Shine like the Stars

Exactly a week ago on Wednesday, I was lucky enough to go to a planetarium here on the UCLA campus. I was excited out of mind! Ever since I was a boy, it was something that caught my eyes. There were only a few stars to be seen in the Sin-City lights of Las Vegas where I grew up, but still you could always see some and that's what you could always count on.
At the planetarium, as we sat down in the dome shaped room with the dome shaped ceiling, the lights darkened as "the sun went down." We were shown the star-view of the Los Angeles night sky. I sat there in awe thinking, Beautiful!
Then the observatory lights slowly got darker and darker and more and more stars started to be revealed - a massive amount of them! Stars that I have never ever seen in real life appeared abundantly. Stars that I had seen were brighter than ever and some were twinkling like diamonds in the dark sky. Majestic! This is way crazier than the Los Angeles star sky I saw just moments ago!
How could I not give glory to God in this planetarium?! After seeing the amazing stars, how could I not give praise? The stars resonated with God's glory and it could not be hidden. And you know what's crazier?! It got more and more majestic as it got darker and darker and darker. At its darkest, it was the most gloriest.
"At the darkest of nights the stars shine brightest."

Christian, are you going through a tough time? Finals? Midterms (for all y'all UCLA folks)? Financial issues? Family? Relationships? Is your schedule so packed that you lose much sleep? Are you being persecuted for your faith? Injured? Depressed? Struggling with sin?
I could go on and on, and so could you. Life is tough and that's no lie. But I just wanted to say - Keep On Fighting. Don't Give Up. There is purpose in all things, even sufferings. Suffering WILL come. But be strong - when you're going through the toughest darkest of times, your life will glorify God and shine His light all the more. Like the stars shine brighter and brighter as it gets darker and darker, so your life will shine Christ brighter as you stick firm in your faith trusting in Him completely through your darkest times.
Are you ready, Christian? Get back up - now is the time to lead, to rejoice, to glorify. Now is the time to be such as the stars that so clearly shine and twinkle when nothing but blackness surrounds it. Get up. Christ is your Lord and He gives strength to the weary.

Don't Give Up! =]

Life only gets tougher. As you get older and more mature, you get more responsibility. You get busier and busier. You think you're busy now?!! WhoA! What now?! Busier than you thought you would ever be huh? And it just keeps adding on!

I guess then we better suck it up and learn to deal with everything we have now. We gotta conquer and have a I CAN DO THIS! mentality. How you say?! In Christ! What joy you can have in such a busy schedule when your life is all about glorifying God. Who knew studying and working and having a packed schedule could be so glorious?!

Feel like giving up? Don't =] Get back up. Strive! Crawl if you have to! Finish the race to the end - Christ will guide you all the way.

For this is God,
Our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide
Even to death.
Psalm 49:14 (NKJV)

Dead week ? Nope! Grace Week!

I wrote a sermon for seeker group on the sinfulness of sin. Spent my whole time in the Masters Seminary library (during Shepherd's conference) searching over scriptures just on sin and anything that could relate. So many! But I realized I only needed a couple passages - I only needed to focus on one sin - the fall. One sin is wickedly wicked. And we didn't stop at that one sin. We kept going and still do keep going.
In light of this, I glory even more so in Christ because only He can make one so evil such as I righteous before God. And because of the death I deserved, for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), because of the eternal wrath of God I should receive, because of the pure evil of sin, I cannot call 10th week, "Dead Week," as the entire college does.
10th week I have a final group project, 2 final essays, 1 final quiz, and 1 final - all within 4 days. Yet, I cannot bring myself to call it dead week. I have to call it "Grace Week" because this is nothing close to the death I deserve. Oh how great grace is.
Today I turned in 35 pages worth of a final group project and a final essay. The final quiz is out of the way. I have one more 7 page essay and 1 final left. All of this with a broken left hand that is hard to type with. God is gracious. What a beautiful "Grace Week."

In Jesus' Name, Amen

It is utterly astonishing to me the final words of a Christian prayer... "in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name I pray, amen."

Almost everyone prays. In fact, I think everyone does pray - even the atheist. But what gives the prayer power? Is there power in prayer? Or is there power in the one whom they/we pray to?

I remember Pastor Eric glanced over this once in one of his bible studies. He said something along the lines of, "There is no power in prayer. Rather, there is power in the one whom they pray to. In Christ. There is no power in faith. Yes, faith alone saves, but faith IN Christ. It saves because there is power in the one whom they have faith in. "

I've been thinking about this subject a lot and it has not left my mind ever since. I'm mainly just focusing on the prayer part of this. But it blows my mind that prayers can become sin (psalm 109:7) and an abomination to the Lord (proverbs 28:9). It amazes me that only one kind of prayer has true power - the prayers prayed to the one true living God. The one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). I stand amazed whenever I pray now, whether by myself or in a group. As I'm about to end a prayer, my heart jumps and beats faster and faster in excitement and in anticipation, waiting for the words, "In Jesus' name I/we pray, amen."

Oh how I've forgotten how powerful prayer was. Oh how I've taken for granted those last words of Christian prayer after praying thousands upon thousands of prayers. May it never again become just a scripted ending to every prayer. Remember the power in that name, in His death and in His resurrection. All other prayers are useless and powerless cause there is no power behind whose name they pray in, but ours we pray in the name of the one true Mediator (capital M). Let us remember this.

In Jesus' most holy perfect glorious awesome magnificent powerful name I pray,
Amen.

Generalizations, Christianity, and Love

In Christianity, you find that there are many generalized statements.
You hear ...

"Adultery is bad."
"Premarital sex and pregnancy is not to be done."
"Drugs are not good - it is a god - an idol."
"Abortion is murder."

To these statements I say, and the Bible says - absolutely 100% true.

These are Biblical principles, and there are many more, but hear me out, readers of my blog, Christian and NonChristians. - drug addicts, pregnant teenagers, those who judge, adulterers, sinners - now let us show you the love of Christ. Welcome to church. Welcome to the body of Christ. We were as such as these. We know that we have sinned, and still in the grace of God, sin and fall. We struggle with our sin. But find hope and find joy in Christ. These statements and these truths may scare you, but many of us have been there - whether Christian or not, let us show you love of Christ.

Christians, Church - Don't you dare judge the pregnant teenager who walks in. Don't you dare judge the drug addict, the gang member, the messy dressed homeless man. Don't you dare look at the couple who had an abortion and give them looks of disgust, or talk behind their backs. Show them instead the love of Christ. Minister to them. They need it. And you very well have needed it much before.

Here's a reminder lest we forget that...

Paul was a murderer. He killed and persecuted Christians.
David was an murderer and adulterer. He had so much blood on his hands that God did not let him build God's temple!
Moses killed an Egyptian and buried him in the sand. He was sent to exile for 40 years!

Yet God gave them His love. Christ died for such as these.
And such were some of you. BUT you were washed, BUT you were sanctified, BUT you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthains 6:11.

Help them see past the generalized statements. Let us show them the love of Christ. Let us take them in and help them glory in the awe and love and grace of God. Generalized statements, yes. BUT, Let us love, church, let us love.

God-given Righteousness

Charles Spurgeon is a bible gangster. I love this preacher.

I wanted to write about my new found God-given determination in everything I do. But I woke up this morning and started reading out loud an entire Charles Spurgeon sermon. And something he said/wrote shocked me - it hit me hard. He said this...

"Oh, to think that such an One as Jesus should be our Savior, that Heaven’s Darling should condescend to assume our nature and become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh! That He should live such a life and die such a death! That He should present to God a work so perfect, without flaw, without excess! Is there not room for praises here? Now we are as clean before the Lord because we have been washed in Christ’s blood, yes, we are as pure as if we had never sinned! And standing arrayed in Christ’s righteousness, we are more righteous, even, than Adam before the Fall, for he had only a human righteousness, but we have a Divine righteousness. In Christ Jesus, the second Adam, we are nearer to God than if we had been born of the first Adam while untainted by sin!
-Charles Spurgeon - 09.03.1876 - "Good News for Seekers" - Psalm 22:26

I can't believe the righteousness I have through Christ Jesus, and Him alone. I can't believe its power, its magnificence, and its glory. A divine righteousness rather than a human righteousness. Thank you God. It never hit me what kind of righteousness I was given until now. And to think before that Adam's righteousness before sin was at par with my God-provided one. Ha - what foolishness; what grace... simply amazing.

Tick Tock NonResolution

...tick... tock... tick... tock...
The familiar noise of the clock vibrates through my ears and catches my attention. Awake earlier than usual after a time of prayer - finally - prayer - I look up and gaze upon the shiny clock my family has in the living room next to the TV. I watch as the second-hand ticks away, second by second, tick by tock. Then comes a sudden realization that this sight is horrid to my eyes. Every second, every tick, every tock - it will never be redeemed again.

I have no resolution for 2009. No - instead - I have this prayer and this meditation.

So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12.

I think that upon this verse and this meditation rests everything I would put as a resolution. I have to redeem the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). Yes, it is true that every tick and every tock brings us closer to eternity with God in heaven (praise God), but for now we live in a world where time is limited - we are bounded by time. God alone knows the days of our lives.

Thus sayeth the Psalmist after being surrounded by his enemies
I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the LORD.
The LORD has chastened me severely,
But He has not given me over to death.
Psalm 118:17-18

I am alive today, in this new year, because God wills it. I have been chastened (disciplined) severely in 2008 - with extreme chickenpox on my 20th birthday, with the quarantine from school, hardcore flu, return of asthma, stolen credit card, and much more, but God has not given me over to death - not yet. Like the Psalmist who went through harsher things, I will live and declare the works of the LORD. Time is short yes, it is like a vapor in the wind - like a ticktock of a clock - so teach me to number my days, that I may gain a heart of wisdom.