Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

Today the Lord spoke to my heart about waiting for God to renew my strength. I have been crying out to him to restore me and renew me, but I need to wait. I don't like this season of dryness. I want to be passionate for Jesus Christ. He is so glorious and I am so blind. I have been noticing that I have not been completely satisfied in Him and I am starting to seek other things to satisfy me, whether it be sports, reading, my education, etc. I got to preach to myself today as I was teaching sunday school: "Only God can satisfy our souls eternally." Teach me what that means Lord. How do I rest contented in you. Satisfy me with your steadfast love and lead me in your paths. "Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways."

How to fight for Joy

1. Make time to read the Bible, schedule it. Write it on my google calender. Noon day memorization, night time meditation of learning to be still. Be a farmer and sow, God causes the growth

2. Memorize Scripture and love it more than fine gold.

3. Wait upon the Lord to renew my strength.

4. Be still before God and just listen to His word.

5. Know that Jesus already accomplished my redemption at calvary, and believe it by faith.

I haven't blogged in awhile, and I need to start being disciplined in this. I have been praying that God would make me whole. These past few months have been a dry spell and a season of darkness for me. I have caught the "martha" syndrome of serving, and its been taking a toll on my spiritual life. Reading at some points have become burdensome to me. I just have to remind myself that Christ has done all the work, and I need to rest in his finished work. I cannot anything to his gospel and God does not accept me on the basis of my service, but through the death and resurrection of his son. I need to see the beauty of Jesus Christ again, PLEASE HOLY SPIRIT, magnify CHRIST ONCE AGAIN in my life. Help me rest in Him and help me lean on Him.

I have also been hardened by my sin towards my brother. I praise the Lord for church members who can call you out on your sin. I have to be more Christ-like towards my brother. Jesus did not retaliate when on the cross. I retialiate when I am being revilved, and this is not good. Help me change in this as well Lord.

I was also blessed by the funeral service. It is better to be at the house of mourning than the hosue of pleasure. You see the reality of death, however, Christ has conquered the grave. Hope becomes so real when you are faced with death. I praise God for how the DeGuzman family is dealing with their loss. God is a God of hope and comfort. That funeral service also teached me to love my mother and father while they are still alive. Honor your father and mother. Tita Lily told me to treasure them, good sound godly wisdom.

If anything I want right now, is to be whole again. I have been seeking satisfaction in other things, and I want to taste again the goodness of the Lord. I need to persevere through this dark dry season and wait upon the Lord to renew me. God, help me. Renew me. I keep praying this, and I hope to see a change and revival in my life. Give me a renewed passion to serve you and love you with JOY, not DUTY. Its been dutiful and I have lost sight of my rest in You. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

Religious Affections
True religion consists of proper affections and love for God. The main theme I learned from Edwards is that true religion consists of OBEDIENCE to God. More than that, it is a grateful obedience to God. The devil and his angels know theology, but they do not love God and worship him. I praise God for the puritans and am thankful for their insightful wisdom.

1 Kings 1-2
David dies and Solomon succeeds the throne. The main meditation that I was thinking over was David's farewell speech to Solomon. He tells him to follow the Lord wholeheartly.

“I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, 3 and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4 that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack [1] a man on the throne of Israel.’

Men of God follow the Lord, keep his statues, his commandments, and testimonies. God is faithful to his promises. Teach me your statues!

Today, I receieved an unexpected email. I didn't make a deadline, but the Lord is teaching me to trust his provision. God is faithful and will meet my needs. I am done with school for the summer and feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I need to focus more on the local church and focus on praying more to see God move. We are utterly dependent on God's Spirit. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit would bring sanctification and revival in the people.

Prayer meeting
It is always a blessing to go to prayer meeting. I love singing the hymns that are so rich with theological truths. On top of that, everyone is off key so it makes me feel comfortable singing and makes me laugh that i ll have a glorified voice in heaven. Bea shared that I was a blessing to her in teaching Sunday School. That really blessed my heart because normally those kids drive me crazy when I teach them. It reminds me that my labor is not in vain, and the Lord reminded me to keep being faithful with the little things and he will give me greater responsibilites in the future.

1. All of us have to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ

2. Labor to find ways to communicate the gospel of the cross that it will become culturally asccebible to our people

3. Demonstrate servanthood in our pluralistic society so that people may see servanthood and uniqueness are compatabile.

4. Keep the evangelism central. There is a storm coming of God's judgment and eternal hell, and Christ is the only way of salvation.

1. Anything that satisfies me that is not God is idolatry. Lately, I have been trying to find my satisfaction in education. This is a danger that I face. The prestige of degrees, titles, awards, of being an academic can be worldly if it is not taken under an eternal perspective. Also, God will not look at my Phd or masters degree in heaven, but he look if I found my complete satisfaction in Jesus. I need to rid myself of this worldly mindset.

2. Great Christians have eternity in their mind and see the shortness of our temporary existence on earth.

3. When unbelievers see us do gospel-centered social work, they cannot slander us and misconceptions get destroyed.

4. There should be a boldness for the truth that is undergirded by humility and servanthood. This is powerful witness for the gospel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4NlyZqJhwk

Sin is also considered acts of omission. I need eyes to see.

This prop 8 stuff is serious. I just watched a video called "not all traditions are worth keeping" that attacked Prop 8. It's main point was that if we are going to keep traditions, we are going to have to keep (1) chastity, obedience (2) Lords having sex virgin (3) Stoning the adulterer found in Leviticus.

I was shocked. First of all, that Leviticus passage has to deal with ancient Israel. Second, the main point of those codes was to illustrate the absolute holiness of God because God dealt with Israel. What about chastity? Isn't it a loss of freedom to wait? I do not think so. It is actually freedom to wait. Those who have given into sex before marriage seem to lose interest in each other after marriage because the excitement is gone. I remember reading something saying how at a honeymoon, some resort had to get as many activities to occupy the newlyweds because they were bored with one another and had premarital sex before marriage. Our culture is infested with wrong ideas. I need to learn how to think about approaching these issues and start calling them out for what they are! False ideas! However, I need to learn how to approach these issues with love.