"Because He delighted in me..."

I often read Psalm 18 when I need to be comforted. And if you look at the Psalm right now, you'd probably say the same thing. 

"I love you, O Lord, my strength. The lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death encompassed me. the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me..." (Psalm 18:1-5)

While all of this is an example of how we should remind ourselves of truth in the midst of distress, pain and frustration, all to often, we focus on our own comfort and circumstances. Please note, I am not saying that the Word of God is steering us in the wrong direction by giving us this Psalm or any scriptures that point towards comfort. What I'm saying is this: Instead of seeking God to simply be with Him (which is ultimately what provides us with what we actually need) in the midst of our hurts, we seek Him instead to temporarily numb out our hurts. All too often, we don't actually want Him. Only what He can give us. 

That is precisely what I was doing today when I started reading Psalm 18. Then something happened. Verse 6 happened. And God opened up my eyes to what Psalm 18 is should really be about.

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
    to my God I cried for help.

And from his temple he heard my voice,
    and my cry to him reached his ears.

7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
    the foundations also of the mountains trembled
    and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
    and devouring fire from his mouth;
    glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He bowed the heavens and came down;
    thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
    he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
    thick clouds dark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
    hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
    and the Most High uttered his voice,
    hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
    he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
    and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
    at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

16 He sent from on high, he took me;
    he drew me out of many waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
    and from those who hated me,
    for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
    but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place;
    he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

I read all this and my eyes were opened to the reality that the earth reels and rocks when I cry out to the Lord. God hears me, and with a blast of light so bright that clouds are broken, He comes to me. God hears me, and with so much speed and momentum that the layers of the sea are peeled back and the core and foundations of the world are visible to the eye, He reminds me that He, Himself, is my comfort. 

Verse 19 reminds us why God does what He does and why He hears us. Not because we know how to pray the right prayers or because we've done enough religious work to command His attention...but because He delights in us. In you. In me. God's delight in me is not about me. It's about Him. Creator God, who laid the foundations of the earth, delights in me. 

That truth shines His glory. 

Amidst God's perfection and despite my broken, sinful & selfish heart, His delight is in me. 

This is life-altering. Completely. 

Read more...

Gospel for Asia Blogger: Running the Race

About a week ago, I was accepted as a blogger for Gospel for Asia (GFA). This means I am simply joining them in telling stories through my blog. Over the next year, I'll post new stories/videos/photos. In total, you will read 40 different stories provided by Gospel for Asia. I can't tell you when I'll write, but I will do it.

I will share real stories of men, women, and children all over the globe encountering Christ. I'll provide real statistics and realities of the world's need for Jesus and ask you to remember our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being martyred because of their deep surrender to God's will and desire to see it be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Let me be clear.

1. It's not about me. 
I'm not doing this just because I love East Asia nor am I doing it because I am often known as the girl who talks about East Asia too much. That's not who I am. I'm a daughter of the High King who simply has a deep longing for Him to be known in all hearts. More importantly, Jesus, a man yet fully God, encountered and conquered death because he had (and continues to have) a deep longing to know me.

I'm choosing to challenge each of us (myself included) to dedicate some of our time & finances as well as our prayers to our brothers and sisters desiring to go to school or be a missionary in their country but lack the resources and finances to do so. I'm choosing to be a voice for those without one because they have yet to be awakened to the life and light of the Gospel.

2. It's not about you. 
Your heart may or may not be stirred to giving financially or praying for these men and women. You could end up partnering with GFA and maybe even be sent as one of their laborers. But it's not about how burdened you feel or how passionate you are.

God's people are responsible "to make a definite attempt to render the evangelization of the world..." (C.T. Studd). Our mission: to bring the Gospel to those who are without it and teach them as Christ teaches us (Matthew 28:18-20) through the Bible and empathize with them through our own stories and experiences with Christ. Together as the global church, we must make a definite attempt to find the lost and/or provide for and equip those who God has called to search for the unreached. The unreached are not unreachable.

The unreached are absolutely reachable. But they have not yet had an outstretched arm as an ambassador for Christ showing them the way as Christ shows His church the way. Your partnership and prayers could be the way they encounter Jesus for the first time.

But even then...it's not about what YOU will do.

3. It's about what God has already done
Christ stretched out both of His arms on the cross and in that, made a definite and successful attempt at rendering the redemption of our souls. Today, as Christ followers whose eyes have been opened and whose hearts have been awakened, we are to walk into such a calling not with obligation, but with joy in our hearts. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 says:

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. all this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ god was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of  reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

4. It's about what Jesus will come back to finish
Hebrews 12:1-2 says

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

The great cloud of witnesses is NOT the people around us on earth who are watching us, expecting us to live up to the calling God has given us. This cloud of witnesses? They are the men and women who have gone before us and finished their leg of the race. Now they are in the stadium of heaven cheering us on and asking us to look to their successes, failures and mistakes to help us run our race. Most importantly, Jesus continues to remind us to look to HIM and fix our eyes on HIM because the result of the race has already been determined

C.T. Studd once said:

"The God of Heaven will fight for us, as we for Him. We will not build on the sand, but on the bedrock of the sayings of Christ, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. Should such men as we fear? Before the whole world, aye, before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God; we will venture our all for Him; we will live, and we will die for Him, and we will do it with His unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God, than live trusting in man. And when it comes to this position, the battle is already won, and the end of the glorious campaign in sight."

It is my hope and prayer for me that as I blog, my heart would be stirred to love the lost, and to pray for those that suffer far greater than I can imagine because they do not have Jesus. It's my hope and prayer for you, that your heart would be stirred to be a part of this every day in some way, that the way you live your your life would change for God's purposes.

Will you dare to trust our God and venture your all for Him regardless of where you are and what you're doing? Will you choose to be a part of this until you reach the finish line? The time will come sooner than we think to pass on the baton of the Gospel to the next generation in the race. Until that time comes, it is our duty to run the race with joy set before us.

Read more...

Resurrected Bones

I've been listening to this song called "Morning Song" on repeat for the last 24 hours. Listen to it before you read, or while you read. The lyrics are simple.

I can feel it in my bones

I can feel it...the Savior's love.

When the light breaks the day, 

All our sins are washed away.

I can feel it.

I'm not alone.

I can feel it in my bones.

In Ezekiel 37, God brought Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones and commanded him prophesy to the bones and to the breath that would breathe into the bones. It's too good not to put all of it here:

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of theLord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. 

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it,' declares the Lord.”

This was not the first time God breathed life into something. In Genesis 2, God breathed life into Adam and had perfect relationship with man. But the sin of Adam and Eve broke that and death entered the world. Since then, God has had a plan to restore and redeem the world back to Himself. God made a way for us. For me. Sinner though I am, He is wooing me back to Himself everyday. Everyday, God's plan is carried out as the Kingdom is established on earth as it is in Heaven.

God breathed life into the dry bones so that the Israelites would know that He is the LORD (37:6,13-14). Not so He could do something great with them; so they would know He is the LORD. Our mission/identity as Christ-followers is not first to be messengers of the Gospel, it is to know our God. To see the work of His hands and declare "I know He is God." To know it and feel it in our bones that He is God.

God made a covenant with Abraham, promising that he would have many descendants and that every descendant to follow would share in the blessings in the covenant as well. God did not go back on His word. As we read Scriptures, God consistently reminds Abraham's descendants of the promise. In Genesis 28:14-15

"And, behold, I am with you, and will keep you in all places where ever you go, and will bring you again into this land; for I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken to you of."

Jesus promised this again before He goes to His death on the cross.

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 

And He said it one last time before He ascended into heaven.

"All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded of you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." 

This is redemption and love. God breathed into my dry bones, rose me from my grave (Ezekiel 37:12), gave me life again and made me a solider (Ez. 37:10). God breathed life into me and sustains me with that breath every second He wills for me to be breathing on this earth. Because of this, I will spend every breath that I can making all of this known in a world that is breathless, therefore, lifeless without Him.

God is alive and active. He continues to breathe the same breath into me today as He did when He awakened and revived me heart to Him only 7 years ago. My Creator did not create me to die. He created me to live. In John 10:10, Jesus said: 

"I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly." 

I can feel it in my bones. These are the bones that know today that I am not alone. The One who breathed me into life dwells so richly in me that the depths of my bones and the innermost parts of my heart know that He is who He says He claims to be. 

Acts 28:24-28:

"24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being. 

I feel it in my bones. This is not of my own volition. It is because a bloodied up and beautiful Savior hung on a cross. His ribcage torn apart rendering Him unable to breathe. He breathed his last breath as a human to make a way for my last earthly breath to be the beginning of eternal life. With his last breath, He cried out "It is finished." But His death was not final. His death is the only one that brings life. 

Romans 8:14-17

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him [the Spirit], we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

I can feel the Savior's love in my bones and cry out Abba Father because the Spirit of the One who hung on a cross lives in me and cries it out first. And He's my Jesus. 

By HIM, we live. 

Read more...

Deathless Life

Who am I that God is mindful of me? Who am I that He would provide a way for me to have a relationship Him despite my sin? The Son was forsaken by the Father so that I could be called a child of God. So that I could know my heavenly Father as Abba. Deuteronomy 10:14 says:

"To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affections on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations--as it is today." 

God's love for me, and for you extends across oceans. His love could break down walls like Jericho's and could move mountains like Everest. He set His affections on me. On ME. Sinner though I am, He said...YOU, I will die for you and claim every sin as mine. God said, I will give my only begotten Son in exchange for nations. And His death will save you and bring life. Hebrews 7:25 says: 

"Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." 

I know all this by grace and through faith. No amount of logic or strength of man will ever be able to provide me with the willpower God gives me through His grace. (sidenote: because of this, it is not a willpower I can claim as my own). Grace is not given by merit or by willpower of ability. Grace is provided for those who will simply say "yes" in faith to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. God loves me. But my sin kept me separated from that love. So He sent His Son to die on a cross for my sin. He forfeited His deserved glory and thus made a way for me to know my Father. Jesus' death was a direct result of my sin. Jesus' resurrection was a direct result of God's love for me and desire to know me. And all of it was to free me from the sting of punishment for my sin. Read these words and tell me that it doesn't change your life how true they are. 

"Before the throne of God above,

I have a strong and perfect plea

A great high priest whose name is love

Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on His hands

My name is written on His heart.

I know that while in heaven He stands,

No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair

And tells me of the guilt within,

Upward I look and see Him there

Who made an end of all my sin.

Because a sinless Savior died,

My sinful soul is counted free

For God the Just is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there, the risen Lamb.

My perfect, spotless righteousness.

The Great unchangeable I Am

The King of glory and of grace.

One with Himself I cannot die.

My soul is purchased by His blood.

My life is hid with Christ on high.

With Christ my Savior & my God."

"For God the JUST is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me." 

Mind blowing and life-changing truth for you and for me. My pastor once said, "no amount of motivation and/or encouragement will change a person. Only TRUTH can change us." The truth of God pardoning me and looking on Christ to do so changes my life. It changes everything. 

"One with Himself I cannot die." 

My body is not eternal and it will die someday. But I will not die. My soul is forever. One day, my soul will truly find rest in God alone (Psalm 62) because He brings all things to completion. Both in this life on earth and in eternity. One day Christ will return and I will be given a new body. I will be able to bask in the glory of my God in heaven the way I bask in the sun here on earth. I will share in Christ's glory. 

Though able to stand before my Abba, I will be inclined, and rightfully so, to fall on my knees in reverence. But my Father will lift my head and say "enter the joy of your master" (Matthew 25:23). He will embrace me and say "Welcome home." I will not suffer death because death no longer has the final say. Jesus conquered death in his death and resurrection. Because of that, and by grace through faith...I will live a deathless life in Christ. 

All of this is done to restore creation back to the Creator. As the kingdom is built in me and through me, through all of God's children...we will see more and more of God's original unbroken kingdom come. What a privilege that I get to play a small but significant part in that restoration process. I will falter and fail. I will be selfish and prideful, but what God sets into motion, no man can thwart. All that was lost will be found. All that was tarnished will shine in the light of His glory. Order will be restored and all of creation will worship as it was created to worship. All things will be made right again! 

Praise the Lord, oh my soul!! 

Read more...