:)

Reflecting on the past week, i think my week was a hundred times better than the week before, I could smile on the windy, rainy walks to school, i could laugh genuinely and be joyful. God is good. Im so happy that things picked up. Im in a very content place in my life right now. Although there are still struggles, and hardships i feel like so much has been lifted off. I know God will allow more challenges to come my way, but I'm ready to take them on knowing they will only make me stronger. There isn't much content to the post, but after such an amazing week, i really needed to be thankful for what God has given me, the people, the opportunities and the infinite blessings.

Praise God for an amazing week. He is Good.

¹¹ Light shines on the righteous     and joy on the upright in heart.  

¹² Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous,    and praise his holy name.

Psalm 97:11-12 

So complex.

Last night as i studied for a bio quest i realized how complex we are.

The test was on the digestive system and respiratory system.
This made me realize how much God loves us. He spent HIS time to create each and every one of us. He made our insides and out. From taking a simple breath to swallowing food. He created a system for our body to follow. He focused on each and every one of us. He made us all special. We are all unique and there is only ONE of YOU in this UNIVERSE!

He created us with many different systems. We may feel like everyone is the same but in God's eyes, we are all different. We are made in a complex way. He keeps us all on track physically and spiritually. We all have our different ways in taking on a challenge but without God nothing can be done. We have to set aside time to thank Him for everything that He has done for us. From sacrificing HIS one and only son, Jesus Christ, to creating you!

We have our own complex brains and systems but without God, we wouldn't be here.

Prayer Granted: 1.25$

Expect God to Answer Your Prayers

Rick Warren

“If you want to know what God really wants you to do, ask him ... but if you don’t ask in faith, don’t expect the Lord to give you any solid answer.” (James 1:5-6 TLB)

God wants to direct you in life, but two things need to line up: You have to ask the right person, God, and you have to ask with the right attitude — in faith, expecting an answer.

Have you ever asked God for something and didn’t expect to get it? That’s why you didn’t get it. God works in our lives according to faith. So many times we say, “God, please guide me!” and we walk away not even waiting for guidance. We just immediately start to work. We say, “God, I want you to give me wisdom; help me make the right decision.” But we don’t really expect him to do that. We think it all depends on us.

God has promised to give us wisdom, if we will ask. Wisdom is seeing life from God’s point of view. Wisdom is the ability to make decisions the way God makes decisions.

Think about this: God never makes a bad decision. He never makes a mistake. He says if we trust him and listen to him, he will guide us. But we must ask in faith.

Just to start.. i had this problem with devos before... sometimes i feel like the message is super repetitive and that i already know this concept.. teach me something new kinda, that usually results in me stopping because i find it boring and useless. I've been told that maybe this is God trying to tell me something, to remind me something, but sometimes i dont know. We'll see :)

Expecting God to answer your prayers. God DOES answer prayers, and there are usually 3 answers. YES. NO. and WAIT. Like we've stated before, God knows best, and sometimes you may not understand what is going on, why certain things happen, but know that its for the better. You may not understand God's plan at this exact moment, but you will eventually. It may be tomorrow, it may be in weeks, or even in years.

Over the years i've also learnt that God is not a vending machine. Now that i think about it, i think i am using him like that recently, and sometimes not meaning it either. Its just ME ME ME, i want THIS THIS THIS, give me THAT THAT THAT. You cant just ask things from him. Like the structure i guess you can say for prayer, ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. We first praise our God and Saviour, confess our sins, a big reason God may not answer your prayer is because you have unconfessed sins. thank Christ for all he's blessed you with and then AT THE END you ask him for things.

Pray to God IN FAITH. He WILL answer your prayers if you pray humbly and wholeheartedly.

prayer is key!

Jason

We Are Sheep!

Can't See The Future? Rely On God!

Rick Warren

“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” (Psalm 25:9 NIV)

The Bible says there are several things we need to do to receive guidance from God, but the very first thing is this: We need to admit we need a guide!

Most of the time we don’t want to follow God or anybody else. We want to go our own way. We don’t want to admit we need direction or that we need a guide.

Sheep, by nature, tend to wander off the path. The Prophet Isaiah says, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own” (Isaiah 53:6a NLT).

Another thing about sheep is that they have poor vision. They can’t see very far ahead. That’s why they need a shepherd.

God made you so that you would not be able to see into the future no matter how much you try. Why did God do this? He did it so you would depend on him.

Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (NIV). We’ve all made decisions that at the time seemed right but later on turned out to be wrong. Some paths lead to dead ends and we end up off track. That’s why we need to admit, “God, I need help.”

This topic comes up a LOT. And i will talk about it again. Society today has taught us that we have to be on top, the more money we have, the more control we have, and each and everyone of us have been transformed and brainwashed to have control. We LOVE having things going our way, and we have the mentality to think that we can do everything and anything. But that isnt true. There are SO many things in this world we cannot control, SO many things that we'll come across and not know what to do. The result? we need guidance.

The World has made "guidance" into a sign of weakness. The fact that you cant do it yourself makes you weak, and incompetent. In a world of pride and arrogance, we love praise and glory, ion fact, who doesnt. But we do need guidance. And the first step? Like it says in the devo, to ADMIT that we need a guide.

The Bible often uses the analogy of sheep to describe us. In the devo, they speak upon 2 traits that are similar between us and sheep.

1. We tend to wander off the path - agreed. I personally think we're all very very curious, we want to know what's out there, we want to try new things, take risks, "live life to the fullest", but we never know if those things are dangerous, hurtful, and we dont know what kind of consequences they may cause. But OUR GOD knows whats best for us, thats why he's given us his Word, The Bible (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) on whats right and whats wrong.

2. We have poor vision. - i guess i kinda mentioned this already, but we dont know the future. God has ALREADY built this massive, crazy unique plan for each and everyone of us, and us wanting control and power is only ruining this plan and getting us off track. God knows best and he knows what is ahead, we must learn to rely on Christ and give him our life.

We are the sheep, and God is our Shepard.

SNA, Saturday Night Alive, the annual creative arts night we hold at our church RHCCC was big this year, and being one of the heads, there was definitely the pressure, the stress, and the work. I really learnt to give it to God. I remember breaking down at home because i realized how humanly IMPOSSIBLE this task was. But in the end, on the final day, the stress and the pressure just left me. I dont know what it was, but it did. i was COMPLETELY fine, no nerves, nothing, i felt like.. i "knew" that it was going to be fine. yes of course there were errors, but it was all for God's glory, not for us, and he pulled through like he does every year and helped make SNA 2011 a great and memorable one.

Rely on God. He really knows best. Its hard, but let him take the steering wheel of your life.