Where is the center of your life? [06/16/13]

Dear friends,

I hope you have all been well! And happy Father's day to all the wonderful fathers out there! I'm a little sad to be separated from my own father on this special day, but thank the Lord for technology! I could talk to him on the phone all day if I wanted! (More like if he wanted... which he doesn't.) But that is okay! I hope you all have an amazing day today filled with very special time with your families :)

Today, I would like to share with you a couple of verses that have been speaking to me in the past couple of days. You see, I'm preparing to go to Haiti in August and as we train together as a team, we are supposed to memorize a whole pile of bible verses, which is an excellent idea, but I have a very unfortunate memory. I've memorized next to nothing and no matter how hard I try, it just won't stick! But they've still been speaking to me. :)

Romans 12:1
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your act of spiritual worship."

Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

The life I had previously lived had been a Kristen-centered life. What was the purpose of my life? Earn money, buy a car, buy a house, buy clothes, buy food, be popular, be funny, be "loved," be famous, be fit... and the list goes on and on. These are the only things I wanted in life and I worked hard for them. I earned a lot of money in high school and I was able to buy many different objects, but I got bored of every single one of them. I also had many friends in high school, but I was never satisfied. I wanted more. I wanted them to love me the MOST. I wanted to be everybody's best friend.

I was, and still am, very sinful. My heart was so full of sin and pride... But at the time, I didn't realize the extent of it. Even now, I am still realizing every day exactly how sinful I really am, and it makes me all the more thankful for the mercy God poured out onto us. Have you ever thought about it? Have you ever realized how merciful our God truly is?

In Romans, Paul is urging us, but not telling us, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God. He is exhorting us to offer our lives to God. I was reading a commentary on this verse and it was explaining how the greek word for spiritual is logikos. But derived from logikos is also the English word logical - which is normally associated with the mind. The definition is a little confusing, but it makes sense when you put it into context. When it says "this is your spiritual act of worship," it makes sense for the word logikos to be inserted there. For it should be logical that since God has shown us mercy, we would offer our bodies as living sacrifices to him! He has freed us from our old masters... So now that we are free, why would we continue to serve our old masters?

Just as Galatians says, we have been given this new life to live where Christ lives in us! We are now in union with Christ - both actively and passively. Further on in Galatians (5:13-6:10), it speaks of both walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit. It is not only one or only the other, but it is both. Christ now lives in us, but we now also live by faith in the Son of God!

Amen to that! We have been freed from our old masters and are now able to serve our merciful God with our lives. We are able to walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit! I am truly so grateful that God has allowed my eyes to be opened to his great works. Every single time I heard the truth of how a God sent his one and only son to die on a cross for an undeserving human... I feel nothing but overwhelming thankfulness in my heart and the desire to give everything I am to my creator. How blessed are we, dear friends, to be able to serve such a wonderful God. I don't want to sit around and live for myself anymore!

Brothers and sisters, may we learn to love like our creator! May we learn to die to ourselves every single day and live for God! May we learn to love one another selflessly!

Much love. :)

-kjoosaurus out!

Parts of a Whole [5/16/12]

Hello to all of God's beautiful children!

Was your day filled with many blessings? Of course it was! Every single day is a blessing hehe :) I had a fabulous day! I was able to hang out with a friend from Ottawa, and it was plenty of fun! I really, really miss everybody from my church in Ottawa. I wish you could all visit me! I'm praying it will happen one day!

Well, today, I wanted to talk a little about something I learned last night. I was at Soultrek (the youth group at my church) and a friend of mine was preaching. His message was great! He talked about the body of Christ, and how we make up the body while Jesus makes up the head.

1 Corinthians 12:12

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body,so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

We, as the church, make up the body. Every single one of us has a certain part, and we must do our part to help the body function! God calls each one of us to play a certain role for Him. Oftentimes, I find we know what He wants us to do, but we do not wish to follow through with it! Why do we do this? Sometimes, there are different pressures in our lives. Sometimes, we're too scared to do it. There are many, many reasons that may prevent us from completing the role God has given us, but we shouldn't let our doubts and fears overcome us! 

When we do not do our part, the rest of the body cannot function properly! I really love how well this is written. It is 100% relatable to our human bodies. If our eyes do not do its job, then the rest of our body struggles. If our hands do not work, then the rest of our body struggles. It is the same with the spiritual body! When God calls us to do our part, we must do our part! 

There is not a single part of a body that can do every single part. A part is a part, but all of the parts together makes a whole! 

Corinthians 12:27-30

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues^[d]? Do all interpret? ³¹ Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

Each one of us has a different gift that we must use for the work of the Lord! But, none of us has all of these gifts. We all work together, and together, we make one body! I hope you will seek to do his work. I hope you will pray and ask God what it is He wants you to do. Ask Him to USE you! Ask Him to help you do your part! Some of us know exactly what he wants us to do while others are not as certain. Right now, I know I'm supposed to be writing this blog. I know God will continue to use us in more and more ways! 

So, what are you doing to serve God? What could you change in your life to serve Him better? Do you think you are doing your part right now? 

I personally know I'm not doing enough... There is so much more I should be doing, but I feel scared to do it! Slowly, God is breaking down these walls of fear, and I feel closer and closer to doing my part. May he break down your walls of fear! May he cast away any doubts you may have. Let us praise him through the storm! :) 

Here's the song I listened to today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxvAaq9q5Kw

Well, goodnight to all of God's children! May all of your dreams be from Him! :) 

- kjoosaurus out!

My Testimony [5/5/12]

Hello Hello!

Tomorrow, I will finally be getting baptized! Well, I guess it's today now... But I'm sure you all know what I mean. At my church, we do a water baptism, so every person who gets baptized has to write a short testimony. I've been working on my testimony for a few hours... I wish I could put in every single detail of what the Lord has done in my life, but I could only put in the most important things. It's still very, very long though. 

Our God is an awesome God. He's a wonderful God. Full of wonders. Well, tonight, I thought I would share my testimony with you. God changed me from a human filled with hate, to a child of God filled with love. He is so great! 

My name is Kristen Joo, I am 19 years old, and a child of God.

Although I have no single, crazy event that led me to be saved, I had a series of events and multiple people that God used to bring me closer to Him, and the way he planned my life, and the way it perfectly unravelled, is just so wonderful and beautiful.

I was born and raised in a Christian family. Since I can remember, I have been going to church every single Sunday. I absolutely wasn’t allowed to skip church, and there was no arguing with that! So, every Sunday, I would go to church, and although I would be physically present, my mind would be worlds away. I would listen to story after story about this figure named God, but… I never got to know Him… I just attended church on Sunday, and then I went back to my old self for the rest of the week.

To be completely honest, I can’t remember when I was saved. There were so many times when I was on a spiritual high, but each lasted only a few weeks. So, I continued to live in a tug of war life with God. He would pull me closer to Him, and I would pull away. Closer, away. Closer, and away again.

But one thing I realized.. Is that he never lets us go. Once we are His, we are always His.

My initial goal for university was to move to Toronto so that I could be with my cousins. I applied at a couple schools around that area, but God had very different plans in mind. All of my plans to move to Toronto were thrown away, and I somehow ended up in Ottawa. I was upset at first, but I got over it quickly, because all I really wanted was to move away from home.

Once I arrived in Ottawa, I was finally free. I could do anything I wanted to do. I stayed up until 5 in the morning, I didn’t clean my room, I ate all the junk food I wanted, and the whole time, I had no parents nagging me! I also decided that I wasn’t going to go to church anymore. This new freedom that I had meant I could sleep in until 2 on Sundays; I could stay up late on Saturday night, and know I would have the next day to sleep. So, I stopped going to church...

But, my Mom started calling me. Every time she called me, she asked me, “Kristen, have you gone to church yet?” Every time, I would say, “No, I haven’t found one.” So, being the efficient mother she is, she found a church for me. But.. It was a Korean church. Because I can’t speak Korean, I’ve always had a very difficult time with Korean people. They see my face, and they immediately have expectations that I can not meet. Therefore, I avoided them at all costs. I tried a church, but it didn’t work out. So, to get my Mom to stop nagging me, I dragged myself to this dreaded Korean church.

God definitely wanted me to be there, because the first Sunday I attended was spectacular! I was so warmly welcomed by the people, and everybody spoke to me in English!! It was awesome!!  Before I knew it, I had built wonderful, Christ-based relationships. God began to use me, and change me. He changed me, and he continues to change me so much! There are many ways where God has changed me, but there is one huge area that He has changed. He really began to teach me how to love others.

Before I went away to university, I was filled with so much hate… I hated everything. I hated anybody that corrected me, I hated anybody that hated me, I hated anybody that was too nice to me. I just hated everything. This hate really showed in my actions… I treated my family terribly. I treated my friends without the care they deserved. I hurt people in ways so bad, I can’t bear to think about it now. My words were used as a sword to stab, and discourage. The purpose of my words was to bring people down… The fact that I struggled with pride didn’t help either. I wanted people to see me as above others. In ways, I was trying to glorify myself.

I think this may have been why I couldn’t get closer to God… I felt so, so guilty for how I had treated his beautiful creations. These were His own children that I was discouraging and hating! I had caused so much hurt and pain in these people… How could He bear to love me too?

But, for some reason, God kept loving me. I was constantly reminded of His love for us. There were verses all over the place about his love. There were people all over the place reminding me of how great his love is. God’s love was literally surrounding me! 

This verse is the only verse I have ever memorized. It has been on my heart for several years… It has never left me, and for some reason, I always catch myself saying it in my head.  

John 3:16  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” 

Although these words were always on my heart, I never really thought about what they meant. But, as this past school year went by, God has been showing me more, and more. He has been opening my eyes and my heart. I finally realized what He had done for me! Even now, after I’ve realized it, I’m still mind-blown. He loved me THAT MUCH? Who am I to deserve this love? I am a sinner. I am unworthy, I am worthless, I am nothing. My world was filled with hate, pride, and jealousy… But, He still showed me His grace. He forgave me for ALL of my sins. ALL OF THEM! I still cannot believe it. Every single dirty, disgusting, revolting sin has been forgiven by the grace of God.

When I discovered this unimaginable love God has for us, a passion began to stir inside my heart. I want to become like Him. I want to be a reflection of Him! When I look into the mirror, I don’t want to see myself; I want to see Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour! As I have been getting closer and closer to Him, He has truly been changing and moulding me. I pray He will make me a humble servant, so that I may do His will. I pray He will help me give up my whole life for Him! I pray He will continue change me, so that I may love like He does. 

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Today, I am proclaiming my love for Jesus! I am committing the rest of my life to do the work of the Lord!

Your Kingdom come,

Your will be done

On earth as it is in Heaven. 

- kjoosaurus out! 

Endurable [5/2/12]

Hello~ kjoosaurus is back!

I hope everybody enjoyed yesterday's post as much as I did... There was a lot of meaning in the post, and I am so grateful for the honesty that came from the author! It was refreshingly beautiful, and it really meant a lot to me. So, thank you!

As some may know, yesterday was a day filled with traveling! I went from Ottawa to Vancouver, and my room is now a disaster. It was so great to see my family; I didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw them again.  It is such a blessing to be part of such a loving and caring family. For many years, I have taken them for granted, and I wish I had known better! But I am now going to try my very best to appreciate and love them as much as I can! It's never too late to start :)

God has provided me with various topics to write about, but He has mostly been pushing me towards the topic of temptation. Hmmm.. Temptation. It existed since the beginning; Satan tempted Eve into taking a bite of the fruit. From then on, temptation has occurred over, and over, and over again throughout the bible. The temptation to sin surrounds us; it comes in all shapes and forms, and they can appear to be so humanly impossible to resist.

Ottawa. It was a place where temptations had a harder time getting to me. I struggled a bit with temptations, but they were easier for me to deal with. Was it because I had such a strong support from my brothers and sisters in Christ? Was it because I had grown so much closer to God?

Vancouver. Oh, Vancouver. Just hours after landing in Vancouver, I was tempted to go back to my old ways. My days of laziness, my days of anger and impatience, my days of selfish desires. I haven't been in Vancouver long, but my initial feeling was a loss of passion; I felt like I had lost my desire to worship and love the Lord. I didn't feel like reading the Bible, and I had no desire to pray. I was tempted to sit in my bed all day and all night, and just waste my time watching dramas, listening to worldly music, and just do nothing.

I was at a vulnerable state. I didn't have the support I was used to, and temptations have been coming at me from left and right. To be brutally honest, and I want to be completely honest with you all, I have been hit by many sexual temptations, and temptations for recognition/attention. These temptations have been VERY obvious since I got home.. Since I have arrived home, I have been receiving quite a bit of attention. All of it from males. These certain people have been saying things to me that perplex and distract me... They give me attention I used to crave so much, but now, I'm just sitting here wondering why God is allowing them to distract me from Him.

At first, I was really torn. This attention I was receiving was attention I had craved for so long. I never ever received this kind of attention, and I had been seeking and searching it for 90% of my life! I was tempted to go back to my old ways, and bask in this attention. I was so close to moving away from God again, and accepting this new attention, but as I've been thinking about it, God has showed me that these are just false rewards. This is not the attention and "love" I am craving. What I truly desire is God's love.

I was telling a brother in Christ about these troubling temptations I've been facing, and he told me to look up this verse.

1 Corinthians 10:13
"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure."

Our God is faithful! The temptations we face... They are nothing we can't handle. It becomes troubling to be facing a temptation. In that very moment when we are living through the temptation, it can feel impossible. At times, we may feel like there is no other choice but to succumb to this temptation, but trust in the Lord, for He is mightier than any trial or temptation we face. He will always provide us with a way out, and we must look to Him!

I think God really wants us to trust Him and lean on Him. As mere humans, we seem to think our own power is good enough to rely on, but we are so weak. Without God, we are vulnerable to anything and everything, and with God, we are able to get through anything. The situation may seem difficult at the moment, but we must remember we are not alone. Not only do we have God, but He has provided us with people on this earth who are there to support us and pray for us.

James 5:16
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Don't be afraid to share your sins with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ... We aren't meant to keep everything inside, and handle everything on our own. God wants us to pray for each other; I believe this is a part of loving each other... Prayer is a powerful thing and we must use it to help each other as well! Many times, it is so difficult for us to confess our sins to people on this earth. There is so much stopping us; I personally struggle with being judged, and I'm sure there are many other reasons why people struggle with confessing to each other.

I'm not suggesting you tell every single person about your every sin... That's not at all what I mean. We should take note of how the verse says the "earnest prayer of a righteous person..." Those who are true brothers and sisters of Christ are the ones who will have effective prayers. They are the ones who God is able to use to guide you and help you through any difficult situation! It is a great thing to be able to pray for your sisters and brothers in Christ! There's a reason why we have one another. We are here to support, love and pray for each other. We should share our struggles with one another, and whole-heartedly pray for each other! Relationships are beautiful in this way. God uses relationships to guide every single one of us!

Anything is possible with God.

He has provided our every need, and there is a reason for everything that happens in our lives. Whether it be temptations that seem so difficult to endure, or blessings that God has given us. He has designed our lives with such detail and precision; everything was planned out perfectly before we were even born! Let us not forget how truly magnificent and mighty our Lord is! :) Praise Him!

Thank you for reading this post! It's much appreciated :) Here's the song I listened to today - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7QQGPv1Ikc

-kjoosaurus out!