Positive Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just a couple days ahead! I'm sure all of you are either busy with finals or thinking about how stuffed you're going to be on thanksgiving day. But Thanksgiving is more than the turkey and more than the family time we will have (although both things are important). Thanksgiving should be a time to realize the blessings God has given us in our lives. It's a time to be grateful for what we have and are. It's so easy to think of all the bad things that we are facing without taking the time to think of the blessings God has already placed in our lives. As humans, our tendency is to talk more about negative things than positive things. For example, think about all the gossip and drama we experience in our lives. There was also a study that showed that twice as many people tell others about bad service than good. When I think about this, its true! I am more likely to share to people the bad services I have experiences than the good services. It is so easy to think about what's not good in our lives. But its important to not let our negative mind overcome ourselves. Satan will always try to bring you down because he doesn't want you to become the person God wants you to be!

Give thanks to whatever state you are in now. There will always be someone who is worse off than you are. If you really think about it, there are so many things you should be thankful for! Even the fact that you are alive and breathing is something to be happy for. Sometimes we tend to want things now, and when we don't get what we want we get easily discouraged. But remember God is Good! He knows your every need and he will meet your need at the right time. God knows what you need more than you know yourself. When things aren't going your way, just remember that God has a good plan for you coming up! Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time". 

Instead of thinking about the about the bad things that have happened in your life, think about the blessings God has brought to your life. Just knowing that God's Love Endures Forever should be a reason for us to give thanks and praise to him eternally. I was reading Psalm 136 and it says, "Give thanks to the lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever". This statement is so powerful! Because his love endures forever, we don't ever have to worry about our lives! Because his love endures forever, we know that he will always provide our needs. It's important to recognize this and give God thanks for what he has done and is doing. God has to be the number one priority in our lives and its important to show him that we have faith in him by giving him thanks and praise everyday. How often to you give God praise in your daily life? How do you think God is feeling when we always speak about negative things in our lives? Or when we choose to neglect and realize the blessings he has given us? He might just be planning to give you the greatest blessing without you knowing it. 

So remember to give God thanksgiving for his enduring love for us, and be a positive influence for others; not just for this thanksgiving but for the continuing days to come! Ask yourself this everyday: Did I speak more positive or negative words today? 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone<3 

Letting Fear Go

It's so easy to let our negative mind take over us within minutes. There have been times in my life when I felt worried about my future, will I become successful one day? will God use me in my life? I'm sure there are many fears that people experience daily, either minor or major fears. But no matter your circumstance, when you're feeling down and overwhelmed by fear, that is the time to call on god. That is the time to worship him and bless his name. When people are stress or worried, they tend to avoid worshipping God or are too tired to go to church. But thats actually the time you need him the most! I love to listen to christian music to relieve my soul whenever I am feeling down. Hillsong has always been my go to christian band for many years.

Here's a positive verse that will comfort your worries; "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and future."(Jeremiah 29:11) All we need to do is work hard and persistent, have faith in God, and give him the rest of our problems and worries! God didn't make this world so you would fail. Don't let your problems defeat you, you can face your problems with God! Bring God down to where your problems are and Let go of your fears to God. God knows the best for us, more than what we know ourselves. Don't dwell on your fears, but dwell in God's promises. Let's try to see what Jesus sees!

When you're feeling overwhelmed with fear, feed the words of God into your mind and heart. Surround yourself with positive people who will speak the word of God into your life. Let your struggles and worries be opportunities to remind you of the promises and love God has for us. Don't let your fears control you, let it go! Trust me, letting your fears go will be the best feeling you can have. Depend on God and let him deal with your problems and worries, because he will. Claim and Believe the word of god. The Bible is the living word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is alive and active". When you claim the word of God into your life, there is power in it. The word is living and it is meant to live as part of our lives. Don't claim your fears, but claim the power of God over it.

Put your hope to God and make him your refuge for strength and peace. Depend on God and let him control your problems. Remember, don't let your fears control you, just let it go!

REFERENCE: Psalm 62:5-12 5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him,for God is our refuge. "Selah" 9 Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. 10 Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. 11 One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, 12and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.

YouTube Video : Letting Fear Go

Love is Hard

Love is Hard..I know you're probably thinking what? Love should be the easiest emotion to express! It's true that falling in love is easy, but staying in love is a lot harder. Do you remember your first love with Jesus? I'm sure many of us remember the first moment when we fell in love with Jesus, but is your fire with God still as strong as before? If anything your love for God should keep growing more and more. I have to admit, I remember the times when my love for God was high, and times when I felt that God was far from my life. Its easy for our Love for God to be like a rollercoaster. Some days you love God so much, and other days you feel like God is far from you. But instead, we should keep our love for God soaring up into the sky without ever dropping. My new goal is to love God more each day! I'm sure there will be bad days, but if we focus on God and trust in him, we can always pick up our feet and move ahead. We have to work on our Love with God by staying close to him daily and honoring and meditating his word. I feel like God is always great a bringing me back to him whenever I am far from him. I believe that God is always great at reminding and bringing people back to him when they are lost. This can be from hearing something on the radio, listening to a sermon, or stumbling to an event that touches your heart.

I was reading 1 Corinthians and this common verse that I'm sure many people know came up; "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves."(1 Corinthians 13:4-7). If you really think about this verse, the definition of "Love" sounds like a hard thing to do. But we need to love because without love, there is no hope or faith. Remember, "And now these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love. But the greatest of these is Love."(1 Corinthians 13) Faith, hope, and love are all connected to each other. You need love to have faith and hope. That is why we need to Love God to have faith and hope in him. 

Another example that I am sure many can relate to is marriage. I've heard many people say to me, "I feel like my marriage is a mistake". I'm sure when you first married your spouse you loved them, I mean if you didn't love them you wouldn't have married them. But what happened to that love? It's easy to let our love walk away from us without us even realizing it. This is the same with our Love for God. I am sure everyone had a point where they were in fire for the Lord...but what about now? Love is Hard and it takes work, but with God all things are possible! 

So remember, work on your love with God! 

Investing on your Heart

There are many materialistic things in this world that can keep off our guard from what is holy and right for us. Materialism and Money is what drives this current world and sometimes, it can take our focus from what is truly meaningful to us. It's so easy to get caught up with the latest fashion, cars, technology, beauty(looks), house decors, and many other materialist things. I am one of those girls who likes to stay up to fashion and I love spending money on brand name bags such as Coach or Michael Kors. I mean who doesn't? But I felt the lord tug into my heart, and he reminded me to focus on investing my heart to God. 

Luke 12:34 says, "Where your treasure is your heart is also". This means your treasure is what you spend the most time, money, and effort on. Whatever your treasure may be, your heart will also be there. This is why its important to focus on investing things that will grow your heart closer to God and be a stronger Christian in Faith.  It's ok to spend money on materialistic things, but don't let it be the priority in life. Don't forget to invest and value things that will grow your faith in God. As a Christian, we need to keep our fire going with God. To keep our fire with God, we need to work on it! We need to spend time reading the Bible, going to Church, and going to seminars/events that will increase our fire for God. Many people are hesitant to spend money on things that will grow our hearts and spirits. I believe the reason for that is because it is an intangible investment (something you can't see) rather than a tangible investment, such as buying a laptop (an investment that you can see right away). Although spending time watching seminars, going to care-cells, or spending money to go to retreats seems like a lesser priority in our lives, those kind of investments are actually the greatest investments that we can make for our lives. Next week I will be seeing Hillsong Live in Concert. The reason I am going to this Concert is to invest my time and money to grow my spirit and fire for God.

Make sure your treasure are things that will increase your fire for God. Invest your Heart to God rather than only spending on materialistic things. Investing on your heart will give you the greatest value in the long term. Materialistic things in this world will only give you temporary happiness. For example, whenever I buy a new purse, I get excited and happy, but after a month or two my excitement goes down and I'm ready to buy another purse. But when you invest things to your heart, the joy will stay with you for eternity and you will grow in greater faith with God. Keep working on firing up your love for God! Remember, when you seek God and his kingdom, blessings and joy will come to your life.

REFERENCE: Luke 12:27-34 ²⁷ “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰ For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

³² “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.³³ Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Don't have time to read the Bible?

Everyone knows that reading the Bible everyday is important, but it seems like we never have the time to stop and read the Bible. We all have busy lives; my typical day consists of having class in the morning, then work in the afternoon, then when I finally get the chance to go home and rest there is piles of homework waiting. A helpful tip that I find is instead of trying to save reading the bible for one time during the day, read the bible whenever you get a chance for free time. Some examples where I take advantage to read the bible are when I eat lunch alone, when I have 10-15 minutes in between classes, when I'm waiting at a doctors office, or basically whenever I have some time to spare of doing nothing. Instead of playing Candy Crush or watching youtube videos (ect.), we should take that time to read the Bible and hear Gods voice. With the technology that we have nowadays, we can bring our bible everywhere we go through our cell phone! Because of the convenience of the Bible app, we no longer have to carry that heavy bible everywhere.

Not only is reading the Bible good to give us wisdom, but it is also important because we need to form a relationship with God. Relationship with God is the most important thing about being a Christian. To be a true Christian is more than knowing that God exists, but having a relationship with him daily. Before thinking about what ministry you want to do for the church, prioritize your time with the Lord First. I used to always think about what ministries I want to serve in my church, such as being in the music team, but I felt that God was telling me that a relationship with him is where I should focus first. Now, I went from not reading the bible daily, to reading it everyday and meditating his word in my heart. I really want to know him more and have him reveal himself more to me.

A common bible story that people can relate to is the story of Mary and Martha. Jesus came to visit them and Martha was too busy preparing food instead of stopping to hear the word of God. She got upset at Mary because Mary did not help her with preparations, instead she sat down and listened to what Jesus had to say. Although Martha did the right thing to prepare food for Jesus, Jesus valued more with what Mary was doing. Mary valued the relationship and word of God from Jesus, which is exactly what Jesus was looking for.

We can apply this Bible story to our lives. God is searching for our relationship with him more than our ministry to him. He wants to have a relationship with you first before you focusing on doing ministry for him. God is our father, so treat him like your father. God does not only want to be known to you as a father. He wants you to have a relationship with him, just like how a father would want to have a relationship with his child. So remember to value your time with the Lord and the rest will be sure to come.

REFERENCE: Luke 10:38-42 ³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[a]Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.

What is truly the key to Success, Happiness, and Peace?

Have you ever felt that some things that are said in the bible are crazy? Ex: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"(matthew 5:43), "If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also"(Luke 6:29), " Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong"(1 Thessalonians 5:15), and I am sure there are many more verses that fit this category. Despite how crazy these verses sound like, God's word is always meant to be the best for us and our lives.

People are naturally irrational, we're humans! Our emotions can sometimes delude us from what is truly right and good for us. Because of this, its important to read the bible daily and meditate on the word of God. Let God be the pilot and decision maker of our lives. We will make less silly mistakes in our lives if we just depend more on God and his word, leading us to a happy, peaceful, and successful life. 

There are many examples in the bible that we could learn from; things that sound ridiculous but are actually things that are said for our own good. I was reading 1 Thessalonians the other day and a specific verse got me thinking. The verse was 1 Thessalonians 5:15- "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else". I had recently experienced a conflict with someone who did me wrong. I felt so angry and as I was reading this verse I was thinking to myself, why shouldn't this person deserve a punishment? I just felt like I wanted to take revenge to make me feel better. I felt like the person deserves it anyways. I've always learned from the bible that revenge is bad and we should just let God take care of it because he is a justice God. While knowing this, I still felt the urge to take revenge. However, while reading this verse I felt God starting to talk to my heart. I then realized that when we take revenge, it only makes us feel good temporarily and we end up feeling guilty at the end. Even after taking revenge you will still hate the person like you did before taking the revenge. We will also look bad to God when taking revenge or doing wrong to others. The only way to feel happy is to forgive and forget (and in some cases forget the person). At the end, this made me realize that everything that god says in the bible is truly for our own good. We may think that revenge is sweet, but God knows that at the end it will not fix anything and end up hurting us. Revenge is like sweet poisonous candy. 

An easy example that everyone could relate to is the story of Adam and Eve. God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge, yet they did. At the end Adam and Eve's eyes were opened. They now have the knowledge of good and evil and no longer have the innocent mind they once had before eating the apple. God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge because he knew the negative effect it would have on them. He only said it for their own good. 

So what is truly the key to a successful, peaceful, and happy life? The answer is simple, the Bible. You can be successful in life without God, look at Donald Trump or any Celebrity, but there is no guarantee that you will be happy and peaceful at the same time. The the bible is truly the key to have a Successful, Peaceful, and Happy Life. If we read the bible and mediate on it daily, we will hear God's voice that will help you reach where God wants you to be. Only God knows what will truly make your life happy. 

Church Notes : What it means to Sacrifice and its returns

Credited: Pastor Carl Stephens and Jeff Shortridge -Faith Assembly Church

Many people think that sacrifice is being generous, but sacrifice is more than that. Sacrifice is a heart filled with gratitude to give God anything. Sacrifice is something that hurts you, but when you sacrifice, get ready for great blessings to come from God! 

Jeff Shortridge told a story about his childhood and mother. His mother was a single mother who had the responsibility of taking care 5 children. One day Her faucet/well had mud coming through the pipes. She couldn't afford a plumber but knew a pastor who's past job was a plumber. She called him in and he said to her that her well has dried up and she will need to hire a company to drill another well in. She cried in tears praying to God for a way for water to come through the house. She only had $100 in her purse and could not afford to hire a company.The next couple of weeks she attended church. She heard God speak to her during offering and God said, "I want you to give that $100". With tears falling down her face, she gave the last $100 she had. She didn't know how she would be able to keep her children alive, all she could do was pray. When they went back home, her son turned on the water faucet and clean water came pouring out. 

This story shows that when you sacrifice, God will provide you with more than what you need. Through sacrifice, miracles can happen. This lady loved God more than the security of her family. When you put God first in your life, he will take care of everything. 

It's never the amount that matters, but the cost and sacrifice from the giver that counts. Someone could give the church $1000 and another give $1. Its easy to just see the amount, but you don't know if that person who gave $1 only had $100 in her bank account. When someone wants to give to the lord, don't stop them from giving because you could be stopping the great blessing that the Lord is about to give to that person. 

If God ever calls you sacrifice, prepare for a great blessing to come! 

REFERENCE: Mark 12:41-44

⁴¹ Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. ⁴² But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
⁴³ Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ⁴⁴ They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”