Duty or Delight? - Week 4

There were three important things I noted in my journal which I believed God wanted me to be reminded of.


Rely
Pruning
Repentance


During this week 4 journey, I re-examined my self on how much have I been relying in the Holy Spirit.  It's sad that most of the time, I don't.  Especially when things seem to be so easy to control, I just go on, on my own. I realized how much blessings I missed of not continuously relying in the Helper.  I'm just grateful that the Holy Spirit never stopped knocking at my heart and made me see that I need Him in my day to day. 


Are you familiar with how the branches of the grape vine are being pruned? Do you know that Jesus figuratively called us the branches, as He is the vine? When we started bearing bad fruits, the gardener who is God will start pruning us so that we will start again bearing good fruits. I'm in a pruning period right now. There are just a lot of things that God has been dealing with me lately. The process of pruning is never delightful but always painful. But, you know what? Jesus is the vine. No matter what, He will hold us together.


And part of pruning is constant repentance. That's why we need the Holy Spirit. Someone who will always remind us and help us resist in going back to our old self. It's never easy. I can attest to that. I'm still a work in progress also. But, we should never give up and just continue to find strength in God to overcome temptations. Repentance is also a day to day thing.


When you plant something, do you check from time to time the condition of your plant? Or if it bears fruit, do you check if it is a good fruit? One thing I always forget to do in my Christian walk is inspecting my crops. What are the condition of my fruits? Are they pleasing to God? I pray that I will learn to inspect. It's also a way for me to  see if what I've been doing have been glorifying to God or just simply pleasing myself.


"Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter." 2 Cor 7:8-11

Happy Father's Day!

I made this short video for Papa on his special day. Happy Father's Day, Pa. I hope you'll like it. 

Last Mother's Day, I also made a video for Mama. 

new blog site!!!!

I was encouraged by a friend to switch to a different blog site. But, I just don't want to keep moving my blogs here to another site. And, so I just made a new one. 


A site that will contain all new things about me. I'm so excited to put stuff there and I hope you would make a visit. :)


http://princesspepay.tumblr.com/


Enjoy!

Duty or Delight? - Week 3

When you are so down to the mouth, it's really comforting and encouraging when you are reminded of God's character and of who He really is in your life. If you will agree, it is really when we have adversities in our life that we come to know Him more in a very personal way. 


Since week 3 of my D or D journey, I have started praying the same prayer Paul had for the Ephesians. 


"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints..." - Ephesians 1:17-18


Are you always amazed of God's faithfulness? I am. Everyday. Every end of the day, I would just look back and wonder how I survived that day without grumbling. I can't help but praise God and thank Him for His faithfulness that no matter what, He will sustain me. But what amazes me more? - God's faithfulness even if we grumble or disobey Him. I'm just glad that He is not like us. He always keeps His promises even if we are unfaithful to Him. Remember the story of Israel? 


I remembered one blog that I read saying that I am not that powerful to influence how another person would behave. Well, it's true. We never have the power to change or transform a person. Only God could do that. And we could only be transformed through His Son, Jesus Christ. Why do we need Jesus? Because God knows that no matter what, we will continue to disobey Him. There's nothing we can do to live up to His standard and that's why He made a way for us. I'm just glad that God made a new covenant. How about you?


I want to share these verses to you: Ezekiel 36:26, Psalm 86:11, Jeremiah 32:39. I hope you'll look them up. They all have one thing in common - heart. Do you know why God said in Prov 4:23 that above all things, we should guard our heart? Because He also said that the heart is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). That's why it is important that we always walk in God's protection. It is only in Him that we will have the strength to truly guard our heart. But what if you're heart right now is shattered? I suggest you look up those verses. God can give you a new heart. Isn't that amazing?


Because God always protects us, He will always hold us together even if we really wanted to just give up. He will never let go. Jesus is described as the chief cornerstone because He is the foundation of the church. He unites us all. He is the Rock that will never be destroyed by any force. Are you standing on the strongest Rock? If not, you might want to throw that rock. It's never too late.


One of the things I really struggle with is memorizing verses in the Bible. It's really good that we have a weapon that we could use to defend when the enemy attacks us. Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit. In John 14:26, Jesus said, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." The Holy Spirit will always remind us even the verses that we thought we don't know to overcome any temptation. 


If you will be asked what is your greatest inheritance, what would your answer be? How about God? The one who chose you before the creation of the world, who redeemed you by sacrificing His Son, who remains faithful, who transforms and protects you, who strengthens you. God is my greatest inheritance and no one could ever take that from me.

i picked up this rock at english bay so that i will be reminded 

WHO I am standing on