Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
Luke 6:26 NIV
What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets.
Luke 6:26 NLT
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Fear of failure
This summer internship has stripped me of my confidence and instilled such a fear in me. Fear of failure: you've just been identified. This is war.
Voice of Truth - Casting Crowns
Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
To the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He's holding out his hand
But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. 'Boy, you'll never win!'
"You'll never win"
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
And the voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
___________
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear
is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness,
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?
Actually who are we not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people
won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine as children do.
We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And when we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson
----------
Voice of Truth - Casting Crowns
Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
To the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He's holding out his hand
But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. 'Boy, you'll never win!'
"You'll never win"
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
And the voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
___________
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear
is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness,
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?
Actually who are we not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people
won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine as children do.
We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And when we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson
----------
Sunday, July 24, 2011
God answers prayer
Judges 6:36-40:
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, 37 prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.” 38 And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request. Let me use the fleece for one more test. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” 40 So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew.
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, 37 prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.” 38 And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request. Let me use the fleece for one more test. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” 40 So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Keep yourselves pure
2 Timothy 2:21-26 (New Living Translation)
21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a utensil God can use for his purpose. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. 22 Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.Saturday, July 16, 2011
Yours to own
All of my life is Yours to own
You orchestrate it all alone
And if my life is a cup, come fill it up
So the whole world can see what You've done.
-"Yours to Own" by Jimmy Needham ft. Trip lee d[-_-]b
You orchestrate it all alone
And if my life is a cup, come fill it up
So the whole world can see what You've done.
-"Yours to Own" by Jimmy Needham ft. Trip lee d[-_-]b
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
I am my beloved's and He is mine...
Song of Solomon 7:6 NIV
verse 10 I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.
verse 6 How beautiful you are and how pleasing, O love, with your delights!
verse 10 I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.
God delights in you! - David Wilkerson
 | GOD DELIGHTS IN YOU!by David Wilkerson | February 25, 2011 |
The Holy Spirit gave David a revelation that is the key to all deliverance. David could say, “The reason God delivered me from all my enemies—from all my sorrows and the powers of hell—is because I am precious to him. My God delights in me!” “He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19). Do you need deliverance? From lust, temptation or trial? From a problem that’s mental, spiritual, emotional or physical? The key to your victory is in this verse. God delights in you. You are precious to him!
In Song of Solomon, the Lord says of his bride, “How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!" (Song of Solomon 7:6). Three of the Hebrew words in this verse are synonymous: fair, meaning “precious”; pleasant, indicating “pleasure”; and delights. These words describe Jesus’ thoughts toward his bride as he beholds her. He looks at her and says, “How beautiful, sweet and delightful you are. You are precious to me, O love.” In turn, the bride boasts, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me” (7:10). The meaning here is, “He runs after me with delight. He chases me because I am so precious to him.” These same thoughts are found throughout the Psalms: “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy” (Psalm 147:11). “The Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation” (149:4).
I can try to convince you of God’s delight in you by telling you, “You are precious to the Lord.” Yet you may think, “That’s sweet. But it’s only a lovely thought.” No, this truth is much more than a lovely thought. It is the very key to your deliverance from every battle that rages in your soul. It is the secret to entering into the rest God has promised you. Until you lay hold of it—until it becomes a foundation of truth in your heart—you won’t be able to withstand the trials of life.
Isaiah had a revelation of God’s great delight in us. He prophesied, “O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee: and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isaiah 43:1-2).
Isaiah wasn’t talking about a literal flood or fire. He was talking about what people go through spiritually and mentally. Israel was in captivity at the time; their floods were trials, their fires were temptations, their rivers were testings. These were all Satan’s attempts to destroy and overwhelm God’s people. Isaiah’s words were a message of pure mercy to Israel. The people were in captivity because of their own stupidity and foolishness. But God sent them a brokenhearted prophet who said, “God wants me to tell you that you belong to him.”
Right now, you may be in the midst of your own swirling waters. You may feel overwhelmed by a trial or temptation that threatens to consume you. You’ve got to understand from these biblical examples that the Lord does not always calm the waters. He doesn’t always keep the floods from coming or put out the fires. Yet he does promise this: “I will walk with you through it all. This trial or circumstance will not destroy you. It won’t consume you. So, walk on. You’ll come out on the other side with me beside you!”
In Song of Solomon, the Lord says of his bride, “How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!" (Song of Solomon 7:6). Three of the Hebrew words in this verse are synonymous: fair, meaning “precious”; pleasant, indicating “pleasure”; and delights. These words describe Jesus’ thoughts toward his bride as he beholds her. He looks at her and says, “How beautiful, sweet and delightful you are. You are precious to me, O love.” In turn, the bride boasts, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me” (7:10). The meaning here is, “He runs after me with delight. He chases me because I am so precious to him.” These same thoughts are found throughout the Psalms: “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy” (Psalm 147:11). “The Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation” (149:4).
I can try to convince you of God’s delight in you by telling you, “You are precious to the Lord.” Yet you may think, “That’s sweet. But it’s only a lovely thought.” No, this truth is much more than a lovely thought. It is the very key to your deliverance from every battle that rages in your soul. It is the secret to entering into the rest God has promised you. Until you lay hold of it—until it becomes a foundation of truth in your heart—you won’t be able to withstand the trials of life.
Isaiah had a revelation of God’s great delight in us. He prophesied, “O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee: and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isaiah 43:1-2).
Isaiah wasn’t talking about a literal flood or fire. He was talking about what people go through spiritually and mentally. Israel was in captivity at the time; their floods were trials, their fires were temptations, their rivers were testings. These were all Satan’s attempts to destroy and overwhelm God’s people. Isaiah’s words were a message of pure mercy to Israel. The people were in captivity because of their own stupidity and foolishness. But God sent them a brokenhearted prophet who said, “God wants me to tell you that you belong to him.”
Right now, you may be in the midst of your own swirling waters. You may feel overwhelmed by a trial or temptation that threatens to consume you. You’ve got to understand from these biblical examples that the Lord does not always calm the waters. He doesn’t always keep the floods from coming or put out the fires. Yet he does promise this: “I will walk with you through it all. This trial or circumstance will not destroy you. It won’t consume you. So, walk on. You’ll come out on the other side with me beside you!”
Sunday, July 3, 2011
All You Are
- Cause all you are, is all I want, always
Yes, yes, uh, yeah
You're so good Lord, uh
Yeah, uh, uh, uh, you're all I want, uh, yeah
You see I been hit with some hard blows but I keep on standing
When the opposition gets heavy I keep on jabbing
Cause my towel I ain't just gon' hand in
I gotta keep advancing, move my feet, keep on dancing
If life is a test, yes, I'ma keep on cramming
And if life is a game, I guess I'ma keep on gambling
But I hate to be misunderstanded, understand this
He didn't just put us here for just the average
We were placed here to touch the planet
To help those dealing with famine to embrace the masses
So I'ma do everything within my power to meet with the standards
Even though I'm as big as a man gets
This racist deficience this is as much as expanses
Should've been a blind white boy the way that he got me in hands
And it's enough to leave my mind blown
He's the only one that I see better whenever my eyes are closed
Cause everything you are is all I want, and all I need
I gotta stand strong, I gotta proceed
I gotta keep moving, and I gotta hold tight
I gotta run the race, and fight the good fight
Cause everything you are is all I want, and all I need
I gotta stand strong, I gotta proceed
I gotta keep moving, and I gotta hold tight
I gotta run the race, and fight the good fight
Cause everything you are is everything I'm not
So I stop to ruminate on everything I got
Then I fall back, and sing a lot
Cause you put a song inside, in this beautiful music, the way the sinners can abide
In a brokeback mountain of a culture full of have-nots
Chasing illusions of redemption in a stash box
I feel it in my chest, I feel it every day
The way my people relish in the feeling of a penny saved
Tough to bear it, but there's no eternal merit in things that man made
Souls full of band aids, trying to shake the pain
Can't escape the chains
My knees falter when I'm fed up and expressed as dame
My little brother's back split I nearly lost my brain
See the son of God came to give him a name
Look up and embrace the change
Tell your friends God mends the broken life
Not to mention flat lined to rise again
Cause all you are, is all I want, always
Cause everything you are is all I want, and all I need
I gotta stand strong, I gotta proceed
I gotta keep moving, and I gotta hold tight
I gotta run the race, and fight the good fight
Life is a journey, and as I begin on my mission
I've caught a glimpse of your vision and now my life is in remission
A little more folks now reaching that broken child
With words that emerged to heal the hurt I speak them loud
You've called us tenacious but we've started right here
And life as we know it needs to change right here
While some chose to leave I took heed to the call
In the midst of these storms to my knees will I fall
These generations damaged, they've been programmed and
They walking through this world in a spiritual famine
It's time to examine, take a look at my heart
Search me father God I want to be where you are
My praise is genuine I aim it at you daily from the moment of your sunrise back to the moment of your sunset
Don't fret I say to you your debt's been paid in ways forget your past embrace the change
Cause everything you are is all I want, and all I need
I gotta stand strong, I gotta proceed
I gotta keep moving, and I gotta hold tight
I gotta run the race, and fight the good fight
We live and die for the Lord
Romans 14:7-9
New International Version (NIV)
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Open Letter to Chris Brown
Hey Chris,
I saw you on the B.E.T. Awards show in a white tee and faded jean shorts with a color dyed cut and bandanna around your neck. You barely smiled the entire show and it worried me.
You've changed.
The industry is something, huh? It's ruthless. Look around you as you sit in the higher tier of celebrity status. No one has made it out alive. The world loved Michael Jackson and by the time he died, his reputation was marred with the molestation allegations and his lifetsyle left him bankrupt. This is the same guy that everyone in nearly ever country can recite his lyrics. If they do that to him, what more would they do to you? The industry shows no mercy. Your sins forever plastered on newspaper headlines and blogs. Though you choose to move on, the world won't make it go away.
Changing your image, your lyrics, your musical style will not make a new you. It's not a new you. It's the old you with new troubles. Through the blonde hair and white tee is a troubled man. We see you. God is loving and forgiving. This is a tumultuous season in your life. Cling to the Father who truly washes all your sins into the depths of the ocean and restore you to the joy and peace of mind you once had (if you want it). Live again. Smile again. Live life as if you never lost it at all.
Your friend,
Chelsea
I saw you on the B.E.T. Awards show in a white tee and faded jean shorts with a color dyed cut and bandanna around your neck. You barely smiled the entire show and it worried me.
You've changed.
The industry is something, huh? It's ruthless. Look around you as you sit in the higher tier of celebrity status. No one has made it out alive. The world loved Michael Jackson and by the time he died, his reputation was marred with the molestation allegations and his lifetsyle left him bankrupt. This is the same guy that everyone in nearly ever country can recite his lyrics. If they do that to him, what more would they do to you? The industry shows no mercy. Your sins forever plastered on newspaper headlines and blogs. Though you choose to move on, the world won't make it go away.
Changing your image, your lyrics, your musical style will not make a new you. It's not a new you. It's the old you with new troubles. Through the blonde hair and white tee is a troubled man. We see you. God is loving and forgiving. This is a tumultuous season in your life. Cling to the Father who truly washes all your sins into the depths of the ocean and restore you to the joy and peace of mind you once had (if you want it). Live again. Smile again. Live life as if you never lost it at all.
Your friend,
Chelsea
Friday, July 1, 2011
Random listenings at my desk
Ravi Zacharias sermons:
4 Questions that has to be answered that are necessary to any worldview:
Origin
Morality
Meaning
Destiny
I am so amazed by the simple but prudent answer that Ravi Zacharias quoted in his message from the mother of John Wesley. One day, she was asked by John Wesley “Can you give me a definition for sin?” This is what she said:
“Whatever
---
Sin has a crippling effect. You never sin alone.
--
There are many angles you can fall but only one where you can stand straight.
---
We're fishermen. Never [urinating] in the same water we're fishing in. -BMF (Bizzle)
Nicki, if they followed in your footsteps, where would those footsteps take them? -Letter to Nicki (Bizzle)
If two rappers are both dope, then who do you sign? When one will lie for the loot and the other's true to his kind. (Bizzle)
Give 'em guns, step back. Watch them kill themselves.
What you ain't smoking? I know at least you drink. Huh? What? Is you joking? I know at least you beat. Huh? No? You ain't poking?
You made your bed. This here's for your kids.
We eye money but never see people.
We forget about the Lord when the plane flying. But how fast how do we remember when the plane diving?
------
Some people found it so odd when all I did was let go and let God. -True Religion
I will do whatever it takes but ultimately I rely on His grace.
---
4 Questions that has to be answered that are necessary to any worldview:
Origin
Morality
Meaning
Destiny
I am so amazed by the simple but prudent answer that Ravi Zacharias quoted in his message from the mother of John Wesley. One day, she was asked by John Wesley “Can you give me a definition for sin?” This is what she said:
“Whatever
- weakens your reasoning,
- impairs the tenderness of your conscience,
- obscures your sense of God,
- or takes away your relish for spiritual things,
- in short if anything increases the authority and the power of the flesh over the spirit,
---
Sin has a crippling effect. You never sin alone.
--
There are many angles you can fall but only one where you can stand straight.
---
Bizzle songs d[-_-]b
We're fishermen. Never [urinating] in the same water we're fishing in. -BMF (Bizzle)
Nicki, if they followed in your footsteps, where would those footsteps take them? -Letter to Nicki (Bizzle)
If two rappers are both dope, then who do you sign? When one will lie for the loot and the other's true to his kind. (Bizzle)
Give 'em guns, step back. Watch them kill themselves.
What you ain't smoking? I know at least you drink. Huh? What? Is you joking? I know at least you beat. Huh? No? You ain't poking?
You made your bed. This here's for your kids.
We eye money but never see people.
We forget about the Lord when the plane flying. But how fast how do we remember when the plane diving?
------
Ayo Jin:
Some people found it so odd when all I did was let go and let God. -True Religion
I will do whatever it takes but ultimately I rely on His grace.
---
Forgiveness
1. It is not murder alone that is prohibited by the sixth commandment but lack of forgiveness. (Matt. 5)
2. You will not enjoy forgiveness from God if you don't forgive (Matt. 6:14,15)
3. You will not enjoy the love of the brethren if you don't forgive. (Matt. 18)
4. If you don't forgive, you have usurped the authority of God. (Rom. 12: 14,19)
5. The absence of forgiveness makes you unfit for worship.
3 actions that one who forgives must take:
1. reception. Open up your life and take the person back.
2. restoration. Put him back into service and ministry.
3. restitution. There is wrong and the wrong has to be dealt with. (Number 5:6-8)
John MacArthur sermon
2. You will not enjoy forgiveness from God if you don't forgive (Matt. 6:14,15)
3. You will not enjoy the love of the brethren if you don't forgive. (Matt. 18)
4. If you don't forgive, you have usurped the authority of God. (Rom. 12: 14,19)
5. The absence of forgiveness makes you unfit for worship.
3 actions that one who forgives must take:
1. reception. Open up your life and take the person back.
2. restoration. Put him back into service and ministry.
3. restitution. There is wrong and the wrong has to be dealt with. (Number 5:6-8)
John MacArthur sermon
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