Mar 25 2014

Tithe is a Test for Blessings

It’s difficult enough to live in this materialistic world and save enough for oneself, or the family. It takes a huge leap of faith to give to others.  It’s even more difficult when God tests me on it:

I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test. Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing.

Malachi 3:10

He promises to give me more when I give more. He promises the riches of heaven, with blessings after blessings. Who wouldn’t want that?  I do!  But the test is difficult since I’m short sighted, shallow, and scared. I must put my eyes on the finish line. I must look to God for His richness.  This world is fleeting. Heaven is permanent!

No responses yet

Mar 18 2014

Give A Lot!

 Remember this saying, “A few seeds make a small harvest, but a lot of seeds make a big harvest.”

2 Corinthians 9:6

Society will tell me to look after myself, not worry about the others.  The world will say take what’s mine, and that’s usually everything that I can see. The world will tell me to be on the top of the food chain, because it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.

It’s a good thing the Bible is so anti-world view!

God tells me to give.  God tells me to be a blessing to others.  God tells me to be generous to others. It’s not up to me to accumulate everything for myself.  It’s up to God to give me everything that I need – to advance His kingdom on this world.  Others must see who God is, and He is a generous and giving God.

 

No responses yet

Feb 21 2014

Ask For Wisdom and Keep Learning!

I love how God tells me that all I have to do is ask for wisdom:

If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won’t correct you for asking.

James 1:5

What’s even better is that there’s no stupid question. There’s no dumb request. God can take it and He won’t laugh at me, or scold me.  He takes everything I ask of Him with consideration.  He will either say: yes, no, or wait.  But He will provide an answer.

I must believe it, though. I have to have faith that God is answering me.  I can ask repeatedly and He’ll answer just as well.  There is one request that I can definitely ask all the time: wisdom.

Wisdom is good for me. Wisdom is what God wants me to have.  God wants me to keep learning – from mistakes, from knowledge, and from His words on the Bible.  God blesses me if I ask for wisdom:

God blesses everyone who has wisdom and common sense.

Proverbs 3:13

No responses yet

Jan 21 2013

I’m No Accident

I am your creator. You were in my care even before you were born.

Isaiah 44:2

It’s mind boggling. It’s difficult to understand. I have a purpose before I was born! So who am I to argue with God?  Should I try to steer in my own direction, based on the thinking of the society, majority, or other worldly influences?  I think not!  So the question to consider:

I know that god uniquely created me. What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?

I struggled to accept that I was born in a poor family, at first. I struggled that my parents didn’t provide me with a strict discipline. I struggled that I’m a stubborn as a mule when it comes down to learning new things.

But God has turned all of that around. My family is now well off. I received the benefits of their hard work and I’m forever in grateful to my parents.  I know now that I have to learn new things to keep up, and not be left behind and go back to square one. At the same time, I realized God always have a plan for me and He’s always there at every step.

In the whole scheme of things, I don’t consider myself “lucky”.  I consider myself blessed!

No responses yet

Feb 18 2012

Blessed Be the Humble

Published by under 40 Days In the Word,James

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

James 4:10

Humility is the key to success while learning God’s word and doing what He says. Humility is the way God wants me to conduct myself.  He wants to bless me richly and I must do it without a selfish intention.

 

No responses yet

Feb 15 2012

Do the Word and Be Blessed

Published by under 40 Days In the Word,James

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:22–25

I try to read my bible every day. I sometimes listen to it through the audio version, or from the pastors at church. Sometimes, I convinced myself that it’s all I need. If I listened or read it, that’s all there is to it.

But all this time, I’ve been fooling myself. I have to apply what I know!  It’s not enough that I read the word – I have to do what it says!  I can imagine seeing blemishes on my face, or dirt on my clothes, but I do nothing to clean it.  Same thing for my life. I need to clean the sin. I need to stop doing things that do not glorify God. I need to obey God’s laws, because He wants to protect me. He wants to bless me.

 

No responses yet

Feb 10 2012

My Heart Belongs to Jesus

Published by under 40 Days In the Word,Mark

In Mark 14:3-9, Jesus defended a woman, against criticism from the people, for pouring expensive perfume on Him.

This is my sin, also: I judge people too harshly.  Either by how they look, their actions, or their beliefs (or lack of it).

Jesus always look at the heart and the intention of a person. That’s the truth. He knew what’s going to happen, so He knows what’s right.  I don’t know how, and I do make mistakes in determining people’s intentions.

Jesus commands that I put Him first, that means giving my best – not scraps, or seconds. I keep His promise that He will give me more for what I’ve given Him.  I must put Jesus on the highest regard. I must not take my focus from Him.

Each day, I pray that I can give Jesus the best that I have. God’s blessings are more important than worldly ones. I praise Him every day for that!

No responses yet

Jan 13 2011

The Name of The Lord

Published by under Exodus,Romans

I’ve always known the name of Jesus, my God, has power.  It  has a power to heal. It has a power to change lives.

Yet there are those today who abuses this powerful name for a mere insult.  They just throw it around when they’re angry or frustrated.  This world has so much contempt over the one true God.

It makes me sad that anyone would use God’s name in vain.  God strictly prohibits it (Exodus 20:7).  Maybe the mere fact that I’m offended by the misuse, it’s the very reason they abuse it.  They want to use God’s name as a mean to anger and stir up emotions.

I rather use God’s name to bless and to save people.  That’s what He promised will happen:

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:12-13

No responses yet

Jan 21 2008

The first 10 percent to God

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

Proverbs 3:9-10

This is God’s promise: He will overflow me with blessing if I give my first offering to Him. This is the concept of Tithe. It’s one of the most difficult concept in the bible because it requires a giant leap of faith to give 10% of my gross income to the Church. It’s a subject of controversy because people have concerns about giving that much money to a church that might abuse it. Of course, not all church will misuse it. I know for certain that Saddleback Church will not because Pastor Rick just offered the congregation a challenge: tithe for the next 3 months – if I’m not blessed, closer to God, and my life enriched, Rick will refund the money out of his own pocket! He strongly believe tithing works, and I do too. It happened in my life and I learned God’s blessing thru tithing.

Another important note is that tithing is for God. That means it’s an act of worship, in a house of worship. Tithing is for the church, not a third party charity or organization.

Tithing is a test of my trust in God. I trust my future in God with my faith in Him.

No responses yet