I Hear Jesus Calling. Do you?

I've been grooving to Audio Adrenaline tonight, and as always they have proved to lift my spirits.  The are one of my favorite bands of all time, and it saddens me a bit to think that they are no longer around to bring me more music.  But then I just pop in one of their CD's and I'm all happy again.  ^_^

A Bit of Encouragement

2 Timothy 2: 25-26:

"Gently instruct those who oppose truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape the devil's trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants."

I received an email from Campus Life Team with a message on this verse today, and it was really inspiring.  I've recently been struggling with sharing truth to an acquaintance of mine lately.  She has been filled with bitterness for another for a very long time, and this has affected her view of them, blinding her from the truth of this person's changing heart.  Because all three of us are closely linked I have been attempting to fix things and help them both to see the truth of many things but to no avail.  I just had a bit of a frustrating conversion with this acquaintance this evening a few hours before I opened the email.  It really encouraged to keep on trying, and I hope it helps you in whatever struggles for truth you are in right now.

P.U.S.H.

A person that I follow on Plurk, CLICK ME ('CLICK ME' really is her actual username! XP), posted a link to a facebook page today, so I decided to check it out. It's called SheChe Friendship, and you should check it out if you have the time. For the most part it's pretty wholesome and cute. I started following CLICK ME on plurk, because almost all of her posts are really cute or inspirational. Anyhow, the reason I started talking about this is because when I checked out the facebook page I wanted to check out the info to see if it was even worth my time, and I found this:

When life gives you boundaries, P.U.S.H. it away..
P - ray
U - ntil
S - omething
H - appens
And let God do the work:)

I thought it was really cool and wanted to share it with you guys. I hope you liked it, too. By the way, I think that it's so awesome, I'm even going to post it as my status on Facebook and Plurk! I also found this Facebook page on it, which was totally awsome: Women After God

Byebye and see you next time!

What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?

My friend asked me that today.  I was happy to say that I would still have her, my family, my Bible, my salvation, my supporting friends in Taiwan, and, of course, my manga and anime.  She was sad to say that she wouldn't have a lot.  She wanted to improve things so that the next time that question was posed she would be happily able to list off the most important things in her life, no matter when the question came at her.  What about you?  What would you have?  I hope your list is a long one.

I Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV)
"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

"Praising God for His Eternal construction" --Pastor Rob Love

This last week I attended a new church.  I had been getting at my mom for ages to make the switch, so I was really excited about it, though a bit nervous as well.  Let me tell, it was worth it.  Apparently the last few weeks they had been going through Ephesians 1. This week was Ephesians 1:5 "Praising God for His Eternal Construction".

Pastor Love started out with a statistic: 83% of Americans claim to be Christians. Yet, by looking around you, we know that is not true. There are many false Christians on Earth. And so Pastor Love proposed the question, could it Biblically be possible for 83% person of Americans to be Christians if we don't see the praise being given to God. Can we ourselves be Christians if we are not giving the praise to God? Ephesians 1:6 says, "To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." So why have I been redeemed? To give praise to God! Surely what God has done will produce praise.

Next, Pastor Love had us turn to our Bibles to read Ephesians 1:5, the center of this weeks message.

"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,"

And of course we know that this verse leads into verse six. Therefore, let us praise God for adopting us to be his children. But what does predestination mean? There is much argument on this that I do not wish to get into right now. Pastor Love made to statements about it, though, that I found hard to argue. 1) It makes God's eternal selection certain. 2) What you're chosen to be will be so. Pretty simple, right?

Beyond the matter of predestination, what does it mean to be adopted?  According to Pastor Love, there were three main and definite things that came with adoption in the Roman culture that this passage was written in.

1. An adopted person lost all rights to his old family.  (Romans 6:4)
2. An adopted son has a new inheritence.  (I Peter 1:4-5)
3. An adopted person's previous life was eliminated from record. (John 1:12)

To me, the third point was the most important.  Pastor love further expounded on it, explaining just how much of your previous life was eliminated.  An important fact to notice was that all crimes comitted as that person disappeared.  You could have killed a man in your previous life before you were adopted, and it would still no longer matter.  Because Joe before adoption committed the murder, not the Joe afterwards.  And Joe before adoption no longer existed.

The next question was one we are all very familiar with.  How does adoption come to us?  How are we saved?  Well, this verse even tell us that!  By Jesus, of course!  Galatians 2:21 "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."


What I think troubles us more, though, is why does God adopt us?  We are not worthy of it, do not not deserve it, so why?  Ephesians 1:5b "...according to the good pleasure of his will."  So there's your answer.  God adopts us because he WANTS!


So here's the question of the day.  This is not a question about what God has done, but about what we should be doing now. How do we praise God? Simply say it! To praise is to express approval or admiration. Speak of his grace and mercy, of his power and might, of all the things he has done for you! (I Chronicles 29:9-11) Better yet, sing it! "IT IS A GOOD THING TO GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD, AND TO SING PRAISES UNTO THY NAME, O MOST HIGH"  (Psalm 92:1)  Or play music to go with the singing! "Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound."  (Psalm 92:3)  How ever you do it, just simply give praise so that others mat see God's glory and come to Him!

And there you have it. Twenty-one words turned into a 634 word message. May God's light shine on you and through you, brightening up yours and others' day!

My Plans, My Hopes, and--Most Importantly--God's Plans

I started up a simple blog for silly nonsense that I rarely updated because a friend of mine pushed me into it.  I never felt like I had anything worth saying on it.  Then the other day I came across a man's blog (Ryan's Daily Reprieve http://ryansdailyreprieve.blogspot.com/) and was really inspired by it.  He has not updated it for over a year now, but it really showed his passion for his family and, most importantly, for God.  And I thought, "I bet things like this can really inspire people."  I thought this was especially so because of his past and how much God had helped him.  It reminded me that God is working miracles in our lives all the time.  I may not have anything as drastic as Ryan to share, but my Savior is working in my life daily as well.  Maybe my stories and thoughts can inspire someone or help them through a tough time.  Maybe it will be something new a different for someone who randomly happens upon this blog, and God will use it to turn someone from his enemy to his follower.  Maybe all I will be able to do is make someone smile.  I have my hopes and plans for this blog, but only my gracious Father in heaven can truly decide where this blog will take me and others.  I hope I can use this to reach out to people, and I have faith my Lord will use it in someway.  I do not know what will come of it, but I will be my Father's tool!