Psalm 33:15 – understanding God

He made their hearts,
so he understands everything they do. -Psalm 33:15

many times i feel that people around me can’t understand me. they might be able to understand some small parts of me, but not the whole thing. misunderstanding happened a lot and it seems that everything i do is not right. i do mind about what people are thinking about me, and when they can’t understand me, i feel bothered.

with this verse, i’m reminded again that at least there is Someone who understands me fully because He is the one who made my heart. He’s always there for me, willing to listen to all my problems. i learn not to seek acknowledgment from men because it will always make me lose my joy. it’s okay if they can’t understand me, at least i know that Someone up there cares for me, and it’s enough to keep my joy.

Galatians 1:15 – God is our designer

Even then God had designs on me. Why, when I was still in my mother’s womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! -Galatians 1:15[MSG]

God had designs on us. He has planned everything from the beginning, even before we were born to this earth. In other versions, it’s said that He was pleased that He chose us. It means that His plans are beautiful, just like an artist being pleased with his masterpiece. We are His masterpiece. No matter how bad we might have been, let us realize that He chose us not because of what we’ve done, but merely because of His generosity, His grace, His unconditional love. He wants us to have a wonderful future.

The problem is maybe many of us don’t know the blueprint, the design that He made. Just like a building constructor cannot build a house without seeing the design from the architect, we cannot have that wonderful life without knowing the design God has prepared for us. So it’s important to have good relationship with God and see that design He made for each of us.

Luke 9:24-25 – find out the real you

Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? -Luke 9:24-25 [MSG]

A lot of people are trying to find out their identity in their lives, they want to know who they really are. Most of them feels that they just live under people’s expectation, surrounded by hypocrisy, and they are unsatisfied with their lives. They who can’t stand the pressure of being ‘someone else’ start to run to things that they think can satisfy themselves, free-sex, drugs, and many other things that in fact just give them temporary satisfaction. These kind of things don’t give them the real revelation of who they really are and what they want to be.

This verse tells us clearly, that self-help, finding the answer by ourselves, is useless. But, God has a way for that. He is the one who created us. He knows who we really are, each one of us. God is great enough, so much greater than we might think, to know every single detail of every people in the world. We might be just a small creature compared to the vast universe, but God knows our names. So if we want to know our real selves, just come to Him. It’s said that the way is self-sacrifice, means to live not for ourselves anymore, but live for Him. Do what He wants us to do, not what we want, because He knows the best for us. Build our relationships with God and find out His will on our lives, get the REAL US!!

Galatians 3:6-10 – put your trust in Christ

Don’t these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God. Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith? It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed in you.” So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: “Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law.” -Galatians 3:6-10 [MSG]

Just some simple things I got today from this verse. Trusting God fully means that you are living by faith, and by that you will be blessed like Abraham, but living with your own strength brings to failure. I think no one wants a failure. So let’s put God first in every aspect of our life, trust Him fully in anything, always live by His guidance, and all the blessings will follow after.

TRUST GOD -> BLESSING
TRUST YOURSELF -> FAILURE

Matthew 26:39 – stay alert!

Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire. -Matthew 26:39 [MSG]

This verse is so true. I can feel that there are two parts of me inside just like it says. And recently I feel that the second part is stronger. I missed my prayer and Bible time quite a lot because I was feeling so comfortable and lazy. COME ON!!!! Yeah, I need to get up from this condition. I have to get out from my comfort zone, stay alert, and keep in prayer, not letting the lazy part of me take control, but just the Spirit of God rules my life.

2 Corinthians 2:14 – Sweet perfume

… Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. -2 Cor 2:14 [NLT]

It is said that we’re like a sweet perfume to spread the knowledge of Christ. A good perfume will attract people who smell it. However, usually we put on perfume after we have a shower, which means we need to be clean from any unpleasant odor first. Well, sometimes people try to hide their odor with perfume, but generally it won’t last too long, or the smell won’t be so sweet anymore.

This verse reminded me that we need to clean ourselves first before we go out spreading the knowledge of Christ, because that way, people will feel that pure fragrance without any contamination. So let’s live a clean life, a life that is pleasing in God’s eyes, and let everyone around us enjoy the sweet perfume of Christ!

January 23 – Isaiah 34-35

i was reading isaiah chapter 24 this morning, and at first i was kinda confused, reading the first two verses:

Draw in close now, nations. Listen carefully, you people. Pay attention! Earth, you too, and everything in you. World, and all that comes from you. And here’s why: GOD is angry, good and angry with all the nations, So blazingly angry at their arms and armies that he’s going to rid earth of them, wipe them out.  -Isa 34:1-2 [MSG]

and some scary things follow until the end of the chapter…because i read the bible from my computer, it only shows one chapter at once…and this whole chapter is like God’s punishment where everything will become so bad…i was thinking, what’s the point in this chapter, is He reminding me about what He’s doing to this world right now, or maybe it’s kinda related to end of the world, because some of those things are happening right now somewhere in this earth i think…

then i turned to the next chapter…and it’s TOTALLY different, even from the first verse…everything in this chapter is good things…and on verse 4 it says like this:

Tell fearful souls, “Courage! Take heart! GOD is here, right here, on his way to put things right And redress all wrongs. He’s on his way! He’ll save you!”  -Isa 35:4 [MSG]

and also on verse 8 and 9:

There will be a highway called the Holy Road. No one rude or rebellious is permitted on this road. It’s for GOD’s people exclusively– impossible to get lost on this road. Not even fools can get lost on it. No lions on this road, no dangerous wild animals– Nothing and no one dangerous or threatening. Only the redeemed will walk on it.  -Isa 35:8-9 [MSG]

i got it that this broken world may become worse and worse, moreover with God’s anger on stubborn people who never look to Him at all and just do bad things…somehow more or less it will have some effects on God’s people also, as we’re still living in this same world…but this verse tells us not to fear, but to have courage, because He has came to save us His people, will set us free and will give us a “Promised Land” where everything will be beautiful…

keep living our live maximally, live right, stay in what God wants us to do, and we will see many miracles, many beautiful things, and a lot of rejoicing…great day!! GBU

January 22 – Jeremiah 23

this is a nice passage from the prophet Jeremiah i think, i got several things from it as i read it, but now i just wanna emphasize on one verse in this chapter, which i think simple but powerful

In his time Judah will be secure again and Israel will live in safety. This is the name they’ll give him: ‘GOD-Who-Puts-Everything-Right.’ – Jer 23:6 [MSG]

‘GOD-Who-Puts-Everything-Right’. WOW…i think it’s cool…whatever He does is right, and He makes everything right…if sometime we make a mistake, just come to Him, and He will make it right…maybe a lot of things seems to go wrong in our life, lean on Him, and God will put it right…

so always remember this thing…we have a GOD-Who-Puts-Everything-Right, no never worry about anything, trust in Him, and He will make everything alright (all is right )

January 20 – Psalms 80

i read from the Psalms chapter 80 this morning…it’s the prayer of Asaph, asking for God’s mercy in Israel’s hard times…something interesting in this verse is a sentence which is repeated 3 times…

Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. – Psa 80:3 [NIV]

if His face is shining, the Israelites will be saved…but what would it mean by shining face? the Message version said a bit different

God, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation. – Psa 80:3 [MSG]

“smile you blessing smile”…it saves people…i was thinking about it, and imagine a situation where a small child is crying, he can’t sleep at night, he’s scared of the thunderstorm outside his house, and then he ran to his dad, and his dad just hug him, put a big smile, pat him on his head, and say “it’s alright. don’t be afraid. dad’s here”…

yeah, God’s smile means that He know our problems, He’s there and He wants His people not to be afraid…come on, every time we face hard things in our life, try to see God’s face, see His smile, and everything will be alright…God bless…

November 24 – 1 Timothy 2

i didn’t write for about two weeks, because of several reasons…i’m kinda struggling in this, but i’ll try to write again…

today’s lesson is so simple…from first verse…

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live. -1 Tim 2:1-3 [MSG]

Paul said, the first thing to do is pray… yeah, i suppose everyone knows that already, because it’s said that prayer is the breathe of believers…in everything, we have to start with prayers…not just 5 times a day, in the morning to start the day, at night before sleeping, and before three meals…but actually prayer should be our lifestyle, in everything, everytime, everywhere we should pray, keep in touch with God…

prayer doesn’t mean that we have to kneel down, close our eyes, or any other pose that may have been taught to us since we were kids…it’s said here, pray every way you know how…so it’s not limited to only one kind of “ritual” like i mentioned, but we can pray in any way, even when we’re driving our cars to work, taking the train to school, riding our bike, we can still pray…the essential thing is just communicating with God…God is in each of us, so to communicate with Him is so simple, just imagine He’s beside you, and talk to Him like you talk to your best friend…

and one more thing in these verse, pray for everyone you know…not only for 3 persons, I, me, and myself…or not only for our (future) life-partner, our family, our best friends, but everyone, includes people we don’t like (it still includes in the term “everyone you know”, right?)…it’s stated about praying for rulers and governments…i know so many people aren’t satisfied with their bosses in their company, their teachers at school, and also their governments…but we have to pray for them also, not just complaining, grumbling, but pray…i know it’s hard, but that’s the way of life God wants us to do…i’m also still learning to do it…let’s have Holy Spirit help us to humble ourselves, and teach us how to pray for them…God bless…