I haven't posted for more than a week and so these are the things that have been in my mind the last few weeks or so. It's rather long and I could have posted these things separately, but I decided not to. So you could just read the different sections out of order or just not read them at all. (:
God is a God who answers prayers. Psalm 84:2 says "My soul yearns, even faints; for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God." Throughout the Bible, God answered the prayers of various people. This morning I read about how desperately Hannah cried out to God for a child. When she prayed to the Lord, Eli, the priest at the temple thought she was drunk!
Eli: How long will you keep getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.
Hannah: Not so, my lord. I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.
Eli: Go in peace, and my the God of Israel grant you what you asked of him.
(1 Samuel 1)
God remembered Hannah and graciously granted her not only one child, but five more after Samuel. How great is our God? In the same way, God answers our prayers when we cry out to him. However God works in ways that I don't expect him to. The next two examples are simple prayers that God answered in my life.
One prayer topic that I had for my birthday was that I would feel loved. It's kind of a really broad prayer topic. I would say God answered this prayer topic but in a way that I did not expect. I don't recall seriously getting sick last year until December when I got sick twice within a week. The flu this season is not what you want to mess with! So I got sick on my birthday, but I would say I did feel loved. My friend bought me an ice cream cake to school. The sad part was that it started melting, which is what ice cream does. Even though being sick was exhausting and painful, God showed me his love through my family who constantly took care of me while I was sick. When I couldn't do anything but lie in bed, my mom would bring me food and my dad would bring me medicine. My sister would mostly do whatever I asked her to do.
This week I sold chocolate for a Latin Honor Society fundraiser. The first few days, I did pretty well, selling around 25 chocolate bars out of 60. However I had trouble selling chocolate as the days went by. I would ask people, but nobody would be willing to buy any chocolate. On Friday I had around 20 chocolate bars left in which most were peanut butter (which not many people liked) and so I didn't think I could sell out. But in the back of my mind, I was "God, can I sell my whole box today?" Then throughout the day, people would come up to me and ask me to buy chocolate. Before I couldn't even sell any when I went up to people, but now people were coming to me! I didn't think much of the small prayer I made to God. When I almost sold out at the end of the day, I was wondering why I sold so many boxes and I realized that God answered my small prayer. God is good all the time. (:
Looking back at the ways God answered my small prayers, it encourages me to cry out to God because he does listen to my prayers. He listens to your prayers too. I want to be able to cry out to God for other people.
In and Out of Season
"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2).
Last week I had Bible study on 2 Timothy 4: 1-22 and the verse that really caught my attention was verse 2, which was also the key verse of the Bible study. Then what really caught my attention within the verse of the phrase "be prepared in season and out of season." At the YDJ retreat, one of my friends encouraged me by reminding me that everything I'm doing now is for the future. I had to think about that for a while. Am I actually doing my best in everything with the attitude that what I do matters? Then I realized that I kind of lost sight of that mentality over the years in high school. During freshman year, I was determined to do my best in everything I did no matter how small something was. During sophomore year, I was so hopeful of the future and all that God had in store for me. I think that year God awakened my heart to certain plans he has for my future. However in junior year, all I wanted to do was get work done and I was just constantly working. I hope to think that I did my work well, but it was more important that it was done. Then senior year came and now if I know a teacher's not really going to read it, I haven't put much effort in it, which is not so good. As a result, I began to lose sight of the promises God had given me throughout middle school and high school, which is why I chose Psalm 138:8 as my key verse. I need to be prepared in season and out of season to be able to reach out to others which requires reading the Bible and praying daily. There are certain seasons in life where God gives us the opportunity to meet people and minister to them, but I believe before that, there must be a season where we really dig deep into the Bible and grow. If we ourselves don't have the word of God, how will we share with others? I want to be prepared in season and out of season so that I will be ready when God gives me opportunities.
What Pleases the Lord
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord" (Ephesian 5:10)
After I read this verse a few days ago, the phrase "and find out what pleases the Lord" has been echoing through my head.
Now
"'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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.'" (Jeremiah 29:11-14).
Aug gave a message on these verses last Sunday with a twist. God's words are true throughout history and so, this verse remains true yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Therefore, if I declared this verse five years ago, I would be saying that God has a plan for my life in the future, which is now. Thus, God has a plan for my life now. I hope I can seek God's plan for me now and do my best to do follow them.
Korea
"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" (James 4:13-15).
If it is God's will, I will go to Korea over the summer. If it isn't, I know there will be a reason and he will provide things for me to do over the summer.
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