holy living.

 ¹ As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ² For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

 ³ It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; ⁴that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵ not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; ⁶ and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. ⁷ For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. ⁸ Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

 ⁹ Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. ¹⁰ And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, ¹¹and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, ¹² so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Now that we have hope, now that we know that our salvation is assured, our support group and accountability is there, and we know that all hardships are apart of a plan, we must continue to live. Again, as I was skimming through scripture, I came across this passage and I feel like it sums up how we should live in simple and understandable terms.

Our main purpose for all of us on this earth is to please Christ. (v.1) Recently, i've been thanking God for each day in prayer, but ironically at night before I go to bed. I finally was able to spend some time this morning to thank him for another breath, and another day to live. We have been blessed with such opportunity in this life to be able to be something bigger. It doesn't necessarily mean famous, but because we are so privileged with education, and wealth, we should use it please Christ. Every breath, every word, every action and thought should be honouring to our God and Saviour. I try my best to do that. I've felt that as long as we strive to live a holy life, we are doing well. But recently, i've questioned, am i really doing this? Or am i still living a doubled life? The fact that a few of my friends can still joke around about Christianity, thinking thats its okay with me, is that a problem? Is it bad that i laugh with them, but its just that our intentions behind aren't necessary the same? Am i not showing and representing my God well enough? Am i really pleasing and glorifying God in ALL i am doing?

Flee from sexual immorality. (v.3) Its interesting how thats the first thing that is brought up. Looking at our world today, sex is something that has been completely changed. Doing it casually is completely accepted in today's society, but God created it to be saved for marriage, to be shared with your spouse. We've spoiled it and ruined it. Sex has gotten more and more "popular" lately and i would say that its one of the bigger problems out there lately, when used for the wrong intentions, so many things can go wrong. Hearts broken, lives taken, the consequences are endless and painful. This really requires self control. Especially with the internet, so many things are so easily accessible, easy doors that lead to temptation and eventually sin. We have to learn to control ourselves, and use our bodies for honouring purposes. (v.4)

Holy life. Holy living. (v.7) No one can be perfect. We as humans are all flawed, but we can fight. That shows growth, it shows commitment, and as long as we have that drive to be holy and we are continuously working towards it, God will acknowledge and take note of that. But sometimes, there are the lukewarm followers, the double faced Christians. (v.8) We talked about this in the sermon yesterday, that there are "Christians" that know that sin is wrong, know what they should be doing, yet CHOOSES to do the opposite. What bothers me the most with this is that they are misrepresenting Christ, which affects everyone around them, easily hindering others from getting to know the true being of Christ.

Love. (v.9-10) God is love. Therefore by following him and committing to him, we should also love others. Love is the foundation of all of this. Because of God's love, Christ was sacrificed for you and me. Without this unconditional love, there would be no faith, and no hope. Love can be hard sometimes, whether if its loving your enemy or confronting someone else, but with love as your intention, God will continue to guide us through. You are loving God by loving others.

These last two verses (v.11-12) seem to somewhat sum up everything. Leading a quiet life. From what I understand this time reading it, pride is addressed. Don't be boasting about yourself, and don't be cocky about yourself. "So that you will not be dependant on anybody." Lately i've started to realize this about myself. That i am extremely reliant on others. I always need someone there, and as some may say "clingy". Yes, friends and a support group are essential, but you cannot fully rely on them all the time. The truth is that they will fail you one day, and they may not even be there one day. If you invest yourself too much into others, you will fail to be independent. Im trying to learn to be less of that "clingy" character, to build confidence and to stop relying on others so strongly.

 ¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Romans 12:1 

For Good.

Many of us find that when we go through struggles and suffering, people may say God is punishing you. I've heard people say that when they're going through stuff, it may be because of what your parents did that has cursed you.

uhhh. no.

That is NOTHING near accurate. Yes, no one enjoys suffering and going through obstacles, but thats life. Not only that, but there is good purpose that comes along with it. God provides and allows these problems to come up in your life for many reasons.

1. To Teach You To Rely/Trust Him - when we go through struggles, many times is something we cant control (or very well at least). From temptations, death, finances, there are many things greater that we cant figure out on our own. Through these trials, we learn to depend on someone greater to get us through it. SNA this year was definitely a BIG push for this, but i dont think i've still fully learnt it and have seen its potential yet.

2. For The Better - Everything happens for a reason. God has a bigger plan in the works. You may not understand, and go ahead question and wonder, but you will eventually find out. God never does things without a reason. He has something bigger behind all of this. It wont backfire, that's for sure.

God knows you. He knows what you want. He knows what you need. Each and everyone of us come with baggage. We're all struggling, and we all have our own issues, but God places these in our lives for a reason. It will be difficult, i promise you that, but have friends to keep you accountable, someone that will watch out for you and keep pushing you through. Its a long, windy road, but with God, anything is possible.

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.

That you God?

You always hear those intense stories where something tragic happen then someone came to Christ or heard his voice. Those happen to some people, not all. Personally, I’ve never been through any of those hardcore “I touched Christ” or “He was standing right in front of me” moments.

We’ve all been through challenges and through Christ we overcome them. From as simple as walking up those many stairs to struggling with a relationship. Believe it or not He’s by our side every single second of our lives. From when we were in our mother’s wombs till now. Young and old.

It may be hard to hear God’s still voice and we have to be careful with what we are listening to. Satan’s voice can be very similar to Christ’s but those tricks and obstacles that he makes us face involve him. Everyone has a purpose in their life, from striving to become your dream career to serving God in your own community. He speaks to everyone in a different and unique way, whether it be from an incident or through worship, He knows how to speak to you. We have to be patient and obedient with God.

Christ is accepting and He’s always happy to hear you confess your sins to Him. Overcoming an obstacle is very challenging and sometimes we may take the wrong path and regret it. Christ gave that reason for you to take that way, He’s willing to forgive your every move but only if you are willing to confess and come up front to Him about it. Be honest to Him and don’t lie.

Fully rely on Him because he creates your every move.