Faith That Condemns The World - Tasia

Today I read from Genesis 6-7, the story of Noah.

God commanded him to build an ark in preparation to the great flood that God would send to the earth due to human's sins that was so great.
God only saved Noah & his family (wife, 3 sons & sons' wives) because Noah walked with God. In Genesis 6 v 9 it says:

"...Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God."

"Just" here means Noah's actions toward other men & "perfect" here means sound, wholesome, having integrity (the Hebrew word is tamim, this word was used to describe the perfection of sacrificial animals). So Noah was actually a balanced man. He got great relationship with God as well as men.

During Noah's ark-construction period, I can imagine how other people would look at him & considered him insane. I read before that it took him about 100 years to construct the ark (The Bible doesn't mention how long).

At that time, everything seemed fine. People had marriages, parties, bought & sold items...so normal, until the day that God sent rain from heaven. These sinful people were overtaken. They could run to nowhere. Rain poured down for 40 days & 40 nights. They died in their sins.

I pondered for a while when thinking of Noah's faith. It took faith for him to believe what God told him His plan to destroy the earth. But because Noah walked with God, he knew God & thus he trusted Him. He obeyed the Lord by his action eventhough he hadn't seen that great flood yet.

I learnt some points about this:

1. It is easier to believe/obey God when my physical eyes see things. It is harder to obey when I don't see things. That's true, isn't that? Because we get used to see things that are seen than unseen.
   That's why it takes faith because there is a reward behind it.
2. Our relationship with God makes us know Him. Our experience of walking with Him enables us to trust Him.
   

The Life That I'm Living For - Tasia

Continued from Walking in the Supernatural

After we attended that meeting, just in a week, some issues come to us.

1. We have a tall tree in front of our house & according to the property map it belongs to us. We receive a 30-days notice from Western Power ordering us to trim that tree 2 meters away from the power cables. Otherwise they would use someone's service to trim & we would be invoiced for that.
   
2. A few weeks before our neighbours complained about another big gum tree at our backyard. The branches fell on their gardens especially during the storm & they had to clean the big heaps of broken branches. Even it happened before that one of our neighbour's fence got broken due to that tree.
3. We went to a doctor for my pregnancy check up (I was in week 37). He told us to go for another ultrasound because something abnormal happened. [For now I won't share what happened, keep this for great testimony later :)]

Well..the trees sure involve few hundreds of money. We just pray, believe and confess God's words. At the moment we only have one income & I stay home.

These issues came to us, we believe, so that God can stretch our faith. We've been asking for more of Him, passion! Yes, God responds in His way. We have to go to a higher level.

Anyway...this morning in my quiet time with the Lord, I just sat down in the lounge. Suddenly the Holy Spirit reminded me of life in Christ.

I was reminded from Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, & the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me & gave Himself for me."

It talks about one of the characters of the bride of Christ, ie, to follow Him wherever He goes.

Many times we put God just in ONE or SEVERAL aspects of life. We give Him some spaces only where He isn't involved in our life too much. We give Him just a little bit, we never really surrender ALL! That's why we miss Him. We can't be a true follower of Christ. If our life belongs to Christ, we shouldn't confuse ourselves with worldly matters. Worrying about things...

Christ demands us to love Him more than our own life. Then only He can live in us fully.

If only Christians grab this meaning of die to oneself, I believe that many people will see Jesus clearly.

Walking in the Supernatural - Tasia

This week God wants to take us to a new level of spirituality. We went to a Christian Prophetic Meeting last week. The preacher came from Canada (Bruce Allan). His main sermon was about walking in the supernatural.

We live in the last days & the passion of Jesus drives us to be a spirit-filled Christian. There's no other way to be a spirit-filled Christian if we want to experience the fullness of Christ.

In his sermon, he mentioned many examples of how many believers experience that fullness. There was an African guy with no money & passport commanded to fly to France to spread the Gospel. This guy was a friend of Bruce's friend. He just packed his luggage, went to the airport & God asked him to go to the gents. God asked him to worship inside one of the gents' room & when he finished worshiping he opened the door. Guess what?...He was in France!

And another testimony was a new believer spent his time daily in his room chatting with God as friend to friend. He just shared with Him what happened on that day, his hobbies, etc. After one year passed by, one day, he heard a noise from outside. He heard the noise of footsteps . Someone opened his room's door, closed it & it was Jesus came to his room.

Jesus told him how pleased he was because this man's heart was so passionate about Him. And Jesus said that from now on he will always see Jesus.

His sermon really impacted me & hubby to seek Jesus more. We have been lukewarm...church is just another religious routine...and it makes us dead spiritually. We need to be matured as His coming is closer.

Bruce also mentioned that not every Christian is the bride of Jesus. There are characters that Jesus looks in that. They are taken from Genesis 24 (a bride for Isaac).

1. v 4 "but you shall go to my country & to my family; & take a wife for my son Isaac."
v 6"...Beware that you do not take my son back there."

The bride of Jesus is willing to follow the leading of the Spirit. She doesn't do things according to her will.

2. v 18 "So she said, "Drink my lord." Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink."

The bride of Jesus draws living water daily, ie meditate on God's word.

3. v 19 "...I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking."
v 20 " Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels."

The bride of Jesus has a servant's heart & quick to respond.

Camels can drink gallons of water, yet Rebekah drew waters until they were all satisfied.

4. v 22 "So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring..."

Nose speaks about discernment. The bride of Christ has purity in discernment.

As Christians, we have the idea that once we receive Jesus as saviour we automatically become His bride. We don't spend time with Him. We know that salvation is free, it's God's grace. But we miss out that we have portion to do. We have to work out our salvation (Phillipians 2:12). Every Christian has to weave one's own wedding garment.

So we asked that we would be more passionate about Jesus.

Continued to The Life That I'm Living For....

Mary vs Martha - Tasia

Arrrghh!!!!Busy! Busy! Busy! Running here & there (eventhough only in the house). Cleaning things, baking, calling people, buzzing around & never stopping! What happens? What triggers me to do those activities? They never finish anyway. The more I keep on doing things & follow what my mind asks me to do make me stressed & can't concentrate well. Can't even think with cool head!

Then this comes to me in the midst of my stress : Mary & Martha (Luke 10: 38-42).

" Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said,"Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." And Jesus answered and said to her, " Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.""

Mary chose to sit down at Jesus' feet & listen to Him. Martha chose to run around. We can choose whether to be silent or be busy. God will not take that away from us. We are given a will. He won't enforce His will upon us.

God is indeed very good. Without His reminder, I would lost in my own panic world. It causes me madness & restlessness.

Actually I'm in the middle of processing marketing tools for my home business (House of Royal Velvet). I'm doing some designs for business card & flyers with my cousin in law in Jakarta. It's a long-distance communication & she hasn't done things fast enough that these things have been dragged too long. They occupy my mind day & night. I feel so consumed with them that even when I woke up in the middle of night they come to my mind.

My mum suggests me to cancel the flyer & leave it with her instead. She will take care so that everything will finish before she flies to visit me. I have to decide very soon & at then end I trust my mum more than my cousin.

Somehow God gives me wisdom to speak to my cousin via email in the way that will not dissapoint or offend her. I feel so much better, so much peaceful after making up my mind.

I learn something more powerful & important from this. That to make a decision, I have to be cool-headed. If I'm like a worm, I would not make the best decision. That affects my emotion & my mouth will then speak careless words. I need to sit down & be silent just for a couple of minutes. That surely helps me a lot.

No wonder Jesus said to Martha that Mary had chosen a good part, which would not be taken away from her.

It pleases Him to listen rather than do your own things without His guidance. Because when we listen & are still, we will absorb more understanding what He wants us to do.

I repent & ask Holy Spirit to teach me more in this area. You make me a more godly person in Jesus.