Simply Katherine, a Christian blog

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...

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...

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.

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. ...

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...

On my post last week concerning the transitioning from the living of a life of struggle to the living of grace , I ended with a question: What does that mean " to have all your spiritual struggles interwoven with life and joined to life "? This question originates from a quote from the book, "The Bridge and Channel of God" by Witness Lee: "The question you should ask is: How can one come out of a life of struggle and self-effort and enter into a living of spiritual spontaneity? The answer to this question is that you need to have all your spiritual struggles interwoven with life and joined to life. Then at a certain stage you will spontaneously be joined to the automatic law of life. In Romans 8 this law is called 'the law of the Spirit of life.' " Before going into further elaboration, I would like to point out that there are three words for life in Greek. The first is bios , which means the physical life; the root word of biology. The second i...

Recently I have been reading a book entitled " The Bridge and Channel of God " by Witness Lee. The first four chapters of this book were spoken to college-age Christians in 1953. Some of these chapters consist of very practical spiritual questions and answers. Today I'd like to write about one of the questions asked by one of the college students in the book: How do we go from a living of grace to a living of reality? Firstly, the book clarifies that according to the truth, grace is reality: "In fact, Christ, life, grace, and reality are one." However, the author continues to expound on the two levels of the Christian living. The first level of living being a living of self-struggle, where you use your own strength to enjoy God's grace. For instance, when someone speaks unpleasant words to you, you will patiently smile and try not to lose your temper. Seemingly this is a proper thing to do, yet it involves self-effort. The second level of living ...

Recently I have encountered another interesting question, "What if my prayer is conditional? Is that okay? Can I pray a conditional prayer?" In other words, can we pray something like "Lord, I would like to serve You but will You promise to take care of my life, my family, my financial situation, et cetera"? A true story has pricked my heart. There was a sister in the Lord who served for a long period of time. She devoted her time in so many ways. However, in the latter part of her years, she began to consider that she had gained nothing out of her many years of hard labor and sufferings. So she gave up her serving life to catch up on all the things that she had missed out in "life." What happened? I was told that she didn't have a mind to suffer. The motive of her service was not to lose but to gain. My sister happened to hear this story so she called me over the phone with a realization that she didn't have a mind to suffer. It was her qu...

Genesis 3:24 says, "(God) drove the man out, and at the east of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned in every direction to guard the way to the tree of life." The Tree of Life When God created man, He placed man in front of the tree of life so that man may partake of it and receive the eternal life. Yet man chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Consequently, sin entered into man and became one with man. In his fallen condition, man's body became flesh, his soul became the self, and his spirit was deadened. This is why God blocked the access to the tree of life after man's fall lest man would partake of the tree of life while in sinful condition. Sin and eternal life cannot co-exist within man because God Himself is that life; how can then God and sin be hand-in-hand? The Cherubim, The Flame, and the Sword There is a more thorough elaboration on the significance of these three items guarding the tree...

I know I always have the same excuse, but more than ever, recently I feel like I've been buried in paperwork plus all sorts of other responsibilities on top of that. I don't mind being busy that much but I think the Lord is putting me to a stop for a bit. I'm sick with a cold and two injured toes. So FINALLY, I have time to blog! About two weeks ago, I flew to California to visit some Christians who are attending a Biblical Truths and Character Training. During my time there, I had a conversation with one of them, a good friend of mine. It all started with a question, something like, "Katherine, being in the training is like living in a special bubble. It is very easy to enjoy the Lord here, but when I go home, I feel like there are so many distractions, many things I used to enjoy doing that I wouldn't mind going back to." Then she sighed. In a sense, her question encompasses all of our questions. We do love the Lord, but it's very difficult to love o...

Yesterday I went to my favorite bookstore and found Andrew Murray's Absolute Surrender.  As I was flipping the pages this morning, I found a striking portion on pages 101-102 within a chapter called Christ Our Life . Andrew Murray "And then comes the last thought: Christ in us as our life and our strength. That is the crown of all. The young convert ordinarily understands very little of that. Many a believer has lived long in some experience of Christ with Him as Guide and Helper, but has never yet come to realise what this other means: Christ in me, my very life and my very strength. And yet that is what the Apostle Paul tells us is the great gospel mystery, the mystery that was hid for ages and generations, but has now been revealed; the mystery of God's people, of which has says "the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you." Christians, the riches and glory of our God in heaven are manifest to you in this -- God wants you to have C...

This week has been a busy week for a lot of my friends. For me, it's more like a downtime week since I've been not feeling well. So I decided to learn a little bit of piano on the new keyboard that I just got from a good friend. As I was practicing some chords, the Lord Jesus reminded me to say a little prayer. So I prayed, with a little tune: O Lord, my heart often untrue. My consecration dwindles too. Yet Thou, the never-fading One, Fighting for me, my heart is won, Conquered by Thee again. To Thee who bled and died for me, The One who came inside of me, I repent for my fickle soul. I plead Thee saturate me whole With Thyself and Thy heart.

Last week I wrote about Christ as the Resurrection and the Life . Furthermore, to experience Him as such hinges upon the fact that Christ lives inside of us and He wants to be our source of life. Few weeks ago I was sharing my testimony with some freshmen about how I got involved with a Christian club on campus. Mainly I felt like I had to present what was the emphasis of this club from my personal experience. Honestly, it was not like I prepared anything beforehand but I felt watered by the Lord myself as I was speaking concerning my own experience of Christ with the club. I personally feel that the highlight of this Christian club is the prevailing opportunities for all to not only dive into the Bible but also to speak for Christ, of Christ, and to speak forth Christ into others. What is so special about our speaking? Are we qualified to speak for the Lord? How is our speaking related to Christ as the resurrection and the life? Good questions! But there are more good que...

I've been reading my last post again and to my surprise, it has helped me quite a bit this week because I was rather thrown into a complex situation, mainly from within.  So basically, the beginning of every school semester is one of the busiest months of the year for me. I'm helping with a Christian club. I have responsibilities and practical services to do. I feel like the Lord is telling me, "Katherine, Katherine, you are anxious and troubled about many things." ( Luke 10:41 ) The Lord has reminded me again and again that it doesn't matter how great the need is, how marvelous the service is, we need to turn to the Lord and sit at His feet, loving Him and ministering to Him, just like Mary did.  But then, when the rubber meets the road, when I do need to bear the responsibility to coordinate and serve with others, I was reminded of the account in the Gospel of John chapter 12. It's an account of the Lord Jesus having supper in Betha...

Have I ever mentioned how challenging the Christian life is? Mainly it's because every day our Christian life is full of choices. Yes, our God is so great that He has given us the capacity and opportunity to choose. However, we must know what determines our choices because eventually what we choose becomes the daily practicality of our consecration to the Lord Jesus. "As such, how we choose depends upon our valuation of things, and our valuation of different things determines and is related to the degree of our consecration. In this sense, we are consecrating ourselves each day by the choices we make." -  Andrew Yu What determines our choices is our concept of value. This is simple logic: you would always go for the more valuables, wouldn't you? So that part is easy. Now the more challenging piece is the presence of the proper vision to assign the proper valuation . If we do not see the value, we won't bother to pay the price. The question is "...