randomz-tephiee

Who would have thought that doing the laundry would cause you to tear up?!

Have you had experiences in your life where they cause you pause, reflect and ponder about the path you are in, the journey you are on and the decisions (whether made up in your mind or just a thought or real life decision) you have made? Have you made the right decisions? Have you started off walking in the direction God wants you to be on  but somehow you have started making "little" decisions on your own "thinking" that that is what God wants you to do. 

It's like a house. (I'm just going to use a house as an illustration) God has promised you a house. A big house with 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a pool, a garden, etc. And so you keep praying about it, faith-filled prayers and believing for God's promise to come to pass and over a period of time God answers your prayers. You are blessed with a house. 

So you're at the stage of thanking God for the blessing. You're excited and you're happy for the family to move into this "dream" house. You starting unpacking, putting things into the house. You start arranging how your house looks like. You might even get an interior decorator in your house to help you decide what to do. And all this time you're "busy" decorating your new house, you've completely forgetten about God! You've put Him off to the side because you've already gotten what you wanted and now you're taking charge. And without realising you fall into this cycle of just asking for God's promises to be made known in your life, He reveals it to you, He tells you what His purposes are, you recieve it, you pray about it, you take steps towards achieving it, continue praying about, you receive the promise He made to you but you forget what His purpose for that blessing was in the first place.

Just like the house, you got it and started to make it all about you and not letting God help you decorate the house He has given you. That is our lives. He blesses us, we take control and do what we want with it. And what I'm saying here is not that we shouldn't enjoy the blessing and making it our own but above all that don't lose sight of what and why God gave you that blessing in the first place. God doesn't want to just be the giver of the blessing but He wants to be part if not all of the blessing we receive. 

And so this is what I had been reflecting on today while I was doing the laundry. My mind was caused to reflect back on a particular situation that happened over the weekend. I thought it over and over again. I began mapping out my solutions, potentially my "escape" route. But as I was mapping out my solutions and "escape" route, the Holy Spirit kept on prompting me to reflect on whether my "escape" routes reflected what God promised me He will do in my life. And of course, knowing that these were MY own solutions and "escape" routes, they were of course not reflecting God's will. That shattered me. I felt my eyes well up in tears. (I couldn't believe that doing the laundry - causing me to pause and reflect - would have such an effect on me). And so I stopped my mapping out of an "escape" route and asked God what He was trying to say to me through what has happened and asking Him what He wants me to do with what I have done (Bible College)? 

That's when He reminded me of a dream I had last week. Actually there were two dreams, where one of them is happening now. The other dream that has not happened yet is the one God is reminding me about. Basically, the dream was about Indonesia, I suddenly had to leave to go to Indonesia for less than a week, without my parents ot family. Deep down in my heart zi knew it had something to do with my ministry.

And so here's what I've learnt through all of this: when God blesses us (me going to Bible College) it's not for us to use for our own pleasures (me mentally deciding what my ministry will look like-Children's Pastor) but rather to align ourselves with His purposes (God wants me to be a Children's Pastor but perhaps not in the way I'd mentally envisage it). Because when He blesses us there is also His purpose in it and behind it. Don't lose sight of that. Always reflect and make sure that our decisions are based on His purposes. 

Now I'm not saying that when God blesses us we can't have our own way and do what we want. Again, I'd like to stress on the point that are we aligning ourselves with God's purposes through that blessing? I believe that once we can answer that then we will know whether or not the decision we are making is based on self or based on what God has purposed for you?

posted by tephiee @ 11:58 PM 0 comments

Approachable God.

I was just sharing to my tutorial class just yesterday about how the vision God gave me at my first College Chapel experience. The vision of me walking towards God's light and knowing that that light is God Himself. It was an incredible sight but above all that the significance was that though God seemed distant, afar, and what seemed "unreachable" in that vision, the Holy Spirit just reminded me to keep walking towards that light, for it is God Himself. He wants me to draw near to Him. 

And this was again reflected in my devotion tonight. I was reading 1 Timothy 6:11-16, where is describes God living in unapproachable light. Now that description caught my attention. Unapproachable light. I repeated that a few times over in my head. Unapproachable light. He lives in unapproachable light. But He is the approachable God. so what I learnt from these Scriptures is that God is in "unapproachable light" in the sense that He is holy, pure, blameless, spotless. Nothing and no one can distain His purity but at the same time He is an approachable God through His Son Jesus. My impurity, imprefection, coloured life has been made a heart and life that is now approachable for God.

And this really made sense for me when I look back and think about my first College Chapel vision. That even though God was light and seemed like He was unapproachable He is actually approachable through His Son and with the help of the Holy Spirit. But most importantly, God was us to approach Him.

So reflect today, have you embraced our approachable God? He is waiting patiently for us to come. Come, come, come my sons and daughters.

posted by tephiee @ 11:50 PM 0 comments