Holy Spirit

Are we filled with Holy Spirit?

When we were baptized with water, we were also  baptized by the Holy Spirit as we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior. As we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ, we dwell on His words from the scriptures and be faithful on His promises. We follow Him and equip ourselves with His messages by meditating on His words day and night. We should always be filled by the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

In Ephesians 5:18, Paul reminded the believers in Ephesus not to be full of themselves with liquor that will make their lives miserable, but instead they were told to focus on God and be filled with the Spirit.

When people have problems, they dwell on worldy answers to drink alcohol to forget their problems. Aside from that, people drink to socialize and make friends by joining parties and drink all night until they are drunk. Some fell to addiction and can't control themselves anymore. How can we turn that longing of something to drink to our desire to be filled with Holy Spirit?

Read, study, listen and share the gospel. Be filled with the good messages from God in the scriptures and apply in our daily lives. Lets be full with God's lessons from the bible so we will never be hungry and we can always share what we have to others. Our source of truth is infinite. So let's grab this opportunity to praise and worship the Lord,  everyday in our lives. Let us welcome the Holy Spirit!!!

Sound of Silence

There are times that I want to be alone but it is also lonely all by yourself. Its my first time to live alone and to be far away from my family. As I decided to study here in Korea for 3 years, I know the consequences that it will take...loneliness. I struggled during the first few months of my stay here. I cannot just talk to my family everytime because I have a room mate and our room is small and I dont want to disturb anybody. I make it to call my family once a day. 

I decided to live alone outside the university dormitory to concentrate and be able to call my family anytime I want. I also want to have privacy in using the bathrooms rather than sharing it in the dormitories. I also want to cook my own food because I am tired of heating food in the microwave and spending too much eating outside. I am also not comfortable in switching dormitories during vacation. I preferred to have my own space and rest at my own time. I was alone and no one to talk to.

I struggled alone here in Korea. I handled my problems alone. When I have no more money to buy food, I just manage what's left. In the midst of hunger and desperation and when I was on the brink of depression, I lied facing the floor and wept. I prayed to God to deliver me from this suffering and ask for His provisions. In the midst of silence in my room being alone, I heard a loud noise deep within me , a sound of shouting, crying for help. But in that loudness from my heart,  I heard the whisper of the Lord. "Jen,  do not worry about what you will eat..." I dwell on the words from Jesus' in Matthew 6:25:

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?

Matthew 6:25 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.6.25.NLT

I am reminded that God is real. He always make the impossible possible. I just need to put my faith and trust unto him. I prayed and trust for his provisions, and He answered through my classmate who transfered money so I can buy groceries. The Holy Spirit can make marvelous things if you believe, there will be miracles.

Elijah also heard the whisper of God in the midst of war and chaos in 1Kings 19:12. He heard the sound of a whisper and he was saved. God called him and he answered and he was delivered from the hands of the enemy.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,even if we hear noises in our surroundings and we get distracted by all these disturbances, remember that we can always find peace and quiteness with the Lord. Focus, concentrate and listen to His call, submit to Him all your worries and cares and He will deliver you from it. The Sound of Silence is a Whisper of Hope from God. Always find peace in this noisy world in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Humble

Are you proud of yourself? Do you boast your accomplishment? How can you humble yourself?

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we always have something to boast with our academic accomplishments, career and financial success. But are we honoring God whenever we receive such? Are we relying on ourselves because we can do it alone?

When we prayed for success, we asked God for His blessings and guidance. He was there when we needed Him, but why do we forget about Him when we already get what we wanted? Let us learn how Jesus humbled himself to become human and be like us. He became a slave to redeem us from our sins. Paul wrote a letter to the Philippians in chapter 2 verse 7.

Jesus took the humble position of being a servant of God and became human in His likeness. We can be like Him by humbling ourselves whenever we are being ridiculed as Christians. To continue sharing the gospel, even if others mocked you. 

We should have the mindset of Christ in order to have a Christ-like attitude. How can we do that? Equip yourself everyday with the words from the bible. Enrich yourself with lessons from the scripture because what you read and listen to, will be put inside your heart and mind and transcends to your thoughts, feelings and actions. To have the best output, we need to have excellent inputs in our  system physically, mentally, psychologically and spiritually. Read lessons about humility and it will be exemplified in your actions.

Confess

When I was 10 years old, I witnessed how my parents were fighting because of my mom's infidelity. One day mom and I went to watch a movie and when we arrived at the cinema, I saw our neighbors, my friend and his dad at that place. All the while I thought it was a coincident but I noticed that they were acting as a couple. They were closed together and his arm was on my mom's shoulder. I was so confused and my friend also didnt react to it because she was also a kid like me. Several months after that, when I was sleeping in our room a guy entered it I smelled cigarette smoke and when I opened the lights, it was our neighbor, my friend's dad, and he hurriedly went out. 

After that incident, my mom talked to me that I should not tell my dad about what I saw, if I dont want them to separate. She told me to conceal the truth from my father. When I was alone, I was crying and I was very afraid that my mom and dad will separate because I dont want to have a broken family. I did not know what to do. My heart was so heavy and I just want to confess to someone. I want to go to church and confess my sins to the priest so that the burden of secret that I have will be released.

I thought that going in to the confession room and confessing your sins to the priest is the only way that God will forgive you for the iniquities you committed. When I became an evangelical christian, I found out that you can confess your sins directly to God through prayer. We are not perfect, we commit sins and we should always be transparent in everything that we have committed. In Proverbs 28:13, it is very clear that if we do not tell the truth about our sins then we will not prosper, but if you honestly confess your sins, God will give you mercy.

After that incident, I went to the priest but there was no conviction or cleansing of my sins. I was not able to feel redeemed and at peace. When the truth was revealed to my father and our neighbor's wife, it was chaos. My mom was slapped in the face by that woman and I saw my mom cried and my dad forgave her. I heard my dad said when my mom was crying, "I forgave you and will accept you and forget what happened here."  When my mom and dad reconciled, I was relieved. The fruit of their reconciliation is the birth of my only brother. When I was kid, I was praying to have a sibling because I was jealous with my neighbors that they have a sister and brother because from 1 to 10 years old, I was the only child. But when I was 11 years old, my brother came to the world. A new life was unfolded when my brother came to the world, I was very happy to finally have a sibling and it is also a new beginning for my parents to start a new life together and to move forward and forget the past.

This experience is a testament that if you confess your sins you will receive mercy from God. God forgives you if you confess and commit to not do it again. If God forgives, who are we not to forgive others who hurt us. Confession and Reconciliation will give us peace. All glory and honor to God!

Regrets to Assets

One of my biggest regrets in life was when I dissapointed my parents. In 2008, they have heard the bad news from me. I became pregnant and soon married at a young age of 22. I just graduated college in 2007 and just 1 year after graduation, my life changed forever. I was not able to help my parents to buy their own house, treat them in restaurants, travel in different places and spending more time with them to take care of them. A lot of precious time were lost because my time was focused on taking care of my own family. 

Eventhough I was not able to be the daughter that they expected me to be, I can still mend their broken hearts. I am still alive and I can do something for them. I can make up for the time that was lost. I will pray for them and share the gospel. 

In making up to my parents is also what Manasseh did to humble himself before God and ask for his forgiveness and he was made king again (2 Chronicles 33:12).

I will serve and honor my parents and to give back what they have done to me when I was young. They have sacrificed a lot for me for my education at a private school and later on until college. I did not have much money when I was a student, but I pursued and its time to give back to them. 

Regrets cannot be taken back its already done. You may hurt your loved ones or you did not soens more time with them. But you can always create new memories of love, kindness, compassion and perservance to the ones you have hurt. As long as we are alive and dedicate our lives to God, we can do a lot of things because nothing is impossoble with Him! Let us turn our regrets to assets! To God be the glory and honor!