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.

Someone Bigger, Someone Better.

Walking to school today, i realized something really important. God is on our side. Being the person i am, im never really confident about myself, and i need MUCH reassurance to feel like something's good to go.

God is on our side. And this isnt just an ordinary person. He's the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE, he's the KING of KINGS, he conquered death and defeated the devil. The list goes on and on and on. HE is the one standing with me? Thats... quite the honour. HE's got my back? HE's on MY side? What can stop me? There's nothing to be scared about, and nothing to worry about if you got the BIG GUY on your side.

Now the only concern is YOU. Are you going to put your trust in this King, this God? Or are you going to try to make it all your way and not give up?

My own personal struggle is that i dont have this full trust in God and sometimes, i feel like i dont fully understand exactly how powerful and how amazing this person i believe in is. I dont believe he's "all that great", and im sure thats one of the factors hindering me from moving forward in my faith.

I love realizing things like this.

Someone bigger. Someone better. On MY SIDE? thats mindblowing. Why me. but he chose me. and he has chosen you too. Its up to you whether or not you'll accept his offer.

I Got This. Trust.

Don’t See How? God Will Make a Way.

Rick Warren

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

(Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)

You may be facing a dead end right now — financial, emotional, or relational — but if you will trust God and keep on moving in faith, even when you don’t see a way, he will make a way.

It will become more understandable as you head down the path he sets before you, but understanding is not a requirement for you to start down the path. Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day” (NIV). One day you will stand in the full light of eternity and view the big picture. You’ll see God’s purpose behind the path he specifically chose for you.

In the meantime, do what Proverbs 3 says: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Be patient. God knows what he’s doing. God knows what is best for you. He can see the end result. You can’t. All those problems, heartaches, difficulties and delays — all the things that make you ask “why” — will one day be clear in the light of God’s love.

But for now, we’re learning to trust God.

TRUST. It’s something that we all have. May be big or small but we call have it. There may be times where we don’t trust anyone or the opposite of that, we trust someone a lot.

It’s something that we all have to work upon and can’t just leave it as that. When we say trust in the LORD with all our heart do we really do that or just say it. I know for me, it’s a struggle. I’ve faced many challenges and it seems that sometimes I ask God “Why Me?” then it all goes downhill.

He purposely chose these struggles for each and every one of us because he knows that there’s a way to get you out of it. It takes time and patience to work with God. Obedience is key in this relationship. If He tells us to go somewhere (for example a mission field) and we don’t want to we have to make a big decision.

We may not see the path that he has made for us right away but we need to stay focused and be mature about what he has set for us.

Rejoice.

²⁴ The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.

Rejoice. Its important that we rejoice, firstly, happiness is always better than sadness, its just a better feeling. It promotes optimism and joy in one's life.

I remember reading a verse that states "to rejoice in all circumstances". Whether it may be sad, something horrid, anything that happens try to learn to rejoice because our God is good.

Rejoice can also mean thanksgiving. Look around you and realize how blessed we are. Yesterday someone came in and talked about clean water, how much we use it and it really opened my eyes and reminded me how blessed i truly am. Its so unfair to others and we're just absorbing all these resources, the gap between the rich and the poor is so wide. Be thankful and count your blessings.

Reflect on how powerful God is. He has the power to destroy you in an instant, you may not wake up tomorrow. Who knows. Im not trying to scare you, but really live each moment and make it count. Sometimes i wake up and i think God for just giving me another day to live. We complain about school, about work, but think about the people that dont even have the chance to know how it feels to learn. We're SO blessed and we all take it for granted.

I remember thinking back to my kids, overnight camp, day camp, and just seeing the joy in them, and how carefree they are and how happy they are, its... so freeing i guess you can say. At an age like mine, we stress over school, over friends, but these guys, they're just... free as birds, enjoying life and enjoying what they have. I think we need a bit of that in our lives regularly. To just rejoice, and enjoy what we've been given.

Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice.

Jason

I hear you!

God Designed You to Hear His Voice

Rick Warren

“God does speak—sometimes one way and sometimes another—
even though people may not understand it.”
(Job 33:14 NCV)

God designed you to hear his voice. In a sense, there is a “receiver” in you that allows you to get guidance from God.

What channels does God use? The primary way that God speaks is through the Bible. This is why we need to read the Bible every day. God’s will is found in God’s Word.

God also speaks through godly Bible teachers. Have you ever been in church or at a Bible study and you feel like the teacher is speaking directly to you? In that moment, God is speaking directly to you.

God also speaks through other Christians. He even speaks through you. If you’ll stay in tune to him and learn his Word, sometimes God will use you to say things to people that he wants to say to them. It’s not something special reserved only for pastors; God speaks through every believer at different times.

God also speaks through your circumstances and your pain. God is speaking all the time. But we must listen. Tune in to God and he will lead you on the right path.

Hearing God's voice is what many people find difficult. For me, it is a challenge. Sometimes i don't exactly know if it's God himself or someone else just messing with me. We always have to keep in mind that He never stops talking.

Through thick and thin, he's there for us. He's the one that keeps us accountable and he's the one that helps us while we are in pain. It may be hard to understand what he's saying but, using his Word, it helps us give us a better understanding of who he is and what he's done.

He may be hard to understand at first but we have to accept it. Keep in mind that without Him you wouldn't be here. He made us who we are and we need to keep our ears open because he made us so that we can listen to him and be obedient to him.

We all have our different struggles and obstacles that we've faced or we are facing now but just remember that God is there for you 24/7.

He never leaves you.

#Believe

Do you believe?

Today in service, something hit me. hard. Pastor Irene, one of our youth pastors constantly kept referring to the songs we sang for worship. And this one thing she said really hit me. We sang Mighty To Save and the line was,

"Savior He can move the mountains"

Faith was a overarching theme throughout the service, and i reflected and realized that... i dont really have much faith in my God. We sing these words, but i realized, how much do i ACTUALLY believe these words that im singing out of my mouth, leading the congregation? :S not much.

I think this is a big downfall to my faith, because i clearly, dont have much faith so its harder to face struggles if i dont allow myself to give up my life and trust God completely. We have to learn to have faith in our God. Push it further, push it more, just imagine the copious amounts of blessings he will give you if you just had more faith in Him with his plan for you and his love.

Our God is great. He CAN move mountains. Fear Him, and have faith in Him that he'll pull you through whatever you're struggling with.

Why Do I Ask?

As a kid, I always asked my parents for things. Things such as toys, new clothes, the latest electronics, and money. I always thought that once I ask, I’ll receive it right away. I thought that that was how God worked, ask and I’ll receive right away.

There are many Christians out there that ask but don’t receive. Why? Because they don’t have the right heart. I realized that most of my requests to God weren’t being answered. I kept questioning why He would do that.

I thought He listened then brushed it off. Then, I realized that I wasn’t asking because I needed those things. I asked because I wanted them.

Growing up in a Christian school I was very exposed to “The Lord’s Prayer”.

It’s located in Matthew 6:9-13 it says:

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’

I always thought that it was just another thing to memorize until January 1, 2012. After all those years I soon realized that there was a deeper meaning to it. I’ve studied these verses but it was just a quick brief about what it was, I never really dug deep into what it really meant.

The first day of this year I entered the gym (where we have our youth service) not expecting anything. As I was listening to my pastor she focused on these verses and I realized that there was more to those words that came out of my mouth. I thought of it as a slap in the face. Something that I’ve been doing for so long and not knowing what it meant really hit me hard. She said this one line in her sermon, “God doesn’t answer because we’re doubtful.”

I think that this hit me hard because I wasn’t asking God for the right things. It was just for me, me, and me. She helped me realize that God only answers our prayers when we have the right heart. We don’t need to use big words or be in a certain place at a certain time. We just need to have the right mind and heart.

My pastor explained 3 reasons why God doesn't answer our prayers.

1. Because of the unconfessed sins in our lives.

Isaiah 59:1-2:

¹ Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. ² But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

2. Because of our own doubt.

James 1:6-7:

⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

3. Because we have the wrong motives.

-

James 4:2-3:

² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

"The greatest prayer anyone can pray is, “They will be done.”"

-Lehman Strauss, Sense and Nonsense about Prayer

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

Guide Me.

We all like to be independent. Whether it be doing your own laundry or going off to university. We often think of when we’re independent we are by ourselves, no one’s there to tell you anything.

But let’s take a step back. Who was there to die for you? Who was there to forgive your every sin? Who was there to lead you when you were struggling?

JESUS CHRIST (:

He’s always there when we need help. He guides us and makes our every move. He knows each of our names, how many strands of hair we have on our head, and everything in between.

I, personally, forget that He’s up there waiting. But in the end I realize that anything is possible with Him.

It even says in Matthew 19:26, “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

In the devotion for today Rick Warren says, “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.”

I don’t know how else you can say it. He wants all of us to depend on Him.

He’s there for us and always will be.

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.