How many times do you attend church and go home with a feeling of you're just... not good enough for God. Not enough fasting, not enough praying, not enough serving, not enough of everything.
Well, that's not what i felt when i walked out of the door of New Creation Church in Singapore. The two hours the preacher had (ps. Lian), she used to convince me how much God's love me. How willingly He accept me for what i am. The verses used that day was from Rome 8, started with one of my favorite verse with ,
"Now there is, therefore no condemnation for whoever in Christ Jesus".
Ps Lian then explain verse by verse about the importance of knowing that God do not ever condemn us with our sin. The it went to another verse which is also my favorite,
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Isn't it beautiful? God is for me.
Ps Lian also said that whenever we found ourselves condemning other people, then we should ask ourselves whether we already knew exactly, by heart, that God accepts us for who we are. He doesn't care about our shortcomings, our dark pasts, our failures. If we already aware of his unconditional acceptance, surely it wouldn't be hard to accept others just as they are.
During the church anouncements, i read something written in one of the church's event.
Precious in His heart, perfect in His sight.
The sentence touches my heart deeply. It's true that i'm precious. So precious that He let His beloved Son to come to earth and died for me. It also true that i'm perfect in His sight. Because of Jesus blood, now i have the privilegde to be the righteousness of God. Therefor, He sees me perfect.
I walked out the church with a spirit of joy and thanksgiving. My heart was so fulfilled of God's love that i had a yearned to go to some stage, grab the mike and tell people about my Jesus.
Yes. That radical. Of course i didn't do it, but i wanted to.
The preacher mention nothing about evangelism, nor how we ought to serve God that kind of thing. I only her hear tell me about God's love, and that made me, and i'm sure everyone who heard the sermon went out having the urge to evangelize.
Thursday 10 December 2009
Sunday 6 December 2009
Hannah's Prayer
A friend once asked me whether in my quest of infertility i had prayed like Hannah? She said bluntly, "Have you screamed and shout like Hannah?".
Sometime people are soooo funny.
At that time i had already married for 4 years, of course i did. I shouted, i screamed, i prayed, i cried, i cried in my pray.
While i knew that she meant all well, she wasn't quite exactly right in determining the cause of Hannah's answered prayer. She thought it's the scream and the shout. In Samuel Chapter 1 said:
Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk.
Hannah prayed so intensely that Eli thought she was drunk. Even so, those intensity was not the reason why she got hers answered. Let's look at the next verses:
17 Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him." 18 She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
Eli said "May the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of", in other words, "Hey i hope God answered you prayer". There's no exact confirmation. But Hannah went her way, end her fasting and her mood change to joy.
I don't think Hannah's prayer got answered because of her drunk-praying attitude. But because she believe that what she asked for in her prayer will come to past. She knew God had answered and the answer is a big bold YES. That's why she stopped grieving. Soon after that, Hannah conceived Samuel.
I would say Hannah used the key of answered prayer like Jesus thought us in Mathew 21:22:
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." (NIV)
Mark 11:24 put it more clearly:
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Jesus said that WHATEVER,... well i believe when He said whatever means whatever. Then He said, if we believe that we HAVE RECEIVED it, then it'll be ours. The sole pre-requisite is to believe that the answer is YES, to have faith that God has give it to us and it'll be done by God.
I guess that's what Hannah did. She believed that she has received it by faith, then Samuel came.
Sometime people are soooo funny.
At that time i had already married for 4 years, of course i did. I shouted, i screamed, i prayed, i cried, i cried in my pray.
While i knew that she meant all well, she wasn't quite exactly right in determining the cause of Hannah's answered prayer. She thought it's the scream and the shout. In Samuel Chapter 1 said:
Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk.
Hannah prayed so intensely that Eli thought she was drunk. Even so, those intensity was not the reason why she got hers answered. Let's look at the next verses:
17 Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him." 18 She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
Eli said "May the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of", in other words, "Hey i hope God answered you prayer". There's no exact confirmation. But Hannah went her way, end her fasting and her mood change to joy.
I don't think Hannah's prayer got answered because of her drunk-praying attitude. But because she believe that what she asked for in her prayer will come to past. She knew God had answered and the answer is a big bold YES. That's why she stopped grieving. Soon after that, Hannah conceived Samuel.
I would say Hannah used the key of answered prayer like Jesus thought us in Mathew 21:22:
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." (NIV)
Mark 11:24 put it more clearly:
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Jesus said that WHATEVER,... well i believe when He said whatever means whatever. Then He said, if we believe that we HAVE RECEIVED it, then it'll be ours. The sole pre-requisite is to believe that the answer is YES, to have faith that God has give it to us and it'll be done by God.
I guess that's what Hannah did. She believed that she has received it by faith, then Samuel came.
Just Don't Have Enough Faith?
Though since i receive this Grace revelation from God i had so many things in my mind that i'd wanted to pour out, i didn't quite manage to always write it on my blog. Anyhow, today i want to talk about Faith.
There's so many occasion where i'd think , "If only i had more faith, surely my restoration would come sooner".
Or maybe just a glimpse of thought , "What should i do to achieve more and more faith? Should i read bible more? Or increase my prayer time?".
While it's not wrong to read more of bible and to pray to God those actions put the responsibilities of increasing faith in our human effort. This is not what the bible said. In Hebrew 12:2 it is said:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
It is Jesus who in first place put faith in our heart, and it is His job to make it perfect. Wow. What a relief isn't it? Puting our trust on our own effort brings doubt and fear, but knowing that Jesus is the One who's taking care of our faith, we surely know that He wouldn't fail.
In Indonesian Bible it is written:
Marilah kita melakukannya dengan mata yang tertuju kepada Yesus, yang memimpin kita dalam iman, dan yang membawa iman kita itu kepada kesempurnaan, yang dengan mengabaikan kehinaan tekun memikul salib ganti sukacita yang disediakan bagi Dia, yang sekarang duduk di sebelah kanan takhta Allah.
I like the NIV's translation more because it use a noun which are "author" and "perfecter" while in Indonesian they put an adjective "yang memimpin kita dalam iman" and "yang membawa iman kita itu kepada kesempurnaan". Somehow it felt stronger in my heart knowing Jesus as author and perfecter of my own faith.
I knew now that i'd always have "enough faith to move mountains" because Jesus is the author and the perfecter of my faith.
There's so many occasion where i'd think , "If only i had more faith, surely my restoration would come sooner".
Or maybe just a glimpse of thought , "What should i do to achieve more and more faith? Should i read bible more? Or increase my prayer time?".
While it's not wrong to read more of bible and to pray to God those actions put the responsibilities of increasing faith in our human effort. This is not what the bible said. In Hebrew 12:2 it is said:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
It is Jesus who in first place put faith in our heart, and it is His job to make it perfect. Wow. What a relief isn't it? Puting our trust on our own effort brings doubt and fear, but knowing that Jesus is the One who's taking care of our faith, we surely know that He wouldn't fail.
In Indonesian Bible it is written:
Marilah kita melakukannya dengan mata yang tertuju kepada Yesus, yang memimpin kita dalam iman, dan yang membawa iman kita itu kepada kesempurnaan, yang dengan mengabaikan kehinaan tekun memikul salib ganti sukacita yang disediakan bagi Dia, yang sekarang duduk di sebelah kanan takhta Allah.
I like the NIV's translation more because it use a noun which are "author" and "perfecter" while in Indonesian they put an adjective "yang memimpin kita dalam iman" and "yang membawa iman kita itu kepada kesempurnaan". Somehow it felt stronger in my heart knowing Jesus as author and perfecter of my own faith.
I knew now that i'd always have "enough faith to move mountains" because Jesus is the author and the perfecter of my faith.
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