Taking Action.

Being bold for the right things is always admirable. Taking initiative to do the right thing is even better. The lesson at Jr. High was about being bold and taking big steps of faith. The illustrative passage? Peter walking on water. 

28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind,[d] he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:28-33)

The curious thing I wanted to talk about from this passage was something a friend pointed out to me: "Isn't it just weird how Peter asks Jesus if he can come out to Him on the water? He doesn't wait for Jesus to tell him, or to invite him. He asks Jesus to ask him to go." So very weird.

It does make sense that at that point in the disciples' journeys with Christ, Peter was one of those closest to Jesus, so of course he would want to experience life the way Jesus did and thus want to walk out onto the water. But to me, that doesn't explain completely why Peter would tell Jesus to invite him out. Why didn't Peter just ask Jesus if he could and go? Why did he ask Jesus to command/invite him? 

I see it as an exercise of trust and obedience. I see this as a desire of Peter's to take initiative to seek the Lord's will and to act on it. The passage shows Peter's deep devotion to Christ, his deep love and respect for the master. Peter wanted to be with Jesus, but he needed the assurance that this was the right way to go about it. He needed to place his faith somewhere, and that was in the good character and will of Christ. While he did end up faltering, we can't fault him in his bold desire to seek Jesus. Peter took the initiative to go after Jesus. 

I think it's commonplace for Christians to wait for Jesus to come to us. It shouldn't always be like that. That is not to say you do not wait for Christ's specific calling, not at all. This is not to say you do not wait for God. What I mean is summed up perfectly in this:

 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-12)

A relationship with Jesus is active. It's our job to take initiative and to actively seek God's will and God Himself, as opposed to just waiting around for God's will to find us. 

Not by might, nor by power.

Jesus and Apple Juice. The perfect combo.

""Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6)

I'm pretty sure I use this blog mostly to post important intellectual and spiritual digestions for myself, so I don't forget the important lessons learned. I may have digested things, but there's still a ways to go before these lessons and thoughts are well integrated into my life.

Anyways, today's post has its origins from Sunday's message. The message came from 1 Samuel 13:22-14:22. The speaker spoke about how God acts and does great things as we initiate and act, even with the little that we have, using the story of how Jonathan and his sword bearer single-handedly take out an army of Philistines. As Christians we ought not to be stagnant and unmoved, we ought to say "Yes!" to the will of God and pursue it no matter the cost. When we act, we see God do great things. Poignant and energetic, the message had all the qualities of a glorious spark, but would it catch? I thought that to myself as he closed. I wondered if God would set Cedarview Alliance Church ablaze spiritually. I wondered if the church community within would be so stirred as to act on the message and become ignited that we would truly see "revival". There was nothing wrong with the message, however as I was led to examine the message closer, and to discern what was said, I knew I had gotten a wrong focus somewhere down the line. The fault was not to be put anywhere, but I had to reevaluate, and reexamine what I had left with. 

My mom used this analogy, as with photography, we can get the focus ever so slightly off, and it changes the whole picture. That was exactly what had happened to me. I had left with the thought of "I must get out there and be bold and do things for God with great confidence and trust in Him no matter the circumstance, then I will see Him do great things." I came into this year with confidence in learning to trust and obey God. I had a great desire to be a submissive servant, seeking to be obedient to His will alone. But in my current weakened state of mind, that incomplete understanding worked its way into my heart easily, and it felt as if all I had once focused on was changed. 

In the message, the passage in Samuel, was used as an illustration of how when we have faith in God and use the little we have to act for His glory, He is faithful to act. Yes, this is true, but it only painted half the picture. Obedience was implied, but not highlighted enough. What was not clearly spelled out for me (trust me, most times I need things to be clearly stated and spelled out), was that in all things, Jonathan and his sword bearer were acting in obedience to God. God did not do a miracle with their single sword because He wanted to honor the fact that they were using their little faith to act. God worked a miracle because Jonathan was obedient, and this one sword which God provided was enough to accomplish His will. 

No amount of initiative or passion to do things for God will make great things occur. It is in obedience to the will of God that we see God work. 

So when we act, it is not because we want to exercise our tiny faith and thus see God work His great power. When we act, it is because we act in obedience and in alignment with the will of God, and in this God will use whatever is necessary, whether big or small, to accomplish His great will through us. Faith plays its role in trusting that God's will is good, and He will accomplish His will. All this keeps us in a humble position. God does not need us or our permission to do great things, He is capable of accomplishing what He desires of His own power. He chooses to use us, in order that we might know Him more. 

A question we must ask God as we live in obedience is this, "What is it you want me to know about you Lord?" God uses all things in order that we might know Him more and draw closer to Him. 

When you see, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit," know that "by the Spirit," means not just using the Spirit's power. "By the Spirit," is acting according to the Spirit, it is life according the Spirit, life in surrender and obedience to God and His will. Out of obedience, you will inevitably see God do great things.

What else?

The view I wish I had from my window..

The sun's white hot rays blaze through my windows, with pinpoint precision, straight into my eyes. It's 7:45 AM. I roll to the other side of my bed to escape the heat and the light, perfectly incapable of falling back asleep once I am awake. Welcome to my mornings. I have painfully regretted not putting my blinds back up, after I painted and had my room redone 2 years ago.

Following my rude awakening, I head into a slow prayer, doing my best to start my day off with my mind set on God. Often times I think about myself. I pray trying to focus on the supremacy and wonder of God then quickly move into my concerns, my needs, myself. I'll pray for the people on my heart then ask myself, "What else?" I always feel like there is more I should be bringing to prayer.

Colossians has taught me many things, instructing me on two things I seem to forget to pray about:

"16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:16-17)

Pray with gratitude in your heart, always giving thanks to God for the cross of Christ. "By the grace of God I am what I am." I am a Christian by the grace of God alone. The fact that I believe in Him and desire Him is a wonder and a gift.

"2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak." (Colossians 4:2-4)

Pray for the spreading of the gospel. We often like to focus on the areas we need to work on in order to be "ready to put the glory of God and the gospel on display", or to live lives worthy of the calling we have received. However, it is also just as important to remember to pray fervently for the harvest, and for us to be ready and free to share and display the gospel at any time, from day to day.

There are so many things we can pray for, when you want to remember some of the most important things to keep in mind, it always helps to go back to the Word.

Pressing On.

My mind went straight to the Relient K song as soon as I typed that title (oh the early 2000's).

Anyways.

Here I am. I'm back home after having been gone 2 weeks. I'm back in my familiar surroundings and I'm back in a familiar situation. A situation very close and similar to where I was back in December, before my big trip to Hong Kong. 

Before leaving the country, both times I was in a place of feeling really spiritually lame. Lame in the exact sense of the word - feeling incapable, stuck and helpless. In both cases I didn't really feel like spending time with God. Being thrown into a different culture was another added stress, because that meant adjusting, it meant being on guard and more self-conscious. All that takes energy, and all my focus is poured into those face-guarding activities, so my spiritual welfare usually suffers. 

Now I come back, feeling the same way I did back in December. This time around, I'm not panicked, or feeling a sense of desperation to get myself "fixed". Facing this scenario, round two, I have trained through the first round, and have learned from the past. The wind and waves have knocked me down, but I know God hasn't left me, I know He will bring me through this, this is only a season. 

The thing to do is just get up and get back in the saddle as soon as you can. I've started to think less on the "failures", and pitfalls I've run into, and have just learned to keep enduring, continue striving. One step at a time, claiming the little victories. 

When your focus gets distorted, you just have to check-in, change perspective and set it right again:

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:1-3)

It's in us to be able to set eyes on things above, on the things of God, as opposed to the things on this planet that steal our attention constantly. And the promises of God are so much more assuring, so much more peace-bringing and joy-filling.

Our first "job" has always been to love God and to serve Him wherever we are. Time's pretty limited so it's best to humbly learn from the mistakes, saddle up and press onward, hearts set on our hope in Christ, always persevering. 

Home sweet home, eh.

All folded

I should have captured a 'Before' picture. Essentially, a clothing bomb went off in my room. I sorted through and unpacked all my travel clothes, then decided my closet was a wreck so I took out, sorted and re-folded those clothes. Shopping in London was great. I keep forgetting that the conversion is much more painful over there though. 1.8x our dollar, last I checked. 

It's nice to be home. Though on the plane I was started to feel nervous, almost as if I didn't want to be back, even though throughout the trip I had many instances of wanting to be home.Weird. At any rate, I love being back, I do miss the fact that the weather in London was warmer. I like it there, I really do. I've only been 3 times now, but it gets better and more familiar each time.

My Aunt's place. The garden, a work in progress.

Sadly though, our camera got forgotten in my aunt's car as we exited to get check in our luggage.This was extremely heart breaking for me. I was actually looking forward to sorting through the 1800 photos and editing my favorite picks of the bunch. ;____; Oh well. More time to do the work I promised to people. 

I'm happy to be home and I'm ready to rest and get back to Canadian life. I like not standing out, what with my Canadian accent and all. My cousin Tim was sure to point out how I pronounce my 'outs' and 'abouts', or rather, 'oots' and 'aboots'. I'll miss life in London. Who knows though, I might just end up there in the future?