Hosanna!

Investing in the right “bank”

Opportunity is described as a man with wings with his pony tail tied in the front. When he’s there approaching you you have a chance to still grab him, but once he passes he’s gone.

You only live your life once. Once you go through today, you will never get the chance to re-live it. God gave you a mission in life, a mission that you can only accomplish while in our earthen vessels. And God’s will for us is that we live for our purpose.

The devil on the other hand is crafty in his work. Not only does he work on tempting you to sin, but he’s also very busy at making you waste your life. Sometimes it comes in the form of everyday mundane things. Sometimes it comes in the form of things that seem so important. Sometimes it’s outright a waste of time.

Working in the hotel industry I’ve come to accept my fate of working an average of 11 hours, plus at least 2 hours traveling daily, leaving me with at most 7 hours of sleep. Thus leaving me with 4 hours of me-time which also includes time for house chores, taking a bath, getting ready for work, eating (if i have time), and time with the Lord.  I remember back when I was waiting on the Lord for a job I had all the time in the world to work on mu Tumblr ministry. Now I think I only get to post 2-3 times a week!

It’s not wrong to work hard to earn a living. It’s a problem though if you forget to MAKE time for things that matters. If satan can get you to waste so many hours a day, he can eventually lead you to a wasted life full of wasted opportunities. Sometimes we’re so focused on building our dreams that when we look closely at it we see a self-centered ambition lacking substance or purpose other than self-satisfaction.

We forget that life is not really about us. We forget that the world is so much more bigger than ourselves. 

Emmanuel

God is with us. God is with me.

I was reading the book of Acts. While reading the Bible I had this wonderful picture of God using cowardly deserters to suddenly become brave men of the faith who were willing to stand up for the gospel of Christ. The Holy Spirit transformed them. Did miracles through them. And left the world forever changed.

At the start of this week, I asked God to do something great in me. Something that people would see as the work of the Holy Spirit. Something BIG.

For the last three days by God’s grace, I’ve been able to leave work early. (And by 7:00-7:30 that’s EARLY!!! haha) And the load of work hasn’t really decreased, but somehow I’m able to go home on time. Yesterday I was able to sleep for 8 hours on a regular work day. Small things I often take for granted, but I realized are BIG blessings.

I realized that God didn’t have to do something big for me to know He was with me. He didn’t have to move mountains to assure that His Holy Spirit was empowering me all the way. I realized that God didn’t want me to have a “showy” experience, but rather one that would teach me the importance of constantly leaning on Him for help.

Going home early may not seem like the biggest miracle of life, but when you work in the hotel industry going home early is a luxury. The Holy Spirit has indeed been so good and faithful, as I continue to walk in His presence I find more joy at work, more patience with clients, and more strength to do what is required. God be praised! :) Indeed He is with us.

*****

P.S.S. Super cute highlight for the day.

Me: Ma’am would you like to buy some mooncakes?

Client: I don’t really like it, I’ve had bad experiences

Me: Oh really? You should try some of ours. I’ll bring you to our counter you can try everything there.

Client: Oh okay :)

*Walks client to counter and lets her taste the samples*

Me: So how is it?

Client: Oh it’s really good

Me: You like it? You can come back here next time and buy if ever. You should try the red bean it’s REALLY GOOD! It’s my favorite

***insert more chit chat here*

Client: Okay I’ll have one red bean and one chestnut

Client: Oh and add one more red bean for Dorothy!

Me: What? Ma’am it’s okay no need na po, thank you though

Client: No no I insist, it’s your favorite eh!

AWWWWWWWWWWWW :”) Thank You Lord for happy moments :)

Prayer gets em trembling

“Our weapons have power from God that can destroy the enemy’s strong places. ” -2 Corinthians 10:4, NCV

Prayer is our most powerful weapon against the enemy. It’s sad that most of us take for granted the power of prayer. 

Sometimes it has to take severe situations to get us on our knees. Prayer isn’t meant to be a last resort, it should be our ONLY option.

Satan does not stutter or stumble when you walk through church doors or attend committee meetings. Demons aren’t flustered when you read Christian books. But the walls of hell shake when one person with an honest heart and faithful confession says, “Oh God, how great thou art.” -Outlive your live, Max Lucado, Chapter 15

“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.” - Colossians 4:2, NLT

Satan wants to keep us from a prayerful life. I know you would relate to me when our minds wander when we pray, that things do distract our train of thought. That is why we need to be wary and conscious all the more when we pray. The devil flees when we are on our knees. So let’s take our prayer life seriously.

Jesus immersed His word and work in prayer. He would awake early to pray (Mark 1:35), Dismissed people to pray (Matt. 14:23), Ascended to a mountain to pray (Luke 9:28), Crafted a model prayer to teach us how to pray (Matt. 6:9-13), Cleansed the temple so others could pray (Matt. 21:12-13), stepped into a garden to pray (Luke 22:39-46)

“Pray without ceasing.” - 1 Thess. 5:17”, ESV

God did not tell us to preach without ceasing, or to sing without ceasing, or to join ministry meetings without ceasing. But He did command us to PRAY without ceasing. Ever wonder why God stressed it so much? Cause it matters so much.

And pray in the Spirit on ALL occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. - Ephesians 6:18, NIV

Nothing is too trivial to God to pray about. God wants us to pray pray pray. Pray for the world. Pray for the hurting. Pray for your troubles. Pray for your enemies. Pray for provision. Pray for God to help grow. Pray for opportunities to share God’s love. Pray because we need God. Pray because we are desperate. Pray because we cannot do it on our own.

How to Study Your Bible (2/3)

II. Getting the Big Picture

The Overview is step 1 in the inductive process. It will give you the big picture and will help you establish the framework of the book. An overview of the book helps you

(a) see the message of the book as a whole,

(b) gain an understanding of the author’s purpose for writing

(c) identify the main theme(s) of the book;

(d) become aware of the structure of the book;

(e) understand the relationship of the verses and chapters to another and to the book as a whole;

(f) have sound basis for accurate interpretation and correct application

STEP ONE: Begin on your knees and pray for guidance and wisdom

STEP TWO: Read and Re-read the Book. The more you read the book the more familiar you become with it. Your goal is to handle God’s Word ACCURATELY.  Re-reading a particular book helps you correlate verses that initially seem isolated.

STEP THREE: Identify the type of literature. Determining the type of literature is important. For example Historical books gives us a background on a event that happened or how God dealt with certain people—-however you do not build doctrine on historical events. Most of the doctrines can be found in the epistles.

Is it Historical?  (Genesis / Kings / Judges)

Is it Biographical? (Luke / Matthew, Genealogy of Christ /Numbers )

Is it Poetic? (Psalms)

Is it Proverbial? (Proverbs) The book of Proverbs is considered wisdom literature and is not to be interpreted as prophecies of doctrines.

Is it Prophetic? ( Revelations / Zechariah / Isaiah)

Is it an Epistle? ( Timothy / Ephesians / Galatians)

Or is it a combination of both?

STEP FOUR: Deal with the text objectively. Once you objectively see what god is saying, you’ll know how that truth relates to you subjectively.

STEP FIVE: Use the 5 Ws and an H

STEP SIX: Discover facts about people and events. For example, if you are studying an epistle you will need to look and identify the facts about the author / recipients of the epistle and any other people mentioned. If you are studying a prophecy, the author may or may not be as prominent as events.

6.A Identify the Obvious Names

-Read through the text and mark in a  distinctive way the mention of the author, recipients and other people. You can mark it is different ways: coloring each use of the same word; OR by drawing a diagram around the word

-As you mark the references ask the 5 Ws and an H. For example, Who is the author? Who are the recipients? What does this circumstance tell us about the author? What is the relationship of the author and recipient? Why is he writing this?

Asking the WHEN gives you a clue to the historical setting. Asking the WHY makes the purpose of the book more obvious. Asking the WHAT shows the repeated emphasis on the book with leads to the theme of the book.

6.B Identify the Obvious Events

STEP SEVEN: Mark Key Words. Key words are words that are vital to understanding the meaning of the text.It may be a descriptive word or an action work that plays a part in conveying the author’s message. Mark the words that are repeated.

The more a word is repeated the more obvious it becomes that the word represents a subject. The more that subject is repeated the more obvious it becomes that the subject represents a theme in the book.

Key Word -> Subject - > Theme

STEP EIGHT: Discern the main theme of the book. The main theme should be obvious.Discerning the main theme or summary statement should be an outgrowth of an objective evaluation of the repeated emphasis in the book. Once you discern the theme, look for a verse in the book that best covers or expresses the theme. That will become your KEY VERSE. Finally write out a summary statement of the book.

STEP NINE: Develop an At a Glance Chart. (Please see photo below)

STEP TEN: Discover the theme of each chapter. A chapter theme should fall within two parameters: (1) Is it the main subject dealt with in that chapter? (2) Does the theme relate to the overall book theme? If your choice of theme is truly the theme of the chapter, it will clearly relate to the book theme.

STEP ELEVEN: Identify Clearly defined segments. A segment decision is a major division in a book, or a group of verses or chapters that deal with the same subject, doctrine, person, place or event. A book may be divided according to dates; places; topics; doctrines; reigns of kings; major character; major events.

How to Study Your Bible by Kay Arthur (1/3)

So I’ve been studying this book “How to Study your Bible” by Kay Arthur and it’s really been helpful. It’s a good study book if you really want to learn to dissect God’s word :) Below is a summarized version for you, hope it helps in your journey in becoming more Christ like :)

PART ONE: OBSERVATION, Discover what it says

I. The Rule of Context—- Context Rules:

> Step One: Begin with Prayer; Joh 16:13-15 says that the Holy Spirit will GUIDE us in all truth. We need God to help us understand His Word

> Step Two: Identify Context: Context always rules in interpretation. Context refers to the environment in which something dwells. Context may be a phrase, a verse, a chapter or even the entire book. Context is determined by thorough careful observations.

> Step Three: Observe the Obvious: These are the FACTS about the place, person, event etc. If you focus on the obvious you will notice repeated ideas. Repeated ideas show you the context of the verse / chapter or book. Observing obvious facts is like looking for corner pieces of the puzzle

> Step Four: Deal with the Text Objectively: Let the text itself show you its repeated emphasis. Our primary goal should be to know truth and then adjust our beliefs and our lives accordingly. 

> Step Five: Read with a Purpose: Reading with a purpose is accomplished by asking questions of the text. You must ask the 5 W’s and an H.

For example

WHO: Who wrote the book? Who was it written for? Who are the people mentioned in the chapter?

WHAT: What are the main events? What is the purpose of the verse? What are the major ideas? What does he talk about most?

WHEN: When did it happen? When was it said? When was it done?

WHERE: Where was this done? Where was this said? Where will it happen?

WHY: Why is this verse repeated? Why is there such littler space devoted to this teaching? Why was this reference mentioned? 

HOW: How is it done? How did it happen? How is this truth illustrated?

If you rush into interpretation without laying the vital foundation of observation, your understanding becomes colored by your own presuppositions- what you think, what you feel or what others have said.