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!

Fruit of the Spirit [2/2/13]

Hello~

Finally, a week of madness is over! No more exams and tests... Until next week! haha. I finally have the chance to share a little bit with you all again :)

This morning as I was doing QT, I read Galatians 5:22-26.

It says:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." 

As I was reading this, I realized how important the fruit of Spirit must be because God specifically listed out each characteristic that qualifies as the fruit of the Spirit. It's also important to realize that the fruit is coming from the Holy Spirit and not from our own selves. Although we don't give ourselves these qualities, we still have to allow the Holy Spirit to work through and in us. God is so willing to change and mould us, but he can't do this if we are unwilling to be changed.

In John 15:5 Jesus says:

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." 

Just as the branches draw life from the vine, we as well draw our lives from Jesus. If the branch is separate from the vine, it can do nothing just as if we are separate from Jesus, we can do nothing.

I'm always amazed at how we always try to work and grow and live on our own when we're always reminded of how little we are able to do without Jesus! I'm sure we all know that we, on our own, have no strength, but we often forget to ask God for his guidance and his strength. 

I know that I personally rely on my own strength and knowledge to get through things... If I realize I can't do it on my own, I turn to other people, but why is it that I so often turn to God last? He has taught me this lesson over and over and over again, yet I am always making the same mistake! But God is so patient, loving and merciful... Even when we make the same mistakes over and over again, he so patiently teaches us the same lesson until we finally have it imprinted in our minds!

I pray that we will allow the Holy Spirit to work in us! I pray that we will let go of everything we don't need and allow God to be our everything as he is all we truly need.

Jesus, we thank you for your goodness, your glory, your patience and mercy.

Thanks for reading~

-kjoosaurus out!

Open Doors [6/3/12]

Hello everybody!

God has recently been working a whole lot in my life; he's been using me in so many different ways, and it feels great! Today, I just wanted to share how God uses us all in different ways; he opens doors for us, and we should never be afraid to take these opportunities! These open doors are a precious gift he has given us; it gives us a chance to speak of his love and power, and it allows us to love others! As I mentioned yesterday, he is opening the door for me to go on missions! Well, he opened another door for me today!

Lately, I've been having very strong images of speaking to the youth group at my church. Every night, before I fall asleep, all I was able to think about was sharing my testimony with the youth, and telling them about God's love! I guess it was a daydream since I wasn't asleep. Anyways, it was a different kind of image than any other daydream; this time, it was a full speech, and there were words that I said in this daydream that I never would have thought of myself. And also, I had the same daydream every single night. I began to realize that God probably wanted me to actually go and speak to the youth group, but I was too scared to ask.

So, I briefly mentioned it to a close friend of mine, and we briefly mentioned it to the youth pastor. He didn't really react to what I said, so I decided to leave it be and just live without speaking to the youth group. Then, last night, I had this huge wave of desire to speak this coming Tuesday! I decided to ask the youth pastor; I said to myself, "Kristen, tomorrow is the day." So, I got to church today, and I saw the youth pastor, AND I chickened out. Haha. For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to ask him...

So I headed home, and that was when I received a text message from a friend. It said, "Kristen, Tim wants to know if you would like to share your testimony on Tuesday." I jumped for joy!! Praise God!! He answered my prayers, and although I failed to make the effort myself, he opened the door wide open for me! :)

2 Corinthians 2:14

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession 

in Christ and through us spreads everywhere 

the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

God is truly using us all to spread the knowledge of him! He uses us in ways we have never even imagined. Let us be full of joy when we are doing the work of God; let us do his work because we love him, and love others! There are so many people who do not know the real and true love of God! Something to remember is that you shouldn't only be teaching about God's love when you go on missions; it should be happening when you are at home too! It doesn't matter where it is, or who it's with. We should always be teaching about God's love, should we not? 

At our workplaces, at school, with friends, and in our communities! If we all did our best - if we all stepped out of our comfort zones a bit; the impact would be tremendous! 

Galatians 6:9

 And let us not grow weary of doing good, 

for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

We must persevere! I know, it's so difficult to talk to non-believers about God... Surrounding us, there are so many people who have heard of him, yet do not believe in him. Our friends, our family, our colleagues.. Some will come to hate us, others will drift away from us, while even more will mock us, but this is no reason to give up! We must continue to love them, and do our best to show them God's love! Don't ever give up. Not the first time, the second time, the third time or any other time! God never gives up on loving us, right? We should never give up on loving others as well! Let us continue to praise God through any times of hardship and through any times of struggling! Let us ask him to help us persevere in doing good; ask him to guide us and let him use us!

Praise God for what he has done for us! Praise God for loving us and forgiving us! We have the most powerful and loving God, and he deserves all the glory! Let us love him just as he loves us; let us love others just as he loves us! Amen? AMEN! 

- kjoosaurus out!