Verse O' Thought

Mark 7:24-29
The Faith of a Gentile Woman

24 Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre.[i] He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. 25 Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil[j] spirit, 26 and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.

Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, 27 Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”

28 She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”

29 “Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

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I've come into this verse today and I think this verse is worth meditating, I dont understand what the blue and red words mean but I know that it reveals the faith of the woman.

Meditating.....

24 July 2007 – Bless for Good

1 Peter 3:9

Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it.

Since we are young, we often heard the seniors said that we should pay the people back for what they deserve. Retaliation often seems common to the people around us.

We shouldn’t be this way, we should have pay them back with blessings, because doing such is just like placing a burning coal on the head of that person! They will feel the burden, they will feel embarrassed for doing such, rather than feeling angry and furious about your revenge.

God also promised us that for the people who pay others back for blessings, he will bless us for it. Isn’t it wonderful? Sometimes we should practice our endurance and patience, for the people who successfully conquer their hearts then they could conquer the cities.

It is true, isn’t it?

Franco

23 July 2007 - Living Testimonial

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1 Peter 2:12
Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

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Many times we heard that we Christians have to share their own testimonial about knowing Christ, and the Great Commission that Jesus gave us is to evangelize the whole world with the Word of God and baptize them in Holy Trinity. By doing this, the commencing step is that we should realize that we should have a good testimonial to others.

Now, what is meant by testimonial? It is a kind of living and experience that one occupies exclusively, most of the time we share our testimonial to someone, did you find that it is rather hard for them to believe? They still didn't have the faith that is without sight, so, 'seeing is believing' is correct for them. God knows this, so he gave us a great instruction.

We should show a good testimonial in front of people. The testimonial is living and it should be transmitted more effective by means of action instead of verbally. It is true, so when we are living with our unbeliever friends, we should have a good example to them, for they will be more convinced when they see the change in your very own body rather than hearing you talking about it again and again.

It is true, undeniable, should be accepted. As a result, a final question is being presented on you: "Do you have a good testimonial in front of people?" Or "What is your testimonial in Christ that you can share with others and let others see?"

Franco

Faith without Sight

22 July 2007 – Faith without Sight

1 Peter 8

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.

Faith, once revisited, has a great impact in our lives. Everyone here includes you and I have faith everyday we live. The wonderful thing about faith is that faith trusts something without seeing it. We often heard that the phrase ‘Seeing is believing’, which isn’t true for all cases, think about it. If you believe after you see it, can it be said as believing? Instead, it is knowing, not believing.

Faith is something that you believe its outcome will be before it is happening, and then you wait for its outcome. Faith is the faith without sight, it does not involve seeing. It is the same when applying to our faith in Christ, have you seen Christ being crucified on the spot? I bet no one of you have seen it. But why do you believe it? It is your faith!

Hebrew 11:1

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

All of us living with this kind of faith, no matter you agree the statement ‘seeing is believing’ or not. From young to old, boy and girls, all of us, who are living now, has faith in things they use, the person they trust, etc.

In Christ, we trust him, even though we never seen him, and yet we can have rejoice in glorious and inexpressible joy! This is the point, once we catch this, we can continue our journey of faith with great endurance and great power, great experiences!

Fasten your seat belt! The journey of faith will be commencing in… 10..9..8…..3..2..1… GO!!!

Franco

Extraordinary in Ordinary

21 July 2007 – Extraordinary in Ordinary

James 5:16-17

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!

We could find no difficulty in believing that we are ordinary people in this world, we are as ordinary as others, we are the same. What makes us different is that we trusted in an Extraordinary God!

Today, I would like to share about prayers. Friends, do you trust in the power of prayer? Perhaps the answer varies, but for me, prayer has a great power, and I have experienced it before! Some of you might say, “it is no use in praying so much, so far nothing that I prayed happened. God is not listening!” Is it true that this statement say what it belongs? CERTAINLY NOT!

God is hearing everything we said, seeing everything we do, reading everything we think. If you encounter with some experiences like above, the major problem is not always on God’s side, it is on our own.

(1) Did we pray earnestly? Or you just pray once and make this judgment?

(2) Did you really believe on what you asking? If you ask in an attitude of testing, then the power is not there!

James told us that, the power of the prayer of the earnest prayer of a righteous person is GREAT and produces WONDERFUL results. (James 5:6) Friends, did you heard of the story of Elijah before?

1 Kings 17:1
[ Elijah Fed by Ravens ] Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

Elijah was the same like us, he is a human, an ordinary people! But he trusted an extraordinary God! He prayed earnestly for the rain to stop, then it stops! Yes, you can, too! You are no different than Elijah!

Franco

Words with Actions

20 July 2007 – Words with Actions

James 4:17

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

Words come with actions. What I learnt today is that you have to do what you say, not just boasting about it. In a surprise that I realized that this is a sin (James 4:17), it is very unpleasant to others that when you promised someone something and you are not able to do it. For me, this kind of person is very annoying, I really can’t stand this kind of people, some people just don’t tell you what they really want instead of procrastinating.

Since, God is a promising and faithful God of us, He will sure hate this kind of people. It is true that God loves all the people in the world, but He hates their guts! Just like your father love you very much, but he doesn’t like your guts in talking to other people, or he hates your attitude in dealing with circumstances, etc.

Self-confidence is good, without self confidence, we can’t achieve anything successful. So it is true that if we want to do something, self confidence is the key; But then, what if self confidence is too excessive? Of course, it will make things the other way round. God understands this, so he taught us that we should be have faith in God rather in self, this is important! Notice this:

James 4:3

And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

Friends, motives are important! Get your motives right and focus all the things towards God, he will give us what we want and what we don’t have!

Franco

Commence a Good Pace

19 July 2007 –Commence a Good Pace

James 3: 18

And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.^[d]

You will reap what you sow. Do keep this in mind, you will get back the consequences for you have done it before. It is true, nothing can stop this principle:

Galatians 6:7

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.

This is a principle that has been made up since the world began. In these few days, God had taught me a lot through his apostle James, as this book emphasizing more action than boasting. For God has given us one mouth but two hands, what does this represents? It represents that we should act out more than we say out! Isn’t it wonderful?

In everything, you will reap what you sow before, so it is important and significant that we should make a start move right! If the first step is wrong, then the following will be disasters and found difficulty in fixing. This principle is the same when we solve mathematics problems. The process is rather important than the answer, but when the starting pace is incorrect, even the answer is correct (normally results by cheating… =.=|||), the whole problem gives no mark.

It is the same with our mouth, good things and bad things cannot be mixed together, so it is unreasonable that blessing and curse comes from the same mouth! Our mouth should not become a ‘cocktail’ of bless & curse! We should all say out the good things, blessings, so that we could reap the harvest that we had sowed.

Lord,

I know that you are very aware of everything I do and everything I thought, and I cannot hide anywhere and anything from you, so please Lord, correct my attitudes and my pattern of thinking, that keep causing me to sin and do what is evil in your sight.

Help me to commence the journey right, make the first step correctly, so that in the future I will harvest what I had planted. Thank you Lord, I know that you will bless me in my journey of faith and continue to be with me always! Thank you, I pray this all in Jesus’ name, Amen!

Franco