I am a klerksdorp sphere

“The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends” —Job 42:10

June 20, 2012

What I learned from this devotion is that I don’t always have to look after myself. I don’t always have to be so worried about letting God know about my personal requests because God knows. It doesn’t mean that I should completely abandon praying for personal needs but I ought to make time to pray for others as well. Intercessory prayer is just as important as personal prayer. Just like in the verse, Job prayed for his friends and God answered by restoring the things that Job lost.

A worldly example of this is when I have a marshmallow and my younger brother wanted one too and I chose to give him mine. My father will see this and he, being a good father will reward me by giving me my own marshmallow. I hope that made sense to whoever is reading this because this made sense to me. lol

I guess what I am trying to get it is don’t think too much of the things I need but also make room to pray for the needs of others. 

“… do you love Me? … Tend My sheep” —John 21:16

June 19, 2012

My devotion is to Jesus Christ alone… not to the young people, not to the pastor and not to the church.

Here’s a quote from utmost.org:

Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ.

I will be honest… with all that has happened lately, it has deeply questioned my belief. Why must a church ask loyalty to its congregation? Why is my relationships suffering just because I’m no longer part of their church? It is not like I became an atheist for I still follow God. So many things that hurt me not only emotionally but spiritually as well that I almost considered abandoning the thought of going to a church altogether. That if money was such a problem, I will give my tithes to a charity instead. I always understood church to be an open door rather than a place of “membership”. 

I clearly learned today that as a Christian, my place of dwelling has nothing to do with my spiritual growth for I am solely following Christ. And Jesus will not direct me to a church but instead direct me to Himself only - Luke 14:26. Service that is called by God is not what we do for Him but it is simply what we are to Him. I understand now that the verse today really meant to live in a Christ-like way so my whole being and existence nourishes the people around me because through me, they’ll see God. It is not shoving down my beliefs on their throats or asking them or manipulating them to my way of thinking. If Jesus himself never pressured anyone to follow Him, who am I to do differently? Tend to His sheep by living righteously, just like a city on a hill/salt and light of the earth… let the people around you see God in you rather than pushing God to them. 

Light of the earth. Light doesn’t come to you and taps you on the shoulder saying “I’m here”… you simply see it. You notice it because it shines. It never asks for your attention, you give attention to it freely. That’s what it means to be the light of the earth: living a pure and righteous life like Jesus and your life will shine! That’s what it means to “Tend to His Sheep”.

“… Peter … walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid …” —Matthew 14:29-30

June 18, 2012

Keep my eyes set on Jesus. One of the hardest things is standing your ground while facing the unknown. The lack of security could be exciting at first but without eyes being focused on Jesus, it’ll all turn to a scary thought. Thoughts of failure start to sink in, instead of thinking about the positive or even just thinking that God has got me and whatever happens, He will take care of me.

We start to think “what if it didn’t work?”, “what if it doesn’t go how I wanted it to go?”, “what if I failed?”. The risk then is recognized and becomes scary. I feel insecure and start to think of abandoning the journey to find a more comfortable, secure one - that is what happens when the eyes that are supposed to be set on Jesus is then distracted by what surrounds us.

Just like in the verse, Peter first took the step to walk on water because he only saw Jesus, he recognized that Jesus is there and that he’s going to be ok but then after a few steps, he got distracted by the wind (the problems and stumbling blocks in our lives) and then lost sight of Jesus only to rely on himself. This is why without God, I am weak. I cannot walk on water, cannot fulfill my dream, cannot pass this exam, cannot get that job because I am weak. I am weak because I get insecure and start to worry and be afraid of failure which then ironically leads me to fail because I didn’t want to step out of my comfort zone. This is why it is important that I keep my eyes focused on Jesus. I have big dreams and when I lose sight of Him, they start to stay as dreams rather than a goals that I can achieve because I start to rely on my capabilities which isn’t much because I am weak.

Nothing is impossible with God… look to Him and He will give you the strength to accomplish the goals you want to achieve. Just keep my eyes focused on God and everything will start to look more possible.

“Abide in Me …” —John 15:4

June 14, 2012

What I got from this verse is that the matter of abiding with God has no better time than now. The verse says “abide in me” and doesn’t have any prerequisites or requirements or stamped on a later date and time. It was foolish of me to previously think “I will enjoy my life first and do this things then I will abide in God.” a very very foolish thing to say.

Who am I to make my God wait for me? It is like a maid telling their boss: “Yes I will work and do what I’m supposed to but not now, I’m watching TV, I’ll watch the baby later, cook later after I finish what I want to do.” Would that be acceptable? If it isn’t then me following God with a big “Later” stamp is also not acceptable.

There is no better time than now. How can God work in me if I don’t abide by Him? How can I see His wonders if I’m inhibiting Him myself? It is not fear of failure but it is love, true love acts and if that is true with me and God, then abiding in Him is what I got to do today.

“They said to Him, ’Rabbi … where are You staying?’ He said to them, ’Come and see’” —John 1:38-39

June 12, 2012

What I learned from today’s devotion is that… following God is not like watching TV and following your favourite TV show where after 30 mins, the show ends and you wait for the next episode.

Following God is more of like moving houses - it’s permanent.

To truly follow God, we musn’t be relying on moods. How we’re so all for God when we just feel like it. It is like saying I love my dad or mom in a part-time manner. Love God at all times just like how we love our parents, siblings, friends because He never stopped loving us like how our parents love us.

“Come to Me …” —Matthew 11:28

June 11, 2012

What I learned from this devotion is that when things are tough, when I feel down or incapable… I just simply come to Jesus. No need to wait for outrageous things like signs and wonders and miracles because coming to Jesus will generate those things. 

This brought me back during the times that I was at my lowest, where I have lost the things I have indulged myself in - work and girlfriend. I tried to do other things except go to God but none of them seemed to work and when I did drop these worldly things and just approached God with a foolish and desperate heart, everything have fallen into place, my life felt like it got recharged and things were moving, they were moving fast and it was good!

I will not always going to be at the top and instead of taking the world on my own shoulders, I should always remind myself that my God is there and He is just waiting for me to ask Him.

As each day makes me older, this urge to help others grows with me as well. It’s heartbreaking because I can’t even help myself. I feel so caged. I see people getting taken advantage of, people who have no choice but to hold a sign on the street and wave the Canadian flag every time a car passes by just to get people’s attention. My priorities are slowly changing. I want to help them change their lives, I want to give them something better.
My heart’s desires are slowly changing. God help me so I can help them.

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” —John 13:17

June 8, 2012

Do not get comfortable and always be determined to know more than others. Living under God’s will means that we are not to stay where we are, where we’re comfortable. Comfortable leaves little room for learning and improvement because everything is all good and dandy. Having stagnant creates a tiresome faith. We get burnt out because our faith is not moving.

There are things that I have to let go and blindly follow God’s path. Blindly following is not being delusional or stupid but it is exercising my faith in Him.

I will be honest… in 5 months, it will be 1 year where I am somewhat unemployed. I have some freelance gigs here and there and thankfully by God’s grace it is keeping me afloat. I have close calls when it comes to possible jobs but it never came to be and I haven’t seriously looked yet for my portfolio is not even up. Nothing seems to be working for me on that end but I have this project that I am working on with a couple of friends/teammates. It is amazing how things are going so fast and it is all working out. I believe this is God’s approval of what I am doing or else it wouldn’t work. I was blessed with a talented designer who can whip up crazy high quality mocks and a genius of a coder that can code faster than I can say “programming”. Yes I do feel bad sometimes that I see some of my colleagues are finding jobs here and there and I am here working from one project to another while dreaming big and trying to make it happen. That is where faith comes in… if it wasn’t for my trust in God, I would’ve quit this project long time ago, I would’ve quit the dream of building something from the ground up with my amazing teammates. I would’ve settled for safe. 

But here I am, officially unemployed with big dreams that I am holding onto God for His mighty approval. Just like my short testimony… if you know and seek God, He will bless you if you do want He wants you to do because you will find favour in Him. The result might not come as fast as Rebecca Black’s “Friday” song but if it’s from God, I am 110% sure that it’ll be worth it.