What a Fast Week!

This week couldnt have been busier at work! It absolutely flew by as well as this weekend of rest!

Giving Thanks
-Having dinner with the Lees (we ate homemade chicken and mashed potatoes) and received great advice throughout the night
-Extra time with jose in all his busy-ness. time to nap, hang at the park, talk, enjoy one another! time to argue, to understand one another better and how to communicate in frustration and misunderstandings.

-Catch up time with sammie at her house
-Lunch with Marika and catching up

-Babysitting true brave soul and glow :)

-Seeing the venue and getting ideas on how to help aaron and pam decorate their wedding :)

-Being blessed at Crossview by my church family and going over Matthew 2- seeing Jesus fulfill the new covenant, the second exodus, being a Nazarene!

The Hole in our Holiness Chapters 6-10

I shall continue on with highlights of the book for me!

I do not want to be a Christian that speaks generalities that do not dig deep enough (pg 80)

The Spirit strengthens us with supernatural power. He shines into dark places of our hearts and convicts us of sin. He illuminates the Word so we can understand its meaning and grasp its implications. He takes the veil away so we can see the glory of Christ and become what we behold.(82)

The gospel encourages godliness out of a sense of gratitude, it aids our pursuit of holiness by telling us the truth about who we are. REMEMBER there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in me, I am a child of God, nothing can separate me from the love of Christ.

Faith in justification allows me to rest and receive, and faith in sanctification allows me to will and work!

Be Who You Are
-In Christ, we are dead to sin and alive in rightousness
-In Christ, we are new creations so we might live for him and not for ourselves
-In Christ, our sinful flesh is put to death and a new kind of life is at work in us
-In Christ, we are no longer sons of disobedience and children of wrath, but are alive with Christ and able to do the good works prepared for us
-In Christ, we can walk as he did
-In Christ, we are holy and precious and called to live like it

I dont want o compromise my worship for Christ. I desire courage to act on my convictions. I dont want sexual impurity to be normal, entertaining to the point where it doesnt offend or upset me! This is truly opposite of the biblical view! It is incompatible with the kingdom of life. I want to be furious and heartbroken- fleeing from sin, and not testing or messing around it. I dont want this free thing for a man and wife in marriage to enslave me to a point where I can break the habit. Let me remember I am a temple and body of Christ. Glorify God does not mean to get as close to sinning as possible. Do not even have a filthy or vulgar mouth. Do not stir up love before it is time. Being a Christian- we are saints, holy ones declared holy and are children of light.

Union with Christ- the irrevocable work of the Spirit, and once united, nothing can separate us from Christ
Communion- Can be affected by sin and unresponsiveness to God's grace. As this deepens, we enjoy sweeter fellowship and interchange with him. We grow in knowledge of him and affection for him, and we experience more richly his love and affection for us. We pursue communion through prayer, the word of truth, through fellowship with other Christians, through partaking of the Lord's supper.

Progress
Real contrition is hard painful work.
It is not a convenient escape hatch after a weekend of a life of folly. It means admitting specific wrong, recognizing your offensiveness to God, changing course, turning to Christ, and wishing with all your heart you had never made the mistake you now despise. It is godly grief (genuinely sorry for sin, to hate it more and more, to run from it) instead of worldly grief (not allowing to see our offenses against God, self pity, pointless regret). Godly grief is a fruitful and effective emotion to spur into action, for good works and help to flee from sin

True holiness is the most beautiful ornament and the most magnificent beauty which can be found in man

Resting Up!

I took this past week to more recover, sleep, read, and relax from sickness and stay at home with my family!

Giving Thanks
-We had finally begun to put away all of our Christmas decorations- and it is A LOT!!!
-Celebrated with the Pastores family- Kaelahs 3rd bday at their house! woooo!

-Sushi with Jessca and encouraged to love my dear sister
-My very good friend Bianca surprised me at home from Chicago and we were able to catch up :)

-Ate at coconut bay with friends and talked about our weeks!
-I finally got to see Jie! We caught up and ate dim sum! yay!

-Celebrated Yek's bday and ate delicious korean bbq!

-Thankful to hear the message of John 13- that Jesus is the sponge that soaked up all of God's wrath so we would be able to have all of Christ and salvation.

Confess

My brother Ben led a prayer of confession in our gathering this past Sunday and he had the perfect words expressing how my heart felt. Thanks brother. May I come back to this and come before God with a contrite heart knowing He will fully forgive me.

"Dear God,

 

Our longing is not for you, as we frequently follow the desires of our flesh.

Our time is not used for you, as we frequently waste the time you give us.

Our lips are filled with ungodliness and our hearts with discontent. Lord please change us.

 

Even as we pause at this very moment to ask forgiveness, our minds may be wandering away from you. We lack hearts of true repentance; we are filled with cockiness, taking your mercy and grace for granted and lack brokenness over our sin. Our perspective of ourselves is far too great and our perspective of you is mistaken.

 

We ask that you flesh out these secret sins we still hold on to so dearly. If we’re mindless about them, expose them to us today. If we’re purposely, and shamefully mindful of them, create in us a truly remorseful heart, as you help us eradicate our intimacy with them, as we turn away from them, coming clean to both you and other brothers and sisters about these sins.

 

Have mercy on us, O God as you change our self-conceited perspective of ourselves, as we view you for who you are. We are deserving of severe, eternal punishment for our rejection of you. Help us to think of ourselves as much smaller, and think of you of much, much greater.

 

According to your steadfast love and your abundant mercy and your son’s work on the cross, wash us thoroughly from our iniquity and cleanse us from our sin!

 

Amen."

The Hole in our Holiness Chapters 1-5

This book has been absolutely fantastic or me so far! Kevin Deyoung is a writer who is clear, gospel driven, and very helpful! I encourage everyone to read! I took a hiatus from my books while I was into the hunger games series! But I am back at it since the new year

There were hard questions for me to ponder of.
(pg 15) -if you dislike a holy god now, why would you want to be with him forever?
-if worship does not capture your attention at present, what makes you think it will thrill you in some heavenly future?
-if ungodliness is your delight here on earth, what will please you in heaven, where all is clean and pure?

Characteristics like legalistic, prudish, narrow-minded, old fashioned, holier-than-thou(pg 18)make me nervous- i make God seem difficult, painful, me trying and trying- but always failing and failing.

But really, Christ died in order that we may be justified in order to be sanctified and made holy (pg 24)Now, we can love the truth, be childlike, bridle the tongue, persevere, walk in the light, repent, and fight the good fight (pg 28)

HOLINESS IS NOT
-mere rule keeping
-generational imitation
-generic spirituality
-finding your "true self"
-the way of the world

HOLINESS LOOKS LIKE
-the renewal of god's image in us
-a life marked by virtue (Romans 12, 1 Cor 13, Col 3, Gal 5, 2 Peter 1)
-a clean conscience
-obedience to god's commands
-christlikeness- humility, steadfastness, obedience to the Father, gentle, bold, pure, full of truth.

The Law- for our edification and so that we would be equipped for good works (pg 52)
DO NOT pit love against the law. Jesus connects communion with God with keeping commandments. We should exhort one another to obedience! It shows our need for a Savior!

The Bible motivates us to pursue holiness for duty, it being right, for our good, christ's example, assurance, being effective, Jesus return, the world is not our home, win over our neighbors, lift up a nation, for the sake of our prayers, futility of sin, folly of sin, promise of future grace, promise of future judgement, fear of future judgement, God knows and sees all, surety of our inheritance, communion of the saints, good and bad examples of others, created for good works, fear and love of the Lord, making God manifest, gratitude for grace, glory of God, the character of God, to work of God, to please God, to avoid the devil's snares, eternal reward, Christ has all authority, love for Christ, fullness of joy, experience God's favor, our union with Christ. (pgs 57-60)

We should not equate obedience with perfection. THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM FOR ME! Our good works are accepted by God, not because they are wholly unblameable and unreproveable in God's sight, but before God is pleased through Christ to accept our sincere obedience, although it contains many weaknesses. Do not think every good is filthy rags!(67)

I need to have a QUICK HABIT of going to God when I am disobedient so that I may share in His holiness. May I always test and examine myself! Love does not equal unconditional affirmation, but relentless pursuit of what is for our good! DANG.

MORE COMING

Sickies for Me!

Falling into sin, being a busy body, no rest, no down time caused me to be sick! I was out going through three tissue boxes at work and had a bad cough! But luckily I am feeling alas I am going through the end of it!

Giving Thanks -For lunches with friends this week! William and Sammie came out on two separate days to eat lunch with me during my break!!! It was a muuuch needed catch up and i absolutely loved it.

-The usual four hour hang out with Tori! What a great time of honesty, sharing life, and trials.
-First time teaching Key ballet. What a great student and having an opportunity to dip into that dancey side of me and speak with Frances afterwards!

-Hangout time with Ruby and Frances! Prayer, sharing, and eating :)
-Work recognized me in their top 3 employees!!! So I am getting a giftcard to anywhere i want! i chose healthy- trader joes! :)
-Learning about social justice and how to better speak and live life with others!
-Shopping with marika for our girl whos getting married soon! It was hilarious and had a catch up sesh at jamba!
-Going to see the most brilliant lion king! :) My fam is obsessed and we were smiling non stop!!!!

-Staying in LA all day- being encouraged and prayed for by several of my sisters from Crossview and the being convicted by the book of Micah! Ended the day at my fav burger joint- umami!

Prayer Requests -peace and joy in all circumstances
-trust and belief in Christ
These seem simply, but I do so need these things in my life!

David Platt Encouraging Me through Memorizing Romans 1-8

Its a New Year

There have a bit some tough times to start of the year. In all, life still goes on and there are many things to be thankful for.

Giving Thanks
-A sweet time bowling with friends and having dinner before to ring in the new year. We danced, we laughed, we talked. It was so fun!

-Celebrating my 1 year with jose, going out to eat, talking, and loving one another. I love remembering our story and laughing with my great guy
-Jamba with sarah who is always honest with me, listens well, and read proverbs 10 with me!

-Chilis with Annie. We were able to listen to each others stories and love one another well!
-Girl time with Pamela. She came to my office and we sat in her car and ate food from our homes and talked about our weeks
-Some folks from Crossview shared how 2013 was for us, what we hope 2014 to be for us and what to work on and pray for
-The family headed to Universal studios for the day for the christmas decorations and mainly THE GRINCH!

-Church was sweet for my soul. Seeing people i love, hearing the gospel i needed in Matthew 2, rebuking and having my heart wrestle with idols I hold too dear to my heart.
-Headed to dland with my sister before she headed back to uci :)

-Reading the book of Romans for myself, helps me A LOT

Prayer Requests
-For peace among my trials and tumultuous thoughts
-For more faith in God's redemption and ability to break chains of sin