SVCA Thomas Announcement 12/9/13

16 days until CHRISTMAS!! :) Hope everyone is excited and if we pressure her enough, maybe Jocelyn will make us some of her baked goodies!

Hollering at Mrs. Virginia "Mochi mama"  Ng & Jocelyn "jojo" Chen. Happy Birthday! We jump for joy because you guys are in our lives. No need to mask who you are, because we love you for you.

EVENTS

12/12/13 - Small Group. Pastor Nancy, David, Johnny and Hao will be leading us in a review of Peter. Please bring your sermon notes for review. Josh will be leading us in worship. Melissa and Jaclyn will be cleaning. Free dinner starts at 7 PM, Bible Study starts at 8 PM. Like always, please be accountable to our group and excuse yourself if you cannot attend! :) Gracious.

12/15/13- English Service begins at 9:30 AM in the El Shaddai room. Come quiet your hearts in prayer at 9:15 AM.

12/21/13 - SAVE THE DATE for our Thomas Christmas Outreach.Jesus is the reason for the season! Share the good news of Jesus with your friends at our gospel meeting led by our very own Kevin Tung. Our group never plans anything in advanced so YOU KNOW this will be good! This is so special that it deserves a separate email. Look out for the details and info later this week.

12/27/13 - SAVE THE DATE NUMERO DOS. Thomas Christmas party will be on this Friday, in place of Thursday small group. Still working out the details, but if you're in town, reserve the date for potluck, games, Christmas karaoke, White Elephant etc. This deserves it's own separate email too so look out for that!

12/31/13 - Annual Year-End Thanksgiving, Prayer and Unlimited Hot Pot. Yes, that's right you read it right. Prayer. :)

1/3/14 - 1/4/14 - SVCA New Years Conference; Equip the Saints for Work of Ministry. Start signing up for the conference next Sunday. prayer + transformation = a good new years!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

December is the Month of Praise.

I had a blessed time reading last month's Thanksgiving verses. Let the blessings continue into December by learning how to PRAISE God, through the good and the bad. Brother Chi-cheng will be blogging (our church is so high tech! My mom doesn't even know how to use a webcam) all the verses for December aqui.

For away-ers

If you were not here this past Sunday... 1) We missed you 2) Please send Arthur gege (arthurrchen@gmail.com) your address so we can send some love your way :D 

Thomas Blog - http://svcathomas.blogspot.com/

Just a reminder that we have a Blog dedicated to Thomas group that is "updated" (and I use that term quite loosely) by our at home Thomas.  This blog was started with the hope of encouraging each other bymarking down our major milestones God is taking us through at the present time. If you would like to post and share what God is doing in your life, just let me know and I'll add you on as a contributor.

Need prayer? Send them our way!

Please please please, let us pray for you!! You can reply back to our weekly Thomas announcements and our home team is committed to praying for you during our weekly Bible Study on Thursdays and during our Newman Disciple group on Sundays. Give us a chance to bless you this week! :D

Thomas Announcements 12/2/2013

Welcome to DECEMBER!!

I feel like it was just yesterday when I was writing about MOVEMBER. Now I welcome thee Christmas music into my life. But before that, let's #TBT so some of our favorite "mustaches" of November. See if you can guess who these studly lads are.

Announcements!

1. Please stay for Sunday Service.

We were so excited to see all of our out-of-towner Thomas people! Thanks for coming back and visiting us. Although playing Turkey Bowl, boba runs, food truck dates, late night Settlers, catchphrase and our new fave game HEADS UP (click to view the evidence) are all top notch fun, the one thing that can't be beat is worshipping our God together on Sunday :) It reminds me why we are family. I hope that we will always worship together as the young adult body of SVCA.

2. For away-ers

If you were not here this past Sunday... 1) We missed you 2) Please send Arthur gege (arthurrchen@gmail.com) your address so we can send some love your way :D 

3. Small Group 12/5/2013

Pastor Nancy will be leading a special topic: "Walk in the Spirit" at the Glenmoor house this Thursday. Melissa and Herman will be leading worship, David and Hao will be cleaning. Dinner starts at 7 PM, Bible Study begins at 8 PM. Please reply to me only if you are NOT coming. If you need the address, please reply to me only. 

4. December is the Month of Praise.

I had a blessed time reading last month's Thanksgiving verses. Let the blessings continue into December by learning how to PRAISE God, through the good and the bad. Brother Chi-cheng will be blogging (our church is so high tech! My mom doesn't even know how to use a webcam) all the verses for December aqui.

5. Thomas Gospel Meeting - Saturday 12/21/13

Jesus is the reason for the season! Share the good news of Jesus with your friends at our gospel meeting led by our very own Kevin Tung. Our group never plans anything in advanced so YOU KNOW this will be good! Please be on the look-out for opportunities to serve! Let's be done with the attitude of "I'll do it if no one else does it" and start saying "God is worth it!".

6. SVCA New Years Conference; Equip the Saints for Work of Ministry - 1/3/2014 - 1/5/2014

Start signing up for the conference next Sunday. Hot pot + prayer + transformation = a good new years! 

7. Thomas Blog - http://svcathomas.blogspot.com/

Just a reminder that we have a Blog dedicated to Thomas group that is "updated" (and I use that term quite loosely) by our at home Thomas.  This blog was started with the hope of encouraging each other bymarking down our major milestones God is taking us through at the present time. If you would like to post and share what God is doing in your life, just let me know and I'll add you on as a contributor.

8. Need prayer? Send them our way!

Please please please, let us pray for you!! You can reply back to our weekly Thomas announcements and our home team is committed to praying for you during our weekly Bible Study on Thursdays and during our Newman Disciple group on Sundays. Give us a chance to bless you this week! :D

Our Prayer Requests 2/2

Hi my friends. Sorry it took me a week to post these! Some of these have updated statuses. Keep praying though, even your 1-minute prayers really can change the course of our situations!

Jaclyn:
Driving test last Friday. (She updated me that she didn't pass, but it's OK! The person who was teaching her was a little mean and had a soft voice so she couldn't hear his directions. But we're hoping she gets a new teacher.)
Her parents are buying a new house. It's a tough market out there, but as always God will provide.

David
Job interview last Friday. (It went really well! They seem to all like him, and the work culture there is so much better than where he's at now. They've called him in for a 2nd interview, just tryna schedule it in!)

Melissa
Was gonna pull an all-nighter last Wednesday. (I don't know why I convince myself I can still do these. I've learned that no matter how strong a coffee is, if I'm tired then I can't fight it. And there's no such thing as "just closing my eyes for 5 minutes".)

Herman
Was about to get sick. (He and Virginia both ended up getting really sick and had to miss work. You know it's really bad when you gotta miss church too!.There is something going around! Take dem Emergen-C's) 

Josh
School has been really tough on him. It's no fun at all. He's having to balance this on top of work and ministry, and it takes a lot of effort from him each week. He's not sure if this major is what he wants to do. Pray that He will know God's guiding presence each moment each day.

Annie
Hasn't been able to sleep very well lately. She also found out that her job at Any Mountain was only seasonal, so she's trying to decide if she should take this opportunity to rest and focus on school, or keep looking for a job so she has income.   

Arthur
Still looking for a new job. It has been a while now, and it can be discouraging to feel stuck at a job you have to go to every day. But let's pray that he keeps trusting that God will open up some doors and show His faithfulness. 

A walk around the building with God

[Today I spent time with God in the morning. Wrote stuff in my journal that I'm pretty sure He's trying to tell me from Numbers 9-12, today's reading. It didn't make sense at the time. I'm afraid my time with Him is becoming routine when there is no life to what I read in His Word. It has become "doing devotions", a term I don't like at all...when I exclusively spend time with my husband, I don't call it "doing marriage", I call it "date night", so why does spending time with God need to sound so robotic and impersonal? Side rant. Even if no one reads this anymore, thought I'd share what I wrote in my journal when I finally gave God a chance to speak by stopping what I was doing which seemed so important, my homework. Took a walk around the building and let Him turn His WORD from this morning's passage into words straight into my life.]

"Following you where you lead and stopping where you stop is FREEDOM. Right now CONTROL defines my life. I need to know ahead of time what plans are. I try to change others myself. I compartmentalize everything - my time, my roles, my relationships, even my relationship with you gets put in a box. 'God time is @ 6 am and 10 pm.' Today you said that praise and worship to you is anywhere...you ALWAYS deserve it.

My need to control is out of fear of being irresponsible and disorganized. It's an "unproductive busyness", day after day of catching up on tasks that I still didn't get done. Some, after almost a year of being put off! (hello, thank you cards.) So if my control isn't working, it's not producing fruit, hence it's REALLY unproductive and points to the real issue. It's beyond me, so really I'm trying to control what's out of my control. If plans just so happen to change, not cool. How can I ever live in faith like this?

So this is where you REIGN in all your glory. I know it seems like a minor issue, compared to Christ in all His fullness, but Christ in His fullness is Christ being all and in all. Just like the song stood out to me this morning, "My heart and my soul...I give you control...Consume me from the inside out Lord..."

CONSUME ME is my prayer. That you would kill every part of me that isn't you so I can let YOUR life and YOUR Spirit reign. What I tend to make so relevant that's REALLY irrelevant are my weakness, lackings, insecurities, people's opinions, even my strengths...when what is more TRUE and REAL is your life in me through your Spirit. **My true blessings are in Jesus Christ. I now have strength to OVERCOME things I cannot myself. Your promised Spirit of the glorified Jesus Christ, in all His fullness and richness, now dwells within me.** [Taken from sermon 2/10/13] Now THAT'S REAL. THAT'S RELEVANT. THAT'S TROOF. :]

So giving up control doesn't mean being irresponsible and disorganized. It's turning to you in all things to take control. And that includes my husband. I trust that you will be the one to overcome the bondages in our lives, in our marriage. You overcome my need to nag and tell him what's right/wrong, good/bad, what he should/shouldn't do because ultimately you have the power. As you said today, "Is the Lord's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you" (Numbers 11:23). And you always prove yourself true and right.

Ultimately it is YOU who will fight our battles. I'm not in this alone, even though it feels that way sometimes. (I feel ya, Moses.) It's a beautiful thing to be KNOWN by you. You know what's really going on in my deepest thoughts and in my heart. You even know the pain that's long been buried. I never need to explain myself. You just know. You are with me and you don't leave me alone. You even send me people in my life, although they don't compare to your unconditionality in love, mercy, and grace.

It is you who will show me that TRUE FREEDOM is not holding back. Since you know me inside and out, why should I hold back from you with other people? You've shown me that humility, true humility, has nothing to do with my place in comparison with people. It has everything to do with YOU. This relationship with you. If I know my place before you, I'll definitely know my place before people, especially those you've called me to lead.

That's another area to to learn from you. To learn how to follow your lead in my ministry. I think I am, but how can I when I limit it to the office, on Tu-Fri, @ 9 am, and maybe 3 pm if I'm not busy at the time? But this is really the lightest burden to carry, as long as I understand my role and place before you. Of course you are in the business of putting your Spirit upon your church! I'm just your assistant, the little Joshua of Moses who doesn't know any better. I ain't no expert. Sometimes I wish I didn't have the "youth experience" background so people don't put that pressure on me, or I put on myself. I'm sure you just don't think about them twice a day. That's another thing that makes this job unique - it's not a 9-5 job even though it looks like it. (I trust you will show me the boundaries too right? But I'm nowhere near there!) My desire is not to treat this job as: "showing the parents/church what I can bring to this ministry", but rather: "I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!" (Numbers 11:29)

So in my desire to receive true blessings from you and being transformed in the fullness of Jesus Christ, let me remember to BE a blessing by turning to you as the true Redeemer and Savior in all my relationships.

Turning to you in all things is TRUE REST and FREEDOM. I didn't realize the fullness of this truth until I took time to walk with you today. There's a reason why you spoke to me about this, and I never would've discovered it if I didn't take time to listen to you."

[Today's topic on Oswald Chambers' "Utmost": "The Discipline of Hearing"]

"The goal of my spiritual life is such close identification with Jesus Christ that I will always hear God and know that God always hears me. If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God all the time through the devotion of hearing. A flower, a tree, or a servant of God may convey God's message to me. What hinders me from hearing is my attention to other things....
If I have not developed and nurtured this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God's voice at certain time. At other times, I become deaf to Him because my attention is to other things - things which I think I must do..."

[So if you've gotten this far, thanks for letting me share my journal entry with you, a very personal part of me, but I pray you take time today to get your attention off of doing other things, even "doing devotions", and really take time to listen to Him. His Spirit is already in you, and you don't need to do anything more than expect to hear Him in faith. He will speak into your life the words you really needed to hear.]

Late.....AGAIN

You all know me well enough to know that I am always notoriously LATE. This has gone way back to my elementary school days. One time I begged my mom to let me be absent from school because I started an art project too late - making a catholic calendar with mosaic, stained glass, painted pictures of mary/saints/Jesus. It had to be perfect. My perfectionism didn't let me turn in any of my art projects because they weren't good enough. So in 5th grade I got an F in art for not turning anything in, even though I did all of them! And when my big Samoan classmate saw my report card, he shouted it out to everyone that I FAILED in art! Traumatized fo life mang.

Anyways! You get the point. I have a problem with being on time. YES you may have reading in my recent posts that I've been able to get up early with God's grace. The only times I have is when I've blogged about it, so that's like 2 times! On the real though, I have a hard time waking up early. In high school I had to take guarana pills to keep me awake at school. So this morning David called me at almost 10 to see if I wanted donuts, and I was still at home even though my work starts at 10. He called me out on my habit of being late for work. And he was right in saying that I'm actually okay with that. So naturally, I got all kinds of defensive and pointed back at him that HE was late for work sometimes too. And that I don't appreciate him calling me out and ruining my morning. It's just that one thing about me I KNOW I'm weak in and I hate that part about myself. After the Lord knocked some sense into me and showed me my wrong (double call-out), I apologized. Still feeling a little indignant, I was going to add something like, "I just don't like it when people call me out on my character, like 'you're ALWAYS late..that's who you are'". But it's not their problem! It's my own. If I let Christ be my life, even in this area, I'd never be late. Obviously if people say that, they still see my old-self Melissa in me.

Well since it's one of those things I'm known for, God taking over this weakness would really be a testimony to Him. More than just self-improvement, I need to let the main reason for Him taking over is that His glory, his character, his presence in me is displayed. God is never late. His timing is ALWAYS perfect. I came to a desperation point about this same thing over a year ago, and it makes me upset that this issue is still the same. So as I was driving to work, reflecting on this and talking with Him, God made a good point:

"If I am really your King, would you honor the appointments we have set together? No matter how early it is, how tired you are, how much sleep you've had, would you show up on time for our appointment?"

Lately, we've been going through knowing Christ as having the SUPREMACY (Colossians 1:15-18). We've been going over this at our retreat, Will talked about Christ being our Lord this past Sunday, and now we're going through Hebrews about Christ being SUPERIOR above all. He is our supreme, superior King, the highest of highest, with the name above all other names, the one who established all thrones and powers and rulers and authorities - who became human to suffer death for us. By His grace, he became the lowest of lows, a cursed and punished human criminal to go through the death sentence that was planned for us. He gave us HIS holiness, HIS glory, HIS righteousness to us for FREE! So naturally He has every right to take authority of our lives, do whatever He wants with us, command us, make decisions for us, interrupt our plans, give and take away, change us, use us, reign over all in our lives, and reign in us as our King. All because He is WORTHY....

But yet, even as I set my alarms for 7:45 am classes on Saturdays, 8:30 worship rehearsals, 1:1 appointments with friends, meetings, etc...when it comes to my King, I treat Him casually like He can wait. I think, "God's always here...I can meet with Him when it's convenient for me." I never see it like He's actually waiting for me first thing in the mornings. But Christ is my KING. He is the King I report to, and when I come to Him to spend quality time with Him, I'm coming before His throne of grace. I am subject to Him and I owe Him my life. How could I be late or a no-show to my morning appointments with my King because I'm too tired and think, "That's okay. He can wait until later. He'll still be here right? God's always with me." I wouldn't be late to an appointment that the President sets for me, or even the mayor, or even my boss. Since Christ is superior to all as being the one through whom all rulers, authorities, powers, and thrones were established in heaven and on earth, how can I treat Him as the least of these?

I'm thankful that the Lord put this in perspective for me, but it will take surrender more than discipline. I pray that as I surrender my right to myself and my will to take my time, sleep a little longer, relax for a bit, and even be perfect, Christ can take over and his character will show more and more. Jesus is never late. I pray that our quality time would be all about focusing on Him and letting go of all distractions, giving Him my undivided attention.

I realize that as I write this, I am being held accountable. So hopefully I can willingly yield this weakness to Christ because He is more than sufficient. "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest in me." -2 Cor 12:9.

In all this, I just want to treat Christ as my King, without letting my weaknesses be an excuse. Now that David and I have started a new family, I try to guard our family time by having at least one date night a week. We can get so busy with our ministries, and I'm still trying to not bring youth ministry stuff home with me. Our date night is sacred, and our schedules must work around that. How much more should my quality time with my King be even MORE sacred, guarded, and prioritized?

I encourage you all to treat your quality time with our Lord as "appointments with our King". We need to have a deep reverence and respect for our time with Him. But how awesome is it that Christ has made it possible for us to still "approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16)? As HOLY and SUPREME as He is, He opened the life-giving way to be personal and intimate with Him. What an awesome King we have!

Total submission

Last night before I fell asleep, I was pleading with the Lord to give me enough time to spend with Him in the first parts of my day. Me and David's plans to run at night are failing on us too, so I needed to just get exercise over with in the morning. But it has been awesome to spend unhurried time with the Lord in the mornings, just to be with Him and enjoy Him in the quietness. I didn't want exercise to cut into that. I asked God to wake me up whenever He wanted to in the morning, to give me just enough time to hang out with Him.

Well guess what! He woke me up at 3 am, and I couldn't fall back asleep. At first I was like, "Oh WHAT! I'm going back to sleep." But I couldn't. God was already waiting. So I got up, made coffee and had the best morning evaaaar! He didn't let me doze off or get distracted. He has given me enough energy throughout today. There is nothing like hanging out with Jesus - to recognize you're in the presence of a Holy God, to contemplate on his qualities, to have Him open His Word to you, to be filled and refreshed by His Holy Spirit. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you! (James 4:8)

Today we got the email about Kathy's roommate Venus who asked to come to our next fellowship meeting. How awesome is that! Kathy made the point that God does all the work, and all we have to do is ask. It's so true! There is nothing to small to ask God, even if it has to do with waking you up to hang out with Him. We just gotta trust Him and give Him credit where credit is due! Which is everything!

Please please please make it a priority, schedule it in if necessary, to hang out with Jesus. I liked how during our past retreat, Pastor Brian made so many analogies to his relationship with His wife, as the way we treat Jesus. There is never an excuse of having no time or being too tired. What if your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend said "I can only talk to you for a little because I have to leave for work in 10 minutes. And only I get to talk to you. When I get home from work later, I will be too tired to hang out with you, and I need to relax which doesn't have anything to do with you." Whaaaat??? We were created BY Him and FOR Him. How can we let our lives have nothing to do with Him? All we have to do is ASK. See what happens!

Our King is so awesome. He is above all and existed before time and space. He created all things, including all thrones, powers, rulers, and authorities which makes Him the highest of the highest authority. All things were created FOR Him, and He holds all things together. If He took His hand away or turned his face away, we'd be in complete chaos. But our King who is the highest of highs made himself the lowest of lows. He submitted to His Father's plans and willingly received suffering, isolation, and death. He didn't use His infinite power to stop God's plans, to fight against the soldiers arresting Him, to break the chains they bound Him in, to escape and hide from them, to stop your disciples from leaving Him, to stop the soldiers from mocking and beating Him. He could've stopped all this with one word. No, Christ as our King submitted to His Father, and even as everyone thought they were finally in control, God was still in control, fulfilling all his promises and prophecies. Christ was obedient to death - even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8) And through all this, we, God's enemies, became God's righteousness, and Christ took our place as the criminal to be punished.

Since Christ as the highest of highs became the lowest of lows, letting the Father do whatever He wanted to Him, will we allow Christ to do whatever He wants with us? Or do we still feel entitled to our lives? As if our lives belong to us and are for us? "No servant is greater than His master" (John 15:20). Jesus is our KING. We have a King to bow down to and report to. Let's treat Him as such. Let's give Him every little decision. Let nothing be out of impulse.  "Lord I have free time right now, how do you want me to spend it? Lord I've had such a long week, can I hang out with you to relax? Lord who do you want to bless through me today? Lord feel free to interrupt my day to do your thang." God has everything to do with every little thing - your drives to and from work, your emails, your down time, your laundry, your cleaning, your time catching up with friends, your TV watching, your homework, your exercising, your texts, your teeth brushing, and getting ready for bed at night. How can we allow God to have His way, to be available for His use, in even the most menial ordinary things? Then it will be so natural to let God have His way when the trials come!

submit submit submit submit submit submit submit submit. JESUS IS OUR KING!

"Christ Alone" Retreat 2012!

 an answer to our prayers

 praying with our pastors

 Jesus is in the middle!

one big happy family <3

 2-face

 failed attempt

 sam h. is barely hanging in there - other sam: straight chillin

 looking for their target Clement

 this just looks like a conga line on knees

 before hao faked his injury

 svca cheer squad

 where are jeffrey and sam's feet?

 she believes she can fly

our broke-back model

this lasted 2 seconds

 time for a feet tan

 something's asymmetrical about this

 you can spot the weak link here

 and here

 cheng developing more inspiring quotes

my nostrils flared like a bull seeing red

Just Aks.

Tuesday morning after retreat, it was so hard to get up after such a deep sleep. I wasn't sure whether I had to go to the church office that day. David told me to ask Ellen ayi before leaving just to make sure. But I didn't want to bother her in the morning with my question. So I showed up to work anyway and of course, no one was there. THEN i called and asked Ellen ayi, and it turns out not only did she communicate this to me on Thursday before the retreat, but she had sent out an email to the whole church! I let David have his "I told you so" moment. As I was driving back home, the question kept repeating in my head, "Why didn't I just ASK her?"

I believe God wonders the same question for us all the time. "Why don't you just ask me?" When I don't ask God, it's because I don't believe I will receive from Him, not because I think I'm bothering Him like my fear of bothering Ellen ayi. Well, sometimes yeah I do feel like I'm bothering Him, if I'm asking for small things that don't seem related to God at all - like, me getting out of bed in the morning. But THANK God that not only He knows us, but he makes all things known to us through His Spirit (John 16:13-15). And one aspect He lets us know about Him is that we can be assured that if we ask Him anything in Jesus' name, he will give to us. Why? Because when we ask from God, we demonstrate how much we really trust Him. I struggle with praying, with communicating with God, and I only ask and seem to pray when I'm already desperate.

For example as a new wife, I am learning how to be a helper to my husband - to help my husband be the man God wants him to be. But I have a dilemma: If I confront him about some things and tell Him to live in Christ, I might put pressure on him to change with higher expectations than can be handled at this point. But if I don't say anything and let things go, I might appear to be supportive or not caring at all. So out of desperation, I asked God: "What do I do?" What a comforter He is. He reminded me that there is a way to be proactive without being controlling and self-righteous. By praying for my husband CONSISTENTLY (keyword), I'm letting God do his thing within him so in the end, God gets all the credit, not me. In the end, I can say that God changed him as He has already changed him so far. What I cannot do, God can. But until now, I didn't ask God about this matter at all! So before I can pray for David to truly trust in God, I need to trust God myself.

Far much more than mass murder, the world's greatest sin is refusing to believe in Jesus (John 16:8-9), and our only righteousness is by faith in Jesus. Romans 1:17: "For in the gospel a righteousness in God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'" Our faith is changing all the time, it's dynamic, so we need to get to the point of always trusting in Jesus. Watch out for self-sufficiency. Lately, I've been getting into reading, especially in regards to youth ministry and spiritual leadership. I have to be careful that by gaining more knowledge in these matters, by gaining knowledge about counseling youth through my grad school, that I don't drop my need for God. All of this knowledge added up doesn't compare to what I can receive from God by simply asking Him: "How do you want us to be faithful shepherds to your flock?"

When Jesus was telling his disciples all these things about him having to leave the world, they couldn't understand at first. He said that none of them even asked about it at first (John 16:5), but later they wanted to ask him (John 16:17-18) when they were all confused. And when they finally asked, Jesus didn't add anything more to what he had already been saying, but somehow he opened them up to finally understand Him and believe. What a miracle! Jesus didn't change anything on the outside after they asked, he only changed them from within. Prayer really does open our eyes to see His work, even though the external circumstances appear the same.

Jesus says, we can DIRECTLY ask God, without Jesus having to ask the Father for us. "In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God" (John 16:26-27). We can boldly and confidently come before God the Father himself because we know how the Father really feels about us. He isn't full of wrath towards us anymore, but because of Jesus His love is so ready to give what we ask in Jesus name to bring glory to Himself! (John 15:8).

But remember this before asking our Abba: God loves us because we love Jesus and loving Jesus means obeying His commands (John 14:21,23). We remain in God's love when we obey Him (John 15:10). So we can only ask and expect to receive when we obey His commands (John 15:7). And when we obey God and receive from Him what we ask, we'll experience joy that no one can take away (John 15:11, 16:22, 24). "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete." So on a scale of 1-10 on our life satisfaction levels, we should ALL be at a "Cheng-10" and beyond because the joy Jesus gives us is beyond the temporary happiness this world gives. No situation in our lives should ever be too much to take that joy away. Can we reflect that joy in our lives? We do when we stop complaining and thank God for everything that's right, and the only thing right is in Jesus Christ.

Last note: We always end our prayers with "In Jesus name I pray. Amen." When David and I first started praying together back in the college days, I would just end my prayers with a straight cut-to-the-chase "Amen." David taught me to add "In Jesus' name I pray" before saying "Amen." I had no idea why back then and was like "sure okay.....(those Christians)." Now we say this all the time that it becomes so automatic. But this part should be the climax of our prayer because Jesus is "the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [Him]" (John 14:6). We need to remember that it's only possible for us to talk to God face-to-face because Jesus made the way. He IS the way. Oh how I wish we didn't have the "nose-goes" attitude to talk to God directly. Let us remember that when we pray - Jesus made it possible to speak directly to God and hear directly from God Himself. That was unheard of, until Jesus came.

So in the name of Jesus, to the glory of God, what will you ask Him today???

привет russians!

Wow! I was looking at the stats for our blog today, and found out people in Alaska and Russia have viewed our blog! I'm not sure if they have just stumbled upon our page on accident, but let's hope that the blessings that Jesus gives us are being poured out to bless others around the world. It's already encouraging enough that the Thomas folks away from home are reading our blog, but even more encouraging that Acts 1:8 is being fulfilled! "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth..." And also John 14:12: I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even great things than these, because I am going to the Father." WHAT a blessing it is that Jesus has poured out His Spirit on us, that we can affect the world through his life in us and continue his mission on earth! yay yay yay :)

Today I got a fresh new journal. (Side note: One of my top favorite things in the world is writing my first entry in a brand new journal.) I encourage you to try recording down what God speaks to you and use your journal as a "memorial" of his faithfulness. Just like how Joshua had the 12 stones taken out of the Jordan River when God stopped the river from flowing to let the Israelites pass...."to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever" (Joshua 4:6-7). We so easily forget the amazing things God does among us and slip into complaining, negative mode. But let's remember God's faithfulness and be excited to share the praise reports when we meet together, any day of the week!

Annoyed.

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one that this, that he lay down his life for his friends...This is my command: Love each other." -John 15:9-13, 17

As Christ-followers, one of the most explicit commands we have from Jesus is to "love each other". To HIS standard - as he's loved us. We hear this so much that it becomes like one of those things we brush off as "yeah yeah we know." When it comes to doing God's will, we often struggle with wanting to know what this mysterious will is. We ask, "God, what is your will for my major? What is your will for my college? What is your will for my grad school? What is your will for my career? For my marriage?" Rarely does our God make these answers clear right away, but there is a command he's very clear about. LOVE EACH OTHER.

When you picture Christians loving each other, you get a picture of happy Christians being nice to each other at church, at meetings, hugs, smiles, and handshakes. It's even easier for the "nice" people. I've always been a "nice" person. This isn't me bragging, in fact it is something I'm ashamed of. Jesus wasn't just a nice person - he called the Pharisees "You snakes! You brood of vipers!" (Matthew 23:33). I would've left the name-calling out. First thing Jesus did when he entered the temple in Jerusalem was overturn the tables of the money changers and the benches of the dove-sellers. Reminds me of an episode of Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta when my girl K. Michelle gets in a fight with Karlie, and Karlie starts shaking the table. Or in Real Housewives of New Jersey, when Teresa flips the table at a classy family dinner. Those reality show ladies are def not nice. But Jesus was more interested in being passionate about His Father rather than just being agreeable with everyone.

So for "nice people" like me it seems that the command to love each other is easier than for people with a hot-temper. It's not. Because loving each other isn't about being nice to people, it's "laying down your life" for people in order to bring them closer to Christ. We hold to Christ's standard and we will be judged by Christ's standard (Acts17:31). Pastor Yu reminded us at the retreat that on judgment day, the fire will test all our labor and God will shake all things. Anything in our lives that is not Christ will not last. Only Christ will last. The only kind of love God will accept is the love that found its source in Christ and poured out to others.

Right after this passage, God talks about the world hating us because Jesus chose us out of the world and hated him first. Right after he commands us to love each other, he says the world will hate us. So what I don't understand is this: How are we expected to love a world that hates us and hates Jesus, when we can't even love his church, our family of brothers and sisters???

Yes, in church God COMMANDS us to love people we don't like. I've had and still have my moments where I don't like a brother/sister in Christ because of something they've done. I've let it grow to bitterness/passive-aggressiveness. But I need God to keep me in check to help me keep my thoughts in obedience to Christ. Even if we know we don't like somebody, but keep it to ourselves and don't express it, we need to watch out! Watch out if you think, "Yeah I have my opinion about him/her, but I'm not gonna tell it to their face so it's all good and it won't do damage." James 1:14-15 says, "..each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown gives birth to death."

It sucks to see within our own church that we just "tolerate with each other." Who are the people that you don't get along with? That you find annoying? That you've had the urge to punch in the face? Will you just settle for having your unexpressed opinions about them, but not necessarily to their face? Will you settle for being civil with them when you see them at church, but then vent to other people who will understand your frustrations? If someone is venting to you and joking about this person behind their back, will you settle for joining in the jokes, convincing yourself that it's nothing serious but just for fun? Does this person trigger you because of their sin against God and harm to his church, or because you just don't like their personality? And if the reason is really about sin, are YOU doing anything as their sister/brother in Christ to "restore him/her gently" (Galatians 6:1)?

Jesus calls us to MORE than just that. But we find ourselves saying, "Well that's just my opinion. Can't I just be real about this person? That's just how I feel. Why can't I just do me." The reason why we can't just DO ME anymore is because we are DEAD. All of that has been crucified. To really LIVE OUT CHRIST by his new-life power is to deny your own personal opinions/preferences/feelings about this person and replace that with how Jesus feels about this person. How did Jesus feel about the woman caught in adultery? He said "Then neither do I condemn you...Go now and leave your life of sin." When the other sinful woman wiped Jesus feet with her tears and hair, and everyone else was judging her, Jesus said, "Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little" (Luke 7:47).

So if we want to be serious about loving Jesus, which is basically obeying his commands, and his explicit command is to LOVE EACH OTHER, then let's start with remembering how much, the long uncountable list of sins that gets longer each day, that Jesus forgave us for. We always need to look back at ourselves. If we are finding it hard to love someone, see it as an area where we still need to lay hold of Christ's victory. WE don't need to TRY to love that person, WE need to deny ourselves and let Christ LIVE in us instead. Let's celebrate NOW because Christ's has already won that victory for us, and by partying it up with Jesus we'll show that we believe He already has. Then watch how He'll change us from within.

Let's keep each other accountable for the way we love each other, starting within our own church. Stop with the "just for fun" jokes, stop with the gossiping, stop with the venting. We are talking about God's redeemed children here. Keep this between you and God, unless you are really trying to let this be an area where Christ will take over and need encouragement and prayer from your brothers/sisters. Unless we get past this first step, we can't be expected to lay down our lives for our family in Christ. And unless we give sacrificial love to our own family in Christ, we can't be expected to love a world that hates us.