A letter for SW

Dear Future Susan,

I wish you are in a better place than I am now. I wish you have done many things that I am dreaming about right now. I hope you never lose all the faith in God, all the values you hold, your integrity and originality. I knew that life can be tough and somehow life's a bitch, but never lose those things.

I hope you found your passion which I'm still figure it out right now. I hope you've already travelling around the world and meet lots of interesting people. I've been told that I'm gonna have a great and wonderful future ahead by lots of people, so you must be having fun there.

I also hope that you're not tempered as I am now, you can control yourself well and you are already wise and mature.

I hope you have right relationships. Never compromise your value for a relationship, it is never worthed. I know some of my friends now is still your friends. The best one of course, you must embrace them and take care of them well.

How's mom and dad? They're good right? What about Joseph and Robin? They must've been growing up now. Say my hi to them :)

and last but not least, always placed Jesus in the center of your life. He's the One who taking care of me now, and you as well.

Love,
SW
30.12.2011

Understanding of Grace

I’ve been learning about grace for nearly two months now. I’m gonna share what I’ve learned about grace to you.

Grace is simply a gift from God. A gift that we are not deserved to get it, we are not earned it and it is not due from our work, but from Jesus’ finished work at the cross. Grace and favor are related, we get favor by faith through grace, same like our salvation. We get to favor later. So, what’s so great about grace? Grace is the reason Jesus came to earth. He is indeed the Grace from Heavenly Father for us. He, the sinless One, took our sins so we are not dead anymore, but we can live, not just an ordinary life, but a life full of blessings, a purposeful life, and an abundant life. Jesus also broke the gap between man and God, so we could have a relationship with Him. All of the New Testament is about grace. From the arrival of Jesus, His work on earth and the Holy Spirit He sent to us.

Grace makes the undeserved become deserved. It makes the unrighteous become righteous. In grace, we don’t need to worry about our mistakes, sins and faults in the past. God doesn’t and will never condemn us. Unlike in the Old Testament where condemnation and punishment are everywhere, from now on, we’re just need to rest in what Jesus has done. What is the meaning of rest? Rest means we don’t have to perform to make us holy. We don’t have to work to make us righteous. It is all done at the cross. Grace makes the law looks lame. The law here means the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament. If you live under the Law, you have to perform well to come near God. But under grace, God came to you. Under the law, if you break any of it, you will be condemned and the consequence of it is death. And remember, if you break one of the Laws, you break ALL of it. It’s a buy 1 get 10 promo. Under grace, the law is the knowledge of sin, the Law is not rule over you anymore and there is no condemnation in Christ. So, which side are you in? Team Law or Team Grace?

One thing you must know about grace, grace doesn’t mean we can be lazy all around and make sins all the days of our lives. Grace doesn’t mean we don’t have to do anything and God will work our portion for us. Grace means we are not condemned when we committed sins. Grace means God will help us to do what we cannot do. He will give us favor in everything we do. And when you knew and understood the real meaning of grace, you will automatically avoid making sins, because you will love God even more. And you will do the right thing, you’re not committed sins because you are fear of condemnation and punishment from God but because you love Him.

So, which team are you in again? :D

29.12.2011

2011 is indeed a great year for me. It’s the year I graduated college. It’s the year I got my dream job. It’s the year of I met my hubby (oh wait, wrong year :p). This is also the year I got to know God better. I learnt how to worship extravagantly, learnt about grace and favor, learnt about many things. The thing about God is, the more you learnt about Him, the more you amazed by Him. The year I got to know my friends better (the real one and the fake one). The year I finally got into a plane after years (special thanks to my office, I flied 6 times in the past 6 months). Simply 2011 is the year of God’s goodness being displayed. My simple wish for 2012 is I wanna walk with God, open the year with Him and ended greatly with Him. I believe there’s more in His store for me. More excitement, journey, favor are await me. I wish at the end of 2012 I still work in the same place as now, got exciting engagements and more friends in the upcoming year. I wish I became wiser, stronger, and more mature in everything I said, done, and thought. Be nice 2012, goodbye 2011, I will always remember you.

Stupidity is necessary

Yeap, stupidity is indeed necessary. If we never act stupid, we never know how to act well. We are ordinary people, who made stupid mistakes (sometimes even over and over). But the truth is it is sometimes necessary to do that. We learned not from our success, but from our failures. Successful people always related to failures. Tell me your idols, I believe they are familiar with the word failures. For example, great athletes, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, Roger Federer, Cristiano Ronaldo. They all indeed have tasted failures. And they all have act stupid in their career. You can read their biography if you don’t believe me. We also never know how to be wise if we never been a fool. Wisdom comes from experience too, the more you experience things, the more you excel in it and the more you get knowledge and wisdom to do the right things.

Don’t hesitate to try out new things, to do stupid things, it is indeed necessary. The greatest failure is not when we failed over and over but when we stop trying, when we stop learning, and when we stop growing. Keep growing, keep learning, you’re still have a long way (failures) to go. Never give up, never back down, and never lose faith. God bless you.

Hillsong - Born is the King

Born unto us this day a Savior
Gifted from heaven to a manger
The hope of the world
A light for all mankind
All of the earth rejoice
It’s Christmas time

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It’s Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It’s Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It’s Christmas
Let His praise resound
It’s Christmas

Goodwill to all the earth
And peace divine
All of the earth rejoice
It’s Christmas time
It’s Christmas time

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It’s Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It’s Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It’s Christmas
Let His praise resound
It’s Christmas

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It’s Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It’s Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It’s Christmas
Let His praise resound
It’s Christmas

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It’s Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It’s Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It’s Christmas
Let His praise resound
It’s Christmas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6OoAZbAQg

Worship 2

I've written about worship earlier. Now I'm writing it as a sequel :)
I've found a good method of worship(it works well, at least for me)
I found that the most intimate worship is when I do a silent worship(not uttering any words) and imagine everything's disappear around me, and only Jesus in the center
It really focused me on give all the value I had on Him, thanking Him for all His works in my life. I enjoyed intimacy with God as much as I enjoyed food, simply can't live without it..
Build your relationship with God daily, and you will see...your life is moving forward...higher...higher..and no one can stop you from His abundant blessing :)

Condemnation

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death(Rom 8:1)

As a believer of Jesus, we should know that there’s no more condemnation for us. Jesus came not to condemn us for our sin, to make us feel guilty and sorry but to give us an abundant life. But that’s not my focus on this writing. I’m moved to write about condemnation in Christianity. I found that Christ’s disciples are not following His example for this condemnation matters. I found that there’s no condemnation in Christ but there’s bunch of condemnation in Christ’s followers behavior.

I take Joel Osteen case for example. He once made a mistake in a national US TV Show by saying he’s not sure if Jesus is the only way to salvation. Since then, people started to condemn him, judge him, questioning his life. Even his newest book (every day is Friday) is also criticized because it doesn’t take Sunday as the day of example. I mean seriously people? Have you been PERFECT in life?

I witnessed many people condemned by Christians. People who commit failures usually become the victim of condemnation. I often saw a friend’s facebook status, he condemned and criticized every little thing a Christian does, and proclaiming that to be God’s disciple you have to be right every day, you have to study the bible in a perfect way. Yes you are right if you live in the old covenant time. But now, by grace, we don’t need to perform to look good for God, He already loved us the way we are.

And about Christians who condemned Non-Christians? I saw it too many times. People judge stupid behavior that comes out of a person because of his/her RELIGION instead of CHARACTER. Religion and Character don’t match! You can be extremely spiritual but your character is still bad.

Why Christians have to be exclusive and condemning? I thought it was clearly written on the Bible that all the good things that we have come from God not from our performance?

You can’t preach what you don’t do. You can’t give without love. You can’t bring people to know Jesus with condemnation. God showed us how to love by not condemning us, why don't we follow after His example? :)

Stop condemning, stop judging, and start loving.

A verse to contemplate for us

1 Cor 13:1-3 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Be blessed

Good Deeds = Disadvantage?

Since I become quieter in person, I will dedicate all my words to blog :D

I want to share about good deeds. Have you ever done good deeds, but in the end it became a disadvantage for you? Have you ever be good/loyal/generous to people, but that people betrayed you?

Well I have. I experienced it a lot. I have a weakness regarding trust. I trusted people easily. I tend to ignore my feeling and judgment about people and stay positive about them. Unfortunately not all people are as good as I thought.

Back when I was lost, I always think that why bad things happened to good people? Why innocent people are indeed the one who got the suffering?

As time goes, I learned that good deeds will never be wasted. What comes around goes around. If you give love, you will be loved. If you give care, you will be cared. The principle is giving and receiving NOT take and give.

We often become disappointed because our good deeds don’t come back to us. The reply from the recipient of our good deeds don’t react the way we want/hope/expect. That’s actually why we feel good deeds are sometimes a disadvantage.

My friend, keep doing the right things. Stick to what you believe in. No matter how hard the world pressed you, you won’t be crushed.

Be generous in good deeds, be generous in forgiveness, and be generous with love.

Martin Luther - GRACE

"With Paul, we absolutely deny the possibility of self merit. God never yet gave to any person grace and everlasting life as a reward for merit...the true way of salvation is this: First, a person must realize that he’s a sinner, the kind of sinner who’s congenitally unable to do any good thing. "Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin." Those who seek to earn the grace of God by their own efforts are trying to please God with sins. They mock God, and provoke His anger. The first step on the way to salvation is to repent." (Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians)

I want believe that there is another way.
I want to think that I am the exception to the rule.
I grasp at the thought that my righteousness is enough.
I hold to the hope that my behavior satisfies You.
I want to think that you judge me worthy.
It is my evaluation that I am capable of Your standard.
I want to hold onto my assessment that I am not like others,
I can plainly see that they offend Your law.
I get the fact that they fall short of Your glory.
I know very well that they can't stand before you.
But I still want to think that I am not like them.
I want to hold your Word and my righteousness at the same time.
I want to celebrate the Gospel and my worthiness together.
But it is a self-sufficient delusion.
It aggrandizes me and diminishes You.
It minimizes sin and devalues grace.
It asks the law to do what only grace can accomplish.
It denies the daily evidence of my sin.
It ignores the true condition of my heart.
It turns away from the sacrifice that you have made.
It omits the sovereign plan of your grace.
It forgets the desperate condition of my need.
And so I turn to what I know is true.
I am nothing without You.
I accept the invitation of Your grace.
I run to the sacrifice of the cross.
I cry for the help of Your spirit.
I accept the diagnosis of Your Word.
I trust the faithfulness of Your love.
I seek the forgiveness You alone can give.
And I reject the righteousness that is my own.