve this?". Yet how often do we think about what do we really deserve?

If it isn't for the mercy of God and the love of Jesus Christ, we are condemned to a life of eternal suffering. If it isn't for the faithfulness of the Lord, "hope" isn't even part of our life dictionary. I am not saying that we can't feel sad or unhappy. It's ok to be sad or to cry, in fact CRY hard! For I believe God gave us emotions so that we can feel and love. However, after all these, don't forget to stand back up! There are so many people out there that are still waiting for us to bring them the Good News! There are so many lost souls out there that doesn't know what "hope" is! There are so many lives out there waiting to be saved!

Though I can't promise that life will get any better, but I can surely tell you that the loving God will never leave you to walk through it alone, and He will always be with you. Sometimes we might find it hard to carry faith when life is so bleak, but when we let go of control, we'll see the warm arms of the loving God awaiting us. Take heart!!!

Fresh start

Well I guess many of us wanted a fresh start, especially after the retreat. Some of us hoping that our lives would change into more God and less "me"; Some of us had our rest and yet feeling very lazy to get back to "life"; Some of us felt enlightened and hoping that we could live differently; Some of us carry the a whole loads of worry to the camp and come back with another set of those; Some of us found courage to move forward; Some of us built new bonds!!! Regardless of what each of us experienced, I believe all of us wanted a change, a fresh start in life, a life more rooted in God, and most importantly, one that LASTs!!!! Personally I don't see the need to keep worrying whether it will last or not, we should just simply walk the talk and live it out the Word of God, and I believe the Holy Spirit will empower us. God says "Seek first His kingdom and all will be given to you!", my brother and sisters, lets just stop calculating the consequences or possible risk of how difficult it might be! Lets carry a childlike faith and walk TOGETHER in faith and love!

"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." (Matthew 11:12)

It has never been easy, but we shall and we can break through this barrier right?! In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us! Enough talking and lets start making the move now! Hold on to each other and hold on to God, it's time to go!
起来！神的儿女！不要再沉睡！复兴快来临！

Retreat

Everything just falls into its own place by the hands of nature. Behind the good and bad that happens in life, there are always blessings in disguise, which makes everything seem so much more beautiful, acceptable and lovable! Bits and pieces of our life are trails of God's playing hands, making every moment so significant and meaningful, hence in joy or pain, at any time and space, we shall embrace the mightiness of our loving God.

Well, I had my short retreat before the ECF church retreat and it's a good rest I guess. In this retreat, I've done what I wanted/needed to do I guess. There are things that I wasn't brave enough to do before; people I didn't want to face up to before; joy that I failed to have before, but I guess God gave me the courage and guidance to pull it through!

Had a good time with all the brothers and sisters in Christ :D By the grace of God, I believe things will get much better, definitely!

p.s. if you happen to read this one day, just want to let you know, I am glad we made the talk. Keep walking and I believe God will show you the richness He has long prepared for you. gambateh!!