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Saturday, May 1, 2010

Hebrews 2:18
For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

Temptation comes in various ways. But we often think that temptation is unique to us, that God might not understand what it means to be tempted in this manner. But the bible also tells us that all temptations are common to man; there isn't a "unique" temptation that one faces. (1 Cor 10:13)

Some of us may think that we don't really struggle with temptation that much. But maybe a different explanation of the word 'temptation' might help us to understand it from another perspective that may be relevant to us. Temptation might also be described as 'a thought, an emotion or external circumstance, that takes one's focus away from God or causes one to live in a way other than what God desires.

Let us constantly remember, in every temptation that comes our way, to turn to God for help. God has given us the power to overcome our temptations.

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@ 11:37 AM

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Hey guys, this is another study by my friend. Check this out.

Heb 4:14
For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to sympathize with our infirmities, but Who was tempted in every point as we are, ...YET WITHOUT SIN.

Jesus was tempted, yet without sin.
Jesus was tempted in every way, yet without sin.
To be tempted is... not sin. One can be tempted, yet up to this point, not sin.

It's what we do after we are tempted.
It's what we choose to dwell on, mediate on, in our thought life, after we are tempted.
Your course of action.
And for that, you have a choice.

You can be angry, yet not sin.
You can be tempted phyically, yet not sin.
The feelings will come. But you do not need to act on those feelings.

Where is the crucial juncture between victory and defeat?
It's when we allow the enemy to deceive us into thinking that ...TO BE TEMPTED, IS TO HAVE SINNED.
"Oh man! Why am I still feeling this way? I thought I was so over that?"
"I can't believe I'm having such thoughts! Is there something wrong with me?"

No! This is what happened: the Enemy plants the thought in your head. Then turns around and condemns you for thinking it. But this is what he wants to achieve... TO GET YOU TO CONDEMN YOURSELF. Because he has no legal right to. Because he knows a Believer in self-condemnation is a weakened Believer, who is one step closer to yielding.

So what should you do? Recognize that feelings is not sin. Temptation is not sin. Simply acknowledge them for what they are... feelings. Then thank God that you have been given the grace to not act on those feelings. Then simply walk away.

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@ 12:13 PM

Monday, March 29, 2010

The following entry is taken from a friend from her facebook note.
I'm sure this will bless each of you.

_________________________________________________________

Sometimes with our well, yet misplaced, intentions, we rob a grieving person of her journey through sorrow; and the subsequent healing that comes forth.

When someone we love expresses sorrow, we are quick to dispense our well meaning advice. Quick fix solutions that seek to rescue the one we love from further despair. Because we care.

We do not realise that this is selfish, hurtful and dehumanising to the hurting. We rob the other of what it means to be human. That is, as one who is capable of feeling hurt. Of the ability to sorrow. To experience loss.

While approving of jubilant emotions, we want to silence the other emotions that remind us of the falleness of man. And possibly, of our own pains.

Heroic in our efforts to set things straight and to point the light, we say things like," You shouldn't feel that way." Or "Don't cry. It's not all that bad ..." Not realising that all these words mean ,"I DO NOT VALIDATE WHAT YOU FEEL." "IT IS WRONG TO HAVE THOSE FEELINGS..."

Have we forgotten that we have a High Prest who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities? The Greek word there for "touched with the feelings of" is sumpatheo. Not only does it mean to have compassion, it also literally means to be "touched with the feeling of". Jesus feels what you feel!

He doesn't get uncomfortable when someone cries, and therefore He doesn't seek to quickly "rectify" the "problem". Like a Friend who knows how to weep with those who weep, He sits beside me with sumpatheo.

And at the right time, He puts his arm around me.
No words. No cut and dried answers. No ill-timed bible scriptures.
Just an embrace that says "I know how you feel. And I am here."

That to me, is my pool of spring, in my Valley of Weeping.

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@ 7:50 PM

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Matthew 13:23
But what was sown on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

There are two elements here; hearing and understanding. Here we see that when a word is sown, it is up to the receiver on how he/she wants to receive it that determines the outcome of the seed.

Notice also, there are different amount produced in each harvest. Thirty, sixty and hundredfold. Of which, a hundredfold is more than both thirty and sixtyfold added together.

Luke 8:15
But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by preserving produce a crop.

This is the same parable in another reference. The two elements here are; the kind of heart and the action that you take after hearing it.

The kind of heart is described as "noble" and "good". "Good" can also be translated into "honest". The first requirement is honesty, openness or sincerity which is covering nothing up, or not having double-dealing or having double standards.

The actions that are taken after hearing it contains three steps; hearing, retaining and persevering. The course of our lives ultimately depend on the choices we make, and not on our feelings.

Are you going to aim for a hundredfold, or are you going to be content with sixty or thirtyfold? What you achieve will depend on the response of your heart.

There are two sides to our relationship with God; what God makes available to us, and how we respond to what God makes available. What will be decisive in your life is how you respond.

Will you choose God's best for you life?

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@ 12:21 PM

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Exodus 4:10
Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

This was the excuse that Moses gave when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt into the promised land.

From what Moses said about himself, it leaves us to believe that he was not a very eloquent person. However, somewhere else in the bible, it tells us a different account of Moses.

Acts 7:22
"Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds."

Moses was part of the Egyptian royal family, he was a person of status; he had something to prove his value and worth.

However, after a period of time when he went into the land of Midian, he became a shepherd. He no longer had anything to prove his value or worth. His words did not carry as much weight as they did before.

He came to the end of himself.

At that very point, God came to him. It did not matter to God that he was no longer in the royal lineage. God could use Moses because he came to a point where he had nothing else to hold on to.

What do are we holding on to? Are the things that we hold on to preventing God from moving through us freely?

Pride? Ambitions? Carnal desires? The list goes on.

Let us come to a dead end, where we lay all these hinderances aside. Then we know that is when God can reign as the Lord of Lords over our lives.

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@ 11:32 AM

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Matthew 23:1-4
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ²"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. ³ So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

A false form of righteousness results in what Jesus described in verse 4; externalism.
Much of their righteousness depended on their control over externals, often including the manipulation of others.

As Richard J. Foster puts is aptly, "When the disciplines degenerate to law, they are used to manipulate and control people. We take explicit commands and use them to imprison others. Such a deterioration of the Spiritual Disciplines results in pride and fear. Pride takes over because we come to believe that we are the right kind of people. Fear takes over because we dread losing control."

We are called to walk in love.

Do not let your position in Christ and your knowledge of the Word of God ever cause your religion and your walk with God to become a performance. It should also not be a license for you to go around ordering people or thinking better of yourself.

Let the transforming work of God begin in you, from there you lead people into the same place in love. Most of the time, half the battle would have been won, because people would have witnessed the transforming work in you, which entitles you the credibility to lead them there.

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@ 3:20 PM

Mark 3:1-6
1 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there.
2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."
4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

We learn from this that Jesus cared more about people, than observing rules and traditions.

Don't get me wrong and think that I am advocating disobedience to the law. No. Jesus of all people submitted to the law.

What was it then that made Him upset? That the Pharisees were being too law abiding?

No. It was because they prided themselves in the law; they put themselves above others because of how "law abiding" they were.

But in the process of it, they failed the fundamental truth to the law; love.

Many times we are guilty of that, especially if you are in a position of authority. Having the right to order someone, or having the right to demand something because it is rightfully yours. Or you could pride yourself in the fact that you are doing something "right" and look down on someone else who isn't.

There's a non-biblical but very wise saying, "If you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it." If you know that you are not walking in love through an action, be humble enough not to do it even if your pride tells you that you have the right to.

I'll end with this.

"People may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
- Carl W. Buechner

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@ 10:46 AM