Day 17. What are your spiritual beliefs and how do they impact your relationships/relationship status?

Excerpt from “Reflections of a Man” by Mr. Amari Soul

Welcome back to this long overdue challenge!

I only have two verses in mind when it comes to my spiritual beliefs and my relationships. The first one is 1 Timothy 5:1-2, which is my guiding principle for cultivating godly relationships in general, and the second one is 2 Corinthians 6:14, which is my guiding principle for romantic relationships.

On godly relationships

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. (1 Timothy 5:1:2)

When it comes to dealing with other people, I always try to follow this framework based on the verse above:

Older men – treat them with respect as with my father
Younger men – treat them as brothers, with absolute purity.
Older women – honor them like my own mother
Younger women – treat them as if they are my own sister.

My only problem with this framework is that the verse says nothing about how should I treat men of my own age range, and I’m really struggling in this area.  I really don’t know how to relate with them so my natural tendency is to have nothing to do with them altogether. ?But then lately, God taught me that I should not reject friendships with the opposite sex altogether. With the right and pure  motives and clear boundaries, being friends with guys, especially with   my brothers in Christ, can be a beautiful thing as they can help me understand more the dynamics between men and women.

On romantic relationships
I’ve been taught early in my Christian life that when it comes to choosing a romantic partner, I only have one rule to consider, and that is:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

This means he should be a Christian, and that is, he is fully committed and submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ. I know how hard it is to be romantically attracted to someone who doesn’t meet this standard but God was so gracious that He enabled me to uphold it. So now, having this standard makes it easier for me to identify who are those I can consider to have romantic business with. ☺

Wild Flower

Listened to this song again after some long, long time. I used to love this song for its melody but now I love it for its lyrics.

Wildflower Lyrics (Skylark)

She’s faced the hardest times you could imagine
And many times her eyes fought back the tears
And when her youthful world was about to fall in
Each time her slender shoulders bore the weight of all her fears
And a sorrow no one hears
Still rings in midnight silence in her ears

Let her cry, for she’s a lady (She’s a lady)
Let her dream, for she’s a child (Child)
Let the rain fall down upon her
She’s a free and gentle flower growing wild

And if by chance that I should hold her (If by chance that I should hold
her)
Let me hold her for a time (Let me hold her for a time)
And if allowed just one possession
I would pick her from the garden to be mine (I would pick her from the
garden to be mine)

Mm-mm-mm, mm-mm
Be careful how you touch her, for she’ll awaken
And sleep’s the only freedom that she knows
And when you walk into her eyes, you won’t believe
The way she’s always payin’ for a debt she never owed
And a silent wind still blows
That only she can hear, and so she goes

Let her cry, for she’s a lady
Let her dream, for she’s a child
Let the rain fall down upon her
She’s a free and gentle flower growing wild

Let her cry, for she’s a lady (She’s a lady)
Let her dream, for she’s a child
Let the rain fall down upon her
She’s a free and gentle flower growing wild
She’s a flower growing wild
She’s free

University Adversity

​A. W. Tozer once wrote, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.” God has a mission for your life and mine. But before we can carry out that mission, we will often go through the boot camp of adversity. If this is where you find yourself today, ask God to give you His grace to walk through this time with you. He promised He would never leave or forsake us.

Am I Ready to be Poured Out as an Offering?

I’ve  been taught that following Jesus is costly. I’ve always known this in theory because Jesus himself said this to His disciples a lot of times.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37)
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. (Luke 14:26‭, ‬33)

I said I’ve known all of these in theory but for the longest time, I failed to realize is that these very same words from Jesus also apply to me. I always tell Jesus that there’s nothing else I want in my life but to follow Him all the way, but now that He’s asking me to give up my whole life for Him, then why am I relenting?

I’ve been praying for fruitfulness in my personal ministry for a long time now but it seems that nothing is really happening. Yes, there is fruit but not the much fruit He had promised. So I was asking, ‘God, what’s wrong with my motive and my strategy?’ Then last Saturday God answered me during our usual DIPF. God told me that if I really want to achieve a different result this time, I need to totally change my lifestyle. I can’t live my life in the same way I had it before.

As if God wants to make His point clear to me, He confirmed the direction that He wants me to take during my quiet time yesterday through this text from My Utmost for His Highest: 

The text asks me to tell God I am ready to be poured out as offering but I told God otherwise. I told God I don’t want to say it because I know that once I’ve said it, He will surely do it. He did it the last time  I told Him I am willing to take the more difficult path for the sake of my growth, and it was painful. I’m not sure how painful  it can get this time because I’m looking forward to a greater reward. I’m struggling because as much as I hate it, I know that there is no other way but to go through it. So in the end, I told God that I am not willing, but please, make me willing!

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)

2016 Playlist

I was supposed to publish this last month but life happens so I’m posting this only now.

Only a few days left, and the year is about to end again. As with my usual practice, I want to keep a record of the songs that made this year a little more exciting for me. I don’t have much music discoveries this year though, so I can only name a few memorable songs in my playlist.

Anyway, here’s  my most memorable songs in 2016:

1. Make Me a Servant by Maranatha Singers. If I am to summarize the lesson God taught me this year, I think this one is the perfect song to describe it. I always tend to forget that Jesus is Lord and I am His servant. Since He is my Lord and King, I really need to have a servant attitude.

Make me a servant
Humble and meek
Lord let me lift up those who are weak
And may the prayers of my heart always be
Make me a servant
Make me a servant
Make me a servant today

2. No Borders by Ginny Owens. I actually discovered this song last year but it’s only this year that I’ve learned to appreciate this. I realized that if I really  want to experience God and see His amazing miracles in my life, I need to let all my walls down and let Him accomplish whatever He has planned for my life. I also need to learn not to put limit in what He can do for my life.

It’s time that I abandoned the familiar
to chase what I don’t understand
You’re teaching me that when I trust Your promise
I finally find the promised land
no borders, no boundaries could ever be enough
to hold back the wonder of Your overwhelming flood
in the beauty of Your mystery
freely now I run with
no borders, no boundaries
Lord I’m surrendered to Your love

3. Start a Fire by Unspoken. I first heard this song during one of the service I attended this year. I liked this song because of its message of asking God or start or rekindle the fire in our soul. I think I liked it because it was the song I needed to hear during that time.

Start a fire in my soul
Fan the flame and make it grow
So there’s no doubt or denying
Let it burn so brightly
That everyone around can see
That it’s You, that it’s You that we need
Start a fire in me

Thank you, 2016

I celebrated New Year with a thankful heart.

As I was saying two days ago, I’m having mixed emotions about the coming year because of uncertainties. Thank God because after I’ve written that previous post and after I uttered a short prayer to God, I finally have this peace in my heart reassuring me that I need not to be afraid of the future. This was also confirmed during my quiet time this morning when God told me that when in a crossroad, the best response is SURRENDER. Surrender everything to God and trust that He is only up to our own good.

I realized that even if I have a number of reasons to think that 2016 was a bad year (e.g., death of two officemates, father’s operation and lifetime dialysis session for maintenance, greater workload, etc.), I still have a lot more reasons to be thankful for 2016: 2nd international travel, promotion and new friends at work, new sisters in Christ, and many other small things that I fail to thank God for. The seemingly bad circumstances that happened in 2016 also turned out to be blessings in disguise. For instance, my father’s sickness provided me an opportunity to spend more time with my parents. The sickness was also used by God to serve as opportunity to share the Gospel to our relatives. The untimely death of my officemate earlier in 2016 also taught me to really view the Gospel with a sense of urgency. When I tried to look back how my year 2016 was, I realized that the blessings still far outweigh the challenges. And with that, I’m truly grateful.

So yes, thank you, 2016 for all the blessings, the joy and the lessons. And welcome, 2017! I’m ready and.excited for you. ☺???

Crossroad

I feel like I’m in a crossroad nowadays. I have a feeling there will be great changes coming in the next few days  or even months both in my personal ministry and personal life, and I believe these will all happen in the coming year -2017. Yes, I am feeling hopeful and excited about the coming new year but at the same time, I’m a bit scared of what might happen in the next 12 months. I’ve been praying to God for growth and maturity for a long time now and I know that God will answer my prayer. But knowing God, I know that His way of answering my prayer will not be easy. There will be a lot of growing pains and great joy at the same to make sure that I will not only grow in the process but also to let me experience His great love and amzing grace. Most importantly, He wants me to know Him more intimately and love Him more deeply.

I’ve been told to ask for God’s Word for guidance but I’ve been putting off my plan to spend quality time with God for one obvious reason: I’m afraid to hear God’s answer. I’m afraid because once He give me the answer, I know I have to obey it. Will you please pray for me? Please pray for God to grant me the courage to lay down whatever plans, fears and worries I have for 2017. Please also pray that God will enable me to lay down the pride, stubborness, selfishness and self-centeredness I still have in my heart so that God can work powerfully through my life.

Thank you and may you have a blessed year ahead.

Day 16. If you planted a time capsule right now of your life to be opened in 20 years, what would be in it?

Challenge time!

Since I’ve just completed my blogging challenge with Lynai (at last!), I thought it’s time for me to go back to my TSW blogging challenge.  I am itching to finish it soon so I can move on to other writing  stuff for my blog.

The next question in my challenge is all about time capsule. Although I can say I’m a pack rat and very sentimental for my personal possessions, I never thought of planting a time capsule. The closest thing to time capsule planting that I’ve ever done was keeping a collection of novelty items and other fancy stuff several boxes (yes, several!) that have accumulated over the years. These boxes are now placed under my bed, collecting dusts and waiting for me to unpack them once again.

IMG_20161217_225048.jpg
Photo courtesy of timecapsuleuk.com

Anyway, going back to the topic, if I were to plant a time capsule in this time of my life right now,  I’ll put there my old college journal with the latest entry dated the time I’ve planted the time capsule. In my latest entry, I’ll write there the reason and purpose of planting that time capsule.

Along with my journal, I’ll put some of my used brush pens to remind me 20 years later that I was once into calligraphy.

Maybe that’s it. Nothing symbolic or whatever because I don’t want to keep away something important for a very long time.

No Ordinary Day has a New Home!

First of all,

Merry Christmas, dear friends!!

I finally decided to set up my own site so I’ll be moving out from this hosting site starting this week.

But since I’m a sentimental pack rat, I’ve also transferred most of my blog posts here, including my reviews from my old book blog to my new blog.

So… welcome to my same old brand new No Ordinary Day site.

P.S. Thanks to my blogging partner, Lynai and her hubby for assisting me in setting up this site. 

see you!