Two days ago, my dad caught the flu. He seemed very weak, but he chugged on to prepare for the New Year’s message.
Early morning today, I was in a New Year’s service, and heard this message that he had prepared with God, and could hear his earnest cry to our congregation members. It really made me want to listen. He said, “Listen and obey the Word, and be fruitful.”
My dad said, “Don’t stop reading the Word and start over. Keep reading the Word once you’ve started. Don’t keep reading Mathew 1!” Something I think we’ve all been through.
He continued on to say, “If we keep on reading, we will find that we have a lot of pride, and often, take credit for what God has done for us. He gives us failures because when success does come, we know that it is truly Him who did the work. God recorded history in the Bible, not just as a reference to what to do when so-and-so happens, but so that we can stop making the mistakes others have made. Even so, we should realize that when we avoid one mistake, another awaits us because we are not perfect. That’s why we should sincerely and earnestly ask Him for help when we know we cannot do it ourselves.”
Another point my dad brought up was “Find happiness in obeying the Word. Don’t do it out of obligations. We should develop a natural love for obeying the Word. That’s why failures are important. The more failures you have, the more you give up part of yourself to God happily because you know you, yourself, cannot do it.”
My dad advised, “Ask God for help, and watch it happen and glorify God. God takes responsibility for what’s going to happen. He does this because we are sincere and earnest.”1 Samule 16:7 says, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” God is moved by our faithful hearts.
It all comes down to this: Knowing that YOU are NEVER enough, and that HE is ALWAYS enough.
In receiving this message I wrote down several visions,
For Koinonia,
1. Boldness in reaching the lost
2. Change into a more Christ-centered community, where our relationships with each other reflect the love of Christ to the outside world.
For myself,
1. Boldness on an individual level, being able to take the initiative in my relationships with other people for Christ
2. A loving heart towards strangers, enemies
3. Healing
For my relationships with others,
1. Be a trustworthy and reliable sister and friend
2. Let our relationship leave a fragrance of Christ whenever we interact
3. Honesty and truth in love
4. Growth in Christ
5. Accountability
6. Prayer
My visions for this year are big and maybe impossible, but I believe it: EVERYTHING is possible with God!
Vision
by BY
A dream I say
A goal He says
A success She says
A win They say
What I thought was not
What He thought, nor
What She thought, nor
What They thought.
We all have our different views
We have our opinions.
But one thing that unifies us
is the LORD God Almighty
Who has a VISION for all of us
