Two Extremes

“There are two extremes in this and both of them are just that, extremes. There are men over here who have no knowledge of the Word whatsoever and they claim to be led of the Spirit. And the spirit that is leading them contradicts the Word. We know that is false.

But then there are men who say, “We will have nothing of that.” And everything is just a proposition and a figuring out and correct exegesis and that is all. And the know nothing of being led and directed by the Spirit of God who will sometimes make men do unusual things to accomplish his end, never things that contradict Scripture, but nonetheless unusual things.

We must be in the Word and grounded in the Word. We must also cry out for the Spirit to reveal God’s will through his Word, but we must be sensitive in all things to follow Him, not only to start our journey into the wilderness, but to be led throughout the wilderness by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

- Excerpt from Paul Washer‘s Sermon, “Pray And Be Alone With God”

Spiritual Atomic Bombs!

They overcame him [the devil]

by the power of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony;

they did not love their lives so much

as to shrink from death.

-Revelation 12:11

It's always an interesting experience going back to our old diaries or journals. A lot of times, i'm sure we embarrass ourselves or wince thinking about everything that happened. But, at the end of the day, I think we all come to a point where we become thankful for where we are & more sure that God will forever be with us.

I encourage you guys to check out EM's 3 year Anniversary Testimonies. I know everyone that is in EM now may not have been there, but it's a blessing to see how far we've come through God's grace. One of Israel's greatest sins was forgetting everything God had done for them. Let's not do the same!

http://picasaweb.google.com/tobibobes/EM3rdYearAnniversary?feat=directlink

Now let's blow up some demonic strongholds!

That big project.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28

Prayer is what makes this Christian walk ______.

a. difficult

b. easy

Prayer seems tiring sometimes. There are so many needs around us, and every day brings new challenges. Eventually, the idea of wrestling through all of the issues is so dreary that we just put off our time in the prayer closet. It's like we have a huge grocery shopping list in front of us, and we don't want to have to carry all of that, so we procrastinate. Prayer ends up being a burden that we dread. But remember, God is not out to dump all of His peoples' problems on us once we come to meet with Him. God doesn't burden our backs; time with Him, the Bible tells us, is refreshing. It's that time that, after a long day of being pummeled by the difficulties of everyday life, we can spend with our Healer. If ever you become weary of praying, and look for distractions to run from the prayer closet, examine the way you perceive prayer, and the way you perceive God. It may be that one [or both] of them has wandered from the truth. God wants to take our burdens and worries away, so that we can focus fully on Him. Then, we will see clearly to pray effectively. Then, prayer will become at once joyful service and profound, life-giving intimacy for and with Him.

Giving All

Christ says ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.’ -C.S. Lewis

Not to claim I've arrived in giving my all but things are put into perspective when I know God isn't looking for me per se but to eventually see His Son in me. That there's nothing I can do to become like Christ because I simply can't in my own strength or understanding. Only the supernatural can give birth to the supernatural. However, that doesn't mean I wait until something happens but living each day wanting Christ to live in me and allowing Himself to form within me by obeying and heeding His voice.

Opportunities for Christ

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." - 2 Corinthians 4:8-10

This verse was spoken to us during the prayer meeting this past Tuesday. It didn't make much sense to me at first; I understood the first two verses... but the last verse about carrying around death in our body so that life might be revealed... didn't really click. But I just realized that God clarifies what He meant later in the same letter:

"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 on me." - 2 Corinthians 12:9

Why do we need so many humblings? Why do we need so many valleys? These struggles are God's way of showing us our weaknesses. And He doesn't do it just for the sake of rubbing it in our faces; it is when we realize what we cannot do on our own that we look to God for grace. There are so many hardships in the Christian walk-- many that nonbelievers do not have to endure. But God's grace is sufficient for His people! Every weakness, fear and pressure is a venue for God's grace to prove sufficient.

Let's even rejoice that we are deemed worthy of such suffering, that God would provide so much opportunity for Christ to be revealed. God's grace is sufficient for you!

Ray Comfort on Abortion

http://www.180movie.com/

Prayer Meetings

I just started to read a book entitled, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, the head pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle and something got my attention while reading it. It's the story of how Brooklyn Tabernacle came to be the Brooklyn Tabernacle we all know it to be today. It really began with Pastor Cymbala emphasizing on the Tuesday Night Prayer Meetings they would have where they would just come to pray and to simply cried out to God. Before this, the church was struggling and Pastor Cymbala was not sure what else to do but God impressed upon him to just cry out to Him and He will take care of the rest. And so they did and God began to work. In the book, Charles Spurgeon is quoted to explain the reason behind this:

The conditions of the church may be very accurately gauged by its prayer meetings. So is the prayer meeting a grace-ometer, and from it we may judge of the amount of divine working among a people. If God be near a church, it must pray. And if he be not there, one of the first tokens of his absence will be a slothfulness in prayer.

So this started to make me think of how I viewed our prayer meetings and whether it was something of utmost importance or just of drudgery and routine. Do I see it as the lifeline of our church or just a gathering to feel good after I've done my duty? The way that God moved through this simple act of faith by Pastor Cymbala really challenged the way I viewed prayer meetings because I would fall into the second category a lot of the times because it seemed so hard and I wanted to just get it over with. But to see God so willing to work in those who are obedient to pray, I wanted to see God do that in our church especially when I meet others to pray.

Hungry for something ...

Our nature hungers for God even when it broke with Him long ago, perhaps the more intensely the longer ago it was. It experiences a sort of famine. But the devil rides it and spurs it on, to distract it from its own need. he changes its hunger into haste. That is why people today are in such a hurry. Their speed is to distract their hunger. -Louis Evely

Do we feel the hunger pains? Or are we finding constant distractions to alleviate the striking pangs that come our way. As Tozer puts it, the world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God, and the Church is famishing for want of His presence. The cure is simple. It is the experienced fullness of God. In that moment, when all anxieties of tomorrow and whirlwind of voices subside, then we are satisfied. It is no longer broken. He has repaired us together.

"Like the blind we grope along the wall,
feeling our way like men without eyes.
At midday we stumble as if it were twilight;
among the strong, we are like the dead.

See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
and His glory appears over you.

you will drink deeply
and delight in her overflowing abundance." (Isa)

"Blessed are those whose strength is in You,

who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs;

the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion." - Psalm 84: 5-7

I believe these verses speak one message: "God will give you the strength to seek Him, if you will do so with all of your heart." It makes the intentions of the believer so clear: he has set his desire on God, and he will follow through with this journey by the grace of God. Even when they pass through a place of dryness and tribulation, by the time they are through, it will be a blessing. But what I love the most is verse 7: to go from strength to strength... it doesn't say from strength to weakness to strength to weakness again, repeat.... It says strength to strength. I sure don't feel like I go from strength to strength all the time... yet the Bible contradicts that, which means only one thing: the things that I perceive to be stumbles and weaknesses are being used by God to be made into strengths. But it's not just for the sake of being strong. These things are happening because God is making sure that I will appear before Him in Zion; not only when I die and am taken to heaven, but in this life. This is my confirmation that God is working everything out in such a way that when I look back, I will see a series of quickenings and disciplines that led me to see Jesus in the here and now.

Let's be "confident of this: "[We] will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." (Psalm 27:13)

Examining & Controlling the Heart’s Desires

JESUS:
My son, you will have many things to learn which you have not yet fully grasped.

DISCIPLE:
What things, Lord?

JESUS:
You must conform ALL your desires to My good pleasure and stop loving yourself, and earnestly desire that My will be done.

You frequently burn with desires that powerfully impel you to action, but what is the motive behind your actions? Is it My honor or is it your own self-interest? If I be the motive, then you will be satisfied with whatever I decide for you; but if it be your own self-interest, then this is what puts the brake to your progress and slows you down.

2. Therefore, be careful not to rely too heavily on your own desires without first consulting Me. You may later on find that you are sorry and displeased with what once pleased you and what you once thought the better thing to do.

Not every desire that seems good has to be carried not, nor is everything feeling contrary to your desires to be avoided. Even in good desires and endeavors it is sometimes necessary to hold yourself back; otherwise, overeagerness may result in dissipation of energies. At the same time, your lack of self-control may give offense to others and their opposition, in turn, may dishearten you and cause you to give up.

3. You sometimes have to resort to strong measures and manfully go against your sense appetites, disregarding what your flesh wants or does not want, and endeavor to subject it, though unwilling, to the spirit. The flesh has to be chastised and held down until it learns to give obedience in all things, to be satisfied with little, happy with what is simple, and not grumble about any physical discomfort.

.....................................................

I read this chapter in Thomas a Kempis' book The Imitation of Christ and it really made me examine the motives of my own heart. Is everything I do, say, and act upon really for God's honor and glory, or is it in my own self-interest? Kempis says, "if it be your own self-interest, then this is what puts the brake to your progress and slows you down." This is exactly how I feel sometimes. I feel stunted, stagnant, and spiritually starving. I'm still in the race, but I feel like i'm crawling, dragging myself along the narrow road instead of running with endurance. I believe God will still use and speak to the struggling believer, but I want to be more effective & grow daily in Christ.

It made me think of Jesus' life here on earth. He always consulted His Father before doing anything and selflessly did His Father's will. Consequently, the people around Him were healed & full of hope. You look at His ministry here on earth, and even as He's the Intecessor in heaven, and it's a ministry of building up and breathing life into the broken and dead.

I mean, the title of the book says it all, no? This is the way to imitate Christ. We must examine our heart's desires, but also need to ask the Lord to try to reins of our hearts to put them under His submission.

Lord, we have many things to learn which we have not yet fully grasped. But, give us teachable hearts and a spirit of understanding. Give us the courage and strength to see the truth in ourselves so that we can turn and follow You. It's not in our nature to want the things of God, this is a supernatural working of your Holy Spirit. So, fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we may obey and serve You selflessly.

Home-Sickness

When I was in Korea for a week, I missed everything. From American bathrooms to hamburgers, to home and just knowing where I was. I'm a type of person who likes to know where they are, whether it be a city name or just knowing I'm heading north, south, east or west but in Korea, my sense of direction was completely off. So when I finally knew I was on my way to the airport to go back home, I was excited to know that I was heading in the right direction..that is I was going back home to New York.

But these thoughts crossed my mind while I was slowly approaching the airport, "Why do I want to go home so much?" I did miss things that could only be found at home but I started to ask myself, "Why do I want to leave so badly?" Simply, because Korea wasn't my home. This wasn't the place I was meant to be in. If I had to live in Korea, sure I could survive because it had the things I need to live but I did not belong there. My life was in New York.

I couldn't help but connect this to Narnia because C. S. Lewis does a great job portraying this sense of not belonging and desire for home in The Horse and His Boy. This is similar to the longings within all of us for heaven but I started to realized it was actually for the presence of God. I think we often get confused with what heaven is suppose to be because we see it portrayed with pictures of clouds, angels, a lot of light and halos but heaven is simply being in the presence of God for eternity. That here on earth, as we spend time in His presence, the longing for heaven grows because we get a taste of it and know what it will be like. And just like when I was in Korea and wanted to be back home, so will we start seeing we weren't meant to live here on earth but we were meant to be in heaven, in the presence of God.

I'll finish this post by borrowing something else from C. S. Lewis: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy because they were there to arouse, to suggest the real thing. That real thing is heaven.”

Prayer & Faith

Faith is more than belief. The devils believe and tremble, but they do not trust. Faith is TRUST. It is not an opinion, not a fiction, not a supposition. Faith is a faculty of vision, a process of verification, an assurance of knowledge, a logic of life. Faith demands an honest and impartial mind, a pure and disinterested motive, a loyal and steadfast obedience. This is the faith that works to the justification of the ungodly, the sanctification of the unholy, and to the mighty power that prevails in prayer. -Samuel Chadwick

Guest Speaker - Basil McLaren

These are the links from the message today:

• Covenant Seminary
• Reformed Theological Seminary
• The SBS Podcast

Also, if you guys want to keep in contact with Basil his email is basilmclaren@gmail.com

Life of the Body

The Presence of the Spirit is vital and central to the work of the Church. Nothing else avails. Apart from Him wisdom becomes folly, and strength weakness. The Church is called to be a "spiritual house" and a holy priesthood. Only spiritual people can be its "living stones," and only the Spirit-filled its priests. Scholarship is blind to spiritual truth till He reveals. Worship is idolatry till He inspires. Preaching is powerless if it be not a demonstration of His power. Prayer is vain unless He energizes. Human resources of learning and organization, wealth and enthusiasm, reform and philanthropy, are worse than useless if there be no Holy Ghost in them. The Church always fails at the point of self-confidence. When the Church is run on the same lines as a circus, there may be crowds, but there is no Shekinah (Glory of God). That is why prayer is the test of faith and the secret of power. The Spirit of God travails in the prayer-life of the soul. Miracles are the direct work of His power, and without miracles the Church cannot live. The carnal can argue, but it is the Spirit that convicts. Education can civilize, but it is being born of the Spirit that saves. The energy of the flesh can run bazaars, organize amusements, and raise millions; but it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that makes a Temple of the Living God. The root-trouble of the present distress is that the Church has more faith in the world and the flesh than in the Holy Ghost, and things will get no better till we get back to His realized presence and power. The breath of the four winds would turn death into life and dry bones into mighty armies, but it only comes by prayer.

-Samuel Chadwick

David Livingstone (Missionary)

Thoughts on the life of David Livingstone by Leonard Ravenhill

“In Scotland, nine miles out of Glasgow, there’s a great big house, a national memorial to David Livingstone. In it there is a model that shows the room where he died, where for years and years he prayed. It’s like some of those houses in India that are made of bamboo and leaves woven in. And there he is, kneeling over a bed, if you can call it that—two bamboo rods with some leaves on it—and a candle flickering there. They said every night he would kneel at that bed and you would hear him crying with his hands raised, “God, when will the wound of this world’s sin be healed?”
He fought the Portuguese slave traders. He did many, many marvelous things. Why? Because he had a Gethsemane of his own. His precious wife died and he buried her in the jungle. And the baby she bore died. He buried the child at the side of its mother. Another child he had died—he buried that one.
But the grief didn’t change his zeal for God. It added fuel to the fire. “The devil’s trying to rob me. The devil’s trying to hinder me.” And he worked with greater zeal. He prayed more than ever he had prayed. They said that night after night his voice would echo through the forest, “Oh God, when will the wound of this world’s sin be healed?”
Dear God! all our pastors are concerned about is adding one or two members! Or getting another bus to bring the people in! I say again, there can be no revival without travail.”

Living Seed

Living Seed is a workshop open to anyone who hungers to know the Truth.

If you have any questions, or would like to join us, please leave a comment, or email me at behwangish@gmail.com

Worshippers

This is a quote from Pastor David Wilkerson's Daily Devotional for today:

Worshippers of God are made during dark stormy nights. And how we respond to our storms determines just what kind of worshippers we are.