Are you a winner or a loser?

I searched in Google, what does a winner and a loser mean? Here is the result, Winner is a noun, which means a person or thing that wins something. The synonym of winner is champion, conqueror, and victor. While loser is also a noun, which means a person or thing that loses or has lost something, and the synonym of loser is defeated person.

Romans 8:37 - "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us".

According to the verse in Romans 8:37, God designed you as His child, not to be a loser in your life. The verse affirms that God designed and created you with a potential to be a winner. Let’s have a closer look at the story about you and me: during sexual intercourse, about 300 million sperms fight the battle of conception, and only one will survive, become an embryo, and born as a baby. In other words, you and I are winners, even before we were born.

Then if God has designed human being with a potential to be a winner, but after they grow mature, some of them have not become "something" that they are intended to be, what is the root cause of it? I believe all people in this world does not like to lose, and never plan to be a loser in their life. However, somehow some people end up in this unpleasant condition.

Based on my experience winning is not an instant thing. No one in this world, directly can run right after they are born. Babies need to go through a series of processes and growth before they can walk their first step, then many steps - with unbalance walk then stable ones and eventually they can run. During this learning process, they experience many unpleasant situations, such as falling to the ground, stumbling against the wall or tripping over other hard objects, not only once but hundreds, or may be thousands of times. However, whenever they fall, they have courage to try again, again and again. Until finally they are strong enough to stand, walk and finally run.

I don't know when exactly a person develop fear to fail and give up attitudes. Being a senior high school teacher, I often heard that my students complain that they cannot do this and that, because it is difficult. Instead of trying to go through the learning process, they’ve just given up. In fact, some of them have not reached their 17th, they've already felt defeated when encounter difficulties. One thing I always remind my students, a theory that I usually call it "50% winning" theory. The theory is like this, when we give a try we’ve already gained 50% of chance to win, then we only need to earn another 50%. On the other hand, if we refuse to give an effort, it means we never have a chance to win.

What actually that made people refuse to give a try? Here are my guesses, first, maybe because they hesitate to give a try, second, maybe having difficulties to let their faith win, and the third, one maybe afraid to fail.

What's wrong with these three points? First, hesitate to give a try, see in Proverbs 10:4 (NIV) say that, "Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth", so, if we develop this character we definitely would end up with losing in our life.  There is a Chinese saying, 努力不一定成功，不努力一定失败 (Nǔlì bù yīdìng chénggōng, bù nǔlì yīdìng shībài) which means “Work hard does not necessarily can bring you success, but if don’t work hard, you will fail”. Hence, doing nothing will not help our life progress.

Second, difficulties to let their faith win, which means, we may have lack of confidence that our God is able to help us succeed? One of God’s character is Omnipotent, which means having unlimited power, able to do anything. One of the reasons maybe we have not known our God better, hence we hesitate to ask for help to our God.

The last one is afraid to fail. From the fact of how a baby learns to walk, we know that winning is a process. Throughout the process, it is highly possible that we would encounter obstacles and hardship, so it is useless to avoid it. Hence, it is better we make an anticipation action to encounter these obstacles.

In summary, a winner is not a person who never fails or a perfect person or a person who never had a problem in his/her life. A winner is a person who fails but has the courage to rise and fight until he/she succeeds. So why should we be afraid to fail, as long as we want to rise again, it will not be a matter anymore. A winner is a person full of perseverance through every test in his/her life without complaints, until he/she redeems what God has promised. Becoming a winner or a loser, I would like to open those options for you to choose. 

Choose wisely. (",")

"WINNING IS NOT A SOMETIME THING; IT’S AN ALL TIME THING. YOU DON’T WIN ONCE IN A WHILE, YOU DON’T DO THINGS RIGHT ONCE IN A WHILE, YOU DO THEM RIGHT ALL THE TIME. WINNING IS HABIT. UNFORTUNATELY, SO IS LOSING". - Vince Lombardi.

Trust His Heart (Rewrite - Updated Edition).

I wrote a similar article on Wednesday, March 18, 2015. Then I think to rewrite and make it more structure and clearer.

As humans sometimes we feel very hard to understand why bad things happen to good people. Like the following story, that I heard one day while I was driving from my home to my office years ago. I was listening to a bible conference message from RBC by Rev. Bill Crowder (Our Daily Bread Bible Teacher). He talked about suffering. He said many times we do not know why bad circumstance happen to our life. Further, he shared his experience when he was a young pastor for a church, he received a call from his family to inform that his dad has passed away. While his heart was overwhelmed with grief, a senior pastor came to him and said "one day you will be thankful for this". He thought why he should be thankful for his dad's death. That happened to be his first funeral service. Years have passed by, he conducted many more funeral services, because of his experience with his dad's funeral, and he was able to serve the grieving family more passionately and connected with them.

Admittedly when unfavourable circumstances come to us, or good things have not happen to us, for example maybe a family is waiting for having a baby, an adult man or woman is looking for a job or a life partner or a very sick man or woman is waiting for a miracle that he/she would fully recover from his/her sickness, and yet these prayers have not yet been answered. To make it worse, sometimes when one bad event has not been recovered, another misfortune occur, it's like an old saying, "Rub salt into the wound". Some of us if it is not all, including me, sometimes would questioning God when an unfavourable situation occurs to me, "Why this happen to me? Has God forgotten me?" and in fact does God really forget about us? Or we think that God enjoy to see us suffer?

Isaiah 55:8-9 New International Version (NIV)
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Before we judge God, we need to know who we really are, and who God really is. God is an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent being. Who can fully understand Him? We are not all knowing, nor are we everywhere present. Furthermore, God never and will never enjoy to see us suffer. If he does, the cross will never happened. I wrote an article previously re. Blame-Shifting, where we as human sometimes do something wrong or inappropriate, and then dump the mistakes on other people's head to avoid taking responsibility or our own behaviour, while God does play Blame-Shifting too. In contrast compared to us, instead of dumping the mistakes on others, He voluntarily take the blame although it is not His faults. He is willing to take the consequences of the sins, which are not belong to Him, so we may be hindered from the consequences, which is dead (Romans 6:23a). Do you think why He would do that? He did that because He loves his creations including us, until he would better sacrifice himself so we will be saved.

Chorus of “Trust His Heart”
God is too wise to be mistaken, God is too good to be unkind,
So when you don't understand, When you don't see His plan,
When you can't trace His hand, Trust His Heart

There is a song title "Trust His Heart", we may comprehend the chorus of the lyrics. I think this lyrics may help us how to respond, when we are experiencing suffering. We really do not know why those bad things happen to us, and where this horrible situation will bring us, maybe God is working on something to prepare us for our future. Like the story at the introduction, the sad situation that occurred to the young pastor has prepared him to serve better in his future career. We do not need to understand everything about God and His actions. However, we have to know and understand our God has a loving heart, which is reflected by His real work on the cross. Therefore, when we really do not understand and do not know what to do, just trust His Heart.

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".

References:
Omniscient: knowing everything
Omnipotent: having unlimited power, able to do anything
Omnipresent: of God present everywhere at the same time

Blame-Shifting Game.

Being a teacher is not easy. My colleague found out the hard way. One of our students blamed my colleague for not motivating her enough. As a result, our student could not finish her homework… she said. Was it really my friend’s failure as a teacher, not being able to motivate this student to do what she was supposed to do anyway? Let’s discuss further.

According to the bible, blame-shifting *) is the oldest ancient game played in this world. Let’s open the bible, and we will find the classic example right in the beginning of the book of Genesis. 

THE BOOK OF GENESIS Chapter 2:15-23 (NIV):

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 

17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 

22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 

After God had created all animals, and Adam had given names to all of them, God realised that none of them was suitable to be the true helper for Adam (Gen 2:18). So God made Adam fall into a deep sleep, He took one of Adam’s ribs, made a woman from this rib, and He brought her to Adam.  At first, Adam was most happy when God brought this woman - called Eve - to him (Gen 2:23). But his sentiment shifted after a while.

Let’s move backward a little to see this more clearly. God had created a variety of trees, from which Adam and Eve could eat the fruits as they desired, except for one tree: The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad (Gen 2:16-17). However, Eve could not resist the fruit, and finally neither could Adam, and together they ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.  As written, the consequences of eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they will certainly die.

Chapter 3:8-12 (NIV):

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

God called Adam upon his deed. And rather than admitting his deed, Adam shifted the blame to Eve. To God, he answered: “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Adam blamed God for giving him a woman who led him to sin. He perceived that if God has given him a better woman, he would not commit to sin. Adam was so easily change his perspective on God after breaking God’s command.

We human beings easily blame others for our mistakes. We do not want to look bad because of our mistakes, and we would rather flee from them. We dump the blame on someone else to avoid that we have to take responsibility for our own faults. Are there any benefit that we may gain from the Blame-Shifting behaviour? No way. We may escape this time, but we will make other mistakes in the future. So how would we like to solve that? Blame-shifting again? How long? How often? There is a saying "No matter how good a squirrel can jump, it will fall eventually.” In plain language: no matter how good you are at blame-shifting, eventually you will suffer from the consequences of your actions. 

Instead, we may apply those famous football or basketball players' attitude, if they are interviewed after they lost in a game.  They often say words like:  "Yeah, I am sorry, I played badly today, or maybe this is a bad day for us.” “This is a learning experience for us, we need to come together again and practice harder. Hopefully we win in the next season".  They never seem to blame their team members. They admit that they made mistakes, and own the responsibility for their own behaviours or actions. Further, they also evaluate on how to correct the mistakes that they've made. 

If we never own the responsibility for the mistakes that we made, then we may not feel the need to correct it. Ultimately, we will live in this devilish circle forever. Is that what we want?  It is a matter of choices.  I would like to open those options for you to choose. (^_^)

Tribute to Rev. Bill Crowder (Bible Teacher at Our Daily Bread Ministry)  for his sermon on King Saul, which has given me inspiration to write this short article.

*) Reference - Blame Shifting Definition:

• Blame-shifting is an emotionally abusive behaviour or tactic (https://distantspark.wordpress.com/what-is-blame-shifting/)
• Blame-shifting is when a person does something wrong or inappropriate, and then dumps the blame on someone else to avoid taking responsibility for their own behavior. (https://www.psychopathfree.com/articles/5-types-of-narcissistic-blame-shifting.388/)

Renungan, Senin - 19 Feb 2018.

Bacaan: 1 Raja-raja 19:7 Tetapi malaikat TUHAN datang untuk kedua kalinya dan menyentuh dia serta berkata: "Bangunlah, makanlah! Sebab kalau tidak, perjalananmu nanti terlalu jauh bagimu."

Renungan:
Pembantaian terhadap nabi-nabi Baal oleh Elia membuat amarah Izebel naik sampai ke ubun-ubun. Izebel mengancam untuk membunuh Elia dan tiba-tiba saja Elia merasa takut pada ancaman itu. Beberapa sarjana Alkitab mengatakan bahwa Elia Elia mungkin mengalami "bipolar disorder", yaitu suatu keadaan di mana suasana hatinya mulai berubah secara drastis. Baru saja ia mengalami perasaan senang karena menang atas nabi-nabi Baal, tetapi kemudian dia langsung terjerembab ke lembah ketakutan. Ketakutan yang berkembang ke tingkat depresi itu membawa Elia berjalan hingga ke padang gurun dan membuat ia putus asa, sampai-sampai ia ingin mati. Saat Elia sudah putus asa, Allah mengirim seorang malaikat untuk menemuinya dan memberinya makan. Lalu Elia diperintahkan untuk pergi ke gunung Horeb. Menurut tradisi Yahudi, gunung Horeb merupakan lambang kehadiran Allah. Di gunung inilah Elia menemukan perlindungan dan tuntunan Allah. Ia dipulihkan dan siap melakukan tugas selanjutnya.
  Ada 3 pelajaran yang bisa kita petik dari masa depresi yang dialami Elia. Pertama, makanan yang disediakan oleh malaikat-malaikat ketika Elia ada di padang gurun meneguhkan bahwa Allah senantiasa memenuhi kebutuhan anak-anakNya. Allah peduli saat kita berbeban berat. Kedua, kehadiran Allah saat angin sepoi-sepoi basah berhembus yang dibarengi oleh pertanyaan koreksi yang lembut, mengajarkan bahwa Allah mengoreksi kita karena Dia mengasihi kita. Ketiga, di masa depresi itu Allah malah mengutus Elia untuk mengurapi Yehu dan Elisa. Pada tahap ini Dia mengajarkan kita bahwa jalan keluar dari tekanan yang berat adalah dengan terus melakukan tugas kita. Saat kita memandang keluar dari diri kita, saat itulah kita keluar dari perangkap mengasihani diri sendiri yang sebenarnya  menjadi sumber depresi. Tuhan memberkati.

Doa:
Yesus, terima kasih karena Engkau tetap setia mendampingiku dalam menjalankan hari-hariku yang terasa sangat berat, sehingga aku bisa melaluinya dengan tetap penuh pengharapan padaMu. Amin. (Taken from someone with initial - Dod).

Whatever it takes.

There’s a voice calling me from an old rugged tree
And it whispers
“Draw closer to Me
Leave your world far behind
There are new heights to climb
And a new life in Me you will find”

For whatever it takes to draw closer to You, Lord
That’s what I’ll be willing to do
And whatever it takes to be more like You
That’s what I’ll be willing to do

Take the dearest things to me
If that’s how it must be to draw me closer to You
Let my disappointments come
Lonely days without the sun
If in sorrow more like You I’ll become

I’ll trade sunshine for rain, comfort for pain
That’s what I’ll be willing to do
For whatever it takes for my will to break
That’s what I’ll be willing to do
That’s what I’ll be willing to do

Only by God.

I arise today through God's strength to pilot me
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's words to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me,
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity.

Don't look down!
Keep your fork --- Something better is coming.

Grace Alone.

Every promise we can make
Every prayer and step of faith
Every difference we can make
Is only by His grace.
Every mountain we will climb
Every ray of hope we shine
Every blessing left behind
Is only by His grace

Chorus:
Grace alone Which God supplies
Strength unknown He will provide
Christ in us, our cornerstone
We will go forth in grace alone.

Every soul we long to reach
Every heart we hope to teach
Everywhere we share His peace
Is only by His grace.
Every loving word we say
Every tear we wipe away
Every sorrow turned to praise
Is only by His grace.

Life is a process.

Kadang kita bertanya dalam hati dan menyalahkan Tuhan, "Apa yang telah saya lakukan sampai saya harus mengalami ini semua?" atau "Kenapa Tuhan membiarkan ini semua terjadi pada saya?"

Here is a wonderful explanation...

Seorang anak memberitahu ibunya kalau segala sesuatu tidak berjalan seperti yang dia harapkan. Dia mendapatkan nilai jelek dalam raport, putus dengan pacarnya dan sahabat terbaiknya pindah ke luar kota.

Saat itu ibunya sedang membuat kue dan menawarkan apakah anaknya mau mencicipinya. Dengan senang hati anaknya berkata, "Tentu saja, I love your cake."

"Nih, cicipi mentega ini," kata Ibunya menawarkan.

"Yaiks," ujar anaknya.

"Bagaimana dengan telur mentah?"

"You're kidding me, Mom."

"Mau coba tepung terigu atau baking soda?"

"Mom, semua itu menjijikkan!!"

Lalu ibunya menjawab, "Ya, semua itu memang kelihatannya tidak enak jika dilihat satu per satu. Tapi jika dicampur jadi satu melalui satu proses yang benar, akan menjadi kue yang enak."

Tuhan bekerja dengan cara yang sama. Seringkali  kita bertanya kenapa Dia membiarkan kita melalui masa-masa yang sulit dan tidak menyenangkan. Tapi Tuhan tahu jika Dia membiarkan semuanya terjadi satu per satu sesuai dengan rancangan-Nya, segala sesuatunya akan menjadi sempurna tepat pada waktunya. Kita hanya perlu percaya proses ini diperlukan untuk menyempurnakan hidup kita.

Tuhan teramat sangat mencintai kita. Dia  mengirimkan bunga setiap musim semi dan sinar matahari setiap pagi. Setiap saat kita ingin bicara, Dia akan mendengarkan. Dia ada di setiap saat kita membutuhkan-Nya. Dia ada di setiap tempat dan Dia memilih untuk berdiam di hati kita.

Rendah Hati - 1 Petrus 5:5-6.

Sebagai seorang kristen kita dituntut untuk rendah hati (1Petrus5:5), karena "Allah menentang orang yang congkak, tetapi mengasihani orang yang rendah hati". Kesombongan dapat timbul karena kecintaan diri seseorang akan kemampuannya sendiri, dan juga karena merasa apa yang kita punyai melebihi dari kepunyaannya orang lain. Seolah-olah apa yang kita dapatkan adalah berdasarkan atas kemampuan, kuat dan gagah kita. Kita lupa diri dan tidak sadar bahwa semua yang kita miliki sesungguhnya berasal dari Tuhan, sehingga tidak ada tempatnya untuk menyombongkan diri. Seperti nasehat yang Paulus sampaikan kepada jemaat di 1 Korintus 4:7 dalam versi BIS "Siapakah yang menjadikan Saudara lebih dari orang lain? Bukankah segala sesuatu Saudara terima dari Allah? Jadi, mengapa mau menyombongkan diri, seolah-olah apa yang ada pada Saudara itu bukan sesuatu yang diberi?".

Lalu bagaimana supaya kita dapat menghindari dosa kesombongan, (ayat 6), Karena itu rendahkanlah dirimu di bawah tangan Tuhan yang kuat,

Semua yang kita miliki saat ini, apakah menurut kita biasa atau istimewa, besar atau kecil dalam pandangan manusia, itu semua adalah anugerah luar biasa yang berasal dari Tuhan. Dan Paulus berkata "Ada tertulis: "Barangsiapa yang bermegah, hendaklah ia bermegah di dalam Tuhan." (1 Korintus 1:31). Sesungguhnya sebuah kasih karunia dikatakan kasih karunia karena bukan berasal dari perbuatan kita melainkan dari Sang Pemberi yaitu Tuhan sendiri. Dan itupun sudah disebutkan di dalam Alkitab. "Tetapi jika hal itu terjadi karena kasih karunia, maka bukan lagi karena perbuatan, sebab jika tidak demikian, maka kasih karunia itu bukan lagi kasih karunia." (Roma 11:6). Kesombongan merupakan bentuk penyangkalan dari hal itu, karena artinya mereka berpikiran seolah-olah semua itu adalah hasil pekerjaan mereka atau beranggapan bahwa mereka sudah sangat hebat melebihi orang lain atau bahkan Tuhan sehingga lupa diri. Menyadari bahwa kasih karunia merupakan pemberian Tuhan, milik Tuhan yang diberikan kepada kita akan membuat kita tetap sadar bahwa tidak ada satupun yang pantas kita sombongkan.

Marilah kita menyadari betul anugerah kasih karunia yang telah Tuhan berikan kepada kita. Semua yang ada pada kita hari ini sesungguhnya berasal dari Tuhan. (Ulangan 8:14-18). Ingatlah bahwa semua itu dari Tuhan, oleh Tuhan dan untuk Tuhan. (Roma 11:36). Kesombongan merupakan awal dari kehancuran seperti yang Amsal 16:18, kesombongan merupakan sikap yang ditentang Tuhan (Yakobus 4:6), dan merupakan kekejian bagi Allah sehingga tidak akan luput dari hukuman (Amsal 16:5). Kita harus mensyukuri semua yang telah diberikan Tuhan, dan itu bisa kita tunjukkan lewat sebentuk kerendahan hati bukan lewat sikap sombong atau tinggi hati. Sehingga pada akhirnya Tuhan memberikan yang dijanjikannya  kepada kita (1 Petrus 5:6b) supaya kamu ditinggikan-Nya pada waktunya.

God walks with the humble, He reveals Himself to the lowly, He gives understanding to the little ones, He discloses His meaning to pure minds, but hide His grace from the proud. - Thomas Aquinas.

Why have you chosen me?

This song is included in our church Caring Group Fellowship's worship song book, I found the lyrics of this song is really beautiful and so real...

Why have You chosen me out of millions Your child to be?
You know all the wrong that I've done
O how could You pardon me, forgive my iniquity
To save me, give Jesus Your Son

Reff:
But (Oh) Lord, help me be, what You want me to be,
Your words I will strive to obey;
My life I now give, For You I will live,
And walk by Your side All the way

I am amazed to know that a God so great could love me so
He's willing and wanting to bless;
His grace is so wonderful, His mercy's so bountiful
I can't understand it I confess

Trust His Heart.

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When you don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His Heart

The above paragraph is a chorus of a song Title "Trust His Heart". I was listening to a bible conference message from RBC by Rev. Bill Crowder (He is my fave bible teacher). He talked about suffering, sometimes we don't know why bad circumstance happen to our life. He shared his experience when he was a young pastor for a church, he received a call from his family to inform that his dad has passed away. While his heart was overwhelmed with grief, a senior pastor came to him and said "one day you will be thankful for this". He thought why should I be thankful for my dad's death. That happened to be his first funeral service. Years have passed by, he conducted many more funeral services, because of his experience with his dad's funeral, he was able to serve the grieving family more passionately and connected with them.

Admittedly when unfavourable circumstances come to us, or on the other hand, good things have not come to us, when we are longing for something/someone, maybe a family is waiting for a child, a man/woman is looking for a job or a life partner, and yet these prayers have not been answered. We usually shout loudly in our heart "Why this happen to me? Has God forgotten me?" The above lyrics is the answer, We don't know where the current situation will bring us, maybe God is working on something to prepare us for our future. We have to know and understand our God, He has a loving heart. When we really don't understand and don't know what to do, just trust His heart.

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".

Restart again..

After being so lazy to journalise my thought for quite a long time (almost three years), I think I need to restart this good habit. All of the sudden, I browsed some of my past entries, I felt so amazed what I learnt and thought in the past. Having re-read all over again, it's a kind of refresh my mind again. I never thought that I have typed all those writings, I totally forget almost all of them. It's just good feeling you have some records of them, and it helps you to be reminded again.

RCS Baking Competition - 7 January 2012.

Sweet Christmas in January - Almond Lemington

Group photo

Closing year 2011 - at the office.

Christmas moment.

The Five Finger Prayer.

Apakah Anda sulit untuk berdoa? Berikut ini ada tuntunan praktis dalam berdoa yang disebut dengan THE FIVE FINGER PRAYER – Doa Lima Jari

1. Thumb – Ibu Jari - Ibu jari adalah jari yang paling dekat dengan Anda. Jadi, mulailah berdoa untuk orang-orang yang dekat dengan Anda. Mereka lebih mudah untuk diingat. Berdoa untuk orang-orang yang Anda kasihi merupakan “a sweet duty”, merupakan tugas yang menyenangkan.

2. Fore Finger, Pointing Finger – Jari Telunjuk. Jari berikutnya adalah jari telunjuk. Berdoalah untuk mereka yang mengajar, memberikan instruksi, pelatihan, dan tim medis yang melakukan diagnosa dan tindakan untuk penyembuhan. Termasuk di antaranya adalah guru, dosen, dokter dan para pelayan Tuhan. Mereka membutuhkan dukungan dan hikmat untuk memberikan petunjuk yang benar kepada orang lain. Doakan mereka selalu.

3. Middle Finger – Jari Tengah.Berikutnya adalah jari tengah, jari yang paling tinggi. Hal ini mengingatkan kita pada para pemimpin. Berdoalah untuk presiden, untuk para pemimpin dalam bisnis, dunia usaha, dunia industri dan administrasi. Mereka mengarahkan bangsa kita dan membentuk pendapat umum. Mereka membutuhkan tuntunan Tuhan.

4. Ring Finger – Jari Manis. Jari keempat adalah jari manis. Jari manis adalah jari yang paling lemah. Mungkin hal ini mengejutkan banyak orang, tetapi para guru piano memang mengatakan demikian. Jadi, hal ini mengingatkan kita untuk berdoa bagi mereka yang lemah, mereka yang sedang menghadapi masalah atau sedang sakit. Mereka membutuhkan doa kita siang dan malam. Anda tidak dapat mengatakan bahwa mereka sudah terlalu banyak didoakan.

5. Little Finger – Jari Kelingking. Terakhir, jari kelingking kita, yaitu jari yang paling kecil. Berdoalah untuk diri kita sendiri, untuk pertumbuhan rohani kita, untuk hubungan kita dengan Tuhan dan untuk hubungan kita dengan orang lain. Daud berkata di dalam Mazmur19:13 “Siapakah yang dapat mengetahui kesesatan? Bebaskanlah aku dari apa yang tidak kusadari.” Tanpa kita sadari, ada banyak kelemahan dalam hidup kita. Segala kelemahan bahkan hal-hal kecil yang sering menjadi batu sandungan bagi orang lain, seharusnya membawa kita untuk terus berdoa bagi diri kita. Selamat Berdoa!

Sampai sekarang kamu belum meminta sesuatu pun dalam nama-Ku. Mintalah maka kamu akan menerima, supaya penuhlah sukacitamu - Yohanes 16:24

Enjoy the Journey.

I found this article in my journal. I wrote this from a book, I forgot what book. Last night I read it again, I think it is good to put this entry into my blog as a reminder. I hope you all may find it useful and blessed by the words.

Proverb 4:18 "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day".

Sometimes it's easy to become so goal oriented and so focused on our dreams that we over look the simple things that we should be enjoying in our everyday life. But we have to remember that life is not really about the destination. It's about how we live along the way. It's about the path we're on that shines brighter and brighter.

In this life, there is no such thing as a finish line. Once you accomplish one dream, God will give you another. When you over come one challenge, there will be another. There is always another mountain to climb. If we make the mistake of just living for the destination, we'll look up one day and realise we've missed out on the biggest path of life because most of life is routine. Most of us get up every morning, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed and do it again. There are very few montain tops where you graduate from school, or you get married, or have a child, or go on vacation. The hightimes are few and far between. Don't get struck living for the mountain tops, learn to enjoy the path you're on. Learn to enjoy the simple blessings of walking in the path the Lord has prepared for you.

A Prayer today
Father God, thank you for the give of life.
Thank you for the good plan you have for me today and for my future.
Teach me to enjoy the journey of life, to embrace each day with joy and enthusiasm.
Help me to see the blessing of every moment you have given me.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.

My life is not about me anymore.

Many things has changed this past one year. I am still struggling to balance my overall activities; Work, church ministry and household's responsibilities. Work has been so demanding, by its nature, I have lived with it for almost seven years. Maybe I get use to it already. I have made choices and stay focus on a few ministry that I really can assist. The latest is not my expertise. Until last year, I was so independent, take care of my personal matters... When it comes to take care of others, I am quite disappointing.

I missed to put myself in other's shoes, it's quite sad if you received complain from people that close to you, saying that you don't care about them, egocentric and selfish. I know I am not perfect and cannot make everybody happy, but at least I need to start and put more effort to care for people surrounding me, even I need to sacrifice.. Doesn't it Christ has sacrificed for us? He came down from heaven, become a human and die on the cross for what? for us, unworthy sinner yet He does not care about that because He so loves us. As a christian, who is saved by Christ, I should not be self centred.

I'm Sorry sis If I've disappointed you by not being what you expected. I promised that from now on I will do my best to share our burden.

Act 20:24 "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus given me - the task of testifiying the gospel of God's grace".

Wise words.

Not to conformed
"Keep sound wisdom and discretion ... Then you will walk in your way securely and your foot will not stumble" (Proverbs 3:21,23).

We can't live or do business in this world without rubbing shoulders with those driven by the world's desires. So, we must make a practical decision not to be conformed, while are in the system,... It takes courage to think alone, to resist alone, to stand alone...
(Charles R. Swindoll)

Decision Making
Decisions revel values and intelligence. They require obedience to and dependence upon God.
Decision makers must understand complicated matter, but they also need God's perspective in deciding how to act.

It's crucial to make wise decisions, but no decision is wise if it's made indepently of God.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5)
(Quoted from God's Words of Life For Leaders)

Peacemaker
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9)

Peacemakers seek solutions and find no delight in arguments.
Peacemakers lower their voices rather than raise them.
(Charles R. Swindoll)

Difficulties
God delights to increase the faith of his children. We ought, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God's hand as a means. Trials, obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith.
(George Muller)

Control yourself.

A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. (Proverb 10:11)

A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult. (Proverb 12:16)

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverb 15:1)

Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. (Proverb 17:14)

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, ... (1 Peter 3:9)

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. (Romans 14:19)