beyondwhatiswritten-blog

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God is more than enough

As I was reading this little book by Rissa Singson, I came across a phrase that made me think that made me think: "What am I looking for? God was more than enough to fill all my longings and pain. He's all I have ever needed." 

Then I got reminded of this song composed by one of our kuyas in our Youth Ministry. Their band is Building Bridges. You can download the song if you want (I'll put a link below so that you can hear the song). The song was entitled More than enough. This song really reminded me how God is more than enough and how singleness is not a big deal.

So, here's a part of the song. I hope you guys got blessed too.

You are more than enough for me. Your love cover so sweetly. Your grace and Your mercy, I am cleanse by Your blood. All that's within me, use it for Your glory. All that I will be, take it, Lord today.

This is what I have been waiting for all this time. Thank you, Lord. Once again, you spoke to me. Very timely! :D *blessed*

Building Bridges - More than enough

- JECN.2012

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What have we been missing?

Its the 4th of January 2012. I entitled this in relation to what I have to say. Firstly, I have been missing a lot of my 1-year plan of reading the Bible. It was such a terrible thing to miss just because of lack of time. I should never get busy with God and I felt guilty about it. Another thing, just a few hours before logging on to my computer, my father shared a video to me. I'd love to share it to you but I can't find it. (I'll just ask my father)

The movie clip is all about the influence of worldly music to us. It really reminded me of what I have been missing. I admit that I love listening to music and dancing to the beat of it but this just reminded of how I am more closer to worldly music than to worship songs. It reminded me how 99% of the songs in my computer is filled with worldly music and 1% of Gospel songs. It opened my mind of the things unnoticed by the eye but absorbed by the mind. It really became a reminder to me, especially when I heard the message of the song once it was backmasked.

I am also reminded of the symbols like the triangle with the eye on the center (illuminati) and the mark of the beast(666) and also the devil hand sign. We should be aware of everything that is happening around us.

LET US TAKE ONE STEP AWAY FROM THE WORLD AND A STEP CLOSER TO GOD. 

-jecn.2012

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Day 9: Psalms 3-5

Today, I have read Psalms 3-5. It was just a short passage so I had the time to read it again so that I can understand it more. There was this verse in Psalms chapter 3 that speak to me:

6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.

 King David was the one who is speaking in this whole chapter. He has been asking God to save him because he fled from Absalom, his son. On verse 6, he mentioned that he won't be afraid of many people who goes against him.

As I personally know, David is a very brave man. He had an instance where he attacked a lion and a bear during his time as a shepherd. Also, he defeated a giant, Goliath. Now, in this verse, we will see that people around David were going against him. It was not really easy at all to have the Israelites revolve from him but David proved that he would not be afraid. He had faith that God will put him through all this.

Sometimes, in life we will be in a situation where people around us will be against what we say or what we do. They will try to pull you out of what we believe. They will try to convince you of how you should be in side with them. That is normal but a person's instant response to that is to be convinced by what the people around him is telling and go the same way. People tend to be afraid that if they go against them, they will not be his friend anymore. Right? But for all we know, we must not be afraid of standing for what we know is right. We should claim it. If you know and believe God, stand for it. Don't be afraid that you might lose your friends. Just stand for God. Be like David -- UNAFRAID.

     8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. 9 For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.

Another verse that touch me was that, verse 8 and 9 of chapter 5.

If I may compare it to my life, I would say that this verse really speak to me. I am studying in a Catholic school and believe it or not there is so many people I encounter everyday and they all have different personality. Some people belong to the 'good guys' circle. Other preferred to be with the people who are 'easy-going'. Other goes with the group of people who smoke or drink. If one must choose, where will it be?

According to verse 8, we must let the Lord lead us. There is so many paths to take but only God has the ability to guide you so that your paths will be straight. There will come a time where you will meet people who's personality is of destruction. You will encounter people who is full of wickedness and like in verse 9, 'there is no truth in their mouth'. If you be with those people, you'll just put yourself to destruction. You'll just fill yourself with thoughts and doings that will destroy your paths; that will make your path very confusing but if we let the Lord lead, we will surely be filled with righteousness and our paths will be straightened.

- JECN.2011

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Day 8: Joshua 6-10

I've been busy in school today so I don't have much time blogging. I'm so blessed though that I had not much of school work today so I had the time to read Joshua 6-10.

Basically, the chapters that I read is about how God destroyed cities and towns mentioned in the chapters. As I have observed, there were reasons why God would destroyed a certain place. Of course, its not just for fun or for personal gain. God saw the unrighteousness of the people, so He destroyed it using Joshua and the Israelites. They became God's instrument, or maybe more of God's soldier -- people who fight for God.

If we would compare the situations before to what is happening now, can you see the difference? Before, for just one unrighteousness that people did, God destroy them. How about today? There are so much wickedness taking place. What if God is about to destroy our place? Why not make our paths straight and be righteous? Would we want God destroy us or would we want to be part of God's side where God will protect us?

-JECN.2011

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Day 7: Genesis 4-7

Genesis 4-7 is about the generations that followed Adam and Eve. In chapter 4, we see here a story about Cain and Abel.

Cain killed his own brother, Abel. He may not know that God knew that he killed Abel so he denied doing so. Little did he know that God knew that he killed Abel.

If we would take a look at chapter 4, we will see here the ascendants of Adam and Eve. Obviously, they subdue the earth. They began to multiply on the surface of the earth. In the next chapter, we will see how God felt about this people.

God realized how wicked the people at that time was. They were all filled with wrong doings, so God decided that He would destroy them all. Yet, there was this one man named Noah. He found favor in the eyes of the Lord. God used him. He wanted to destroy all the wicked people but God wanted to save Noah, his family and the animals so He instructed him to build an ark.

On verse 7, the ark was now ready for boarding. As God commanded, Noah board with him the creatures together with his wife, sons and son's wives. Then, the rain started and flood came. It rained forty days and forty nights. Imagine how horrifying it is to be in that situation. Forty days and forty nights of rain and flood but God, with the use of the ark saved Noah and his family from this destruction.

-JECN.2011

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Day 6: Romans 3-4

Today's passage is Romans 3 and 4. The chapter focused more on God's righteousness and Him judging us through faith alone. I don't have much time to blog but I'd like to share a verse to you. This particular verse touched me.

20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

The person that these verses are pertaining to is Abraham. As what I already know, Abraham had no son because he's too old to have one and his wife, Sarah is barren. Abraham really wanted to have a son. He wanted it so bad that he keeps on praying for it to God. Soon, God gave him Isaac, but Abraham had to go through the waiting process. He might have come to the point where he was about to give up but according to verse 20, No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God. He eventually believe that God will provide for him a son. Abraham's faith became even more stronger through this waiting.

If I am to compare it to my personal situation, I can say that I can relate myself to Abraham. Sometimes, I want things so bad to the point of wanting it instant. I want it now that I get upset if God won't give it to me. I wanted happiness and relief but just like Abraham, I am going through tough times. I don't get the happiness and relief that I am asking for Him. Why? Sometimes its just so hard to understand why God would allow this kind of things to happen to me but if I will only look at the bigger picture, maybe God is teaching me to wait. Maybe God wanted me, like Abraham, to strengthen my faith and believe that God will do according to what His promise is. I have faith that God will bring happiness to my life. Maybe not now but I now soon. I just have to stick to God and continue to have faith in Him.

I don't need to be upset with God. God has a better plan for me and I know that that plan is the best and perfect for me. I believe it is. I know for sure that God had crafted the very best and perfect plan for me. I'm just holding on. Waiting.

-JECN.2011

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Day 5: Matthew 1-2

Today's passage is Matthew chapters 1 and 2.

Chapter 1 began with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, from Abraham to King David up to Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus. There were over 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus Christ.

Also, Matthew deals with the birth of Jesus Christ. As most of us know, Mary was engaged to Joseph already, he just then found out that Mary was pregnant without them getting married. It was such a disgrace for a woman to bare a child out of the bond of marriage. So to escape this, Joseph proposed a divorce to Mary quietly, but then an angel came to him in a dream saying that the child that Mary is baring is  from the Holy Spirit. The angel said that he must not be afraid to be Mary's wife. The child that Mary has in her womb would be named Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.

And so Joseph did as the angel had told him to do. He took Mary. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem wise men came to Jerusalem. It was King Herod's reign at this point in time so when it came to him that Jesus Christ is born, he was troubled so he searched where Jesus was and he asked the wise men to tell him where he was because he said he wanted to visit the child but all he ever wanted is to kill that child. Yet, the wise men tricked Herod and did not return to him. Upon Herod's temper, he had every male children from Bethlehem who were two years old and under killed. Little did he know that the angel of the Lord warned Joseph that they should move out of Bethlehem because of Herod. They were no longer in Bethlehem so Herod fail to do his plan. But then, when Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph saying that they could now go to Israel but King Archelaus is now on the throne so upon seeing in his dream, Joseph was told to go to Galilee. They lived in a place called Nazareth, and so there after, the prophecy was being fulfilled -- Jesus Christ would be a Nazarene.

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Day 4: Isaiah 1-6

Today, I read the first six chapters of the book of Isaiah. What I've read today was more about people's wickedness and God's judgment. Isaiah 1-6 is such a long passage and I decided to share a part from it.

On chapter 1, I read that this is all about Judah. From verses 2-9, I saw how Judah was desolated. In verse 10-15, I have seen how Judah’s worship had become useless to God. And in the following verse, I learned how Isaiah presented the cleaning of Jerusalem. But here in Isaiah 1, I would like to focus more on verses 16 and 17.

      “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,

     Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.”

In our time today, we could not hide the wickedness of every people. I admit that I sin before God but if I will take a look at what is around me, I will see that the world today is full of wickedness. People steal from churches. People kill their own relatives. People don’t even care if their doing this things. What people has to do today is desolate themselves. Clean ourselves from doing wrong and I mean clean, stop doing those sins again. Refrain from getting involved to it. It won’t do us any good. In fact, Isaiah said, “Learn to do good.” But, it’s not about just learning. It’s about doing what we learn. Doing what is good.

  In chapter 2 to 5, we will see the fall of Jerusalem. We can see here what will happen to them in the day of the Lord. And as I have seen it, it will be more on the revelation of who God really is. God’s power over any other things will be revealed. In verse 17, “And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.” That is how great God is. In the day of the Lord the arrogance of man will be humbled and only He will be exalted. So, it is clearly seen that in the day of the Lord, it is not about us but about Him – how great and powerful is Him.

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Day 3: Psalms 1-2

Good day. I am now on day-3 of my one-year Bible reading. I will now be sharing to you about Psalms 1 and 2. As most of us know, the book of Psalms is the longest book in the Bible. It contains poetry and songs of praise. Most of this verses where written by King David, but still, he is not the only author of the book of Psalms. King Solomon also wrote psalms. Other authors were Asphan, Ethan, Heman, and the sons of Korah. The rest of the authors remained anonymous.

Psalms 1 has 6 verses on it. Here in this chapter we can see the difference of a righteous man from a wicked man. In verses 1-3, the righteous man was described literally and figuratively. Same with the wicked man in verse 4-5. In this chapter we will see who the righteous man are, what do they do and where will there path is leading them too. Also with the wicked.

As we will see in verse 1, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” If we will be righteous before God, He will bless us. To be righteous we should live a righteous life. Being unrighteous doesn’t take overnight. It is a progression. As seen in the verse above, ‘walk,stand and sit’. This particularly describe a persons’ posture as one go along the day. People walk. People stand. People sits  most often. This postures of man, if not done in a rightful manner can make us unrighteous. It will affect our life.

Another progression seen here is the location – in the counsel, in the way, and in the seat. If we will deeply see the representation of this location we would understand what being righteous is about. In the counsel represent our participation in an occasional manner; in the way is all about habitual involvement; and in the seat suggests permanent involvement with unrighteous doings.

Lastly, the progression of the accomplices – the wicked, the sinners, and the mockers. The wicked are those who know that they are violating God’s command but still seek to continue doing so. The sinners are those who fail to pass God’s standards. A lot of sinners today are not even aware that they are violation God’s command. This though does not excuse them, for they should be familiar with what the Law of God is. Finally, the mockers. These are the people who openly disdain or show disrespect to God’s law. They despise and stumble upon it.

As I have said earlier, one cannot fall into unrighteousness over night. The path to unrighteousness is progressive. We, at first, will participate then it will be our habit then we will dwell on it. Let us turn back to ungodliness because it won’t bring us any good.

On verse 2, we will see that a righteous man not only obey or respect what God’s law is. He delights in it. It brings him joy and pleasure. By meditating on it day and night, we can see how delightful it is for them to have God’s law. Meditating on God’s law became their resting place. They just not took time to read it, but instead, they meditate on it, day and night. These people doesn’t only have the up till the book of Psalms to read. How much more should we delight in God’s completed revelation!

 “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yield its fruits in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” We would see here that a righteous man was compared to a tree. This tree was planted of course by the Lord. God always chose the best spot where to plant us. Here in Psalms 1 it is by the streams of water. God placed the tree there because He knew that it will grow the most there. The word fruit here represent good works in one’s life that bring glory to God. In right timing of God, we will bear fruit. Take note also the phrase, “leaf does not wither”. A righteous man keep its beauty and health. He will remain fruitful with beauty and health and everything that a righteous man does, prospers. That’s the advantage of being a righteous man. Now lets take a look to the destiny of the wicked.

In the following verse, the wicked is compared to as the chaff. It is not as fruitful as the tree but, it is as chaff that is good for nothing. A chaff I just blown away by the wind. It doesn’t not stand strong, meaning it is not well taken care of. It is useless, without purpose and not planned. On verse 6, we will see that if we will be righteous, God will watch over our way, but the wicked people will perish.

Psalms 2 is about the rebellion of the people. We can see that rebellion on verses 1-3. People rebel against God for no certain reason. But in verse 4-6, we will see God’s response. We will see how the raw power of God is revealed. We should all be afraid of God’s power. Only God has the power to turn everything around. Even rebellion, God can put it down. In Psalms 2:10, God gave us a warning. We should be wise. It is for us to be God’s disciple. We are the judges of this earth. At it is said in verses 11-12, we should serve the Lord with fear. We should love God whole-heartedly. We should love our neighbor with a sincere heart.

That’s it. Thank you God for this wonderful passages you have given for me.

RESOURCES:

http://www.pantinghart.org/psalm2.html

http://www.scripturestudies.com/vol1/a2/a2_psa.html

JECN.2011

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Day 2: Joshua 1-5

It’s already 8:20 in the evening and I got nothing to do so I decided to just go on my reading commitment. Tonight, I read the first five (5) chapters of the book of Joshua.

The book of Joshua tells how Israel invaded Canaan and conquered most of the inhabitants. It all began with Joshua taking up Moses’ position as the leader of the nation. Moses led the people for more than forty years and now that his death has come, it was Joshua’s turn to lead those people and bring them to the promise land. God also reminded Joshua of all the promise that He had made to Israel’s forefathers.

So, what were the things that God promised Joshua? Firstly, God promised Joshua that wherever they foot would set on, it will be there possession. It was just as God promised Moses. In verse 5 of chapter 1, God promised that just as He is with Moses, so is He with him. He promised that He will never leave nor forsake Joshua. While in verse 6, God gave Joshua the assurance that he will successfully bring this people to the promise land. God told Joshua that he should be strong and courageous. He need not worry about failing to take those people to the land their fathers swore to give them. Once again, in verse 9, God assure them that He is with them wherever they will go.

If I will apply this to my life, I can say that I often get frightened and worried about situations that kept on pulling me down this journey. I never get to pause for a while and relax a bit. I, at times get to the point where I lose hope in getting out of every bad situations but as I came up to the point where I was about to give up, I remember God. I realize how I was worrying myself much not knowing that God is with me. I keep on loading myself with all this stuff when God’s hand was right there for me, asking if I need any help. I realized how much I focused more on what I can do instead of what God can do. We need not to come to this point of realization. As early as possible, we should be reminded that God is with us wherever we go.

To continue, on verses 10-18, we would see Joshua commanding his people for the very first time as their leader. At the very moment that Joshua learned of God’s command to him, he right away commands the people. He told them (v. 11a), that they should prepare their provisions. He promised (v.11b), that they will possess the land that the Lord is giving them. To the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, he reminded them that God will provide them a place of rest along with the promise land that they will soon possess. In accordance to what Joshua has been commanding the people to do, I saw that the people had the willingness to do as Joshua told them to do.

Chapter 2 starts off with Joshua sending out spies, asking them to scout out the land opposite the Jordan River, especially with Jericho. Jericho at that time was the strongest in the land of Canaan. Here, we will see the story of Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute leaving on a house built into the city wall. She was the one who hid the two spies Joshua sent. Here, we can see that God can use the unlikeliest of people to do great things for the furtherance of His kingdom and His causes. It doesn’t matter if that persons a thief, a prostitute, a drunk or even a murderer. If it is for God’s will to use that person, nothing can ever hinder God in using that particular person. In Rahab’s case, she had that great faith in God. She believed God can save her family that is why she hid the spies. She helped them and that was a very big help that she gave. This passage reminded me that it is impossible to please God without faith.

In chapters 3 and 4, the story of the Israelites crossing to Jordan was told. Upon hearing the reports that the two spies had brought them, the people were almost ready to cross the Jordan River and take up the promise land. The morning after the spies returned, they left their encampment to travel to the banks of the Jordan River. There they set up a new camp on the riverbank. Three days past and the officers of the Israelites instructed the people to follow the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant. They must keep a distance of about half mile. They are not to come close to the priests. In verses 3-5 of chapter 3, Joshua asked the people to consecrate themselves. He meant that they are to purify themselves. It was to prepare them for a miracle that God will be doing the next morning.

Jordan River.

    The map of Jordan River. 

The next morning came, as God had told Joshua, he ordered the priests who was carrying the Ark of the Covenant to take a few steps into the river and stop there. When the priests reached the banks of the Jordan River, they did according to what Joshua commanded them to do. Joshua also told the instructions to the people, telling them that when the feet of the priests touched the water, it would dry up giving them a path to cross. Knowing how the Jordan River was overflowing its banks, it really is a miracle for it to dry up but as God had promised, the Jordan River dried up when the priests’ feet touched the water.

After everyone crossing the Jordan, God instructed Joshua to have twelve men (one from each tribe of Israel) to walk back to the middle of the Jordan and gather twelve stones to build the memorial. It was so that they can be reminded that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across. That stone, according to Joshua 4:6-7) will stand as a memory to all the people of Israel forever.

The people of Israelites were now ready to take the land of Canaan. The warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and some from the tribe of Manasseh were ready for battle. And now, Joshua was now seen as a great leader just as Moses was to the Israelites.

Having heard of this great miracle, the Canaanite people of the land thought that the Israelites could not be stopped. Yet, the Israelites did not however go right away to Canaan. The Lord asked Joshua to circumcise the people of Israel again the second time. It was for a reason mentioned on verses 4-7 on chapter 5. After having done God’s command, the Israelites had left Egypt at Passover; they, together, celebrated the Passover upon their entry into Canaan. They no longer have the manna that fed them for forty years.

Now, the Israelites would take Jericho but clearly it was the Lord who was in command. Joshua encountered an angel who was the commander of the army of the Lord.

I do not own the rights to any of the informations and images above.

JECN.2011

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Day 2: Genesis 1-3

From Romans 1-2, I am now reading Genesis 1-3. As we all know, Genesis is the very first book in the Bible. God inspired and guided Moses in writing this book of Genesis. The date of authorship is likely between 1440 and 1400 B.C., between the time Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and hid death. The book of Genesis contains the doctrines of creation, imputation of sin, justification, atonement, depravity, wrath, grace, sovereignty, responsibility and many more.

We are all familiar with the story of the creation. On the first day, God created light and separated it from darkness, having light day and darkness night. On the second day, He created the heavens. On the third day, He created the land and the seas. He also created plants and trees. On the fourth day, God created the sun, moon and stars so that there will be a light to govern the day and night. On fifth day, God created every living creature of the seas and every winged bird. On the sixth day, God created the animals and fill the earth. He also created man and woman, Adam and Eve. He blessed them and gave unto them every creature and whole earth to rule over, care for, and cultivate. And on the seventh day, God had finished His creation and so He rested on that day, blessing it and making it holy. That was the story of creation.

Upon reading chapter 2 of Genesis, we would see how God sees the need of Adam. In Genesis 2:18 the Lord said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” And from there, God decided to let Adam fall into a deep sleep and took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The rib which the Lord had taken from Adam He made into a woman and gave it to Adam. God called her woman because she was taken out of man.

Adam and Eve had everything given to them. They have the Garden of Eden to which they could live. God gave them trees that will give them food to eat. He made them river and provided them the authority to govern the whole earth. Still, temptations came rushing in. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was in the midst of the garden, together with the tree of life. God gave Adam and Eve orders; they can eat of every fruit from every tree in the garden except for one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said that if they ate, they will surely die.

Come to think of it, why did God put the tree in the garden if He didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat from it? Wouldn’t all the subsequent problems have been avoided if Adam and Eve couldn’t get to the tree? As I go on and dig deeper through this chapters, I realized that if God build the Garden of Eden so that there were no rules and no way for Adam and Eve to do wrong, then both of them would be effectively forced to obey God. So, in order for us to be free, we have to be able to make choices. Adam and eve couldn’t have chosen to follow god if they literally had no other choice. God had given us free will. Even if Adam and Eve doesn’t have the knowledge of good and evil before eating from the tree, it doesn’t mean that they had no understanding of obedience and disobedience. They weren’t ignorant of right and wrong. God clearly told them that eating from the tree is wrong, so they did know it was wrong despite their lack of knowledge of other ethical matters.

The whole fall of man was discussed in chapter 3. Both Adam and Eve were aware of God’s command to them. The woman fall right in to the serpent’s lies. She ate of the fruit that God commanded them not to eat and she gave some to Adam. For that, they knew that they were naked. They hid themselves and made themselves clothing. For this disobedience, God put them out of Eden. They now would be subject to death. God each punish Adam and Eve. To the woman, God said that she will be of pain in childbearing. She will bring forth children and she will be under the authority of his husband, Adam. And for Adam, God cursed the ground. Adam would have to work hard for Him to eat and working would be tough. God also said here that, we are dust and to dust we shall all return. From that they forward every human would be subject to death. Every man had to work hard for their food and every woman would suffer the pain of giving birth.

You see? If we would compare it to what’s happening now we would see that God gave us the Bible. In there, we would learn of what is good and what is evil. Of course God would want us to do well but He still wasn’t selfish to give us the freedom to choose. Yet, though we know that doing evil will bring us consequences, still we do it. See how hard-headed humans are? We keep on doing evil things for what? Because it makes us popular? Because it makes us a better person? God know what is best for us. If we could only submit and surrender our life to Him, we all would have a better life. We won’t have to suffer the pains and the consequences of doing evil.

Yeah. Basically, that’s what I learn from today’s passage. I hope that God spoke to every one of us. God bless you all. Have a great day ahead of you.

Resources:

·         http://www.keyway.ca/htm2007/20070328.htm

·         http://www.gotquestions.org/Book-of-Genesis.html

·         http://www.rationalchristianity.net/eden.html 

JECN.2011

[beyondwhatiswritten-blog]

Day 1: Romans 1-2

In accordance to my commitment, I followed a one-year guide to reading the Bible. To start off, I read Romans 1 and 2 tonight. I am somewhat familiar to what Romans is about since our family, in our Family altar had studied part of this book. As I read and study the chapters, I came to realize matters about my faith in God and to share with you what Romans is, I would like to give you a bit of a background.

Paul wrote this letter about 56 A.D. when he was still in Corinth. Romans was said to be a unique book. Mostly of Paul’s letters were for the churches he’d been and he has personally ministered to, but here is a church at Rome where Paul has never been to neither had he ministered to them. So in the book of Romans, Paul gave us a doctrinal preview of the content of his teaching. Here we can learn Paul’s teaching about Christianity and the true gospel of God.

Paul has got so many to say in Romans 1 and 2 but what really struck me the most is Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Paul was so brave to face the consequences for the sake of the gospel. He was not even afraid of getting to prison. He was not hindered by the thought of death once he shared God’s gospel. It was his belief that made him strong. He knew that the gospel was the power of God for salvation. What made the gospel so powerful? If we will look on Psalm 8:3, creation was mere finger-play to God but as I read on to Isaiah 53:1, I learned that redemption required nothing less than the mighty arm of God. Creation cost God very little but redeeming us from our sins cost Him His only Son. It was the power of God that transformed that chief persecutor (Saul) to the chief apostle (Paul). It takes God power to save and transform any sinner. That’s how powerful God is. Yet, this salvation was not just for specific person. This gift of salvation was given to each and every one of us. Still, it doesn’t end there. We, humans, are the one responsible of this salvation. In order to receive this gift, we should first believe the gospel. It’s like this, God does the saving and humans do the believing. It’s a two-way process.

Another thing I learned in this verse is how God was so gracious. He let the Jew hear the gospel first before the Gentiles. If we would look back in the past, the Jews were the very ones who rejected and persecuted their Messiah. Yet, they were the very same person who first to hear the good news of God. Imagine how God was so gracious to the Jews despite all their rejections and persecutions to Him.

In today’s generation, some people often ignore God’s presence. I, personally, have been in that situation and I felt so lost without God. We are so blessed that even if we turn away from God and ignore His presence, He is gracious enough to comfort us right when we need Him. His doors are always open for our prayers. He continually pours out blessings on our life despite us neglecting Him.

That is a part of what I learn from Romans 1. Meanwhile, in Romans 2, the verse that caught my interest was verse 11, “For God shows no partiality.” What made Paul say this? We, human, often judge people by their looks. People who are wealthy receive respect and honour while poor people deserve less. Beautiful faces gets to have attentions and compliments while those people who have imperfections with their physical being gets criticism and rejections. But Paul stated that with God, there will be no partiality. God will judge everyone fairly. Your wealth doesn’t excuse you to God’s judgment neither is you beauty or your beautiful body exempts you on the judgment day.

Paul is showing here that God does not deal with a person on the basis of our face. It is not about our nationality, race, color of skin or wealth. God looks deeper than the surface.

These verses reminded me of God’s power, God’s graciousness together with God’s fairness in all of us. He is so powerful that He can transform any sinner to what He want that person to be. He is so gracious that even people won’t treat Him well, He exchanges it by being nice to them. And He is so fair, that in judgment day, He would look deeper than what people see. He would judge based on what human eyes can see.

That’s all I’ve got for today. I am so thankful that God guided me through this study. I look forward on learning more about who really God is.

JECN.2011

[beyondwhatiswritten-blog]

The Bible

66 Books. The Bible is a collection of books -- some long and some short. It is divided into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Old Testament has 39 books, 929 chapters, 23,214 verses and 593,493 words. The longest book in this section is Psalms and the shortest is Obadiah. On the other hand, the New Testament has 27 books, 260 chapters, 7,959 verses and 181,253 words. In which all this books, Acts is the longest while 3rd John is the shortest. The New Testament contains the 5 history books namely, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts. It also has 21 letters or epistles and it contains one book of prophecy which is Revelation.

The Bible as it was said, is God's way of speaking to us. And so today, I created this blog together with the commitment of reading the entire Bible, from November 7, 2011 to November 7, 2012. I was inspired by our Youth Pastor to do so. Before, I admit that every year, I would commit myself to read the Bible, yet, not within quarter of the year, I would stop reading because I got tired of it. Today, I am determined to do so. I pray to God that He would help me accomplish this deadline and with this, I pray that God would help me understand the meaning beyond what is written in the Bible.

I would sure be glad to share my insights and my studies about God's word, that is why I created this blog.

JECN.2011