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Showing posts from 2014

The Shepherd of Our Souls

Psalm 23:3, "He restores my soul; He guides me on the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Today I had an eye-opening fellowship. I have been serving the Lord for a few years and regardless of how that looks like on the outside, in essence it's always about shepherding people. Throughout the years, I've been in the process of learning how to shepherd others. I'm learning to listen more, speak in a genuine way, offer practical help, be less rigid, more sympathetic, considerate, and the list continues. It's a true privilege to have this opportunity at my stage of life to labor with my fellow serving ones helping the young ones grow in the Lord. It takes time to try shepherding someone's soul: to make them happy and warmed up. Of course, eventually the goal is to grant them spiritual nourishment not just to comfort them for the sake of comfort. Great learning, isn't it? But now the tables are turned, I must admit that I have not yet be

Christ Making Home in Our Hearts

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A couple weeks ago I posted that  I Need a Home . As I contemplated the need I soon realized that actually God is my home thus I must be firstly anchored in Him. Since then I have had many conversations, considerations, fellowships with the Lord and with a few of my companions. One of my conversations involved Ephesians 3:17, "That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith..." It suddenly dawned on me that I felt the most restful in the Lord when I allowed Him to come and settle down in my heart. I think we all know how complicated our human hearts are with the many compartments and secret chambers. There are multiple doors! And the Lord continues to knock on the deeper doors asking our permission to let Him in until our whole heart opens to Him. These days I've been trying so hard to read my Bible for at least 30 minutes everyday. I would muster up strength to be faithful yet oftentimes I failed so I would get frustrated with myself... and everything

I Need a Home

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Three years ago, I wrote a similar post on this topic:  Christians on Campus - I Needed a Home . At that time, I introduced you to this older couple whose home I found real rest. I was a freshman then. These few days I've been revisiting the matter of needing a home because one of my housemates brought it up in a conversation. The phrase,  I need a home,  may be simple to some but to many it can develop into a profound defining of basic human and spiritual need. First, let's explore the human perspective of having a home. Economists would say the most basic unit of an economy is a household. A home is where real formative activities happen. Whether or not the constituent of an economy is happy and healthy depends on what's happening at the most basic level. Society today realizes how crucial it is to nurture a healthy home where their children can rest, grow, and develop in a normal way. Humanly we all need a healthy home where we can rest and care for our young. Likewi

Joseph's Two Dreams

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Continuing from my last post , in Genesis chapter 37 Joseph had two dreams that he related to his brothers and father. He dreamed that his brothers' sheaves of wheat were bowing down to his, and still yet another dream where the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars were bowing down to him. His father rebuked him and his brothers hated Joseph even more because they perceived that Joseph dreamed of reigning over them all. A Natural, Immediate Reaction My initial reaction and assessment toward Joseph's dreams were similar to that of his family. I thought Joseph was just a naive, arrogant boy, but recently I attended an in-depth study of this particular section of the Bible and came across these points: "In his first dream Joseph saw sheaves in the field bowing down to his sheaf; this dream reveals that, at the most Joseph was just a sheaf and that, at the worst, his brothers were also sheaves; Joseph was a sheaf, and his brothers were sheaves. The only difference betwee

Dream the Dream of God

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About a month ago, I was pressed with a need to dream. Humanly I may not have gone through a lot but since young, I have tasted the vanities of the world. Consequently, I became a dreamless person with no ambition to pursue earthly achievements. Yet here I am, presented with another dream. God has a dream. The dream that He granted to Jacob in the book of Genesis chapter 28 is called the Dream of Bethel . Bethel  means the house of God so God's dream is to have His house, where the heavenly ladder is located to connect the earth to the heavens. I do not know how to expound on the dimensions of God's dream. It's profound, high, and all-encompassing. God desires not a physical building but a household, a living entity that would express Himself. Therefore the gospel needs to be preached, sinners must become sons of God, the children of God must grow in a normal way, and there must be a harmonious, functioning Body of Christ that would only express one Person- Christ.

Life is a Person

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For those of you who know Romans 8:6 by heart, you must be quite familiar with this notion " for the mind set on the spirit is life and peace ." This verse is indeed profound, leading us to the conscious choosing of our spirit, which is mingled with the Spirit, versus the flesh. Furthermore, it leads us to take heed of the sense within the deepest part of our being-- the sense of our spirit. To recognize the sensation of death and the byproducts of death, e.g., depression, oppression, indifference, coldness, hardness, etc., then turn to our spirit by calling on the Lord Jesus so that we may experience life and peace is such a healthy and reviving practice! Nevertheless, most of us are somehow too complacent to seek and desire to fully grasp  this life . As I was reading a Christian periodical, entitled The Ministry of the Word: The Mending Ministry of John , I came across a powerful, heart-engraving paragraph: "Life is not some kind of thing, power, or influen

Who is Qualified to Serve

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Today someone asked me, " When we feel like we are not qualified to serve the Lord, is it really true or is it an attack from the enemy ?" Reflecting on that question, based on the Bible and my own experience serving the Lord Jesus full-time, I can only tell her, " It's true but that fact may also be misused by the enemy. " No one is qualified to serve the Lord because there is only one Person who can be well-pleasing to the Father, that is the Son Himself. However to this day, many have served the Lord and ministered to Him because " grace and reality came through Jesus Christ ." In other words, Christ Himself has become the grace to be enjoyed and experienced by us as well as all the reality of who the Triune God is and can be to us. Christ has become the secret to empower us to do all things in Him. Of course, the " all things " here pertains to everything that is aligned to the Father's perfect will. The enemy uses the fac

Love Letters

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About four years ago, I lived with a house full of pursuing Christian girls who gave themselves to love the Lord and poured out their youth upon Him to gain more Christ. The lyrics of this song were co-written by all of us in light of our experiences with Christ and in Christ during those precious two years of our lives. The stanzas of this song are our love letters to the Lord Jesus. Note: The tune of the song is from a popular song with the same title, "Jesus, What a Wonder You Are."  The first stanza is from the original song. Jesus, What a Wonder You Are Jesus, what a Wonder You are. You are so gentle, so pure, and so kind. You shine like the bright morning star. You are so wonderful, what a Wonder You are. Jesus, what a Wonder You are. You are our Dwelling Place and our Resting Place.  We are in You and You are in us: A mutual Indwelling, What a Wonder You are. Jesus, what a Wonder You are. You are building us into the Triune God

Christ Has a Need

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Have you thought about the divine romance That your Maker is your Husband That He formed you with a deep intent of love? Even though we fell away so far... But our God has covenanted to gain His bride. Being saved is not enough; We must match Him in every way. Loving Him is not enough; But also His appearing! Christ is longing for His counterpart. What must you and I then do? Will we only care for ourselves? Will we only love selfishly? Our Christ has a need. As we speak to Him we come to realize That our Maker is our Husband. We sense His heart and His deep intent of love. Conversations with our lovely Groom, Time spent in His presence dear Bring us into this divine romance 'Till we echo with our whole being: Our Christ has a need. By: Simply Katherine & Rebs C.

Regulation and Balance

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God is our regulation and balance. This past week, I had been feeling uneasy about a certain matter. The pressing sense of saving someone from falling off the cliff. Have you had such feeling before? Maybe it is a more common sensation among close family members. But eventually, because we are all members of the household of God, we are bound to have a deeper and more personal concern for those who are spiritually, closely related to us. When I was younger, I would always be led by feelings. They were of good intentions, so why not follow them? However, as I was trying to carry through my initial good intentions, I soon realized that I would end up being either too much or too little. In the end, whatever I did left a bad aftertaste: something like a concoction of regrets and disappointments, here and there wishing I would do things differently. Today I finished reading The Bridge and Channel of God by Witness Lee. I read the chapter on God being the center of our human life.

New Year's Resolutions 2014

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Two thousand fourteen is here! Another new year has dawned. Looking back to 2013, all I can do is give thanks unto the Lord Jesus for all that He is and all that He has done. At the closing of 2013, I was enlightened to consider how many of my days in 2013 were counted in the Lord's eyes. I mean not to be introspective and be gloomy about it, but to have a new beginning with repentance and returning to God Himself. It's been a refreshing experience! Also, the month of January is usually the month where people make new year's resolutions. A lot of people have decided to buy new exercise clothes to start living healthy this year and so forth. So I took some mornings to sit before the Lord and began to converse with Him concerning what kind of resolutions I should make this year. During those times, item by item concerning my past, present, future life flew by. In a brief moment, where my whole being stopped, laid bare my anxieties and cares, my contingency planning to d