I have a Father! :)

♫ I have a Father

He calls me His own

He'll never leave me

No matter where I go

He knows my name

He knows my every thought

He sees each tear that falls 

And hears me when I call ♫

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness."
-The LORD. (Jeremiah 31:3)

  

BEHOLD LOVE!

In my "Remember" post I rant about all my dissatisfactions with my life then how God told me that all I need to do is to remember His love, His rich, rich Love because it His love that transforms me and brings restoration to my life. 

"BEHOLD! what kind of love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1a)

This is funny because that's the same thing He told me at Prefall (He spoke through Thaddeus in Hello Africans post) and when I stopped fixing my eyes on myself (my mistakes and the devil's accusations) and on my mind (trying to understand grace logically), yeah when I took my eyes off me and fixed them on God (the Living Loving Faithful Father) I was set free! It didn't happen immediately because there was a battle of doubt (unbelief) vs. faith (choosing to believe the Truth about God, His great Love and my identity in Him). It really helped me to speak the Truth outloud to silence the accuser in my thoughts. Yeah He then set me free and filled me with His Love through His Holy Spirit("God has poured out his Love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."(Romans 5:5)And yeah when I did this (renewed my mind with Truth), it was kinda like the story of the prodigal son: 

"So he got up and went to his father.“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate." (Luke 15: 19-24)

The thing is God is our Father and He sees us and cares about us and He doesn't care how long we've been distracted by the world, deceived or oppressed by the enemy, He loves us the same. All He cares about is that we come back to Him and freely receive His Love and find our identity in Him (sons and daughters) because He hurts to see us hurt and oppressed by the world. He just LOVE US for free! hahaha We don't have to work for it or even understand it. We just need to see it. Let us behold His Love :-)

NEVER will I leave you, NEVER will I forsake you

At one prayer meeting during Fall, Paul, Thaddeus and I were praying for each other and doing listening prayer. God gave me encouraging words through them. Paul told me that God was going to protect me- He got a vision of the cross and it's shadow (It reminded me of Psalm 91) and Thaddeus got this verse for me:

"I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty" (2 Corinthians 6:18)

This was really encouraging to hear because, I was facing a lot of opposition and I still had the fear of rejection. At prefall, I shared in my post that many people had visions about what was going to happen this year. Most of people got visions that spiritual warfare would intensify this year. Some people had visions/dreams that there would be lots of conflict between the staff and students in the fellowship and it is unfortunate that this came to pass :( ( "a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household." -Matthew 10: 36. To be continued... )
Let's all behold His love and receive it =) God is with us and even when everyone deserts us He never will.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ." (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

P.S: Thanks God for my earthly dad, for how you have shown me Your love and protection over me through Him. And thanks God for being the Perfect Father who loves me perfectly :)

*Note: "My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." =) (Proverbs 3:11-12)
I thank God for my African parents who helped me understand what this verse means lol.
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Every stress and anxiety is gone when I enter Your Rest. I am surrounded by the Power of Your Love! :) 

Free to BE! Free to FLY!

My Definition of "KeEpiNg iT ReaL"

It's LIVING LIFE WITHOUT FEAR OF EXPRESSING ONE'S THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS THROUGH WORDS AND ACTIONS

It's NOT LIVING A DOUBLE LIFE-"NO! THAT'S A SCAM!"- BUT IT'S HONESTLY DISPLAYING THE CONTENT OF ONE'S HEART. "THAT'S BEING REAL!"

It's STANDING FIRM ON WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN, NOT CONFORMING TO THE WORLD AROUND YOU.

It's FINDING YOUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST, FIGURING OUT YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE and LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST WITH ABSOLUTELY NO APOLOGIES....

It's SAYING TO THE WORLD THAT LOOKS DOWN UPON YOU, "THIS IS ME! THIS IS WHO I AM. GOD CREATED ME WITH A UNIQUE PERSONALITY SO DON'T EXPECT ME TO BE EXACTLY LIKE YOU. DON'T TRY TO CHANGE ME OR BRING ME DOWN. 
JUST ACCEPT ME THE WAY I AM. EVEN IF YOU TRY TO DO SO, I'LL CHANGE FOR
NO ONE BUT CHRIST."

It's BEING YOURSELF REGARDLESS OF WHAT OTHERS THINK OF YOU OR SAY ABOUT YOU, OR HOW THE WORLD AROUND YOU ACTS.

It's LIBERATING YOURSELF FROM THE CONSTANT PRESSURE OF THE EVER-JUDGING EYES AND UNSHUTTING-MOUTHS THAT TRY TO SUPPRESS YOU, SQUEEZING THE LIFE OUT OF YOU!

IT'S UNVEILING YOUR MASKS AND THROWING THEM AWAY FOR GOOD!

In two words it's "BEING YOURSELF", WHO GOD CREATED YOU TO BE.

IT'S BEING YOU WITH ME, AND YOU, IN SPITE OF ME.

So then, KEEP IT REAL!....BE YOU! :-)

(I wrote this note on 12/3/07. Inspired by: Life, Psalm 139:14,1 Timothy 3:16, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 6:9, Hebrews 12:2)
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Related Quotes:
-It is better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you are not.."~Andre Gide

-"The real you, I believe, is not the person others see, not even the person you see, but the person God, Christ and the Holy Spirit see. Only they know the real you." ~Selwyn Hughes

-"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting" ~e.e. cummings, 1955
(For more great "YOU" quotes go to: http://www.quotegarden.com/be-self.html )
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IT'S TIME TO BE YOURSELF! IT'S TIME TO FLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

So if you've been reading my blog you probably know that discouragement/mental oppression/spiritual depression is something that I've been struggling with. But all year long God's been telling me, "Remember who you are"and "be yourself" and it's funny that in trying to do that I've faced soooo much opposition from the most unexpected sources (details later) and that's what has been discouraging me and kept me in bondage. So last quarter God told me something else, "Stop asking the world permission to be yourself. I am the One who has given you your identity and I'm telling you, you are Free to be yourself. So be!" (Read Joshua 1:9) So I realized that I had decisions to make,... I had to choose whether to listen to God and obey Him or to keep listening to the world and waiting for them to give me approval to be myself. But I let fear distract me and drive me to discouragement and apathy. At the end of the quarter I ran into these prophetic songs and God spoke to me again through them. So this Spring quarter I made a decision: to listen to God and to follow Him over trying to please the world. This was my decision but I hadn't made it official yet due to fear of even more rejection and opposition. But God has encouraged me once more to be myself and this encouragement has come from unexpected sources as well. So yeah, there's no time to fear, .... I shall soon make it official. This may all sound cryptic right now lol but it shall all be crystal clear pretty soon so stay tuned! In the meantime (and always) BE YOU! FLY! :-)

(Brothers and sisters in Christ, God is doing something new [He says so in His Word and through His Spirit] so let's ask Him to give us eyes to see and ears to hear so that we may follow Him where He is going. Let's fly with Him :)

 

Taste Surrender, See Freedom =)

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." (Psalm 34:8)

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior...for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. " :-)

(Mary's Song in Luke 1)

Thank you God for all that you have done for me so far! You're so great! And I don't even deserve it. You're so gracious! And I'm excited for what you're yet to do! (for there is much to be done)

Yesterday at church, the sermon was entitled, "A Mary Christmas" and it was based on Luke 1. Just want to share my thoughts about that passage. Mary sung a song ( Luke 1:46-55) after the Angel gave her the news that she would supernaturally conceive and give birth to Jesus. At first she was astonished at the news, she was "greatly troubled at his words." “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” (vs. 34)

Many times, things seem impossible: how will this person/situation ever change? I've had this habit/problem/struggle for so long, how can I ever be free? How can I overcome this? How will I be set free? How will I get close with God (again or for the first time)? It makes no sense at all. Let's be logical, it seems impossible.

I have some good news for us! It's not up to us.

When Mary asked the angel, "How will this be" she was focused on her limitations, "since I am a virgin."

But the angel shifted her focus off herself by saying, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you... For nothing is impossible with God."

GOOD NEWS!

It's not about us! Freedom doesn't hinge upon our own strength or lack of it.

It's about God. How He works in us through His Holy Spirit. It's about His Power to set free, to heal, to restore, to do the impossible.

So all we have to do is surrender to His Power. Like Mary did: (she humbled herself )

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

Let's imitate Mary, let us humble ourselves before Him. Let's admit defeat. We are not all-powerful. He is. Let's let Him fight our battles for us. He is able!

Then she sung a song to praise God even before He did what He said He was going to do. I think we should do the same. Learn to rest. To have faith. To be pregnant with hope for what God is going to do. To be confident that He will fulfill His Word to us even when we don't see it at the present moment. Let's praise Him where we're at, He surely won't leave us here.

"Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s." (2 Chronicles 20: 15b)

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength"

(Isaiah 30:15a)

"The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:14)

Let go and Let God.

"Remedy" by Dominic Balli: http://youtu.be/RBkVmQZRhEs

(Look up the lyrics if you can't hear them. So powerful! )

• 
  

Prayer:

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." (Ephesians 3:14-17a)
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NO SHAME!

One reason we suffer is because God is pruning us (the Greek word used for "prune" also means "to clean") (John 15). He is leading us to a place of deeper trust in Him, meaning there's no room for idols (anything else that we put our trust in that's not Him).

Read Psalm 16.

He wants us to surrender. He is leading us to rest =)

At the same time, He wants us not to be ashamed of our struggles. He wants us to stop feeling ashamed for how we struggle and fail to let go of our idols, how we fail to surrender, how we fail to trust Him. We are human, we are weak.

He is saying: there's no shame, no shame, no condemnation. He wants to help us surrender. So don't strive to surrender, you will fail. It's not about strife (your own strength), its about rest (rest in His power over sin and His ability to set us free).

(Hebrews 4:14-16) "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." ♥

We are safe in His arms so we can trust Him. Let us approach Him in confidence (not shame) and find rest in His love and grace =)

***Also, let's renew our mind with His Word (He has lots of promises for us!) coz like the Mexican Pastor said, "You defeat the enemy with the Word of God." So let's take up our sword! (Ephesians 6) =)

(Message I shared with InterVarsity on Oct. 26th, 2011)

Listen to these powerful songs:

"I Love You" by Misty Edwards:

• http://youtu.be/UHlliA_Ui2o

"One of us" by Paula Bowers:

• http://youtu.be/_g3yHc7rT34