to be a Disciple

Currently trying to work on my next discipleship assignment due in... tomorrow. Task is to list 4 to 6 key qualities of a disciple and measure them in terms of Head/Heart/Hands (IBI motto).

hmm.

Just read and now pondering the following verses from 2 Cor 6:4-11 (TNIV)

"Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yetwe live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything."

I like Paul's use of the word "yet". He is not saying that we should ignore the struggles and trials but "yet" IN them, despite them, persevere and hold firm onto whom we have believed, Christ, the power of his Holy Spirit and all the riches that we have in him.

Having nothing in the eyes of the world yet possessing everything and even more!!!!

rejoice church of God!!

Now to Live the Life

from Bill Hull's "complete book of discipleship", chapter 4.

"Jesus didn't say, 'Let everyone see your wonderful ideas and nuanced vocabulary and persuasive speech.' Instead he delivered a simple but penetrating commission: Let them see your good deeds."

In my face.

I read this and think, "Yep. That's a-me. The one whose good deeds are a lot fewer than the amount of time she spends worrying about what words she is going to use when she will be sharing the gospel with someone and how am I going to do this and I need to read a book on this and that first and am I being sensitive enough, etc."

Lame-oh.

I AM THE SALT OF THE EARTH!!
I AM A LIGHT IN THIS WORLD!!!

"Let your light shine before men,

that they may see your good deeds

and praise your Father in Heaven." Matthew 5:16

Jesus calls me to live a life that is radically different. If I claim to believe Jesus, do I also believe in what he believes? Are my priorities in line with his? (clearly not) Are my mind and character being transformed to become more like his? (yes, the Spirit is at work) Am I totally dependent on God and allowing him to reveal his power and be at work in the lives of those around me too? (working on it!)

Am I living the Life?

=?

He's got his eyes on me!

"The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry."
psalm 34:15

God is always watching over me.

He is always there, ears wide open, waiting for me to talk to him.

Then I have three choices:

1) keep silent: "Sorry, don't have time. I've to update my Facebook status first."
2) waffle on about how miserable life is: "Really sucks. Why is this happening to me? That's not fair... booooo! Do something! *please*"
3) approach him with confidence and ask that he would tune my heart to pray; that he would form transform conform my heart and will to his, and opt for a prayerful attitude/state of mind.

I'll let you figure out which characterises you best. As far I am concerned I'm all three! I keep going from one to the other....
Still in all cases God stays the same and he will keep talking. WIll I be saying anything, will I even be listening to what he has to say in return?

His ears are "attentive" to my prayers. This means that he does not just listens - he CARES, God is interested in what I have to say to him. :D

By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
psalm 42:8

Awesome.

Back to Eden!

Just a thought....

I just realised a shocking truth: I almost never use Rev 20 and 21 in my evangelism. Aren't they great chapters that tell us about the promise of God to those who would turn to Jesus? New Heaven and New Earth.

What if I stopped telling people that becoming a Christian and deciding to follow Jesus was just for NOW and that it is all there is to Christianity?!

So many of us Christians (including myself) try so hard to be good followers of Jesus now in this world and rarely thank Jesus for our salvation or even get excited about New Creation. . .

How sad!

If I am not looking forward to that what message then do I have for people? "Accept Jesus, get forgiven, smile a lot and good luck!"???

I don't know. Shame on me if that is my message.

If you are reading this and are a Christian, do you sit even for 5 minutes every day and wonder about John's words in those two chapters(Rev.20&21)? If not, how do you keep going then? What else gives you strength?
Life here sucks - I mean, let's be honest. Yet I have such hope or rather "certainty" that one day it'll all be so amazing and perfect I won't have to struggle anymore. And that day I won't need faith, I won't need hope, Jesus will fulfil all things. Only love will remain. :)

Only love.

That's the only thing that keeps me going -

"Lord, you have the words of ETERNAL LIFE."
(Jn 6:68---my fav verse)

Burning down the house!

>> In response to "Waves of thinking" post <<

FIRE!!! Was chatting to my friend Dana the other day who reminded me that God said he would destroy the earth by FIRE the next time!! (see Revelation 18:8b + other parts of the book)

So yeah, definitely not by water as he said to Noah.

Cool.

I like it when God challenges me to think through his words and then clarifies it all to give me a clearer idea of what his plan is. :)

Yes, you did!

Genesis 18:10-15

"Then the LORD said, "I will surely return to you [Abraham] about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son."
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"

Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD ? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh."

But he said, "Yes, you did laugh."

Hehe I find Sarah's response so typical! God's answer almost sounds like: "HulloO Sarah! Course you did! I was there and heard you!"

So good to know that I don't need to lie to God, for he knows everything about me, he knows all things.

He is all-powerful and all-knowing!

Yes, he is! :D

Waves of thinking~~

Reading through Genesis this week - I'm half way through chapter 11 now and just about to read the Abram story, which is really exciting!! I thought I'd take a little break and write though. Taking breaks between chapters helps me not rush into the Book and forget about what I have just read: Noah and Noah's sons. It's interesting when you look at Genesis especially at the way Moses wrote. He would first give you some kind of genealogy then pick a character in this genealogy and tell you their story. I need to be vigilant and remember that Moses' mindset was the Ancient Near East mindset, and it is reflected in the way he writes as well. If I am not careful enough to take that into consideration some bits will start to make no sense at all!

So. Brother Noah.

God made a covenant with Noah too - not just Abram(later Abraham), that:

"Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life." (Gen 9:15)

So... I am wondering if from there I can say with confidence that no matter how big the (potential) next tsunami will be it won't destroy all of life or affect the whole world.
I'm not doing hermeneutics (interpretation of the Bible) this year, it's for next year (can't wait) so I am just wondering right now. Hopefully I'll get to chat to some people about that Flood thing and it will be helpful and help me correct my theology. Not that it's a major theme but I was watching the news online today and thinking about all the floods in S-E Asia... not sure what to think about them and some friends or family may ask me what I think! To which I am very likely to give the following deeply spiritual answer:

"Err...."

One thing is certain: Creation is groaning. Who knows, Christ might be returning sooner than expected!! :-O

Back to my honey and lemon tea. Autumn not being so kind to me.
xx