Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Moment by Moment...

 From the booklet, The Holy Word for Morning Revival-The Crucial Elements of the Bible, by Witness Lee.

Week 1, Day 5.

"Since we have the Triune God in us as our life and person, we must live and walk by Him in our daily life (Gal. 5:25) and grow up in all things into Him, who is the Head (Eph. 4:15). It is difficult for husbands and wives not to quarrel in their married life. By the Lord's grace, I have been with my wife for close to thirty years, and although I dare not say that we have never disagreed, I can say that I have never quarreled with her. This is because I have another person in me, the heavenly God Himself who is my person. When I am displeased or unhappy and try to speak something unpleasant, this person who is in me says, "You may speak, but I won't speak; you may go to quarrel but I won't go." Thus, I can only say, "Lord, if You won't go, then I won't go either." Then the Lord may say, "Wonderful! Since you won't go, stay here and I will be with you." In this way I have a sweet fellowship with the Lord. Instead of quarreling, there is only prayer, the prayer of two persons praying together. I pray and He prays with me; He prays in my prayer.What an enjoyment this is! This is to live and walk by the person in us." 


Monday, July 11, 2011

Fact, Faith & Experience by Watchman Nee


Here's a section that was very good & relatable while I was reading "Fact, Faith & Experience" by Watchman Nee. Please read an excerpt of Chapter 11 of this book. It is realllly so applicable :)

"A. That We Would Not Be for Ourselves
When we read the Bible during a period of excitement and joy, we have a great interest in reading. But are we reading the Bible because of our interest or because the Bible is the Word of God? Is the purpose of our prayer to seek God in His presence, or is the goal the joy we feel in our prayer? Are we praying at the expense of forsaking our duty, or are we praying for God’s sake? If we do all these things for ourselves and to satisfy ourselves, then our aim is not God’s glory. At the height of our excitement, we do not realize that we are doing these things for ourselves; we think that we are doing these things for God. We have to realize that the times we are most excited, when we seem to be living on the mountaintop, perhaps are the times when we are in our flesh the most! This is why God takes our joy away and puts us in a condition of dryness. How do we feel then? Our prayer, reading of the Word, and witnessing become dry. Under these conditions, God is teaching us a lesson; He makes us realize that our peak spiritual experiences are just something of ourselves. We may think that they are the most spiritual experiences. Little do we realize that they are merely of the flesh. Toward the world, we expressed the part of our flesh that is evil. Now we try to express the part of our flesh that is good. God is testing us to see if we will keep praying, reading the Word, and testifying for Him during the times when the joy is gone and the dryness is present. God does not want the dryness to be too harsh for us, so He gives back the joy after a while. But He also does not want us to presume that we have reached the peak of our spirituality, so He takes the joy away again. God does not want us to be discouraged because of the dryness, so that we will not want to be Christians anymore. Therefore, He gives us a little joy again and recovers our taste to a certain degree.
When the dryness comes the second time, God will see if we have learned anything. We may think that we have done something wrong again. Actually, this is not God’s intention. He is seeing if we are working according to our duty, or if we are working because of joy. Perhaps some people have to go through these experiences five or six times; perhaps others seven or eight times. Most of the time, the feelings alternate between joy and dryness. This cycle will continue until God arrives at His purpose when we realize that our desire for joy is for ourselves and not for God. This is the first reason God deals with us with joy and dryness.

B. Disciplining the Power of the Will
When we are living a life full of joy on the mountaintop, do we feel that we must exert any effort? We do not feel this. We do not exert any effort in reading the Word, in praying, and in testifying. Suppose we are talkative... Let me ask: During which time do we experience actual spiritual dealings? It is when we are dry. When we are excited, we may not have any spiritual experience but only the results from the power of our emotion. When we are dry, we have to exercise our will, and our work is the result of our real person. The reason God gives us the dryness is so that we will learn to exercise our will during these dry times.
Suppose we are traveling by a sailboat from one place to another. The journey may take only a few hours. At the beginning of the journey, the wind blows in the right direction, and we hoist the sail. After a while the wind stops, but there are still a few hours to go. Should we take out our oars and row, or should we anchor and wait until a good wind comes before we set sail again? If we want to reach our destination sooner, we have to try our best to row. At such times we are exerting the true strength we have. This is only an illustration. When we are excited in our emotion, we are like a boat sailing with the wind; the boat does not have to exert any effort. We wish that there could be smooth sailing all year round. But if this were the case, both the captain and the sailors of a ship would become useless; they would only be able to sail in favorable winds. If the direction of the wind changed, they would not know what to do. I am afraid no one would want these sailors. When God gives us favorable wind, we praise Him. But He is also stirring us up to exercise the resurrection power given to us, without which we would not move when the joy is gone. God gives us the dryness, so that when joy and excitement are not present, we would exercise our own strength (the strength we received at the time of our regeneration). In this way, we will be able to pass through hindrances and contrary winds. The power of resurrection is more clearly demonstrated in an environment filled with death.
...Our growth is absolutely dependent on the way we exercise our will. When we are dry and exercise our will to say, “I willadvance,” we will advance. Unfortunately, the eyes of many believers are set only on the matter of joy; they think that this is the peak of spiritual experiences. Little do they realize that there is real spiritual progress only when they exercise their will to advance.
God can grant us the help of emotions, but this is not His purpose. The help of emotions is merely the means by which God deals with us. His intention is to train our will, so that at the darkest hour, we could still exercise our will, and at the time when we feel dry, we could still exercise our will to read the Bible, pray, and testify." 

If you want to read more of the book, just buy it or read online.


Source: 
Nee, W. (1992). Fact, Faith, and Experience. Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry. 

Friday, July 8, 2011

Operation Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes


Sooo... went swimming after doing the eliptical with my sister Mikee today. I like swimming cuz sometimes, gravity pulls us down a little hard & you know, swimming is just a little way to defy gravity. Hah...ANYWAY enough of that... what am I talking about? :) Oh, yeah... and then we went to go eat at Denny's... just a little snack (pancakes, sausage, eggs)... okay maybe not a little cuz we got hungry after working out... and we prolly gained the calories we burned... lol. But yeah, I like hanging out with Mikee :) We're gonna go again tomorrow since Lifetime has an Openhouse :D

But yesterday... went to the Sisters' meeting in Houston, actually at the UH University Center to meet up with some of the students that I met from Christians on Campus. I went with some sisters I knew from church who were also in Christians on Campus. But yeah, we went to UH to go to this event called Freshmen Connect. When we got there, the students were bowling. :) And, they had fooood! Pizza and also one of the sisters VN cooked this dish she learned from Rachel Ray ( OH YEAH) and we ate it with some rice. Haha, so asian... rice at the bowling alley... that's how you do it. & I brought strawberry cheesecake cupcakes that my sis Ranee & I baked... from scratch... hah. But anyway... we met some of the Freshmen, there were a total of 5 new freshmen that we met. Praise the Lord! The freshmen girls were sweet. Two of them are gonna be Psychology majors (like me), hah. But yeah, hmm... we played bowling with them and just got to know them a little. One of the freshman girls was real sweet, some of the sisters toured her around campus after bowling, on the way to dropping her back off to her dorm for orientation. She seemed real cool. Anyway, I hope we get to hang out with her again. After that, the sisters and I went back to the sisters' house next to campus and we played and sang some songs. Very peaceful... :) Oh and, what touched me the most is that, the sisters prayed for the incoming freshmen that night... so sweet. The students here at UH really have a heart for the students. The group of sisters that I hang out with, they're so shepherding but I really like the vision they have, their purpose is fruit bearing. They care for the new students and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. How awesome!

Moving back to Houston after graduating, I was a little bummed, I gotta admit, because you know, I'm gonna miss everyone from Austin and plus my spiritual life was born in Austin. So, at first, it was realllly hard for me to live the church life here in Houston... like... I realllly have to fight for it just to stay in the church life. I think at first, I gave up... then, went back to Austin, fellowshipped with the saints, prayed with some, told the Lord, I can't do it... enjoyed the Lord, then went back to Houston, and by the overcoming One's mercy and grace... little by little, day by day, seems like the church life here in Houston reveals itself sweeter and sweeter day by day. The saints in Houston are so precioussss! I don't know... I really enjoy being in Houston, even though of course, sometimes I get into arguments with family. But Lord, you can do it! Lord, give us the strength to follow You... we just want to follow You...

                                      Ranee helping me out with the cupcakes
                                                                 Yummy Cupcake batter

Mikee with the yummy, cooked strawberry cheesecake cupcakes that we brought to Freshmen Connect. They were gone after a few minutes. Even the tray that I brought, I could not even find it afterwards, maybe they ate that too... Hah. Credits to "Megabite" for her awesome recipe for strawberry cheesecake cupcakes :) Check out her website to see other cool things to bake. Click here -->  strawberry cheesecake cupcakes recipe.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Young People's Mtg in Sugar Land

Praise the Lord! Tonight, I went with some sisters JH & TH to the Young People's meeting in Sugar Land. And what a feast! It was very good to see the sisters again, especially TH since I haven't seen her in a while. But, I really enjoyed the YP meeting because the young people are being trained to speak. Everyone stood up to share and prophesy! Even saints as young as 8 years old shared their enjoyment. Even this young brother with a speech deficiency was so bold to share his enjoyment. Anyway, it was such a good environment to be, where everyone in functioning or at least making an effort to share their enjoyment. Praise Him! I look forward to attending these young people's meetings... oh how precious are our young people!

Lord, gain our young people more & more...

Pursuing the Present Jesus

I really enjoyed this song today... it goes like this...


  • Savior, lead me up the mountain,
      Where the Lord alone is seen,
    Where we hear the voice from heaven,
      Where the air is pure and clean.

    • Lead me higher up the mountain,
        Give me fellowship with Thee;
      In Thy light I see the fountain,
          And the blood it cleanses me.
  • Higher up where light increases,
      Far above all earthly strife,
    Where the strain of effort ceases,
      Where in Christ we reign in Life.

  • Savior, keep me up the mountain
      Pressing on toward the goal,
    Till, as one, we share Thine image,
      And Thy love and grace extol.



  • Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/nt/378#ixzz1RdglHosO



    I don't really know why I enjoyed it but I guess, sometimes we're so caught up with our situations, even deciding for our futures, should we go this way and that, what if this and that, that we forget to enjoy the present Jesus... I like what my best friend, a sister in Christ, told me... everyday, the Lord has a will, even a commission for that day... and nothing pleases the Lord more than for Christ to be revealed in us... enjoyed by us.

    Anyway, despite everything, Lord... I just want to enjoy You, seeing nothing and no one but You, "lead me higher up the mountain, give me fellowship with Thee... " How evil it is for us not to enjoy You. How glorious it is for man to enjoy You. Lord, help us, strengthen us, be the fighting one in us, to enjoy You, with others... :)

    PRAISE YOU LORD, JESUS IS LORD!