God's Tremendous and Everlasting Love

Romans 8:31-39

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I was very encouraged by the entire context. I felt the love He has for all His children. He has put us in a position that are higher than every living thing on earth and in v.38-39, He affirmed it.

I felt that we must reposition our lives to know how important we are. And, by realizing our position, we will be at a better perspective of what God has for us and why He has chose us to do certain task (that sometimes it’s seen to be very tough to execute) and not someone else.

Living a Christian life doesn’t come easy – we have to face prosecutions like what Jesus faced. And, being in Jesus’s position He would have cried out to God (His Father) to end the prosecution right there and then and do not have to go through it at all. But, He did not because He knows that all of us have to go through these and by doing so He’s actually preparing the hearts of the people. And, by going through prosecutions; He wants the glory and wonders of God to be revealed to the non-believers and believers (to edify and build their faith) and tell them there’s a great God that will make sure that they are perfectly fine eventhough the prosecutions or trials sometime might seem so unbearable. God has sent His Son – to show us what His Son had gone through. And, choices have been given to every men on earth to choose to follow His Way eventhough ideally God will want all His children to come back to His side; which father would not want to see his children coming back to him).

Don’t be discouraged if there is any trial that is too hard to bear, because God is there to oversee everything and He’s with us at all times – to ensure that we will not be hurt ourselves because “we are his children, we are his heirs.” (v.17)

mission trip ~ Samal Island, Philippines

haven't been updating my blog for ages ~ i'm back from Philippines and this mission trip is awesome ~ the gist of it ~

This was my first mission trip. This trip is meaningful to me because from this trip, I felt that my relationship with God has strengthened. I have learnt to seek Him and to wait upon Him. The entire trip which include the preparation stage (before departure) – God has shown me His faithfulness and how by trusting in Him; He’ll bring you through the most impossible things and how He has tamed my heart to wait upon Him. My dad has actually prevented me to go for this trip on the week we are leaving. I have to listen to my dad everyday - telling me not to go. But, I wasn't a bit worried that I can't go. I was packing my bag eventhough my dad kept telling me I can't go. There's a strong feeling inside of me that tells me I can go and I just continue to fast and pray.

Being in Samal is an eye-opener. I felt that I have been challenged in many ways and it has impacted me to change my ways and my thoughts. During the rope course, I remember that I prayed at every juncture of an obstacle. Being a person who’s afraid of a lot of things, especially heights, I put a stopped to things that I think it will kill me. And, living in this fear, it has prevented to experience the fullness in life.

To know that God was with me at all times and to embrace in my faith for Him, I braced myself to do the things that I would never had done because I have submitted to my fears that have been planted in me all this while.

Men have many fears in life that may put a full stopped to the things they can do. One thing with men, they have already thought of the outcome of fear even before they try to overcome it or living out of it. Fear is a setback for many that have prevented many to move forward and to discover new aspects of their lives. Crossing the fear barrier is not easy as there are many uncertainties that men feared. Unless men have certain assurance; he’ll never attempt to cross this high pillar in their lives. I found that this assurance can be found in God; being said so this will again challenged our trust and the faith we have in God. How much we think God can do for us? It comes back the issue of how we think again. Let’s say, if we move our perspective to think how God thinks? Another question will emerge; do I know God enough to know how He can help me?

I felt that men will only accept His help when they foresee each situation is going to be a dead-end for them and there are no avenues that they can turn too. Why wait till we are at such state? I think men should put themselves in the shoes of those mentioned (i.e. to be at dead ends) and allow God to come in to interfere in their lives. All the time we say that we submit our burden to God, we know very well ourselves that we are still holding fractions of it in us unwilling to give it all to God caused we are not assured of our trust in God.

This is the barrier everyone should overcome – it’s the mind that has overpowered of our lives that have also prevented God to interfere in our lives.

They are too afraid to crossed the untouched realm in their lives.

The devotion and the heart the people in Samal have for God has touched me greatly. The kids that are so tender in age (i.e. below 10 years) could demonstrate to me the importance of God and the tremendous love they have for God. They walked 7-9km on uneven and rocky path just to get to church that starts at 8:30 in the morning (they must have woke up extremely early walk to church). I felt guilty about it that I have not loved God enough and because of the comfort of my own life, I have sometimes take the walk of faith with God for granted in many ways.

The many things in Samal have taught me lessons to live a life that puts God at the top of everything. I have learnt to put my trust in God more and how by trusting God; He’ll bring you through the obstacles that are in front of us. I thank God for putting me in this trip and sending me constant reminders through the people and through various events (e.g. camp, visitations, etc). I realized that when you trust in the Lord; and when God has ushered you through all the difficulties; your faith will be brought to a higher level.

The trip is great.

"For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."

Psalm 100:5

ok ... for the moment this is it ... will write more bout the trip soon ~ hope u'll be encouraged by this ~ nite nite all n have a blessed week ~

Ready to Submit ?

i haven't done blogging for sometime .. n i tink i ought to be back to share abit of wat i've been thru ... hmm, izit months or weeks ?? argh, can't recall .. okok, dun wanna kill any more of my brain cells...

it's been months of ups and downs ... eventful ? no, i dun tink so ... been thru an emotional whirlpool (exaggerating loh ) ... am feeling tired after every episode of it ... i guess this is wat i have to go thru to strengthen my heart ... to break n to rebuild … i have been pretty exhausted ... my mind kept churning out stuff that i sometimes i can't even decipher ... sometimes it juz left me in a state of exhaustion, totally fused by it...

i learnt alot in the midst of working out how to unwind the entanglement of my thoughts … how God works is miraculous … HE does things that u least expected n mite not even cross ur mind of doing it .. but it works, it really, really works … I tink God is working in me …

in this time I really feel that I was shattered into a million pieces (exaggerating again, hehe ) n felt lost at certain point in time … in these period problems kept arising … all at one go n at one time … I try to juggle wif it for awhile … then I found it’s not wise at all .. I kept returning to the same point without much have been done … ponder n ponder n ponder … fussing n fussing n fussing ~ I was reluctant to submit these to God … I din know how to n I din want to … I realize that at these point many ppl would not wanna submit to God the problems they faced as they are afraid that they will not be able to accept the outcome that the Creator has for us … we juz can’t faced it …I have the same feeling too ... this hinders me too n I was so reluctant to submit my problems to God… God is so graceful, He let us choose … He never forces us to do anything ... n God never forced us to submit … but He's there to make sure that we dun get hurt ... He there for us in times of need coz God loves us very very much … our God is a compassionate God .. when He see us suffers He feel for us too ... but, letting us go thru it is for us to be stronger and ready for wat’s to come in eternity… when God find it’s too much for us .. He sent ppl whom we can seek comfort n lend us their ears … it’s a way of showing He’s there for us, can u see it ?

“For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.”

Lamentations 3:31~33

these few weeks … God has thought me how to submit to Him … it’s so difficult for me to submit … as I’m worried that I can’t faced the outcome … it’s the mind game again … I held on to all these … until I was really really exhausted n I realized at times like these … u’ll be drifted far apart from the ONE … being in your world wif ur worries … u r in ur own invisible bubble ~ away from everything … I shared it to a sis finally … n she has enlighten me … she told me … this is wat satan want from us .. to be away from our God bcoz he’s afraid of our growth ... by submitting to all worries prevent u from growing wif God … do u not wanna grow ?? do u not wanna submit all these to God n began to grow again?? I begin to realize soon after … I have so much fun growing wif God (this is true loh, keke)… how can I let the FUN end n sulk on all my worries in my entire life ?? NO NO … growing is too much FUN … how can yechow not have FUN !! hehe

Then I told myself to tell God how I felt n to submit n acknowledge all these b4 God … taking this step is difficult coz we wouldn’t wanna leave the comfort zone that we hav settled ourselves in … although these r worries (but worries does have its own comfort zone in our lives) … we rather brood over it n lie to ourselves than to accept the unknown reality that we r suppose to faced … I took that step … coz I know it has gone beyond me … I submit to God everytime when I felt weary … n soon after the peace has returned … day by day…

I still ponder on it .. but everytime the thought comes … I tell God I’m giving this to Him …

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.”

James 4:7~8

ok …I’m done wif sharing ... have a great week n a blessed week today … may we continue to seek Him n grow wif Him

finding the Peace thru our God

"looking at the clouds bring peace ~ but, how can this bring much peace to my heart ..."

in times like this ... the vibes of sadness juz hit u thru n thru ... u bring all those feelings upon urself n make yourself feel extremely bad ~ seeking God wif ur heart but letting ur mind plays wif ur feelings n emotions doesn't help ... coz u'll be so clouded by ur emotions n thoughts that ur eventual focus will be still be ur emotions ... i hope by blogging this it will serve as a reminder to me not to rely on my thoughts (that have been making me feel sad bcoz of the things that happen dat does not fall within ur set threshold) n to set my focus on the Lord ~ for He's a loving God that give us His love so graciously ... seek Him for He'll give us peace

“Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you." Job 22:21

today's TAWG 24-05-07

i like my camera so much ... brought it along for my TAWG .. so tot of taking a few snapshots of my bible (still working on my bible tabs) b4 my TAWG ~ but end up i spend like 10 mins on photos, photos n more photos ~ arghhh ... was reading Exodus today n felt that God really love His people ... n i felt that the 10 commands that He gave us is out of His love for us .. so that He can protect us so we won't hurt ourselves ~ God's love is really amazing !! ~

~my devotion~

"O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant." 2 Samuel 7:28

~ the light ~

'And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.' Genesis 1:3~5