Basic: Holy Spirit

In continuation with my Basic Series adventure with my college n' careers group, we watched the third video: Holy Spirit. This video talks about who the Holy Spirit is and some thoughts on why the Holy Spirit we read in the New Testament doesn't seem to be present today in our churches. Here are just a small amalgamation of some thoughts my group mates and I after viewing the video.

Is it just me, or have we sort of cheapened the person of the Holy Spirit? What I mean is, why is it that we talk about the Holy Spirit when we're in church, and we have this predictable nature with our services that nothing about it seems to be supernatural, if natural at all. Why doesn't the presence of the Holy Spirit not appear or sound similar to something like what the Apostles experienced in Acts?

Find Rest

Finding rest and peace seems to be a constant theme in my life. What I mean is, I find that I sometimes get myself worked up over many things when all I needed was rest and peace for my soul. I recently finished my fourth fall semester at the Mount before exams get written, and I know that exams, much like paper writing, can be very stressful. I also know that with the Christmas season upon us now, people are also going to be stressed over what to get their loved ones for the holiday. So, in a world full of stress and pain, how do we find rest and peace? Enter Jesus, the son of God. I know this is rather cliché, but Jesus' words in Matthew 11 come about in my head.

Islands and Vines

I am made to be in a community.

Just think about that for a moment - you and I - we - are made to be relational. It's amazing that God had instilled in us from the beginning that notion of belonging somewhere or with someone that only He can completely fill and fix. After all, He is the embodiment of the perfect relationship - the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Because I believe that Jesus died and rose again for my sins, and have accepted Him into my life, I am in a relationship with Him; this also means that I am a part of a community bigger than myself.

Lord, I Need You - A Song of Intimacy

There's something about music that draws me more toward God and exemplifies how he makes me stronger in my faith despite how weak I am without him. To me, music is very much therapeutic as well as expressive; it's often how I feel the Holy Spirit move in me. I also find that music has this way of opening me up more to love and prayer. More often, a set of inspired lyrics just hit me at the core, and I just know it. It’s naturally for me to be singing along when I know that deep down, that is what I feel.

The Light of Christmas

Ah Christmas, it's a season filled with love, joy and peace...

"WAIT a minute? PEACE?" you say. "What's so peaceful about Christmas? I love Christmas, but it's gone all commercial and retail has made it even more crazy."

Forgiveness, Faith and Needs Met by Jesus

I find it rather soothing that Jesus meets us where we are. Where else in the world can you find past recordings of someone choosing to come over to find somebody and show them love and forgiveness without condemning them? Who else would decide to come to our level so that we can eventually learn to understand what he is getting at?

More Than Conquerors: Thoughts on Chapter Two

It's been a while since I last wrote about thoughts on the book that I had been reading (More Than Conquerors: A Call to Radical Discipleship). Therefore, I decided that I will share my thoughts on what Chapter Two was about. I still find that this book is getting me to think and reflect. So, here are some thoughts that respond to some study questions from the back of the book.

Gifts and Barbecues: Showing How God is Working Through Us

Over the past week or so, I had been doing the following three things: passing a social psychology course, trying to find a job, and continuing to explore more deeply into my relationship with Jesus. Mind you, trying to balance all of this is easier said than done. While I have been continuing to enrich my journey and have passed the psychology course, my job prospects have been very slim. Now, I'm starting to wonder if I'm looking for a job for the right reasons. Is God saying that I am supposed to be getting a "job" (a form of paid employment), or is that what society is pushing me to do? What is it that God wants me to be doing right here, right now? What about in the future? Things like this still plague me, no matter how often I try to wash it off.

However, this past Saturday was more of a lax day for me, especially since I had it in my heart to do something helpful. So when I had heard that my friend, Kayla, was putting on a "Love Halifax" barbecue party as part of celebrating her birthday and to show God's love to the city, I decided to jump on the wagon like many other people who attend Shiloh Youth and Shiloh University Church. It was definitely worth it; we cooked up hot dogs and burgers, we offered water, chips and freezies, all for free while there were people participating in road hockey competitions and the Walk the Walk for Autism around the Halifax Commons. We also had games and worship during those few hours when we were there.

Looking back at this event, as well as some recent venturing into understanding spiritual gifts, I can see how we were rather similar with each other but are also distinct. For instance, I had noticed some similarities between myself and my new friend Garret (pictured left): both of us appear to be very gifted in knowledge and evangelism, but he has more hands-on experience in practicing these gifts as well as his music skills (he was really good at leading worship). All of this had gotten me to reflect on 1 Corinthians 12, which talks a lot about spiritual gifts (among many other passages). I guess the whole point was to explain how God equips us to do certain things that all have a common goal: to bless others, but more importantly, to reveal the One who made us and loved us so much to die in our place.

I find it rather awesome as to how radical this journey with God has been so far. I feel that I learned so much and yet have a long way to go. I pray that as we continue to walk with Him that He will strengthen and equip us to do his work on the earth. Yesterday may be history for now, but there's still today to go through and if allowed, tomorrow will be another day set out for us as well.

Peace be with you all and God bless you!

Alex

Faithfulness and Risk-Taking

Here are some more thoughts as I have been thoroughly studying Chapter One of Simon Guillebaud's More Than Conquerors...

Discussing about faith, I believe that I am rather confident in believing God's faithfulness; nobody can be as faithful as he is. This gives me some assurance that my life is in awesome hands. Though I would admit, it isn't always so easy to put your faith in Jesus. But I had to spend time with him, gradually allowing him to take up more of my heart. I pray that God will be able to mould me more into who he wants me to be, and use me to my best potential.

I’m continuing to learn more about how to handle failure. Failure doesn’t always mean that it’s the end of the line for me; it does however allow me to stop, look back, learn from it and move on to becoming better than how I was in the past. I believe that because of this, I have now become a better person and I am continuing to trust God more when I fall down. Sure, it’s often discouraging to fail and it has often made me question my beliefs and faith, but in the end, I just need to continue learning more about giving Jesus control; after all, he has greater plans set out for me (see Jeremiah 29:11 for context). By focusing more on him, I’ll have a more exciting and intimate relationship with him; I’ll be able to gain a better perception about how my life with Jesus has been an adventure. Speaking of adventure, this whole journey that I’ve been going through with Christ so far has been rather interesting, even though there were some moments that weren’t all too exciting, and some even dark ones; however, God has always managed to get me through it all stronger than before. I’m glad that I am covered by his grace and mercy.

I think God is urging me toward evangelistic and knowledge-based pursuits. This appears to be both appealing and risky to me as it is within my areas of interest and giftedness, and I don’t fully know what kind of outcome will arise from it all. I’m hoping that he will continue to shape and use me as I enter this set of endeavors that he has set out toward me. I also pray that the Spirit will enlighten the path that I am to take next (make it more clear on my next direction to go, as to clarify what I am saying). I know that eventually, things will make sense to me; until then, I’ll have to trust that God is going to be with me every step of the way. I hope that all of this encourages you as you continue on your walk with him everyday.

Take care and God bless you!

Alex

More Ready Than You Realize - Overview and Afterthoughts

Now that I have finished reading the main part of More Ready Than You Realize by Brian McLaren, I thought that I would share some of my thoughts about the book as a whole. It has been a while since I last wrote here. I do enjoy writing about things that I am experiencing and learning.

The book as a whole was very well-written and thought provoking. It has allowed me to see evangelism done in a different, more practical way. I like the whole notion that all it takes is a simple conversation to get started. It also got me to learn that how Jesus evangelized was very process-oriented, meaning that the focus is on the journey and the destination, second. Although having milestone moments are great to celebrate, your journey, your walk with God, is what needs more attention.

I find that I am now learning more about how to apply the Bible into my daily life. No wonder they call it the "Living Word": it's so relevant, no matter the time or era. I also like how I can see a bit more about how I can use my gifts and talents to help people learn more about Jesus and what he has done for us. Also, with the verses and passages that were used, I now have a better understanding as to ow evangelism should work.

It's great that I have gotten to share some of the things that I am learning from these Bible studies and from the books that I have been reading. More Ready Tha You Realize is definitely a good, thought-provoking book that helps us to learn about and practice reaching out. I definitely feel ready to try talking with more people who are spiritually searching and trying to find answers to sme of life's big questions.

'Til next time,

Alex

Words: A Piece of Advice

Many of these books have things in common.

I decided to bring in a more personal set of symbols to illustrate something. For example, why is there a picture of books here in this post? What do you think is the whole idea or theme that I am getting at here?

As a matter of fact, there is one thing in particular that they all have in common: words. I find that we use words so often in our daily lives that we have forgotten the power that words hold, written or spoken. All of this is what seems to be coming up to me from James, Chapter 3.

In his letter to Jewish Christians who were scattered all over the earth, he talks about the tongue, and the sinful dangers it holds, its corruptive nature. I find that this portion serves as a warning and a guide for us. For one thing, he expresses the dark nature of the tongue by comparing how we cannot tame it like we can other animals (see verse below).

"All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:7-8 NIV)"

I think what James is getting at here is that we should be more wary as to how we use our words and how they will affect the people around us. But we do not have to do it alone. God is always with us and will give us the heavenly wisdom (this wisdom is described in James 3: 17-18). As long as we have faith in Jesus, we will be able to do amazing things, even with our words. Here's a music video to a song by Hawk Nelson, called "Words" (pretty ironic, I must say). Perhaps it might help you understand a little bit about what I am saying, and how I feel that God has given me this passion for language and words.

Peace be with you and may God bless you in your future.

-Alex

The Neighbourly, Spiritual Lifestyle

I find that some of the later chapters in More Ready Than You Realize have a focus on acceptance, exhortation and being neighbourly. I was discussing this with a friend earlier who agreed with this; it seems that God wants us to be showing love and acceptance to everyone, regardless of their status, appearance and behaviours. It isn't because God told us through the Bible that we should do it, but rather, it is because he loves everyone so much to die for them all that as his followers, we should also show this kind of love to everyone among us and beyond (after all, we're now able to love since God gave us his love).

Another big thing that I find is coming up a lot is this whole concept of prayer. It isn't just arising from this book in particular for me, but I am also reminded of passages from the Gospels, especially in Luke, where he writes that Jesus had disciplined himself spiritually through prayer. At one point, He was encouraging his disciples to pray during the night so that they would not fall into temptation. Prayer is very important in the life of a Christian. It allows us to personally connect with God without having to go to a priest (the "middle man" of the old covenant). Since we are living in the new covenant through Jesus, we are able to intercede, that is, come to God on our own behalf or on the behalf of others. It is through prayer and faith that we are able to do God's will for our lives, and help other individuals discover this truth for themselves.

I think that we need to be practicing prayer more, and that we should be more neighbourly with each other; what I mean is, we need to be practicing God's love for the nations. We should be going out into our communities and live our lives the way that Jesus would have lived them, encouraging each other as we move along. However, since God has given us free will, it is ultimately our choice as to whether or not we take on this neighbourly, spiritual lifestyle, a lifestyle that can be achieved through help and commitment to the Spirit.

I believe that we are still learning more about how this kind of lifestyle works in Mount Christian Fellowship at the Mount campus. We're all practicing to love and care for one another, praying and worshipping together, and going out to have spiritual conversations with other friends on campus. It's just so wonderful how God could use us in the university community, which extends itself to all of HRM. I'm really excited for the kinds of beautiful things that we'll get to do in the future.

Until next time,

Alex

Lost (Not the TV Show)

Taken from: Wikipedia

Today's Bible study with Mount Christian Fellowship has brought up a rather interesting topic. We talked about the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin (Luke 15:1-10), which made me reflect from More Ready Than You Realize a little bit and about being lost (I'll get into that later). What exactly do we learn from these parables? There are a few things that have stricken us.

First of all, taking a look at the first two verses, we see that Jesus is being welcoming and teaching sinners and tax collectors and the Pharisees and teachers of the law are rather disapproving of this ("But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'" - Luke 15:2 TNIV). I think that the Pharisees believe that Jesus is upsetting the status quo and they're rather uncomfortable with what Jesus is saying, even though what Jesus is preaching may be considered as a new way of interpreting the Old Testament texts. I don't blame them. But God doesn't want us to be living like lumps on a log, but to be active, learn and grow. So by looking at this reaction, what exactly does Jesus do? He creates parables to teach the importance of life.

Taken from: childrenschurch.wordpress.com/tag/parable-of-the-lost-sheep/

 The Lost Sheep and Coin help us to see that God loves and values everyone equally. After all, he did make us in his image. They explain that when a sinner repents, all of Heaven rejoices, or celebrates because there is now one more life being reserved to have a heavenly home in Heaven. To me, that gives a sense that as a father, God knows what's in our best interests, and loves us enough that he would sacrifice his son for us, so that we can have that better relationship with him.

Now, how does this passage relate to the book? If you took a look at what I mentioned from my previous post about being lost, you would remember that the author wrote about how we often refer to our Non-Christian friends as "lost people" and he wondered if the adjective of lost could still be applied to us. I think he's on to something as I compare the two texts as well as what's happening around me. Many of us are trying to understand our purpose in life, and have yet to reach where we fully need to be. So let me conclude by asking you these questions: "Are you lost? If so, shouldn't you pray that God gives you vision through the Holy Spirit so that you know where to go next?"

Crazy Love: My Post-Valentine Thoughts

         I thought that today would be a good day to talk about love. No, I'm not referring to being in love with a girl; I'm talking about this crazy, unconditional love that God has for all of us, the same love of which he had reminded me this past Valentine's Day. The past couple of days have been rather empowering for me and my relationship with him.

         The past little while before Valentine's Day, I had been having doubts about Christianity at times: doubts about whether what I am doing is right or in vain, whether or not I fully agree with what people are doing. I think I also resonated a little from the book that I had been reading, asking myself and God, "if there are plenty of Christian students here on campus, why isn't there such a lasting impact of goodness to show it? Are we actually influencing our campus, or has the influence of the campus created our perpetual downfall?" Part of this fit of questioning had arisen from emotional troubles caused by my surrounding environment, namely how people may have treated me. It was with that happening that I started wrestling, started feeling that maybe I had been a fool to believe in all of this.

         I had expressed about all this to a friend, Brian (a staff worker for Power to Change), who helped steer me back in the right direction. He went over a tract with me that discussed about the role of the Holy Spirit. It seemed that I had allowed my emotions to take a stronghold of me, and that had been my downfall. As we went through the tract together, I started to understand better about how the Spirit helps mediate our relationship with God the Father as the "other counsellor" about which Jesus had mentioned to his disciples (John 14: 16-17). I also learned that I had not been so dependent on the Spirit as my guide, and that by faith, I could get back on track and out of the valley. I believe the last time something like this happened (which was last March), I was given help from a couple of Inter-Varsity friends at the Mount, notably Kaleigh and Rachel (the friend with whom I am studying "More Ready Than You Realize"). If it hadn't been for friends like them, I don't know what I would have done next.

         Now that I feel rejuvenated by being filled with the Holy Spirit, I can now grasp more about Christ's love for me, as though I have found the significance of the cross to be deeper than before. I understand that I mustn't let my feelings control me, that I must live in faith in order to be part of God's plan for change in Halifax, as Jesus expressed in John 14: 21, 23-27.

         Love is very mysterious, and no matter what we do, God is always going to love us; this is what we call unconditional love. 1 Corinthians 13 is an entire chapter in which Paul talks about what love looks like. It's quoted often during wedding ceremonies, which are also love-driven. I definitely find it rather suiting. Love and faith truly go hand in hand with each other, as written here: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV)" Hopefully the next time I find myself going downhill, I will cling on to my faith and ask God for strength, and he will continue to pour out his love for me so that I can continue on this journey called life with him.

God bless you all until next time!